Meet author Amy E. Sklansky and Enter to Win

Click here to win a copy of You Are My Little Cupcake signed by Amy E. Sklansky.

You Are My Little Cupcake is one of those baby books that parents love, too. Its singsongy cadence and super-happy baby pictures are sure to engage infants and toddlers alike, while the book's sweet rhymes express the overwhelming love that new moms feel for their little ones - from the joy we take in our babies' smiles to our delight in their snuggliness.  Just try to resist finishing this one without a hug!

Author Amy E. Sklansky answered our questions via email from her home base in Missouri.

How did you come up with the cupcake idea? It sounds like something you started saying to a baby in your life and then decided to turn into a book.
The idea came from my former boss. She used  to let me take my new baby to work with me. When she saw my daughter, she'd say, "What a little cupcake!"

The illustration star some seriously sweet and happy babies!
The artist, Talitha Shipman, captures the warmth and simplicity of the text with her art. And her colors are so cupcakish. I also like the clever way she worked a cupcake image into each spread. Kids love to spot the cupcakes!

How old are your kids?
Phoebe is 10 years old and Owen is 6. There is a dedication to them ("my little cupcakes") on the back of the book.

Where's your favorite storytime spot?
My favorite place to read with my kids these days is snuggled next to them in their beds. When they were smaller, I used to sit sideways on the bed and they would sit on my lap and lean back against me. We called this "The Mommy Chair."

What’s your favorite children’s book of all time?
What a difficult and impossible question! When schoolkids ask me this, I always tell them my favorite children's books this month. This month's favorites would be: Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman, The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller, and Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected and illustrated by Salley Mavor. Ask me next month, and I'll have a whole new selection!

You Are My Little Cupcake (LB Kids; $6.99) by Amy E. Sklansky; illustrated by Talitha Shipman