About us
We are two 30-something mums who have spent our lives with our heads between the covers of kids’ books. Part way along the track we met working between the shelves of the kids department of a big bookstore in Melbourne, Australia,and since then we have both continued to work with books, in retail and in publishing.
And then within 6 months of each other, we became mums to two spunky little boys. We started weheartbooks.com to help people choose books for the little people in their lives, and to share our passion for kids’ books.
To contact us, please email
katie(@)weheartbooks.com
lou(@)weheartbooks.com
This will be such a great resource – thank you!
Aliya is only 7.5 months at the moment but books will soon be on the horizon. As a full-time working mum, you are saving me a tonne of time figuring out in what books I should invest.
30 Mar 2008 at 10.50 pm
This is a fantastic resource for selecting the right book for my nieces and nephews. There is nothing better than a personal recommendation. Excellent tips for shopping and coffee too!
31 Mar 2008 at 9.20 am
I have three little bookworms (grandchildren) who will delight in looking at the books reviewed on this site with me. We can now choose the books together.
31 Mar 2008 at 7.54 pm
Hey Katie (and Lou)
Well done – it’s a really impressive and beautifully laid-out blog, with heaps of great info and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with it, while at the same time helping others to find the best possible books for their kids. I bet teachers and children’s librarians will find it inspiring too.
A couple of my all-time favourite books as a tweenie (before that term even existed), which might meet the 8+ age group on your blog, were Swiss Family Robinson and Huckleberry Finn. I think part of their exotic appeal was the fact that they weren’t set in Australia, and for me, they possessed all the necessary elements of a great kid’s book – interesting characters who were both inherently good but prepared to take risks, incredible adventures that could transport me to a wonderful place inhabited by great friends, picnic food that always included home-baked cup cakes, boat trips on a body of water, not an adult in sight, and other radical (for the 1960s) elements.
Well done on initiating some lively exchanges on the wonderful world of kids books.
31 Mar 2008 at 8.22 pm
Congratulations on the launch of this excellent site, what a great idea. Thanks to email lots and lots of people will hear about you and utilise your website, so goodluck.
02 Apr 2008 at 9.00 am
Congratuations on the launch of a great website.
Not only does it provide much needed information for mums regarding children’s books it also is personalised with photos and stories of actual children and their experiences
Good luck with this great venture
07 Apr 2008 at 5.45 pm
Dear Katie (and Lou),
Congratulations on this beautiful website. I could spend hours reading through as reading books are one of the most beautiful hobbies all 4 of us have. Going to the library or to a book store is always a bit overwhelming for me as there are soooooo many…..but your website will help me to choose in advance. Thank you and good luck.
08 Apr 2008 at 1.30 pm
What a fabulous resource! Factual, personal and engaging. This site will be so useful for parents and extended family, carers, librarians and teachers. My school is involved in the Stephanie Alexander Garden project where the chooks are an integral part of the social network! I am looking forward to buying some of the chook books which we don’t have in our school! Congratulations.
09 Apr 2008 at 9.56 am
Lou and Katie! I like to think I was (somewhat) responsible for putting you two under the same roof at that “Big Melbourne Bookstore” and thus aiding in the wonderful partnership that ensued!
Congratulations on a fantastic blog! It’s beautiful, stylish and most importantly full of great information and ideas! I’ll be clicking numerous times on your adsense links too!!!
Ed
10 Apr 2008 at 8.57 am
Lou & Katie,
Finally I have been able to have a good look at your new website. Well done on a fabulous site with great reference material. We are bound to use it over and over again.
Watching with interest.
Thanks
Trudy
16 Apr 2008 at 9.57 pm
What a fantastic resource you have created – informative, interesting and more importantly personal. I love the links, and the photos of your beautiful boys enjoying their books. To date I’ve found the choice of childrens books overwhelming and can never decide what the most appropriate books for Xavier are. As a result we often come home empty handed. From now on I’ll be using your blog as a guide and I’m sure I’ll always come home with a book Xave will adore for years to come.
30 Apr 2008 at 2.53 pm
Katie and Lou,
What a lovely website. I love reading about other people who adore books too. I thought Shane and I had some sort of problem, we can’t stop buying books, even when we’re supposed to be cutting down on excess belongings – we just moved to London.
My parents encouraged my love of books when I was little, as one of four children we grew up in a house of overflowing bookshelves, being read to by our parents one of the most pleasurable passtimes.
As a girl I loved ‘Outside over there’ and ‘Where the wild things are’ among many, many others.
X
31 Jul 2008 at 6.21 am
Dear Lou
What a wonderful site! Can’t wait for your website to be up & running so that I can place orders. Congratulations again.
Soph xo
08 Oct 2008 at 8.50 pm
Hi
I’m looking to purchase some Pookie Books for my siblings (50+ yrs) in memory of happy story times of our childhood.
Do you sell the books or simply advise of good stories of yesteryear.
Either way, I enjoyed reading your website.
Thanks
Therese
23 Nov 2008 at 11.21 am
It has been a treasure to find your website!
Sharing th same passion for children and books as you have is beautiful!
Your work is brilliant!
i love it!!
best wishes from Barcelona, Spain.
Stel.la
14 Feb 2009 at 4.33 am
It’s great to find people who love books. I am an after school care worker trying to find some good books for the centre & your recommendations were a big help. One of my favourite children’s authors is Elizabeth Honey. I discovered her when I was 16-ish and i still love her books. She has some great novels for boys (and everyone) aged 10+, namely Remote Man & Don’t Pat the Wombat. They have been read & re-read in our household and even lead to the invention of a “cromb the bomb” silly walk competition.
17 Feb 2009 at 11.30 am
Do you have any idea who were the last publishers of the ‘Ant and Bee’ books in the 80’s or 90’s. I would love to to see them reprinted once again.
Thanks, Carole
14 Mar 2009 at 6.47 am
Hi Katie and Lou
I’m looking for a first craft book with ideas for children aged about 3. Everything I’ve found so far has been heavily weighted towards girls (making jewellery, paper flowers, etc.) – I want something with simple paper aeroplanes and other things that might be more attractive to boys. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Nicci
17 Mar 2009 at 8.54 am
I am so excited to have virtually stumbled upon your page! I also ‘heart’ books and childrens books are my new passion now that I have a 11 month old who loves her stories and takes turning pages very seriously!!
PS. I could tell you were Aussies from the first glance … I am in Sydney.
25 Apr 2009 at 9.17 pm
Am having an “I love weheartbooks” morning.
Just wanted to let you know how valuable your site is. I’m still fwding it to mums around the world….
Ta.
Kirsti
01 May 2009 at 7.20 am
Hi Katie, I met you at Booktown over a bunch of picture books. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking through your blog, and am passing it on to my pre-service primary teachers and also literacy colleagues. As an Arts eductor I’m happy to find someone who loves the illustrations as much as I do!
Julie
04 May 2009 at 5.18 pm
Hi Katie!
J’ai appris il y a peu de temps que tu allais avoir un deuxieme enfant: congratulation! et j’ai regardé ton site, il est vachement bien! ça doit prendre beaucoup de temps de le mettre à jour, mais ça vaut le coup!
je t’embrasse tres fort!
Stéphanie
30 Jun 2009 at 6.51 am
I am looking for counting bird flashcards — suitable for framing in a child’s room. I saw a set in a magazine once, and have tried often to find, but have not been successful. If you could help or point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
16 Jul 2009 at 10.34 pm
Hi Sally, was it these http://www.eeboo.com/product.php?cat=30&prod=34
Lou
17 Jul 2009 at 9.08 pm
How lovely it was to see our book YOU’RE LOVABLE TO ME included on your wonderful site! Thank you so much for the support and the wonderful review. Australia holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons. My big brother lived there happily for many years and fellow Villanova University graduate and NCAA National Champion Dwayne McClain played quite successfully there for the Sydney Kings! Thanks for your great site supporting quality children’s books and for just for being fun, involved moms!
Warmly,
Kat Yeh
18 Feb 2010 at 2.52 am
Lou and Katie
This is a brilliant resource, thanks so much for your information and insight.
Annabel
03 May 2010 at 2.18 pm
we love all your books and pictures.
15 Jul 2010 at 12.42 am
Hi, gorgeous website and idea, I love finding gems for my children. Have linked a post about you on my blog http://bushbelles.blogspot.com/. Best of luck.
Bushbelles
30 Aug 2010 at 11.36 am