Tana Hoban
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Tana Hoban 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. Their 2 selected books were chosen for how precisely they meet 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 Tana Hoban
Tana Hoban (1917–2006) was a professional photographer who turned the camera into a teaching tool for the very young — her wordless concept books about shapes, colors, and looking itself are used in classrooms worldwide.
A successful commercial photographer in Philadelphia, she shifted to children's books in her fifties, convinced that real photographs — not drawings — best honored how seriously young children observe the world.
Also by this author: Black on White · Of Colors and Things · Shapes, Shapes, Shapes
Publisher page: www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/tana-hoban-880000029645
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.