Know a youngster who doesn’t want to go to bed at a reasonable hour? Maybe the little procrastinator just needs the right bedtime read to make those eyelids close. Some perfect picture books guaranteed to cause slumber are out just in time for summer and those long daylight-filled evenings. Continue reading
“Whale in a Fishbowl” By Troy Howell and Richard Jones is a picture book that children will love. They will intuitively know that whales don’t belong in fishbowls. They will know that Wednesday, the whale who lives in a huge fishbowl in the middle of the busy city certainly does not belong there.
And Wednesday knows that — deep down. But the fishbowl is the only home she has ever known. When she occasionally catches a glimpse of the sea, her heart leaps, although she doesn’t know why. She just leaps to see that tiny speck of blue.
There are a bunch of wonderful picture book that would be perfect for reading to your favorite child this summer. Here are five of them. The child will love them and so will the reader.
A picture book that will cheer up any prospective birthday boy or girl is “My Red Velvet Cape” by fabulous author/illustrator Dana Sullivan. There is so much to love about Sullivan’s newest picture book including the misunderstanding (Sullivan loves misunderstandings, just check out “Ozzie and the Art Contest“), the incredibly hip mom and grandma (go hip grandmas!), the bright and colorful watercolor and ink illustrations, and the sweet ending.
In “Ozzie and the Art Contest,” Dana Sullivan teaches young readers some very important life lessons. Ozzie, a bright blue dog, is very excited when his teacher announces that there will be an art contest. Ozzie loves to draw and he is sure he will win.
He quickly reads the instructions on the way home and uses his skills in folding paper to make a paper airplane out of the instruction sheet. Once home, he begins to draw his picture of a goat. His good friend agrees to model for the picture. Ozzie just knows he’ll win the contest — he knows a lot about goats!
What do you get when an award-winning author and an award-winning author/illustrator collaborate on a book about love? You get “Love” by Newbery Medal-winning Matt de la Peña and New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long.
“Can I Be Your Dog?” by Troy Cummings is a book that should be on the shelf of every family who loves dogs. It’s an extremely touching story of a homeless dog who wants nothing more than a home of his own.
He decides to try to find a home by writing letters to the people who live on his street, Butternut Street. He starts with the nicest house on the street and explains in his missive that he is potty trained and has his own squeaky bone. He even offers to get along with their cat. They respond:
“Dear Arfy,
We’re so sorry, but you cannot be our dog. Our cat is, um, allergic to dogs. Good luck in your search!
The Honeywells”
“The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig” by Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter and Caprice Crane is illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld. It’s a lovely picture book about a pig who grew and grew — not only in size, but also in the hearts of those who love her.
Esther’s story is incredible. Adopted as a mini-piglet, she was nothing of the kind. An acquaintance called her adopters, two of the authors of the picture book, and said that she had a five-pound micro-piglet but couldn’t care for it. She explained that the piglet shouldn’t grow to more than 70 pounds. The adopters thought Esther would be like a third dog, but when they took Esther to the vet, he broke the news that Esther wasn’t a micro-piglet, but rather a commercial pig. The woman who gave them Esther wouldn’t answer messages.
It’s funny, it’s informative, it’s clever, and the illustrations are great. “Read the Book, Lemmings!” by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Zachariah OHora is a must-have for toddlers and kids through third grade. The adults reading the book will love it, too!
The book begins with some facts about lemmings:
“lemmings: small, fuzzy, illiterate rodents who share the icy North with arctic foxes and polar bears. People used to think lemmings jumped off cliffs. Now we know they don’t.”
With the increase in diversity in children’s books, there is a plethora of wonderful books for children of all ages that are perfect picks for February and the celebration of Black History.
“Dream Big Dreams: Photographs from Barack Obama’s Inspiring and Historic 
Presidency” by Pete Souza, the former chief official White House photographer, is a beautiful book filled with touching and insightful images of a president who could be solemn when the occasion called for it, caring when compassion was needed, loving with his family, and fun when children were involved. The images show a man who wasn’t afraid to be real with people and to show them that he cared. The photographs show a man who radiates confidence and charm. It’s a really lovely book. (Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers)
It’s not too late to get the perfect Valentine’s Day present for your favorite picture book reader. Here are ten picture-perfect choices.
Dog lovers who are book lovers know that almost no one writes nonfiction dog books 
like Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, author of “Made for Each Other: Why Dogs and People Are Perfect Partners.” This small picture book is aimed at older picture book readers, although younger readers will love the beautiful photographs by William Muñoz. The book is filled with all the nonfiction features teachers love to teach, like Contents (Part One: A Perfect Partnership; Part Two: The Science of Love; and Part Three: Sharing Our Lives), Resources for Young Readers (books, websites and videos with more information), Source Notes and Additional Sources (a bibliography of resources used for the information in the book), and an Index. Within the book’s pages is information ranging from how dogs differ from wolves and how they may have parted ways in the past to how dogs help us now by being our best friends, guiding us, protecting us, providing us with therapy, and just loving us. It’s a beautiful, completely true love story. (Crown Books for Young Readers)
Three wonderful picture books — each in its own way celebrating nature, the joys of a pet, and the companionship of animals.
“Please Please the Bees” by Gerald Kelley is the story of Benedict the bear. He loves honey and gets three jars of honey delivered to his lovely home each morning by bees. He eats his toast with honey, drinks his tea with extra honey, practices his violin, bakes his honey cake, knits, runs errands, and drinks one last cup of honey tea before bed. It’s a very fulfilling life until one morning there is no honey. The bees are on strike, and Benedict learns that sometimes, nature — and bees — need a hand. Clever illustrations provide hints of what is to come, with Benedict living in a house where the plants have all died. Benedict and the young readers of this story learn about what bees need to produce honey, and all live happily ever after. The story is charming, humorous, and important. The illustrations are lovely in watercolor and other media, and the fact that the texture of the watercolor paper is used for much of the white space keeps the illustrations rich and engaging.