Where and what can a home be? Some of Ms. Ellis’ answers are conventional (for example, a nest), others are pure fantasy (see the picture above). Her drawings are deceptively-simple and peaceful–perfect for before bed. But what gives the boys the most pleasure is that every double-page spread in this book contains a dove. Sometimes the dove is easy to spot. Sometimes it is very well hidden. The boys always love finding it.
Author: Carson Ellis
Illustrator: Carson Ellis
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Architecture, bedtime, Carson Ellis, city, Diverse Books, fairy tale, France, Home, Japan, Kenya, Mythology, Norse, Russia, Slovakia, USA
A little dragon is very excited about his favorite bedtime story. So excited that whenever his sleepy mama finishes it he has the same request: “Again!” When she finally falls asleep, things get surprisingly… heated.
The boys love yelling along with the little dragon (to the point where my husband came racing in recently wondering what was wrong). Channeling the dragon mother’s renditions of the ever-evolving (and shrinking) bedtime story is lots of fun, and there is a physical (die-cut) surprise at the end of the book that never fails to amuse us all.
Author: Emily Gravett
Illustrator: Emily Gravett
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Again!, Animals, bedtime, Emily Gravett, food, fractured fairy tale
This book purports to be written by a pigeon. And it is about architecture. (Let us accept from the beginning that it is deeply odd.) It is also jam packed with real information; while my oldest has read most (all?) of it, I have not read very much of it aloud. Instead, I’ve focused on the names of the buildings (human and pigeon) and the eye-catching pictures, which had the unexpected result of my youngest (already a huge pigeon fan) becoming sure he spoke fluent pigeon. About six months ago, he frequently approached pigeons asking them excitedly if the were going to see the Great Worm (also known as the Great Wall of China) and was very disappointed when they flew away without responding.
Author: Speck Lee Tailfeather (aided by Stella “Pigeon Whisperer” Gurney)
Illustrator: Natsko Seki
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Posted in Non-fiction, Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Architecture, Architecture According to Pigeons, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, England, France, History, India, Italy, Japan, Mo Willems, Natsko Seki, Speck Lee Tailfeather, Stella Gurney, USA