Shelley Rotner
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Shelley Rotner 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 Shelley Rotner
Shelley Rotner is a photojournalist-turned-children's-author whose forty-plus photo-essay books document real children's lives, feelings, and communities — a documentary approach rare in a cartoon-dominated field.
Also by this author: Shades of People · Grow! Raise! Catch! · Many Ways
Official website: www.shelleyrotner.com
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.