Category Archives: Picture Books

And May the Best Animal Win!

Posted on October 17, 2025 | Comments Off on And May the Best Animal Win!

This book, Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!, and The Elephant’s Airplane and Other Machines are peas in a pod. In all of them, various animals want something (a prize-winning project for a festival, a house, a means of transportation). In all of them, there really isn’t a story beyond that. The pleasure in these books (and there is a lot of it!) is all in the highly-detailed illustrations by Doris Susan Smith, whose artwork is very special. Of the three books, this was the least popular in our house and is the least essential. But it is still well worth having, again for the art alone.

Author: Anne-Marie Dalmais

Illustrator: Doris Susan Smith

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Corduroy

Posted on October 16, 2025 | Comments Off on Corduroy

This is another classic. Corduroy, a stuffed bear with a missing button, tries without success to find his button in a very large department store. Ultimately, he finds a home and a friend (and learns that being perfect isn’t required for either of those things to happen).

A sweet book with lovely soft pictures. And just look at the fashion choices!

Author: Don Freeman

Illustrator: Don Freeman

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Posted in Board Books, Picture Books

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Boot & Shoe

Posted on October 15, 2025 | Comments Off on Boot & Shoe

Two dog brothers and best friends do lots of things together (eating, sleeping, peeing), but one is a front porch kind of dog and the other is a back porch kind of dog. When a squirrel “gets all up in [their] business,” things get confused and the dogs miss each other terribly until the very funny happy ending.

This one was especially popular with my youngest. And I always enjoy the work of Marla Frazee, who has a sub-specialty in showing things in motion (as she did in Roller Coaster and Santa Claus the World’s Number One Toy Expert) and outdoes herself here. (Speaking of motion, is it possible that one of Those Darn Squirrels! is making a guest appearance here?)

Author: Marla Frazee

Illustrator: Marla Frazee

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Slip the Otter Finds a Home

Posted on October 14, 2025 | Comments Off on Slip the Otter Finds a Home

This is a book about helping children adjust to moving, like The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day, but a bit more subtle. Slip’s otter family can’t find enough food, so they have to move to a new home, and Slip is sad. But when Slip finds a friend (and her family builds a new mud slide), she starts to feel better.

When I was small, I loved to look at the pictures in this book. And otters were very popular here when the boys were small. We liked visiting them at the zoo and we liked reading about them, in A Lot of Otters, Do Unto Otters, and this book too.

Author: Olena Kassian

Illustrator: Olena Kassian

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And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

Posted on October 13, 2025 | Comments Off on And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

This book is such fun. The words nearly sing as you read them aloud. The illustrations leap off the page. It’s hard to believe that this was Dr. Seuss’ first book–he really had his voice fully in place from the beginning. And I wish that was all I had to say, but this one has a serious caveat.

As mentioned, this book was Seuss’ first. That means it is close to 100 years old. And it shows–it is dated to the point where Seuss edited it in 1978 and his estate took it out of print altogether in 2021 (long after my boys’ picture book days were past). The copy that we have is an edited one, as was the copy I read as a child. I’ve looked up the original version now and… yikes. And knowing Dr. Seuss’ background creating political cartoons during World War II targeting Japanese Americans does not help matters at all. I’m honestly not sure I would read it to a child today. Read this one to yourself first before sharing it.

Author: Dr. Seuss

Illustrator: Dr. Seuss

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Here Comes Santa Cat

Posted on October 10, 2025 | Comments Off on Here Comes Santa Cat

Cat is concerned that he isn’t going to be getting a present from Santa this year (see the image below to understand why). But he has a plan–he can be Santa. And then he can give himself a present! Much like Mo Willems’ Pigeon, Cat is not one to let logic or plausibility stand in the path of a self-serving plan. Unlike that series, Cat doesn’t have a “voice” of his own–the reader (or audience) has to create a dialogue based on visual cues and signs. My youngest especially loved this one–it still gets read at Christmas time. (I understand that this book is part of a series, but we never picked up the other books.)

Author: Deborah Underwood

Illustrator: Claudia Rueda

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Posted on October 9, 2025 | Comments Off on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Here’s the tart palate cleanser for all those (truly beloved!) sweet and cozy Christmas books. Who among us doesn’t sometimes feel a bit out of step, contrary, grinch-ish? And while I’m no Boris Karloff (the 1966 Grinch television special he narrated may be the best Christmas special ever–the live action version is a travesty), Dr. Seuss books are a pure pleasure to read aloud.

Author: Dr. Seuss

Illustrator: Dr. Seuss

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We Were Tired of Living in a House

Posted on January 18, 2019 | Comments Off on We Were Tired of Living in a House

This book, like Where the Wild Things Are and Andrew Henry’s Meadow, is a fantasy of escape and return. However, while the children here do go a bit wild, unlike Max they are startlingly domestic (much like Andrew Henry, who also originated with Ms. Burn). Rather than having wild rumpuses, they create one cozy new home after another, enjoying each in turn until problems arises and they move on. The pictures are very detailed and add to the sense of exploration (we have the original version and have not seen the updated edition with new illustrations, although the cover looks quite simplistic). And the text is a pleasure to read aloud.

Author: Liesel Moak Skorpen
Illustrator: Doris Burn

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I Stink!

Posted on January 15, 2019 | Comments Off on I Stink!

A rollicking rhyming scheme, a rough and ready narrator (a New York City trash truck), and plenty of gross-out humor make this lots of fun for the younger set. There’s even an ABC interlude (from Apple cores to Zipped-up ziti with zucchini). This was very popular for a long time at our house.

Author: Kate McMullan
Illustrator: Jim McMullan

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Who Has What? All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies

Posted on January 15, 2019 | Comments Off on Who Has What? All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies

It is really, really challenging to find an age-appropriate book for young kids that want to know what naked bodies look like for boys and girls. But the search was worth it; this book is perfect. Your curious kid gets to see what everything is and what everything does using the real terminology in a completely straightforward and appropriate way. Even the family dogs are included in the explanations, adding to the beautifully matter-of-fact tone.

Author: Robie H. Harris
Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott

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Posted in Non-fiction, Picture Books

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