One of the great joys of my life was reading to my daughter at bedtime. Studies have shown that reading to a young child helps them build their vocabulary and language skills. Generally less talked about are the benefits to the parents, which is why I love that a study published in “Frontiers in Psychology” in 2021 was titled “I Feel Less Blue When I Read with You.”
I mention this because Liz Kelner Pozen has recently published her third picture book. “Sam and the Number 8,” illustrated by Caitlin Mavilia Spillane, rolls off the tongue and will delight both the readers of the story and those being read to.
Sam has a favorite number. That number is eight. His parents and grandparents, and even his cat, Milton, wonder why Sam is so interested in eight, of all the numbers. “Milton can’t decide which is his favorite number. “I have 1 wonderful tail,” he tells Sam. “And I can take naps on the number 5 and number 7.” There is an illustration of Milton dozing on top of a 5 and a 7.
Sam makes his case for eight. And a good case he makes. He lives on the eighth floor. The number 8 looks like a snowman and two conjoined meatballs on top of a bowl of spaghetti. Indeed, as readers learn the reasons that Sam’s favorite number is eight, they will start finding things shaped like an eight (8) in the comings and goings of their own lives.
Pozen is a poet and painter, and a longtime Vineyard seasonal resident. She was inspired to start writing for children after watching her granddaughter’s bedtime ritual, which she described in an email exchange as “a tortured, exhausting, and lengthy process” –– a description that oh so many sleep-deprived parents will embrace. She added, “Having been a psychotherapist, I thought if I could reframe the situation from having an oppositional child to having a bright, curious child, everyone would be helped.”
Her first picture book was “The What Ifs: A Bedtime Story,” about a girl who has what could be described as sleep-FOMO. “What If she closed her eyes and the moon brought golden glitter through her bedroom window? What if she fell asleep and her stuffed animals had a party without her?”
I want to note that there is also a very relatable and funny poem in Pozen’s most recent poetry collection, “A Scarred Samovar” (2025), about the experience of putting a child who refuses to go to sleep to bed. A section of which is:
In the second hour I become firm,
putting an end to conversation.
Delivered to her bed,
she pops up with assorted ailments.
which prevent sleep —
ear lobe ache,
eye pain and, worst, a sore tongue.
Although Pozen is an accomplished painter, and has painted many pictures of children, she decided not to illustrate her own picture books — her paintings can be seen in her two poetry collections “Salami” and “The Heart of the Family.”
“I illustrated the original copies of the books, but realized I could not be sure I would have the characters look the same in each picture,” she explained. “Luckily, I worked with young people who were open to using my ideas and even following my directions about the illustrations, so I had input in almost every image.”
Pozen’s books are self-published, which gives her complete creative control of the process. The authors of picture books tend to have little input into the illustrations of their book when working with traditional publishers. As for my own experience, the only time I collaborated directly with an illustrator was when my father was doing the art for my books. I didn’t see the illustrations for the other books until they were finished. When I mentioned that to Pozen, her response was, “Ouch! I would have a hard time working like that. You must be less of a control freak than I am.”
Maybe so. Maybe not.
“Sam and the Number 8” is available at Bunch of Grapes.
