Picture Books

Let’s Count Goats!

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Let’s Count Goats! by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jan Thomas

A manic and very funny counting book that will have readers laughing at the antics of the goats that they are trying to count.  Can you count the single seaside goat?  How about the goats buzzing by in airplanes?  How about the loud trumpet goats?  Or the ones in the snow?  The talents of Mem Fox and Jan Thomas are delightfully displayed here in one of the top counting books of the year.

Some counting books suffer from trying to maintain counting on each and every page.  Part of the success of this book is that Fox has written other silly goats into the book that do not needed to be counted.  So the book has a nice flow that really works well.  It feels much more like a picture book than a counting book.  Fox’s rhymes are simple, offering Thomas a grand place to build from with her illustrations.  Thomas takes innocent words and transforms them into scenes where her goats munch on the props.  The book is filled with goats doing all sorts of things, drawn in Thomas’ wonderfully simple style that children will immediately relate to. 

Highly recommended, this is a counting book that could be used very successfully in a story time.  The illustrations are large enough to work with a group and the text is readable as well.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

Also reviewed by A Year of Reading.

That’s Not Funny

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That’s Not Funny! by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds

When Hyena put a banana peel in Giraffe’s path, he set off a chain of events that he found extremely funny.  When Giraffe slips on the banana peel, he knocked into a tree.  Which in turn caused a coconut to fall onto Hippo’s head.  Hyena kept laughing and laughing, even as Hippo stumbled around very dizzy and stepped on Snake.  Snake bit Ostrich, Ostrich kicked Rhino, and it went on and on.  Until finally Hyena was laughing so hard that he stepped on his own banana peel, hit the same tree, bonked himself on the head with a coconut and fell into a pile of Elephant’s poo!  Now it was the turn of all of the other animals to laugh at Hyena who doesn’t see what was so funny.  Action-filled and bright-colored, this book has huge child-appeal right down to the stinky ending.

Willis may let the gag run on a little long, but her timing is great.  The book offers a huge dose of humor for the preschool set, designed with plenty of sight gags to keep them eagerly listening.  Reynolds’ illustrations are large, bright and very child-friendly.  His illustrations add to the hilarity of the book nicely.

This book is one that children will enjoy again and again.  It will also make a star of a book for a story time and with so many different animals in it, it will fit easily into different programs.  Appropriate for 3-5 year olds.

Reviewed from copy received from Andersen Press USA.

What the Ladybug Heard

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What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Lydia Monks

All of the animals on the farm make their own type of noise, except for the little ladybug.  She never says anything at all.  That is until she hears two robbers planning how to steal the farm’s prize cow.  They know just where each animal on the farm sits and what noises they make so that they can find their way in the dark without alerting the farmer.  So the ladybug heads to the farm, tells the animals about the robbers, and comes up with a cunning plan to foil them.  Told in a wonderful romping rhyme and rhythm, this book has immediate appeal.

Donaldson has a great ear for rhythm and rhyme, never pushing it too far to become annoying.  She weaves in humor effortlessly.  The premise for the book is very clever, mixing animal noises with a barnyard mystery and a silent witness.  Monks’ illustrations are done in mixed media which makes them visually interesting.  The painted sheep has a wooly coat that is a photograph of wool.  The bushes around the farm are either photographs of leaves or fabric.  There is just enough of the mixed media to still have a very cohesive feel. 

Get this into your farm storytime and also for any insect unit or story time.  It is a winner of a read, just be prepared for plenty of animal noises and ask the audience to help!  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Also reviewed by Pied Piper Picks.

Bridget’s Beret:

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Bridget’s Beret by Tom Lichtenheld

Bridget loved to draw as much as other kids love ice cream.  She had a lot of art supplies, but her most important one was her beret that made her feel like a real artist.  But one day, her beret was caught by the wind and flew away.  Bridget searched for her beret, reported it missing and even offered a reward for its safe return, but it was not found.  Unfortunately, along with her beret, Bridget lost her ability to do art.  She did try other hats to see if they would inspire her, but none of them did.   Bridget was left unable to do art at all; she had artist block.  A few days later, her sister asked her to make a sign for their lemonade stand.  Bridget tried to refuse, but was reminded that it was a sign, not art.  So she started making a sign.  And once she started, she couldn’t stop.  She made sign after sign, several in the styles of famous artists.  Bridget was back to being an artist, beret or no.

The text here is laugh-out-loud funny at times with a charming wit.  There are several series of illustrations that really add humor, including the series of images of Bridget trying different hats.  Her paintings that reference more famous works are also very funny.  Nicely, there is an appendix that shows the original works.  Bridget is an engaging character, reacting to the loss of her beloved hat in an honest and childlike way.   Watching a young person genuinely work through a crisis is great, as is the fact that she did it herself without adults offering the solution. 

A clever take on artist block and the power of art, this book will appeal to adults as well as children.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

The Trucker

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The Trucker by Barbara Samuels

Ever since he was very little, Leo was a trucker.  He loved trucks, playing with them, reading books about them, and was distracted by all of the trucks outside when he went on a walk with his mother.  Unfortunately, while he was looking at a toy fire truck in a store window, his mother was looking at something else.  And that’s how they got a cat, that they named Lola.  Though Leo’s mother got Lola a brush, a cat bed, and a toy, she was much more interested in Leo and his trucks.  Leo ignored her and tried to play without her.   Until one day when the toy fire trucks were trying to stop a blaze, Lola jumped in and saved Leo’s stuffed bunny.  Leo made Lola his deputy and from then on out they were truckers together.

The mix of pet and trucks here works well.  It is a truck book that has more of a story than most, giving lots of colorful truck eye-candy but also mixing in the frustration of having a bothersome pet.  Samuels nicely mixes in visual humor (even a scene in the bathroom for gleeful giggles) with the humor of the text.  Her art is bright and vibrant, set against white backgrounds that really make it pop visually. 

This is a truck book that can be happily used at a story time, something that can be hard to find!  Happily it can be enjoyed by children who are not truck-crazy as well.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar Straus Giroux.

Beauty and the Beast: Popping Up Near You

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Beauty & the Beast by Robert Sabuda

Sabuda has outdone himself with this pop-up rendition of the classic Beauty and the Beast story.  Each double-page spread opens with a large pop-up that is amazing in its complexity.  Also on each page behind smaller pages, the story is told through text and smaller pop-ups that may be more diminutive but are just as lovely as the larger ones.  Sabuda’s retelling of the tale reads aloud well, offering a sturdy structure to build from.  While it may not be particularly poetic in tone, the text will carry readers happily from one gorgeous illustration to the next. 

There are some particularly wonderful moments in the book.  In the first set of pages, Sabuda has rigged long hallways that the reader stretches out and directly up to the eye.  The halls are detailed and even populated, giving a real depth and wonder to the Beast’s home.  Another winning moment is when the Beast transforms back into a man.  Sabuda does not let that happen off-page, instead turning it into a small and magical moment that readers can relish again and again.

Highly recommended, this is a book for home use rather than library use.  A perfection of a present, give this to any Beauties or Beasts in your life.  Appropriate for gentle five-year-olds through adults.

Get a great sense of the book from this video:

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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Lots of Dots: Plenty of Colorful Fun

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Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier

This bright and fanciful book takes dots to a new level, celebrating all of the ways that dots and circles are in our life.  There are dots that are buttons, dots as flowers, dots as scoops of ice cream!  All in bright, vivacious colors that add to the joyful nature of this picture book.  The rhyming text is very simple, allowing the emphasis to be on the illustrations that are colorful, graphic and very fun.  This is a book that will have readers and listeners smiling at every page.

Frazier’s illustrations here have a great style that is very modern and still warm and friendly.  The humans in the illustrations are shown as a single color, eliminating any racial context and creating a book that is welcoming for any child.  Done in crisp white with bright colors, the pages almost shout with energy. 

Perfect for sharing with a group of toddlers or preschoolers, this book would  make a great jumping off point for crafts using round stickers or stamps.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Pirate of Kindergarten

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The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Lynne Avril

Ginny could see two of everything.  She loved Reading Circle at school, but it was hard to get there because she saw double the number of chairs, so she always ran into some of them.  To read her own book, Ginny had to put her nose down close to the pages and even then she saw two of each of the words.  She could tighten her brain to remember to read each word only once, but even then she quietly said them a second time to herself.  Squinting at the pages helped, but her teacher asked her not to.  She had trouble cutting with scissors and ended up with a rabbit with three ears.  Everything changed the day that vision screening happened at school.  When it was Ginny’s turn to read from the chart, she read each letter twice.  The nurse there told her that she had to go to a doctor to see what could be done for her double vision.  And that’s how with an eye patch, Ginny became a pirate at Kindergarten. 

Lyon’s writing has a natural ease about it combined with a skillful pacing.  Readers are shown the way that Ginny sees the world through tangible examples that young children will understand and relate to easily.  The amount of text per page is just right for sharing with preschoolers and Kindergarteners.  Avril’s illustrations are bright and vibrant.  The pages filled with double vision allow readers to see through Ginny’s eyes.  The confusion of the jumble of chairs, the struggle with lines and scissors, and the doubling of words when she reads.  These are all demonstrated directly on the page. 

A cheery view of a child who sees the world differently than most, this book is appropriate for ages 4-6. 

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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Just One Bite: A Big Gulp of Fun Science

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Just One Bite by Lola Schaefer, illustrated by Geoff Waring

Explore the world of eleven animals through how much they can eat in one bite.  Filled with fascinating facts, this book offers just enough information in the body of the book to entice readers to read the longer versions in the back.  Readers will marvel at the tiny amount of food a worm eats, the amazing tongue of the giraffe that eases around thorns, and the tremendous size of a whale’s meal.  This is a book that makes science friendly and great fun. 

Cleverly written, this book will appeal to a wide range of ages.  Thanks to the simple text and large bright illustrations, preschoolers will enjoy the book, and older children will also find plenty of depth to keep their interest in the final pages.  Schaefer’s simple text is welcoming and warm, inviting readers to wonder along with her about these creatures and their meals.  Waring’s illustrations are large, expansive and charmingly simple.  His use of bright colored backgrounds make the illustrations really pop.

With its large size, this book will shout to readers to pick it up and take a look.  It is a book that is sure to find its way easily into children’s hands, but it will also be welcome in story times as a great nonfiction pick for reading aloud.  Appropriate for ages 3-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.