Vera B. Williams
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Vera B. Williams is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Vera B. Williams
Vera B. Williams (1927–2015) wrote and illustrated picture books about working-class families, told with a bright palette and hand-lettered text. She received two Caldecott Honors, for A Chair for My Mother and for "More More More," Said the Baby.
She took a BFA in graphic art from the experimental Black Mountain College in 1949 and did not begin her children's-book career until her late forties; a committed peace activist, she spent a month in a federal prison camp in 1981 after her arrest at a women's blockade of the Pentagon. Her young characters were ethnically diverse, usually urban and rarely well-off.
Also by this author: A Chair for My Mother · Cherries and Cherry Pits
Publisher page: www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/vera-b-williams-201669358643
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.