The Great Picture Book Culling Continues

Even though the read-a-thon is over, we've been continuing the Great Picture Book Culling - because it really needs to be done. But we're still getting things settled out betwen the new computer and the old (nearly dead) one. The old scanner won't work with the new computer, so that's kept my book reviews to a minimum. The pile on my desk of books to be blogged is getting pretty tall and wobbly, so yesterday I fired up the old computer, scanned a bunch of stuff, and moved it to the new computer with a flash drive. I'm not going to try to go through the whole pile today - I have enough books to choose from that I can actually break them up with some themes. Today - rhyming books!

First up is Tippintown by Calef Brown. Calef Brown burst on the scene when Daniel Pinkwater gave a glowing review to Polkabats and Octopus Slacks. I think (haven't read it in a while) that Polkabats was a collection of poems - unconnected by anything but their awesomeness. Tippintown is also a collection of poems, but the structure is a guided tour through this weird place with each poem telling you a bit about the sights. The poems are great, but I feel like they're really just there to support the fabulous paintings. This one is my favorite. . .What could be better than giant blue heads?

Well - there's always a a giant pie covered with buzzing flies. Thelonius Monster's Sky High Fly Pie by Judy Sierra is one of the best read-alouds ever. The meter is perfect, the story is funny, and the pictures (by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Koren) are terrific. I have never read this to a group of kids that didn't love it. This is a book that has to be read aloud to really appreciate it. Go ahead. . .The tiny play on The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly is a great touch. Seriously - get this book.

And finally, a bedtime story. Isn't it always nice to end with a bedtime story? I love the poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field, and this edition with art by Giselle Potter is simply lovely. The color palette is full of luscious dark velvety blues - perfect for such a soothing, sleepy rhyme. I love every spread, but I think this one is my favorite.I wish the color and texture of the painting came across better, but I'm afraid the gutter across the middle of the scan ruins things a bit. Hopefully you get the idea.

More to come soon. Happy reading!

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 21

Jo only read a couple of books last night - and we all agreed on the favorite. Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes is very cute. Lilly - the fabulous little mouse from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is back. Her teacher is getting married and she's sure she's going to be the flower girl. When her teacher gently tells her that his niece will be the flower girl, Lilly is devastated. . .but she accepts a role as "flower girl assistant." On the big day the flower girl freezes just as she's supposed to walk down the aisle.Lilly - of course - saves the day in a totally unexpected way. Very nice.

Jo also read I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Seuss writing as Theo LeSieg - the name he used for books he wrote but didn't illustrate. For a beginning reader, it was oddly difficult for Jo to read. I think it's because the language isn't really natural. There's a lot of repetition that she would try to condense into a more normal sentence, and she kept skipping right over lots of the little words that made the meter Seussian. Maybe we haven't read enough Seuss to her so she's not as familiar with the feel of the language in them?

Read-a-thon status so far: 72 books read
Books culled so far: 15

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The Great Picture Book Culling - Days 18, 19 and 20

Sorry for the bit of a backlog in the book reviewing - but we've been really busy here at Gratz Industries HQ. Alan gives all the great details (with pictures!) here so I'm going to jump right in to the last three days of reading.

Jo's favorite from all three days was Spring Cleaning - an old Sesame Street book by Pat Tornborg with art by Nancy W. Stevenson. It's classic Bert & Ernie. Bert is very efficiently going about their spring cleaning. Ernie has the best of intentions but he makes everything worse. As in this scene. . .
Ahhh - classic Sesame Street. Brings a smile to my face every time. :-)

My favorite of the bunch was Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems. What a great book! Leonardo really is a terrible monster - terrible at being a monster, that is. He just can't seem to scare anyone, though he tries very hard.
Sorry about the appaling quality of the scan. The book has a lovely, generous trim size, but I can't get a full page on my scanner bed and there was bad light leakage all around. But you get the idea. . .

So Leonardo is a terrible monster, but he ends up being a wonderful friend. Speaking of Sesame Street (I know I wasn't just speaking of Sesame Street, but it was the last book I talked about) Mo Willems used to be a writer on the show and he really does the nice-but-not-sappy thing to perfection. I just love all of his books.

Finally - Alan's favorite of the bunch was There's No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent. Another really fun book - so weird in its matter-of-factness about this dragon. Billy wakes up and finds a small dragon in his room. No big deal. His mom tells him there's no such thing as dragons - so he ignores it. All day long he and his mother climb around it - no big deal - while it grows bigger and bigger. Finally it runs down the road after a bread truck, taking the house with it.
And then the mailman chases the house - not because the dragon is freaky, or because he feels like he needs to save the family, but because he has mail to deliver. And the text on the next page is priceless.
"When Mr. Bixbee came home for lunch, the first thing he noticed was that the house was gone. Luckily, one of the neighbors was able to tell him which way it went." Great stuff.

Jo also read Angelina Ballerina's Invitation to the Ballet - her favorite Angelina Ballerina book because it has lots of envelopes inside the book filled with letters, cards, tickets, etc. Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin with art by Harry Bliss was lots of fun. Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert has gorgeous cut-paper art showing a cherry tree (and all the birds and bugs that inhabit it) throughout the year. And there's a cherry pie recipe!

Read-a-thon status so far: 70 books read
Books culled so far: 14

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 17

Day 17 was a fabulous day for art. Story too - but art takes center stage with these books.

Jo decided to read all the rest of the Henry books. (I blogged about Henry Hikes to Fitchburg here.) She and Alan both chose Henry Works as their favorite for the night. In Henry Works we see Henry start his day with a long walk in the woods - tending to the forest, helping friends - generally being part of a community. People think he's not doing anything, and his response is always, "I'm walking to work." When he gets home, he sits down and begins to write. Today I took a walk in the woods. . .

A beautiful story, beautifully told, with beautiful art. On this page Henry is giving some water to the plants along the path. Click on the picture to make it bigger.Do you see the ladybugs? How about the deer peeking around the tree? Jo always notices these tiny details and D.B. Johnson's paintings are full of them.

My favorite of the night was Henry Builds a Cabin, in which Henry builds his cabin at Walden. Henry's friends keep coming by while he works and tell him that his cabin is "too small to eat in," "too dark to read in," etc. Henry's response is always "It's bigger than it looks" as he shows them the place outside the cabin where he will do all those things. At the end he says, "It's bigger than it looks. This is just the room I wear when it's raining."

We also see Henry use an old shed for lumber, old shingles for the walls and roof, and used windows for light. I love the message of simplicity, building just what you need and no more, reusing things that are still good. But it doesn't hit you over the head with it and the book never feels preachy. Johnson's text is just like his pictures - something grown-ups will appreciate but never forgetting that kids are the real audience for the book.
Again with the tiny details. Jo always notices the little snake in one corner, and she loves the bird stealing a bite of Henry's sandwich in the other. It's all just wonderful.

Jo also read Henry Climbs a Mountain - the last of the Henry books. This one is about the night he spent in jail.

And we ended the night with something completely different - Little Boy with a Big Horn by Jack Bechdolt with art by the incomparable Dan Yaccarino. I already blogged about this book here - but I neglected to include a scan of the art, so here is most of a two-page spread.sigh

I love his art.

Read-a-thon status so far: 64 books read
Books culled so far: 11

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 16

We are now officially more than halfway through Jo's read-a-thon month. So let's get right to the books, shall we?

Jo's favorite of the night was Max & Pinky: Best Buds by Maxwell Eaton III. This is my favorite Max & Pinky book too. And this is my absolute favorite page.When Jo was younger, every time we got to this page she would point and say, "Look! He's a dirty rotten liar! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Now she just laughs and laughs. I love it when we're reading a familiar book and she starts giggling in anticipation of turning to a favorite page.

Alan's favorite of the night (mine too) was Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems. This is a sequel to the equally fabulous Knuffle Bunny and I love, love, love this little scene where the two girls argue over the pronounciation of Knuffle. I can only imagine how many letters Mo Willems has received asking him which is the right way to say it. The answer is here - if you're curious.
I'm a big fan of all of Mo Willems's books but I especially love the art in the Knuffle Bunny books - a terrific combination of photography and drawings.

Jo also read Max by Bob Graham - a sweet story about a superhero baby who grows to become a superhero boy who protects small animals.

Read-a-thon status so far: 60 books read
Books culled so far: 11

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 15

Last night Alan got to read with Jo because I was over in the new house until late - scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees. You see - when the drywall guy said they would "clean up" after they were done with the job, it turns out he actually meant they would pick up all their tools and go - leaving piles of dust and clods of dripped mud on the floors. This, of course, was after they did their best to grind that fine dust into the surface of the floor. We rented a shop-vac to clean up and we mopped several times, but it just wasn't doing the job. So yesterday - after the heat had been on all day and the concrete slab was warmed up, I hit my knees and scrubbed one third of the floor. I'll do another third tomorrow. In the meantime - Alan picked THE BEST books to read with Jo. Truly - some of my all-time favorites - chosen because they were sitting in a pile in Alan's office where he could study them as perfect picture books.

Jo's favorite was Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. When I was a book buyer I kept telling HarperCollins that they really needed to do a board book edition of this fabulous book - it appeals to a huge range of ages, from toddlers through elementary school kids. It's just about perfect, with such a simple concept. Every time George's mother asks him to bark, the sound of another animal comes out. His Mom takes him to the vet, who pulls a series of ever-larger animals out of George.
When he pulls out an enormous cow they think the problem is taken care of - but there's one more awesome surprise at the end - guaranteed to make you laugh.

Alan's favorite of the night (and mine too) was Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson. This is a perfect picture book - perfect in every way. Henry (modeled on Henry David Thoreau) and his friend are planning to go to Fitchburg. Henry decides to walk. His friend will work to earn enough money to take the train. They'll see who gets there first.

There's a lovely parallel to how their days are spent. We see Henry's friend cleaning out a chicken house. . .. . . while Henry finds a bird's nest in the grass on the facing page.
The parallells continue on every spread and the art is simply fabulous. We hope to someday acquire an limited edition D.B. Johnson print - available here. That would be a real treasure.

Jo also readMax and Pinky: Superheroes by Maxwell Eaton III - loads of fun.And Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor with art by Robin Preiss Glasser. Alan cracked me up with his comment on this one. "I was surprised by how good Fancy Nancy was. She really captures the way six-year-olds think covering every inch of something with sparkly crap makes it look beautiful." That's Jo all the way!A great night for books!

Read-a-thon total so far: 57 books read
Books culled so far: 10

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 14

Another Charlie and Lola book! Huzzah! Last night Jo read I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed by Lauren Child. This book is made of awesome. Every page, every word, is just perfect and it is so much fun to read aloud. Now that Jo knows there's no such thing as 13:00 this is one of her favorite pages.
I especially love the ones where Lola has come up with yet another fabulous reason she can't get ready for bed. This is an "I don't wanna go to bed yet" that I never, ever get tired of. :-)

Note: I was just adding the links to this post and all I could find for this book were used copies. Can it possibly be out of print? It's still showing on the Candlewick website but Amazon doesn't carry it. I went ahead and linked to the used sellers for anyone who wants to buy it - but if this is actually out of print I'm going to be very, very sad. Every child should have this book.

Jo also read a picture book version of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown with art by Scott Nash. She loved the part where Stanley's parents put him in an envelope and mail him off to visit a friend in California - and she loved him being a surfboard for his friend to ride on.
Read-a-thon total so far: 53 books read
Books culled so far: 10

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 13

Finally! Jo finally got to a Charlie and Lola book in the teetering pile. Last night she read But Excuse Me That Is My Book - I would say it's my favorite but they are all equally awesome. I love the voices, the interplay between the brother and sister, the fun read-aloudability, and the terrific art by Lauren Child.

In this one, Charlie and Lola are visiting the library and Lola is upset because she can't find HER book - Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies - the one she checks out every time they go to the library. We all love this spread where Lola explains just why Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies is the best book ever.She loves the part where the beetles get stuck on their back with all their little legs waving around - just the scene that would appeal to Jo too. That image is echoed in this two-page spread later in the book, when Lola spots a girl checking out her book, but can't get out of the beanbag chair to stop her.

Pure genius! Charlie - the most amazingly patient older brother ever - eventually helps her find a new book that is just as good as her favorite, so all ends well. Jo and I both picked this one as our favorite of the night.

Alan was torn, but eventually chose Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott. I love all of his books, but I think this is my favorite. It's a great story with the perfect rhythm for reading aloud - and also terrific art. Look at the milky way in this scene!Jo also read Jazzy in the Jungle - a non-Maisy book by Lucy Cousins. The art is this book is terrific - and lots of fun for kids. All the pages are die-cut around the edges and have die-cut holes. The row of red flowers and the three palm fronds are the top edge of the next page to turn. When you turn the page that blue dot is revealed as a parrot's eyeball, and the back of that page builds a new composition on the left side of the book. It's really a marvel of engineering and so much fun for kids to pore over, but it's hard to describe - so just find a copy of the book and see for yourself.

Jo also read Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson with art by Jane Chapman - a lovely book, especially for springtime, and Alice the Fairy by David Shannon.

Read-a-thon total so far: 51 books read
Books culled so far: 9

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 12

Time to check in again on the Great Picture Book Culling - though not much culling is actually happening yet. I'm kind of dreading the point where we start to get down to the dregs of the collection - but we're still a long way from that happening.

Jo's favorite of last night was Please Do Not Open This Book! It's another "interactive book" - this one based on The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone with art by Mike Smollin. Despite what I said about "interactive" books here, this one is really a winner - maybe because the original book begs for just this kind of interaction. Every time I read the original to a group of kids I have them all begging for a turn at turning the page.

Here's Jo's favorite page - her favorite because it's a big gatefold page with the little note that says "Do NOT lift here!" That always leads to something like me saying, "Jo! Why are you reaching for the page? It says NOT to turn it." Jo giggles, I repeat and then she turns the page and laughs and laughs. It really is fun.

For those (understandably) worried about the durability of these books, I can say that the whole line of Bright and Early Playtime books from Random House - mostly inspired by Seuss and Eastman titles - are really rugged. If a kid wants to destroy them - they sure can. But they won't fall apart with normal use.

My favorite of the night was Time to Pee! by Mo Willems. I love Mo Willems and this is my favorite "potty book." Is it sad that I have a favorite potty book? I sold children's books for more than twenty years so sometimes I have a skewed sense of what's normal. . .

Anyway - I love the whole troop of mice that run throughout the book, holding up all the text on signs and banners. And this big group waiting in the bathroom with a tiny red carpet for the kid about to use the potty is just awesome. We didn't make a big deal about potty training Jo. When she turned three we said, "OK. You're three. Time to start wearing underwear." On the first day she went through every pair of underwear we had bought. 12 pairs - for the record. The next day she went through one pair. And that was pretty much it. So maybe that's why I find all the hoopla so amusing. Or maybe there's something wrong with me.

Alan's favorite of the night was How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. The art is definitely the star of this book. Just look at this! So those were our favorites of the night - but we read another good one too. Is This Maisy's House? is probably my favorite lift-the-flap Maisy book. Lucy Cousins is a master at using flaps that are actually relevant to the flow of the story. I like that.

Read-a-thon total so far: 46 books read

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 11

OK - I admit. Last night I cheated a bit. The day was getting away from us, Jo still needed dinner and a bath, and it was getting late. Instead of letting her choose the books - which can often be a lengthy process - I picked out the books for the evening while she was in the bath. I chose one all-time favorite, one that she loves but that rarely gets pulled off the shelf (probably because it's a skinny paperback and gets lost easily), and one that I love but couldn't remember ever reading to her. Jo's favorite of the night? The one she's never heard before - How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman.

This is a delightful book that has also suffered from being a skinny paperback in a bookcase full of mostly hardcovers. The heroine of the story wants to make an apple pie, but the market is closed. Of course, her solution is to travel around the world gathering the necessary ingredients. She gets semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France (French chickens lay the most elegant eggs, don't you know?) and then goes to Sri Lanka for a bit of bark from the kurundu tree (to grate into cinnamon, of course). That was Jo's favorite spread. She also goes to Jamaica for sugar cane, Vermont for apples, etc. It's a really fun read and has all the expected bonus stuff - lovely map endpapers and a recipe for apple pie.

Alan's favorite was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka with amazing art by Lane Smith. It feels kind of ridiculous to even say anything about this book because I assume everyone's already familiar with it, but just in case. . .

This is the story of the three little pigs - told from the wolf's point of view. It's made of awesome. The story is perfect. The art is perfect. I would put this in my Top Ten Picture Books Ever Written list - if I were making such a list. Hmmm. . . maybe I will make such a list after we finish our big project. Something to think about. Anyway - if you don't have this book you should get it - whether you have kids or not. And get a hardcover so it doesn't get lost on the shelves.
This is Jo's favorite picture - she loves the bunny ears hanging out of the sandwich.

And now on to my favorite of the night - Halibut Jackson by David Lucas. This is another book that would have to find a place in my Top Ten list - but I don't think a lot of people have heard of it. It's about a man named Halibut Jackson (isn't that the best name?) who is so shy he makes special camouflaged suits to wear any time he goes out in public - an apple-printed suit to the market, a book-printed suit to the library, a flower-printed suit to the park - you get the idea. It's fun to find Halibut hidden in these spreads.

One day he gets an invitation to a birthday party for the queen. He'd love to see the palace, but he's too shy to go to parties. But then he has an idea. He makes a suit of silver and gold, covered in jewels, so he'll blend in with the palace and nobody will see him. Unfortunately for him - it's a garden party! Everyone notices him. And everyone wants a suit like his!Halibut ends up opening a shop selling the most fabulous suits and hats you can imagine - and making lots of friends. I love, love, love this book.

Read-a-thon total so far: 42 books read

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 10

Jo read some great ones last night. Her favorite? Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. It's a cute one about little white mice who play in some paint and learn - quite by accident - about mixing colors. Fun!
Alan's favorite was Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller. If you think a book about geography and the states would be dry and boring - think again. This is laugh-out-loud funny with terrific art and lots of great little jokes. The states decide they're bored with living in the same place all the time and they decide to move around.Needless to say, things don't work out and they end up moving back, but not before they all have some adventures. We used to read this book all the time and Jo was able to identify most of the states by their shapes. Her favorite was Oklahoma. This one is definitely on our must-have list - check it out if you're not already familiar with it!

And my favorite of the night - Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. This is an absolutely beautiful book that takes you through the life cycle of the butterfly with stunning cut-paper art. The weird-looking lines in the art are actually specially-cut pages. So you get beautiful art and a nice story - but also extra pages with more butterfly facts, info on planting a butterfly garden, and identification of all the varieties of butterflies and flowers in the book. Very nice!

Jo also read Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox with art by Judy Horacek. She especially likes the pictures in this one of all the sheep doing funny things.

And finally, we got Once Upon a Potty by Alona Frankel. This is a very good potty book and I read it to Jo a lot when she was two. Now she's six and a book that repeatedly uses the words Wee-Wee and Poo-Poo sends her into uncontrollable gales of laughter. It took us forever to get through this very short book. I voted to cull it, but Jo and Alan outvoted me. Oh well. . .

Read-a-thon total so far: 39 books read

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 9

Just two books last night - but they were good ones.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara with art by G. Brian Karas is a book that should be in every elementary classroom - and every teacher should use it as a model for teaching. Mr. Tiffin brings three pumpkins to class - one large, one medium, one small. The kids have to guess how many seeds each will have, then they scoop them out and count them to find out. They get messy. . .Charlie - the smallest child in the class, is delighted to find that the smallest pumpkin has the most seeds. This book ties to math as the kids estimate, then count by twos, fives, and tens, science as they find out what really determines how many seeds will be in a pumpkin, and social issues too. It's just an all-around good book and one that Jo was thrilled to read.

Jo also read Olivia by Ian Falconer. Of all the Olivia books, the art in this one is my favorite. And I especially love this spread.Jo had to ask what on earth she's trying on in the bottom left corner because she's never seen pantyhose. This makes me absurdly happy - hahahahaha!

Read-a-thon total so far: 34 books

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 8

Jo picked some good ones today. Her favorite? Froggy Gets Dressedby Jonathan London with art by Frank Remkiewicz. It was a perfect choice for the snow day today - it's snowing and Froggy wakes up and wants to go outside to play. But he keeps forgetting different parts of his clothes. He forgets his pants and his underwear so this one has extra giggles.
She also chose one of my favorites - The Dotby Peter Reynolds. I just love this book about creativity. Vashti thinks she can't draw, but she has an awesome art teacher who gives her just the right nudge to show her otherwise.
Jo and I did a fun project the summer before last where we made lots of dots using all kinds of techniques.

We also got another Angelina Ballerina and another Maisy tonight - Angelina Star of the Show and Maisy Makes Lemonade. A good night.

Read-a-thon total so far: 32 books read

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 7

I hate to say this, but last night's reading choices were. . . uninspiring. We were running late so I think Jo just grabbed the top handful of books off the teetering pile stacked in front of the full bookcase in her room. Have I mentioned we also have four boxes of picture books unopened since our last move almost two years ago? Anyway. . .

Jo "read" Red, Stop! Green, Go! by P.D. Eastman. I use quotation marks because this is actually "an interactive book about colors based on Go, Dog. Go!" That means there was very little text and lots of flaps and wheels. As novelty books go, this is actually a good one. In one of my favorite spreads you turn the wheel and the dogs spin behind a clear blue film so they change color as they enter the water. Cool! So I recommend the book, but not so much for reading aloud. Interactive books are fun to play with, boring to listen to.

Jo also read another Maisy book - this time it was Maisy's Bedtimeby Lucy Cousins. I just love her art - and any book showing underpants gets a giggle in this house.

Then came a couple of problem books. Jo read Whale Snow by Debby Dahl Edwardson with art by Annie Patterson. It's a nice story about an Inupiaq community celebrating a successful whale hunt, but the book is liberally sprinkled with Inupiaq words, making it nearly impossible for Jo to read it. By the end of the book she was having trouble with words that she already knows because she was in "sound it out" mode - and that only works on about half the English language. Frustrating! This is definitely a book for grown-ups to read aloud.

Finally, Jo started one other book that was so boring she quit half way through and asked if she could just make up her own story to go with the pictures - because she liked the pictures a lot. Hmmm. . .

Hopefully we'll get some better choices tonight.

Read-a-thon total so far: 28 books read

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 6

Jo's favorite of the night was The Mystery - a Max & Pinky book by Maxwell Eaton III. All of us love all of the Max & Pinky books. In this one, Max, Pinky & friends all paint the barn red. The next morning they wake to find that it's been repainted pink! Every day they repaint the barn red, and every night someone repaints it another color. It's a fun little mystery and the book is full of visual jokes and great interplay between the text and the picture - like this one of Jo's favorite spreads.

I love The Mystery, but my favorite of the night was 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill with art by Nancy Carpenter. Warning! If you think naughty children should get their comeuppance by the end of the story, this is NOT the book for you. This little girl is full of creative ideas that torment her little brother and drive her mother mad - and she's thoroughly unrepentant at the end. She's Ramona and Eloise and Olivia and Junie B. Jones all rolled into one and I love her. She has an odd fixation on beavers (she chooses to write her George Washington report on beavers, she tells her class she owns 100 beavers, etc.) that culminates in this lovely spread near the end of the story.
Jo also read. . .

Unique Monique by Maria Rousaki with art by Polina Papanikolaou - a very cute book about a girl trying to look unique in spite of her school uniform

Angelina on Stage by Katharine Holabird with art by Helen Craig - one of many Angelina Ballerina books we have

Maisy Cleans Up by Lucy Cousins. The Maisy books are really for a much younger audience, and I thought Jo might vote to cull it, but she decided to keep it for when some of her younger friends come to visit because they might want her to read it to them. Nice!

And that little comment from Jo made me realize something very important. Jo knows when she's outgrown a story - and when she hasn't. Right now she's at an in-between stage where she enjoys the complexity of longer novels, but she still loves a good picture book - as I do. But Jo hasn't been reading picture books for a while. We've been reading chapter books to her and she's been getting really good at reading chapter books to us - so chapter books it has been, in spite of the fact that every time she picks out a new one she quickly flips through it and then, sighing, says "No pictures." I've been pushing her to challenge herself and I know better. The surest way to make a kid hate to read is to make it a task. So my new New Year's resolution - inspired by how much fun we've been having with our picture book project - is to LET JO READ WHATEVER SHE WANTS TO READ! As long as she's reading something every day it's all good. . .

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