How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures In It

How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures In It by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Amanda Hall, is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book about how the Earth and life began.

Information and illustrations from before the Earth cooled to our current ocean dwellers, the science book is a delight. 

How the Sea Came to Be is the perfect introduction to Earth Science. Plus you will want to recreate the drawings as wallpaper!

Berne, Jennifer. (2023). How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures in It. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Bunny & Tree

Bunny & Rabbit by Balint Zsako is a stunning wordless picture book. As soon as Bunny and Tree meet they are destined to become family. 

This is gorgeous. Put it at the top of your list for gifts for children, artists or gardeners in your life. 

Amazing!

Zsako, Balint. (2023). Bunny & Rabbit. New York: Enchanted Lion Books.

Bathe the Cat

Bathe the Cat by Alice McGinty is a hilarious tale of a family getting ready for a visit from grandma. 

While two dads and their kids run in circles trying to get the house presentable for a visit from grandma, the cat keeps rearranging the list - created out of refrigerator magnets.

This is a great book that should be at the top of your list for picture book gifts! All of the books by Alice McGinty are wonderful. 

McGinty, Alice. (2023). Bathe the Cat. New York: Chronicle Books.

Julian is a Mermaid

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love is a beautiful picture book. 

This book about a boy and his grandmother is the tale of letting someone grow and shine in their own way. About seeing people for who they are. 

Read this beautiful book or buy it for a small loved one in your life. 

Love, Jessica. (2018). Julian is a Mermaid. New York: Candlewick Press.

That Flag

That Flag by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith, is the story of two school friends whose parents feel very differently about the flag outside of one of their homes. 

While Bianca and Keira are best friends at school, Keira's parents will not allow her to go to Bianca's house because of the confederate flag in the front yard. 

When the school takes a field trip to the local museum for an exhibit called Stars and Bars, Keira's father follows her through the exhibit while she absorbs the meaning and history of that flag. 

Brown has created an age-appropriate story of what the confederate flag stands for in our history and today.

Brown, Tameka Fryer. (2023). That Flag. New York: Harper.

Stickler

Stickler by Lane Smith is a beautiful picture book about someone who loves the world around himself. Stickler goes through his day enjoying everything he see and sharing it with his best friend. 

Smith, Lane. (2023). Stickler. New York: Random House. 

Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs

Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs by Willy Claflin, illustrated by James Stimson, is a mixed up fairy tale as told to Maynard Moose.

After Rapunzel was locked in the tower and then escaped, her hair became a problem. It got caught on everything as she tried to make her way through the forest. Luckily, the dwarfs (Clumsy, Snoozy Cheerful, Fearful, Hyper, Hungry, Grizelda, Ambidextrous, and sometimes Bewildered) helped her and hid her in their cabin.

But when the witch asked her mirror to find Rapunzel and sent her rhinoceros to give her a poisoned watermelon to put her into a deep sleep. Rapunzel slept for so long that the dwarfs set up an amusement park around her and charged admission to see her.Luckily, the Moose finally freed her from her slumber.

Since the story is told by Maynard Moose, using must of the old Moose language, the story varies a bit from the more traditional human telling. Claflin has created a fun way to revisit many loved fairy tales in one fell swoop.

Claflin, Willy. (2011). Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs. Atlanta: August House Books.

Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed

Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed by J.C. Phillipps is a book about finding your place.

Wink was happy when he was accepted to the Summer Moon School for Young Ninjas. But Wink had a problem being stealthy. First he could not be quite. Then he could not become invisible. He was sent home often.

Finally he was so stealthy that no one noticed him... so he made them notice to show how stealthy he was before.

On his way home, he passed a boy trying to balance. Wink helped him out and in the process found his place.

Phillips, J.C. (2009). Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed. New York: Viking.

Blackout

Blackout by John Rocco is a great picture book about the New York City blackout of 2003.

The young girl in the story is bored. She wants someone to pay attention to her but her family is busy - her sister is on the phone, her mother is on the computer, and her father is cooking dinner. She gives up and goes to her room to play video games.

But then the lights go out. This story is told in a simple but beautiful illustrations which is highlighted on the page that shows the New York skyline as it usually is then as it fades to black.

Suddenly, the family has time to spend together. They make shadow animals and are having a good time. When the August heat drives them outside they meet up with their neighbors - as everyone in the city with roof access was outside hoping for a breeze.

Rocco captured the feel of the city in a blackout - neighbors come together and have impromptu feasts to consume all of the perishable food, they wander around the city and glory in the silence, and they look at the stars (which are only visible in a blackout). This book is a must read for any New Yorker who was here for the 2003 blackout and really anyone who has spent a great family evening huddled together around a flashlight or candles entertaining each other.

Rocco, John. (2011). Blackout. New York: Hyperion.

Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas is a great picture book.

Ed, Ned, Ted and Bob are the dust bunnies who rhyme all of the time.

This is a great read out loud book for kids who are learning rhyming words - but Bob never rhymes. He is the one trying to save the dust bunnies from the cleaning implements.

Thomas has created a fun story with beautiful, brightly colored illustrations.

Thomas, Jan. (2009). Rhyming Dust Bunnies. New York: Beach Lane Books.

Small Saul

Small Saul by Ashley Spires is the story of a small and unusual pirate.

Saul loved the sea. He had loved the sea ever since he was a child. When he got old enough he applied to join the Navy, but he was not tall enough.

That was when he enrolled in Pirate College - pirates are not as picky as the Navy. He excelled at sing sea shanties, but not at sword work.

His first ship was The Rusty Squid. Though he was not what the other pirates though a pirate should be, Saul makes the ship his home.

Spires has written and illustrated the book beautifully. It is a tale of following your dreams and making the most of you situation.

Spires, Ashley. (2011). Small Saul. Toronto, Ontario: Kids Can Press.

An ABC of Pirates

An ABC of Pirates by Caroline Stills, illustrated by Heath McKenzie is a treasure hunt of fun!

Each page of this alphabet book has a pirate shanty with words about the letter. For example, " S is for shanty a sailor's rhyming song. It cheers us up while trimming sails and toiling all day long."

Plus each page's illustrations include many, many things that also start with the same letter. On the S page, there are 26 things in the picture that start with the letter S.

This is a great book for kids of all ages who like pirates, great and silly songs, and puzzles.

Stills, Caroline. (2010). An ABC of Pirates. Sydney, Australia: Little Hare Books.

The Ballad of the Pirate Queens

The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Shannon, is the story of Anne Bonney, Mary Reade.

Told in verse, this picture book tells of the capture of Calico Jack Rackham's ship Vanity and the notorious female pirates in the early 1700s.

Yolen has done a great job of telling this story for a young audience. Shannon's illustrations are beautiful.

Yolen, Jane. (1995). The Ballad of the Pirate Queens. New York: Voyager Books.

Cloudette

Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld is as uplifting a story as the classic Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper.

Cloudette is smaller than the other clouds. She mostly likes being small, but feels that she is missing out on some of the things the big clouds could do - like making storms, watering crops, and making rivers flow.

When one of the storms from the big clouds blows her out of her usual neighborhood she finds the chance to make a difference.

Lichtenheld's story and illustrations are beautiful. Also check out his book Duck! Rabbit!

Lichtenheld, Tom. (2010). Cloudette. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

It's a Book

It's a Book by Lane Smith is the best picture book I have read in a while.

There are three characters in this book that seems simple but packs a punch - a monkey, a mouse and a jackass.

Monkey is trying to read his book while Jackass asks questions about it - questions like how do you scroll down?, does it need a password?, etc... At one point, after Monkey reads a passages from the book to Jackass, Jackass reduces the entire passage to two lines of text language.

This is a must have book for any adult who has noticed the trend of young people to ignore the printed word and focus only on electronic gadgets. It is a brilliant comment on the times in which we currently live.

Buy a copy today!

Smith, Lane. (2010). It's a Book. New York: Roaring Book Press.

Josephine Wants to Dance

Josephine Wants to Dance by the team of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley yet another of their excellent picture books about Australian animals.

Josephine loves to dance. She dances all day. Her brother, Joey, reminds her that kangaroos jump. She doesn't jump - she dances.

When the ballet comes to town she watches every rehearsal until she knows the parts. And she is ready to step in when the prima ballerina hurts her ankle.

By the end of the book everyone is dancing - including the Wombat.

French, Jackie and Bruce Whatley. (2007). Josephine Wants to Dance. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Diary of a Wombat

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley, is my new favorite picture book!

Wombats are cute little creatures who live in Australia. They are slow moving, often sleeping, creature who can have an attitude so people generally let them do as they please.

This wombat has decided that the everyday grass she has been eating is boring and look to her new human neighbors for new and exciting treats.

She discovers that humans are each to train and make good pets.

French, Jackie and Bruce Whatley. (2002). Diary of a Wombat. New York: Clarion Books.

My Friend Rabbit

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann, a Caldecott Medal winner (American Library Associations' illustrators award), is adorable.

Rabbit means well but always gets into trouble. When he gets Mouse's new airplane caught in a tree, he comes up with an idea to get it down.

Somehow he find an elephant, a rhinoceros, a hippopotamus, a bear, a moose, an alligator, four ducks, a goose and a squire to help him.

After this plan leave a pile of angry, bruised animals, Mouse rescues Rabbit with his now free plane. Rabbit is so happy to have such a good friend that he hugs Mouse, who then cannot see where he is flying, and the plane gets caught in a tree...

The illustrations in this picture book are beautiful!

Rohman, Eric. (2002). My Friend Rabbit. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press.

The Rabbits

The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, the winner of the 1999 Australian Picture Book of the Year, is the story of colonization.

With powerful and scary pictures, this is the tale of conquest, industrialization, and ecological destruction told from the natives' point of view. This is an allegory of the story of Australia. The British are the rabbits, Aborigines are kangaroos.

This book will scare adults! Children may miss some of the messages hidden in the pictures, and the concepts that are too grand for their level of world knowledge.

Amazing book!

Marsden, Johna & Shaun Tan. (2003). The Rabbits. Simply Read Books.

First the Egg

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a beautifully painted book.

The story of the chicken and the egg, along with that of the tadpole and frog and caterpillar and butterfly, are told in this award winning picture book.

The pages are taken from paintings where you can see the brush-strokes. Each page has a cut out of the object of the page - the egg, the seed, the word.

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. (2008). First the Egg. New Milford, CT: Roaring Brook Press.