Three blue and pink aliens show up in the middle of the night with a broken vehicle. When asked who they are, they respond, “We are DEFINITELY human.” Despite their strange appearance and comical behaviors, the Li family and their town welcome the visitors and help them make repairs. A sotry about kindness that's funny and not sentimental. Great illustrations.
When there are five children in your family, everything must be shared five ways—whether it's an apple, hand-me-down clothes or time on the new scooter. But as much as this is about the complexities and challenges of sharing, it's also about the value and meaning of family. When things go wrong and when things go right, they're there for you and can't wait to hear about what happened. Kim deftly illustrates the experience of sharing, and humor is sprinkled throughout, sometimes making me laugh out loud. I loved it.
3. The Man Who Didn’t Like Animals by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
“There once was a man who loved his tidy home and who didn’t like animals.” A cat shows up and he tells the cat to go away, but the cat doesn’t. Turns out they have a fair amount in common and the man decides the cat isn’t so bad. Soon all sorts of animals are showing up and staying, despite the initial “go away.” Soon the question arises, can one man have too many animals? This is funny with great, animated illustrations by master illustrator LeUyen Pham.
4. The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Michael Please
When Rene saved and worked to open her cafe, she envisioned delectable masterpieces for refined palates, not "a bag of bats that smells like farts" for ogres. But an ogre is her only customer. Rene is ready to give up on her dream, but her waiter Glumfoot has an idea: rearrange Rene's beautiful cheese tart to look like a bat and truffle stew to look like slugs. These are the best bats and slugs the ogre's ever had. Together Glumfoot and Rene work together in a cafe packed with all sorts of magical creatures who can't wait to eat Rene's delicious and disgusting food. The words rhyme and the illustrations are cinematic and lush and hilariously disgusting.
5. The Pelican Can by Toni Yuly
Who can see it's time to eat? The pelican can! The pelican can! I love the simplicity of this book. Through questions all answered with "the pelican can," we see a baby pelican follow mama pelican as she flies and dives and scoops up some fish for dinner. The illustrations are equally simple, featuring a torn paper background and black line drawings and silhouettes. The "pelican can" chorus is great fun. And it works for mealtime and bedtime, as the story ends with the sun setting.
6. Mabel Wants a Friend by Ariel Bernstein, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal
"Mabel always got what she wanted." This is easy to accomplish when you choose to spend all your time alone and willingly trick and even steal to get what you want. But when Mabel accidentally makes a friend, she kind of likes it. Her friend helps her keep her selfish impulses in check until Mabel declares, "If you really want to be friends you'll let me have whatever I want." Of course this isn't how friendship works, and Mabel goes back to spending a lot of time alone, which maybe isn't as great as she previously thought. Wonderful kid-friendly illustrations accompany this story of the value of friends and helping others over getting everything you want.
7. Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo
When Jun moves to America, she knows very little English. Making friends is hard without the ability to communicate, and she feels so alone…until she opens her lunchbox, and the tastes and smells bring to her mind vivid memories of family and friends from home. Each bite radiates hearts and sparks joy. When approached by a classmate, she offers her a dumpling, and soon she and others are participating in a culinary cultural exchange and she starts making friends. Though mostly wordless, her emotions come through clearly in the beautiful illustrations. The end of the book features a diagram of what is in her lunchbox (bao, dumplings, bok choy, etc).
8. Two Little Red Mittens by Kirin Hayashi, illustrated by Chiaki Okada, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa
This book feels old fashioned in the best possible way. It’s cozy and warm even though it’s about a mitten getting lost in the snowy forest. One mitten misses the other until it learns how it’s been lovingly used by the animals in the forest. The illustrations are lovely. It all has a gentle feeling to it.
9. Animals Go Vroom! By Abi Cushman
At first glance, this looks like a traditional sound and die cut book. “Roar goes the…” and then you see a tiger revealed through a cleverly placed hole. “Tiger” your young one might reply. But, no. Turn the page and you’ll see the roaring is coming from a truck rumbling up the road. Most of the animal sounds in this book come from vehicles. And if you look closely, you’ll see storylines emerge from page to page. There’s the pigeon with her own child that goes on a picnic. There’s the box of nails that punctures the snake’s car tire. There’s the sea lion painting portraits of animals and then trying to sell them to his subjects (and the purchased painting with its new owner). This is a lot of fun.
10. The Painter and the President by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Stacy Innerst
Character portraits meet painted portraits in this lighthearted look at a moment in history. Gilbert Stuart painted one of the most famous portraits of President George Washington. Stuart liked to chat with his subjects, getting to know them and their personalities, but President Washington was a hard nut to crack--until that is, Stuart discovered Washington's love of horses. Stacy Innerst's illustrations are wonderful. Sarah Albee tells the story in a way that teaches history, without the reader even being aware of it.
Honorable mention:
Heatwave by Lauren Redniss
Lucky Duck by Greg Pizzoli
The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook by Emma Bland Smith, illustrated by Susan Reagan
The First Week of School by Drew Beckmeyer
Pig Town Party by Lian Cho
Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime by Eija Sumner, illustrated by Nici Gregory
No comments:
Post a Comment