When My Baby Dreams, by Adele Enerson

Fantastic picture book! This is so cute, and totally inspiring. I am not sure if my baby loves it as much as I do, but it was so much fun to try to replicate one of the pictures from the book- if she ever falls asleep again, I might try some others!

I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen

This was such a funny picture book! The simple but effective illustrations were wonderful, and the cheeky bear was very naughty in the end, but understandably!

Zen Shorts, by Juhn Muth

I took this out because I was curious about the titles that President Obama recently bought on a shopping trip, and thought it might be interesting to see what he would buy as a picture book. I did not like it.
It was basically zen koans, told as childrens' stories, with odd illustrations, and it left me annoyed.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, by Jerry Pinkney

Just about the most beautiful childrens' book I have ever seen.

The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown

Very, very interesting children's picture book. I wish I remembered where I saw the review for this that made me request it, but I don't.

Anyway, young Liam discovers an abandoned stretch of elevated train tracks that has become colonized by weeds, mosses, and seedlings, and begins to care for it as a garden. The garden and Liam become more and more curious and adventurous, and eventually kind of take over the city.

It's so interesting to read/see something that presents urban decay as a growth opportunity, but in light of what is happening in Detroit, Flint, and damnit, Providence, etc, it deserves some serious consideration. Obvs, the inspiration was New York's Highline tracks, which have been transformed into a deservedly famous urban wild garden thing, but the whole thing left me a little unsettled, in a strange way...

Ayn Rand would not approve, let me say that much. Where is John Galt?

The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson

Caldecott winner picture book. Aimed at very very young ones.

How I Learned Geography, by Uri Shulevitz

Now, this was a stunner. After reading A Couple of Boys Have The Best Week Ever, I was despairing, and on the verge of having a small meltdown.
This has saved me.
This was beautiful, from start to finish.
I think this might be more for the adults than for the children, to be honest, but having been the sister of a boy who loved maps , and then marrying a man who loves maps, I think I might have found the perfect book should either of them ever have to do a storytime.
The way the writer described how the maps opened the world was so simple and so perfect.
This was lovely.

A Couple of Boys Have The Best Week Ever, by Marla Frazee

Caldecott honor book, and I couldn't stand it. I felt it was disrespectful (get off my lawn!!!) and although the last bits were lovely, I felt it pandered so to the Diary of A Wimpy Kid demographic that it made it unlikeable, let alone lovable.
It brought tears to my eyes- yes. For all the wrong reasons- yes.

Beginning Reader Books

Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag was great, Amelia Bedelia was daft, and Cam Jansen was just terrible.

Community Helpers Picture Books

Community Helpers Picture Books

To Dance, by Siena Siegel

Graphic novel (graphic memoir?) about studying to be a ballerina, and somewhat abrubtly stopping at 18.

A Story for Bear, by Dennis Hasely (Author) and Jim La Marche (Illustrator)

This children's picture book had more wistful longing and love and mystery and sense of place and character than 99% of the fiction I've read all year. It is magical without being cheesy, enchanting without being saccharine, and incredibly moving, for reasons I don't understand.

Bear... oh, see, I can't even write about this book without getting all teary. This is the best love letter I have ever seen to the written word, and every single exquisite illustration only adds to the story.

I can't possibly express how wonderful I found this book to be.

A Story For Bear

Quality: 10 Popularity: 10 Overall: 20

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick

I did not get this book, let me say that first.

It is endless, and for every page of whispery thin text, there are about 5 or so pages of drawings of wide eyed French youth in the 1930's, running around train stations fixing clocks and making small automata out of toy store gears, and everyone is a theif, and it all turns out to be about movies.

It was, for me, a ghastly experience.

I do not like graphic novels.

How the heck do you translate this nonsense into Braille?

And what a waste of time it felt like.

I don't understand the huge, high praise for this publication, why it won awards, why its Amazon rating is 4 1/2 stars after 95 reviews. I don't understand it at all.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Quality: 3 Popularity: 7 Overall: 10 YA