illustrated book | Page 5 of 7

Southwest Sunrise gorgeously and softly teaches while entertaining

Southwest Sunrise is a sneaky illustrated book. At first impression, young readers (or those poetry adverse people like me…) might look at the text by Nikki Grimes and dismiss it as a poetry book with pictures. However, once it’s read to them (or when they read it….like me), they’ll realize that it’s a fabulous story about a young boy who is moving to New Mexico from New York. Is it a stealth poetry attack that you won’t mind because of the art by Wendell Minor? Or is it an illustrated story about a young kid adapting to an entirely new way of living-with poetic text to add some literary clues to add more insight?

This is a travelogue for ages 4 and up

Prairie Days is picture perfect summer (or anytime) illustrated reading

Perfect is a relative thing for an illustrated book. It requires a balance of content, art, pacing, text and unquantifiable characteristics that are combined into a book that reaches audiences regardless of where they live or what they do. Prairie Days is that sort of book. Think of a hot, summer day on the prairie and this book scorches its way into your memory. It all but leaves wet footprints in your house from the pond, with just a couple traces of dirt and rogue straws of hay strewn about the area where kids have tracked them in.

You don’t need to love the prairie to love this illustrated book

Lion Needs A Haircut, a great dads and kids story

Kids and haircuts go together like love and marriage. Now tweak the words a bit, put a Rat Pack crooner behind the singing and you’ve got the theme to Married With Children. Lion Needs A Haircut by author/illustrator Hyewon Yum is an illustrated book that looks at a father and son who have more than one thing in common. The story is one that parents to any child who is close to four years old will understand very well.

Haircuts-and other horror stories for 2 year-old kids

The Boreal Forest is a perfect mid-grade biome book

In theory, I know where the Boreal Forest is. For us it’s similar to The Isle of Man; both of which are such perfectly named places that they’d only exist in some middle earth novel or on the outskirts of my geography knowledge. In this case, The Boreal Forest, A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome is a children’s illustrated book that effortlessly blends art and entertainment into a book that nature kids will relish and casual kidlit readers will enjoy.

The illustrated book as educational tool is a great thing

You Matter, aptly named and needed anytime

With the exception of holiday books, authors probably can’t assign when their books come out. Keep in mind I have very little idea exactly how the publishing industry works in regards to its relationship with their creators. I doubt that’s it’s some literary cabal that intentionally pulls the strings of interest for readers around the globe. Prove me wrong; show me the secret handshake or the watermark that’s discretely placed in every book. Realizing that is not the case, it’s all the more amazing that You Matter by author/artist Christian Robinson has been released now. It’s a timeless book that would feel at home if it were released in 1968, 1984, 2002 or 2011, but is all the more relevant now.

Come for the art, stay for the message-enjoy it all

A Way With Wild Things is much more than a garden book

A Way With Wild Things is not a children’s illustrated book that’s specifically for spring. It may seem that way, what with the countless flowers, insects, animals and overall happiness. Instead, the book gives the kids who don’t seek the spotlight their time in the limelight, even if they don’t think that they deserve it. It does this with a combination of seek-and-find, a child’s natural curiosity and her grandmother’s 100^th birthday. How does a girl who is usually more comfortable act when there’s a giant party happening in the park?

When is a book about a gardening girl not about a gardening girl?

The Girl and the Dinosaur, a soft, dreamy good-night book

The moon sucks you in. Then, when you’re looking at the moon you pay attention to the red-haired girl who is sitting on the back of a dinosaur. It’s then when notice the tagline for The Girl and the Dinosaur, believe in the impossible. The only thing that’s missing from the book’s cover is a message from Steven Spielberg saying that he’ll be turning it into a major motion picture.

The Girl and the dinosaur is great good-night reading

One More Hug, feelings of déjà vu-both good and bad

One More Hug is a children’s illustrated book by Megan Alexander with illustrations by Hiroe Nakata. It tells the story that most parents have when they look at their child and can see them grow up right before their eyes. One moment you’re assuring them that the wind blowing outside is nothing to worry about and then before you know it you’re watching them drive off down the street on the way to college. This is a feeling that parents see in their mind’s eye or when they’re looking back at photographs that seem like they were taken yesterday.

One More Hug. cute premise, but nothing you haven’t seen before