The Story Blanket by Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz, illustrated by Elena Odriozola.

Babba Zarrah tells children in her small village stories on her wonderful patchwork blanket.  When she notices that one of the children has a hole in her shoe, she decides to knit a pair of warm socks.  But with all of the snow, no one can bring yarn to the village.  Within a few sips of her tea, Babba Zarrah has figured out exactly what to do.  Each day she notices new uses for the yarn in her blanket.  Brightly colored knit gifts are showing up all over the village but no one knows where they are coming from.  But the children are noticing that they are sitting closer and closer together as the story blanket shrinks each day.  Until one day, the blanket is gone.  Then the villagers realize what has been happening and find their own way to show thanks.

The text in the book is thoroughly charming as are the illustrations.  The words don’t just tell the story, but also give small glimpses into the ways of the village without intruding in the tale at all.  The book reads smoothly and easily with just the right pacing.  The illustrations manage to be modern with a traditional twist.  A perfect accompaniment to this story which may or may not be set in the past.

A well-knitted story and one that will read aloud well, this book is appropriate for ages 4-6.

Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu

This wordless fantasy book will carry children away into a dream-like world filled with luscious foliage and flowers, silly monkeys, huge bubbles and flying dolphins.  From the very first pages where the two children are planting watermelon seeds and hat seeds, children will know that something special and even strange is about to happen.  The story has no real foundation, drifting along from one lovely notion to the next, lingering and then moving on again. 

Unlike some dreamlike story books, there is no point at which there is any sense of danger in the story at all.  Readers are held in a magical space, guided by a huge white bear from one fascination to the next.  Nyeu’s illustrations are very strong and bold, with bright colors and beautiful ideas.  One of my favorite sections is where the bear blows leaves into the air and they become sea creatures.  Dolphins, octopus, seals, schools of small fish float through the air and eventually up into outer space.  Her illustrations exude a childlike simplicity, heightened by a real sense of style.

Recommended for a cuddle with a child who has a great imagination and can "read" this wordless book in their own way.  It will not work well with a group because of both its intimate nature and lack of text.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Art’s Supplies by Chris Tougas

Enter the wild and wonderful world of Art’s room, filled with paint, markers, chalk, and anything else you would need to have a party with a pad of paper.  This book captures the joy of creation, the fun of art and the release of imagination.  As Art uses each type of art supply, they comment with silly puns and laugh-out-loud jokes, adding to the hilarity and pace of the book.

Tougas’ art is wonderful, each page capturing the medium being used and the differing feel and techniques.  Children will immediately be drawn in to the explosion of art and inspired to create their own messy party.

Recommended not only to encourage art in children, but also to instruct on the variety of media that can be used.  An inspiring and fun look at the diversity of art.

Mattland by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert, art by Dusan Petricic.

Matt has moved three times with his family and now they have moved to a place filled with mud and water and no trees.  So when Matt picks up a stick, he is tempted to break it or throw it, but instead he starts to draw in the mud.  And as he draws, a world appears before him filled with lakes, rivers, mountains of rock, roads and houses.  The closed doors of the other houses begin to open and an outsider joins him in building his land.  When disaster strikes the tiny world, Matt’s own world has expanded enough for lots of hands to be there to help.

This book is about the power of creativity, the strength of play and the formation of connections without trying.  The illustrations are a large part of the book with their skillful and restrained use of color to show where imagination has touched the dirt and changed it.  The text is wonderfully bristly at the beginning, filled with Matt’s anxiety.  By the end, it has transformed to be eager and free-flowing.  The amount of text on each page make this book appeal to a slightly older audience, so it will be appreciated by elementary art classes as well as teachers and librarians looking to get children thinking creatively.

Highly recommended, this book will get you feeling free and easy too as you survey what may be your muddy and rocky place and find imaginative ways to make it magical and friendly.

All Aboard for Dreamland by Melanie Harby, illustrated by Geraldo Valerio.

I’m not a huge fan of bedtime books.  So often they are saccharine sweet and make me twitchy.  They also tend to get my sons begging me to read the book with the monster on the cover.  This one, however, works.  Follow the whistle down the rainbow railroad tracks, hear the chugga-chugga, the clickety-clack, the bumpety bump.  Get caught up in the jaunty rhythm and rhyme, and then just allow yourself to drift as the train reaches that final hill and slows way down.

The illustrations are quirky rather than sweet, filled with pink elephants, wide grins, a lots of railroad tracks.  The pace of the book is what does the trick, starting fast and vibrant and skillfully slowing at the end. 

Guaranteed yawns and sleepy eye rubbing for toddlers and preschoolers.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, pictures by Dan Hanna.

Mr. Fish swims around with a permanent scowl on his face.  He won’t even try to cheer up because that just the way he is.  He doesn’t know how to be anything but dreary and dull and dour.  As fish after fish try to cheer him up, he just becomes more and more dismal until he is upside down flopped on a rock at the bottom of the sea.  That is where a beautiful silver fish finds him and kisses him.  And suddenly his attitude changes.

Readers will be drawn into the book by the rollicking rhyme and the repetition, making this the perfect book to share with toddlers and preschoolers.  Even now, weeks after reading it my sons launch into the chorus from the book with great gusto on the spur of the moment.  The illustrations will project well to a room and by reading it to a class you will bring them out of their own pout-pouts.

Recommended for toddler story times, this book may not be deep literature, but it is great fun.

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman by Mac Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Ross MacDonald.

This is the gripping and fascinating true story of the creation of Superman.  Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were high school students in Cleveland during the Depression.  Jerry was a writer, who loved adventure and science fiction.  Joe loved to draw and illustrated many of Jerry’s stories.  Together in 1934, they created Superman, a hero who was also as shy and reserved as both of them were.  For three years they tried to sell Superman to publishers.  It wasn’t until they found one interested in publishing comic books rather than comic strips that they got a deal.  The comics debuted in 1938 and were an instant success. 

And the end of the book, you will find a historical piece on the copyright issues of Superman which is equally interesting as the book itself.  This picture book will be of interest to all children who enjoy superhero stories.  Its vintage feel captures the time period perfectly while the comics and action themselves make it a thrill visually.  The text is just the right length to tell the full story, but not too much to overwhelm young readers or listeners.  The book reads aloud well and could be used in elementary classes about writing and creativity.

A great example of a nonfiction picture book recommended for ages 6-8, this book will fly off your shelves.  Up up and away!

The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman.

Ahlberg and Ingman have created a picture book that is both charming and inventive.  It is the story of a lonely pencil who decides to start drawing and creates its own world, filled with a boy, a dog, a cat, a paintbrush and much more.  Trouble comes when the pencil creates an eraser who starts to take control.  But clever thinking and quick drawing bring the story back full circle.

The humorous bits are what make this book work so well.  There are small running gags, silly moments and other funny bits that add up to a book that will get giggles but has a lot of depth as well.  Ingman’s illustrations are integral to the book.  They create this world of creativity on both the subtle black-and-white spreads and those wild with color.  The partnership of author and illustrator here is so successful that it is hard to imagine the book was done by two different people. 

Highly recommended for art classes or classes doing drawing, this is also a great book for craft days at libraries or to share with your own little artist.

Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex.

I’ve always been fond of parodies and nothing needs a silly send-up as much as the classic and very sweet Goodnight Moon.  The illustrations perfectly mirror those of the original, except this time there are spiders, bats, gravestones and skulls in the "cold gray tomb."  The tone is kept exactly the same as is the rhythm and rhyme.  The same flat style of sentence adds to the fun.

This book will appeal primarily to those who were read the original book as a bedtime story and are now much to old for that.  It is appropriate for younger ages, but early elementary children will enjoy the parody the most.  Recommended for a Halloween read aloud for ages 6-8.