diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index f5eb7ea..6878f64 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 # bunyan Changelog
 
-## bunyan 0.6.10 (not yet released)
+## bunyan 0.7.0 (not yet released)
 
-(nothing yet)
+- [issue #12] Add `bunyan.createLogger(OPTIONS)` form, as is more typical in
+  node.js APIs.  This'll eventually become the preferred form.
 
 
 ## bunyan 0.6.9
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ef3d121..24a32d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ to log4j logger "name", but Bunyan doesn't do hierarchical logger names.
     var log = new Logger({name: "myapp"});
     log.info("hi");
 
+Alternatively, bunyan 0.7.0 and up supports a more node.js-land typical
+style (which might become the preferred form over time):
+
+    var bunyan = require('bunyan');
+    var log = bunyan.createLogger({name: "myapp"});
+
 **Log records are JSON.** "hostname", "time" and "v" (the Bunyan log
 format version) are added for you.
 
diff --git a/bin/bunyan b/bin/bunyan
index 3f465a9..358ac73 100755
--- a/bin/bunyan
+++ b/bin/bunyan
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // See <https://github.com/trentm/node-bunyan>.
 //
 
-var VERSION = "0.6.10";
+var VERSION = "0.7.0";
 
 var util = require('util');
 var pathlib = require('path');
diff --git a/lib/bunyan.js b/lib/bunyan.js
index baa364a..4e7dafa 100644
--- a/lib/bunyan.js
+++ b/lib/bunyan.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * The bunyan logging library for node.js.
  */
 
-var VERSION = "0.6.10";
+var VERSION = "0.7.0";
 
 // Bunyan log format version. This becomes the 'v' field on all log records.
 // `0` is until I release a version "1.0.0" of node-bunyan. Thereafter,
@@ -955,3 +955,7 @@ module.exports.FATAL = FATAL;
 
 module.exports.VERSION = VERSION;
 module.exports.LOG_VERSION = LOG_VERSION;
+
+module.exports.createLogger = function createLogger(options) {
+  return new Logger(options);
+};
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 567b52e..5eb9cc7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "bunyan",
-  "version": "0.6.10",
+  "version": "0.7.0",
   "description": "a JSON Logger library for node.js servers",
   "author": "Trent Mick <trentm@gmail.com> (http://trentm.com)",
   "main": "./lib/bunyan.js",
diff --git a/test/ctor.test.js b/test/ctor.test.js
index 700158e..abbfc20 100644
--- a/test/ctor.test.js
+++ b/test/ctor.test.js
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
  */
 
 var test = require('tap').test;
-var Logger = require('../lib/bunyan');
+var bunyan = require('../lib/bunyan'),
+    Logger = bunyan;
+
 
 
 test('ensure Logger creation options', function (t) {
@@ -48,6 +50,46 @@ test('ensure Logger creation options', function (t) {
 });
 
 
+test('ensure Logger creation options (createLogger)', function (t) {
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(); },
+    {name: 'TypeError', message: 'options (object) is required'},
+    'no options should throw');
+
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger({}); },
+    {name: 'TypeError', message: 'options.name (string) is required'},
+    'no options.name should throw');
+
+  t.doesNotThrow(function () { bunyan.createLogger({name: 'foo'}); },
+    'just options.name should be sufficient');
+
+  var options = {name: 'foo', stream: process.stdout, streams: []};
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(options); },
+    'cannot use "stream" and "streams"');
+
+  options = {name: 'foo', level: 'info', streams: []};
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(options); },
+    'cannot use "level" and "streams"');
+
+  // https://github.com/trentm/node-bunyan/issues/3
+  options = {name: 'foo', streams: {}};
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(options); },
+    {name: 'TypeError', message: 'invalid options.streams: must be an array'},
+    '"streams" must be an array');
+
+  options = {name: 'foo', serializers: 'a string'};
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(options); },
+    {name: 'TypeError', message: 'invalid options.serializers: must be an object'},
+    '"serializers" cannot be a string');
+
+  options = {name: 'foo', serializers: [1,2,3]};
+  t.throws(function () { bunyan.createLogger(options); },
+    {name: 'TypeError', message: 'invalid options.serializers: must be an object'},
+    '"serializers" cannot be an array');
+
+  t.end();
+});
+
+
 test('ensure Logger child() options', function (t) {
   var log = new Logger({name: 'foo'});