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 …
I picked up “The Blue Whale” by Jenni Desmond because I was curious to read the story behind this beautiful and intriguing cover. And the book does begin as a story with “Once upon a time, a child took a book from a shelf and started to read.” This …
When we’re little, there’s an awful lot of stuff that’s bigger than we are. And it makes for a very scary world for a little boy named Toby. Toby is quite afraid of heights, and carries a parachute which “was most useful for getting out of bed in the morning, for …
This book just looks magical. The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield looks and reads like a classic fairy tale and I find that really refreshing and appealing. I want to dive into David Litchfield’s gorgeous, light emitting paintings. This beautiful book reminds me of many of the classic picture books of yore ( …
Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine written by Gloria Whelan (in hilarious rhyming text) and illustrated (fantastically) by Nancy Carpenter. Look at this cover??? Absolutely LOVED it! So much so that I was almost afraid to open it and be disappointed. And then, the end pages…