The Last Laugh by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey is a nearly wordless book that succeeds completely.  The book is filled with cartoon panels, so it is a graphic novel for the youngest of beginning readers.  It is the story of a mean snake who likes to go up behind other animals and hiss to scare them.  Then he accidentally swallows a duck and gets his comeupance.  The book is dedicated “to bullies everywhere.” 

This isn’t a good book for storytimes, but it is the perfect one to hand to children who are just starting to read or want to try to read on their own.  It has such a sense of humor and the pictures are so bright and silly that the panels carry the story even if they aren’t able to read the words.  The

A Korean children’s book, Magic Bottles, published by J’aimimage, has won the Ragazzi Award at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair.  The article goes on to talk about another incredible children’s book, The Cloud Bread, that also impressed everyone at the Fair.