Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy.

One look at the googly-eyed astronauts on the cover of this book and you will be charmed.  So will children, guaranteed.  This book is a picture book handbook for future astronauts, covering the various types of astronauts, fitness tests, working well with others, practicing with machines used in space, weightlessness, food, and even space toilets.  Children will have many of their basic questions answered and some will be inspired to seek out more detailed books.  This is a friendly introduction to what being an astronaut is all about.

Written at exactly the right approachable level, the book offers details only when they will intrigue children.  For example, McCarthy wisely has a very detailed page on both the spacesuit and the space toilet.  At other times, McCarthy focuses on the variety of backgrounds and projects that astronauts are part of, opening children’s ideas about what an astronaut really does.  The illustrations are cartoony and friendly.  McCarthy has plenty of women and people of color throughout.

Recommended for all public libraries and for any 4-6 year old who thinks they want to be an astronaut when they grow up.

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

Alice is unable to sleep because her room isn’t fully blue.  Her mother tries to help, bringing in flowers with a sweet scent, a steaming cup of tea, a snuggly warm quilt, and a string of bells to ring in the breeze.  None of the items are blue, but they all help to greet the blue of the evening.  Finally, with the light off, Alice is in her blue filled room and all of the gentle motherly touches are tinted to a blue too.

This is a gentle bedtime book that is soothing, loving and beautiful.  Tusa’s art is whimsical and magical.  I love the details of all of the items in the bedroom, all adding together to warmth and home.  The warm yellow of the walls, will get children thinking immediately about how in the world this room is going to become blue.  The detail of each item being a different non-blue color is also a great part of the story.  Averbeck’s text has a flow that adds to the soothing gentleness of the entire book.  Until we are all washed away like Alice with the tide of deep blue.

One of the most evocative and charming bedtime tales I have seen in recent time, this book is a great bedtime read aloud.  The pictures are large enough to use it with a group, so this should become one of your standards for bedtime pajama story times at the library too.

Snoring Beauty by Bruce Hale, illustrated by Howard Fine.

Sleeping Beauty with a twist, this story still has a fuming fairy and curse.  But there the resemblance ends.  When the princess is grown, the curse goes into effect, turning her into a sleeping dragon.  This curse comes with a quince connection, making it all the harder to break.  Princes from all across the land come to try, each with a quince of some sort, but nothing works.  Until one day a young man enters the castle and manages to break the curse with just a kiss alone.  You’ll have to read the book to find out why it worked.

Hale has created a book that is very, very funny.  Each name of a royal figure is designed to make you giggle:  Queen Esophagus is married to King Gluteus.  Lovely.  The princess in her dragon form snores with a hysterical Squonnnnk-sheeeooo, a noise I dare you to do without drawing laughter from children.  The illustrations just add to the fun, with the lipstick endowed purple dragon and the wide range of fairies.  Many of the jokes will be too much for very small children, older elementary children will enjoy it most.

A great romp of fun.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

The Umbrella Queen by Shirin Yim Bridges, illustrations by Taeeun Yoo.

Noot grew up in a Thai village that specializes in making and painting umbrellas.  Her mother and the other women of the village decorated the umbrellas with paintings of flowers and butterflies.  Noot helped her father and grandmother make the umbrellas, but wanted most to help her mother paint them.  Noot’s mother let her help, having her copy her own design exactly.  Noot did so well that she was allowed to have her own workspace to decorate umbrellas.  She started out painting flowers and butterflies following her mother’s pattern, but then started painting playful elephants on the umbrellas.  When her parents discovered her changes, Noot was scolded.  The shop in town only sold the conventional designs. So Noot painted the butterflies and flowers, but in the evenings painted her own designs on small toy umbrellas that she used to decorate her windowsill.  Then one day it was announced that the King would be coming to select the Umbrella Queen.  All of the umbrellas were displayed for his consideration, but the ones that caught his eye were small and on a windowsill.

Offering a lovely glimpse of Thai village life intertwined with art, this book is a gentle look at duty and creativity.  The illustrations have a feeling of timelessness with their gold, red, turquoise and black colors that have a certain handmade aspect.  The text reads aloud easily and well, explaining for American children with just enough detail why Noot cannot choose what she paints on the umbrellas.  There is a flow between the illustrations and the text that makes it perfect for reading aloud as well.

Recommended for story times about rain, this umbrella story will bring a multicultural aspect to your next story time.  It’s bright colors will also be welcome next to the stormy clouds of gray and blue in most rain books. 

Beware of the Frog by William Bee.

Just the cover alone warns you that this is no ordinary picture book, so don’t be reading this to kids who freak out easily.  But kids who are a little older than most picture book readers and others who enjoy a good twist will completely adore this book.

Sweet Mrs. Collywobbles lives on the edge of a dark woods.  Luckily, she has something to protect her from the odd things that may live in the woods.  She has her pet frog.  What will happen when the Greedy Goblin who loves to steal things comes out of the woods and heads for Mrs. Collywobbles house?  Will he heed the Beware of the Frog sign on the gate? 

I couldn’t spoil this book for you.  You must head out and get a copy to see what happens next.  The illustrations have a vintage style to them with modern pops.  The voice of the book switches between near saccharine when talking about Mrs. Collywobbles to darkly sinister when creatures come out of the woods.  It is a delight to read aloud and work with those voices as well as the twists of the book. 

Highly recommended, this is the read-aloud of the year for me.  This is the book I would hand to those worried parents who have to read in front of second and third grade classrooms.  It will delight kids of that age, guaranteed.  Younger children will a taste for the strange will also enjoy it.