I picked up the 2024 picture book When Creature Met Creature because the author (John Agard) recently won the CLiPPA (Centre for Literary in Primary […]
The Couch in the Yard
2025 picture book The Couch in the Yard is rare in several ways. First, it focuses on a rural American setting. Not an idealized farm, […]
Hey Diddle Diddle (board book)
Since I’m working on a picture book built around reworking a classic song, I’m reading picture books built around songs. Recently I read Eve Bunting’s […]
Stop That Mop!
Each year since 2004, the American Library Association gives the The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award to American books for beginning readers. ALA names both the […]
Black Diamond Kings
Charles R. Smith Jr.’s 2025 picture book Black Diamond Kings is a multi-faceted pleasure. For a lifelong baseball fan like myself, the book was a […]
My Friend the Paintbrush
I enjoyed Marcus Pfister’s picture book (2025 in Switzerland, 2026 in English) My Friend the Paintbrush: The Colorful World of Marcus Pfister a lot more […]
Hey Diddle Diddle
The nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” is hundreds of years old. Many sources say two hundred years. Some say four hundred (with possible precursors being […]
Babies on the Bus
Karen Katz’s 2011 picture book Babies on the Bus has a very simple premise: rework the children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus” to include […]
The Pine Cone’s Secret
Hannah Barnaby’s 2025 picture book The Pine Cone’s Secret: A Life Cycle Poem is useful and pleasant. It educates young readers about nature by following […]
Chicka Chicka I Love You
I picked up Chicka Chicka I Love You, a 2025 picture book, out of curiosity. I had loved the classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom–and who […]