Sally Anne Garland’s 2025 picture book Spooky is good, focused, unified, simple picture book. I use those terms because some picture books are quite complicated […]
Joan in the Cone
Children’s books always have two audiences: adults and kids. They often have more demands on them than adult fiction. A popular novel can be fun […]
Iktomi and the Ducks
A few weeks ago I read my first Paul Goble book, Iktomi and the Berries. I stumbled across Goble when looking for other things, but […]
Gwen Tells Tales
Gwen Tells Tales (2021) is an odd and uneven book. The subtitle is “When It’s Hard to Tell the Truth,” and it is part of […]
The Weather’s Bet
The Weather’s Bet is another of those picture books that is wonderful in its way, but where I’m not sure it is a picture book […]
The Crocodile Under the Bed
I’m apparently mapping a spectrum of Judith Kerr books. At one end you’ve got you’ve got The Tiger Who Came to Tea: lovely, magical, ideal. […]
Ten Little Rabbits
Reading Maurice Sendak’s Ten Little Rabbits was an odd experience. I read it eagerly, because, you know, Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are. Pure greatness […]
Mog the Forgetful Cat
Recently I read The Tiger Who Came to Tea. It was the first time–yes, I’m decades late to the party–and I loved it. This started […]
Maddi’s Fridge
I salute Lois Brandt for Maddi’s Fridge. This 2014 picture book manages to do two contradictory things at once: it tells an engaging story and […]
When You Go to Dragon School
Chelsea M. Campbell’s 2025 picture book When You Go to Dragon School is a pleasant book. It has a simple premise: the regular school is […]