It’s raining, it’s pouring in Sam Usher’s glorious new picture book appropriately titled “Rain”. I had it in the back of my mind for a while to post about it just because I’m dying to scream out to all of you, “HOW DOES SOMEONE PAINT WATER LIKE THAT?????”, but I …
Blue Ethel took almost ten years to become a book. Someone asked me if that’s because I put it away for a while to work on other things? No, not really. Ethel was just a little pokey in her journey to find the right ‘owner’. She finally found her person …
To be read as though you have the worst cold ever: Bob, Not Bob! written by Liz Garton Scanlon & Audrey Vernick is illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators, Matthew Cordell. The premise is that poor Little Louie has the worst cold ever. “Today, Little Louie’s nose was clogged. …
Niko Draws a Feeling, written by Bob Raczka and beautifully illustrated by Simone Shin. How much of why I love this book is because I’m an artist? Because as an artist I have felt dear Niko’s frustration watching blank faces staring at my masterpieces? Well… perhaps a lot of it. But Niko …
When in doubt, ask a librarian. I was chatting with my librarian friend, Sara, and asking about book shapes. I’m at that beginning stage with my next picture book and I wanted her thoughts on how different shapes work on the shelf. Sara mentioned that small books often get pushed …
Why do we fall in love with one book and not another? It’s not all because “it’s well written”, or has “stunning illustrations”, or is “a brilliant new idea”. Sometimes it has to do with where we are in our lives. Like a song that expresses the perfect mood that you’re …
Reverse poem. Poem reverse. Owl Sees Owl, a beautiful picture book written by Laura Godwin and illustrated by Rob Dunlavey. I’d like to just give a little shout out and applause that the cover reads, “Laura Godwin & Rob Dunlavey”. Because this is a picture book perfection where the illustrations move …
I’m going to have to really watch autocorrect for this post. It keeps switching it to “wonderful” which it actually is! I know it’s winter. I know it’s cold. I know I should be doing a post about snow and ice and staying snuggly. It’s a little bit about winter…? …
Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer is breathtakingly beautiful and deceptively simple. “Daniel knows all the rocks, trees, and animals in the park.” So when he sees a poster advertising “Poetry in the Park” he sets out to ask his park friends, ‘what is poetry’? He soon learns that …
I found two picture books that I really like. And the funny thing is, they are both wordless and both use a limited color palette. First up is SPOT, THE CAT, by Henry Cole. This book has utterly delightful, very detailed, black and white line illustrations with all the charm and …