Who’s Hiding by Satoru Onishi.

This wonderfully fresh and friendly “I Spy” type book offers a chance for the youngest readers to hunt and find.  At first the book has you finding the animal that is hiding, or crying, or angry, but then at the end of the book it changes to be more challenging when all you are given are the animals’ eyes and you have to remember which order they were presented in.

The artwork is lots of fun with animals who look like Fisher Price beasts but with a lot more character.  The colors are bright, the premise is clever, and it is a book that both adults and children will enjoy.

This is a lap book to share with any preschooler.  It iwll not project well to a group of children.  Read to individually, children will love the colors and animals.

The Magic Horse of Han Gan by Jiang Hong Chen.

Oh how I love this book!  It is an amazing story combined with amazing art work that mesh together to create a whole that is well, amazing!  (I promise to come up with another adjective in the next paragraph.)

Han Gan was a poor child who loved art but could not afford the supplies.  When a famous artist sees him sketching horses in the sand, he offers to fund his supplies.  Han Gan drew all day long, loving especially to draw horses.  Han Gan’s drawings grew so very lifelike that they almost seemed ready to jump right off the pages.  When Han Gan is approached to really create horses that come to life, he puts his heart and soul into it and finally does just that, creating a horse that didn’t need sustenance or rest. 

This book is a perfect melding of art and subject with homage being paid to traditional Chinese art and a traditional Chinese story.  It is illustrated using the same techniques that Han Gan himself used.  As a reader, I wasn’t aware of that until I read the final page, but instinctively I knew that something special had been created here that truly drew upon the art of this legendary person.

This is a picture book for elementary age children.  I would recommend it for art classes, units on legends, or as a glimpse into China.  It is so very lovely that it needs to be recommended to children who love art, horses, or just a great read.

One Naked Baby: counting to ten and back again by Maggie Smith.

Toddler books can either be frighteningly saccharine or a joyous romp.  This one is firmly in the second category but remains sweet.  The book starts with one naked baby dashing down the hall.  It counts along as the child is dressed, fed, and then out the door into the yard.  Once outside it counts back down to one and a return to the bath. 

This is a bright, friendly book that celebrates toddler loves like goldfish crackers, feathers, sticks and of course, puddles and mud.  It is a perfect fit for a spring toddler storytime.  Makes me want spring to come so that I can stomp in some puddles myself.

Whose Chick Are You? by Nancy Tafuri.

I am a fan of Tafuri who manages to create picture books for the smallest children without being saccharine or condescending.  This book is about a gray chick that doesn’t seem to belong to anyone.  But the chick’s parents know and come immediately to find him once he calls. 

The text is large and simple, filled with animal noises that toddlers and preschoolers will love to help make.  The illustrations are large, bright, and child-friendly. 

Perfect for a read aloud for spring, ducks, birds, and many more.  Share this with a group of toddlers or with a beginning preschool class.  Tafuri scores another “croo” with this one.

The Adventures of Max and Pinky:  Best Buds by Maxwell Eaton III.

Looking for a book that is pure silly fun?  Well, this is it.  Max is best friends with Pinky the pig.  They both love marshmallows but not sharing them.  They love doing things together, but sometimes do things separately.  And on Saturdays they have an adventure together.  When Max can’t find Pinky on Saturday, he searches for him everywhere until a polar bear reminds him where Pinky is sure to be. 

This is a silly, silly book.  There are running gags about marshmallows, great asides from animals in the background, and wonderfully funny scenarios like Pinky being abducted by evil bunny rabbits. 

This is a lap book because of the silliness and the asides, as well as the fact that children will want to hear it again and again.  The text is very brief but the humor makes it most appropriate for kindergarteners and older who will appreciate it most.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Let me add my voice to the large chorus of appreciative sounds from readers all over.  This book is something special.  Hugo is a boy who lives in the walls of a train station in Paris.  He keeps the intricate clocks of the station running ever since his father died and his uncle disappeared.  He can’t cash his uncle’s paychecks, so he is forced to steal from throughout the train station.  Hugo’s world revolves around an automaton that his father discovered in a museum attic.  Hugo discovered the automaton half-destroyed after a fire at the museum that killed his father.  Hugo devotes all of his extra time restoring the automaton to see what message it holds.  As he transverses the station, he encounters a grumpy elderly toy seller who creates intricate toys and a girl his age who loves books and wants to know Hugo’s secrets. 

This book is an amazing combination of art and story, where the art sets a tone and tells a large part of the story.  The art is black-and-white and done with such skill that it is very lifelike and beautiful.  The art is as much a part of the story as the words themselves.  It is impossible to think about this book without the illustrations which are done so vividly that my memory has changed them into full color almost photographic images.

The book is large at over 500 pages, but reads very quickly and is made accessible by the amount of white space as well as the illustrations which are primarily done on double-page spreads.  The language of the writing is fresh and makes the reading quick and fun.  Readers will be caught up in the mystery of the automaton and his creator. 

The entire book, story and images, are a complete work of art.  I look forward to more books by this author with high hopes that he will continue to illustrate them this richly.  Recommended for readers who enjoy graphic novels, boys who may not usually warm to full novels, and children who still want some pictures in their books.  But also warmly recommended to all readers of all ages who want a glimpse of art combined with some magic all its own.

Surrender by Sonya Hartnett.

If you are looking for a dark, deep, disturbing read for teens, look no further.  Hartnett’s latest is a psychological study of a dying boy.  Gabriel is slowly dying and remembers his strange childhood growing up in a small town but being shunned by the majority of the community because of his strange parents.  He lives under their cruelty and does not find freedom until he meets Finnegan, who volunteers to be the bad boy while Gabriel strives to be perfectly good.  Finnegan is a wild boy, who has no family and lives on his own in the forest.  He begins to exact revenge on people who are mean to Gabriel and over the course of several years burns down buildings, sets fire to cars, and eliminates the welcome sign to the town.  He is never caught even though the police and Gabriel’s father, the town attorney, devote years to it.  The relationship between the two boys is always a struggle, and never a real friendship though they are like two sides of a coin.

Psychological thrillers are always hard to review, because they rely on the surprises and twists to be thrillers.  I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot and lose some of the tortured thrill of the novel.  The book reveals its secrets slowly and revels in the twists and turns of the plot.  It is a book that drags the reader into a web and leaves them there, fighting to figure out what is really happening.  I can’t think of another book that does this so very well.

I do need to mention that the writing is exquisite.  Hartnett uses words to hide, reveal, puzzle and shock.  She is a master.  Her art moves this book to another level.  It is a horror of a novel, but written with beauty and art.  A true conundrum that really functions well. 

Recommend this to good readers who enjoy horror or thrillers.  The cover is wonderful and will lead the right readers straight to the book. 

Babies in the Bayou by Jim Arnosky.

This book is filled with evocative illustrations of bayou animals.  The illustrations are deep colored, naturally accurate, and reveal the hidden life of the bayou.  They are combined with text that is simple but also has hidden depths.  Together the words and pictures form a perfect match that will be welcoming to small children.

I appreciated the fact that the book comes full circle, demonstrating the cycle of nature in a subtle way without being heavy handed.  I also enjoyed the various perspectives of the illustrations which often reveal the relationship between two species without words. 

The book is simply lovely.  Don’t save it for a swamp unit, instead share this one whenever you do a story time on alligators, ducks, or turtles.  It is too lovely not to share.

Duck Duck Goose by Tad Hills.

Oh what joy!  A new Duck & Goose book!  I was very partial to the first in the series, and consider this a wonderful sequel.  Duck and Goose are still friends, but when a new duckling, Thistle, is added to the mix the threesome just doesn’t work.  Goose tries to play along with Thistle’s competitive games, but eventually heads off alone to look for butterflies.  It isn’t much later that Duck also gives up playing with Thistle and looks for Goose.  In the end, the two of them discover that they enjoy quiet times together after Thistle wins one last game.

The illustrations are as nice as the first, switching between white backgrounds and lush greenery.  The wording is equally child-friendly and made to read aloud. 

Perfect for a preschool storytime on ducks or friendship, I would also use this for a filler in any story time at all.  It is a winner!