Artie and Julie by Chih-Yuan Chen.

The author of the great Guji Guji returns with a very clever picture book that follows the stories of Artie and Julie.  Artie is a lion who is taught by his family to walk without making a sound, roar loudly, and to eat rabbits out on the grasslands.  Julie is a rabbit who is taught by her father to listen carefully, run quickly and jump high to escape from lions.  The book is split in two, literally, with Artie’s story on top and Julie’s below.  Each story can be read on its own until they merge, or readers can read both stories in tandem.  The illustrations bridge the cut pages, turning into complete page illustrations when matching pages are open. 

The playful physical design of the book is far more than just a design trick.  It allows readers to create their own experience in the book, then start again and read it an entirely different way.  This sense of free will is such an integral part of the story itself that the design is really the theme of the book brought into reality.  The book’s themes of family allegiance, stereotypes and prejudice are softened by the use of animals as characters, but still stand strong.

The book is a joy to share with children.  It may take some wrestling with pages to use it with a group of children, but a small group would work very well.  It is a great picture book to start discussions even with young children.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr.

Cat and Mouse play together, wrestling over a paper umbrella.  The text follows a nursery rhyme, changing into Hickory Dickory Dock, and then returning to the original rhyme.  As Mouse gets the best of Cat time and again, will they end up as enemies or friends?

The lively illustrations bring the old-fashioned text to vibrant life.  Both animals are captured with attention to minute details, but then are made wide-eyed and action filled to great comic effect.  Families who have kittens or cats will recognize Cat’s movements and body postures as being purely feline.  Mouse is much more human than Cat.

Enjoyable, laugh-out-loud nursery rhyme fun.  This book will work well for groups of children, and is ideal for use in story times or classroom units.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Mimi by Carol Baicker-McKee.

Mimi is a little pig who has two great friends, her stuffed animal Bunny and her roly-poly bug Frank.  When she tries to share some of her breakfast banana with Frank, he isn’t there!  Mimi goes on with her day, heading to the library for story time, playing at the park, taking a nap, waking up cranky, blowing bubbles to improve her mood, and finally heading for bed.  Through all of that, there is no sign of Frank anywhere.  Until Mimi climbs into bed and feels something strange crawling on her!

The illustrations are what got me to pick up this book.  Baicker-McKee combines fabric, clay and paint to create three dimensional tableaus that are eye-catching and interesting.  Her text is equally successful and child-friendly with every-day events at the center of the story.  The quiet tone of the text perfectly suits the style of the illustrations.  Both parents and children will know that they are in a soft, sweet childhood story here.

While the story is sweet, there are no saccharine overtones here.  Just a gentle story that toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy and relate to.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Brava, Strega Nona! A Heartwarming Pop-up Book by Tomie dePaola, Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.

While the subtitle claims to be a heartwarming pop-up book, I would describe it as a heart-stopping pop-up book.  Some of the pages fly open to form such complex and amazing structures that I found myself simply sitting and closing and opening the book again and again to see the pop-up work. 

The combination of dePaola’s simple illustrations and these amazing pop-ups is utterly charming.  Though the pop-ups are complex but stay in tune with the style of the illustrations, embracing the feel of Strega Nona entirely. 

This is a winner of a pop-up book.  My favorite spread is the grape arbor which pops to life before your eyes.  Though I must say that the one that got a gasp out of me is the noodles spilling – literally- right into the reader’s face.  Enjoyable and great fun, this of course will not survive classroom use or public checkouts in a library.  But what a treat to pull out for special storytimes.