1/9/2022 Picture Book Round-Up: New Website Feature; Rule-Breaking; & Seven That Make Reading Heaven

Sasha Wallace
Jan 9, 2022
15 min read

Updated: Jan 15, 2022

I guess it’s not my blog if I don’t break my own rules, right? I know I committed to 2 picture books a week, but I’ve had several folks contact me asking for more suggestions to start them off. So, I upped this week’s recs to 7 picture books. You’ll also get recs for 2 chapter books in a separate post today & 2 graphic novels on January 15th. Yas queen! Sunday Funday is happening!

My husband also suggested I create an area on the homepage for visitors to get personalized suggestions, whether it is children’s literature or adult fiction, so that’s a new feature as well. I will endeavor to have a turnaround time of 3 business days on all submissions.

BEFORE YOU PROCEED:

I beseech you! Please consider using these valuable resources on your book-buying, book-reading, & book-hoarding journey:

Goodreads. If you like rating books, making lists of favorites, & keeping track of TBR (to-be-read), this is your oasis. You can also network with your favorite authors, sign up for giveaways & see what your buddies are reading (this can make or break a friendship). If you want a laugh, you can also read outraged reviews of Twilight.
Thriftbooks. This company is tremendous. They utilize a network of Goodwills & hand-me-down shops to provide clean, affordable copies of books, including rare & collectible (plus there are book rewards available for people like me with no self-control). If your order is more than $10, you get free shipping. You also get to pick the condition of your book & there’s always a sale going on (don’t forget to use the 15% off coupon on your first order – last I checked, it was 1414CDCAE). A word to the wise: Acceptable condition is not for the faint of heart. It truly is like opening Pandora’s Box. May God have mercy on your soul should you choose such a path.
OverDrive. If you do nothing else, PLEASE get your kiddo a FREE library card! They use the card number & pin to create an account, where they have access to thousands of novels & audiobooks that can be sent to their phones, laptops, tablets, or Kindles. Usually the limit is 21 books checked out at a time, but it varies by library. Locally, I’d avoid Seminole County & instead opt for Orange County, which allows non-residents to purchase a card for a one-time $20 fee. Another excellent OverDrive repertoire is Alachua County, but you need to show proof of residency, so unless you live in Gainesville, you’re not likely to get one. Go Gators! Another cool feature of the app is that families can share an account on OverDrive, so it makes for easy monitoring of what your child is reading. Right now, Broward County is letting any Florida resident create a free account, & let me tell you, those Miami people know what they are doing when it comes to stocking their online inventory. Heads-up: Many public school students already have access to OverDrive, Libby, Hoopla & other library system apps through their school, so I suggest connecting with the school’s Media Specialist if you want more info.
NetGalley. This is geared more for adults & teens, but creating a NetGalley account helps you connect with publishers & read ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of upcoming books specific to your preferred genres. Some books only a handful of folks win; some are public, open to any curious eyes. Just be advised, if you win any of the coveted sneak-peeks, it is common courtesy to read the tome quickly & provide detailed feedback on the reviews page. The faster & more thorough your feedback is, the more likely publishers are to continue to give you ARCs. To maximize your chances of getting one, connect your account to your Goodreads, FB, or other website.

Thank you for the outpouring of love & support. I’m really enjoying this chapter of 2022 & I’m so glad you can come along for the ride. As one of my students so succinctly put it, “Mrs. Wallace, you’re like what happens if you crossed Mr. Rogers with a librarian.” That one kind of stumped me at first (I wish I had that type of cardigan energy), but I think his point was about how I’m a friendly nerd who likes giving tours. This may not be my neighborhood, but it is my bookshelf, & sometimes that’s the same thing.

Picture Book 1 (something old)

Title: Milk and Cookies

Author & Illustrator: Frank Asch (part of his Bear Story series)

Recommended for: Grades K-1

Basic plot: This lovely book features a Bear family visiting relatives & staying the night. Baby Bear is awoken by strange lights & noises, & goes to the kitchen to investigate. What follows is the most adorable nightmare & a family’s loving response to it.

Why I love it: It is terribly endearing. Anyone who has slept in the unfamiliar home of a relative or friend can relate to Baby Bear’s struggle. It also features Baby Bear’s parents sharing the same bed as Baby Bear (a couch pull-out), which happens in families that don’t have a guest room. I think that subtle detail will be a good source of representation to some kiddos who know the woes of cramming into a single bed with a brother or sister. Lastly, the Dragon looks like a Neopet & it makes my ’90s heart happy.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $2.85 & up, used. It has recently been reissued, so you may have luck in more traditional bookstores with the new copy).

Extension activity: I stake my life on this – wait until your kiddo is about 75% into learning to read. This should occur either in late kindergarten or early 1st grade. They are making progress, but need a bit more practice before they can be considered fluent. Think halting sentences. Use this book as an incentive. For every 4 pages they get correct (feel free to modify that number), hand them a cookie. Though the ever-favorite Chips Ahoy will suffice, I believe homemade are best. If you want to bake the cookies together ahead of time to build more anticipation, that’s even better. At the end of reading, if they did an exemplary job, hand them a glass of milk for dipping. They will love you forever.

You can also extend this activity to science & cover the moon phases using Oreo’s:

You can even do an I-Spy routine, pointing out items in your house that could be mistaken for something else (for example, my Dad used to have a Cadillac that I swear looked like a catfish from behind). This activity will help sharpen your child’s imaginative skills & create a positive association for future reading efforts.

Picture Book 2 (something classic)

Title: Elmer

Author & Illustrator: David McKee

Recommended for: Elementary schoolers

Basic plot: You would think, just based on the cover, that this is a book about Elmer getting bullied for being different. But you’d be wrong! In a delightful twist, McKee’s tale follows Elmer through a journey of self-discovery. Elmer’s tribe adores him, but Elmer himself struggles with confidence & insecurity. Sometimes, it takes the unflinching love of our closest friends to help us embrace our appearance.

Why I love it: Is there a more iconic elephant than Elmer? Forget Dumbo! Forget Horton! Forget Babar! Skittles may encourage you to TASTE the rainbow, but Elmer here encourages you to BE the rainbow! If you can’t see this fun-loving, gentle, patchwork elephant as life goals, you clearly don’t appreciate how the entire book looks like Picasso & Mondrian were arm-wrestling while holding colored pencils.

I just love the message of Elmer so much. When I was little & a chubby chunk with the most god-awful haircut known to man (picture Miss Swan from MadTV, but shorter, with uneven bangs), I’d look to Elmer for inspiration. I was never going to be the pretty kid. I really lamented it for the longest time. But reading Elmer, I learned that it’s just as important to be a joy-bringer. I accepted being the funny girl, the loyal friend, the optimist, the problem-solver. Everyone has something to offer & looks aren’t the be-all-end-all. It took a patchwork elephant named after a brand of glue to make me see that, but the lesson has stuck for nearly 3 decades, so I’d say it was effective. The last page, which I didn’t include in this preview because I didn’t want to spoil it, is one of my favorite illustrations of all time. A more colorful, jubilant occasion just doesn’t exist.

Where can you find it? Everywhere. Elmer hasn’t gone out of print, so you can find it new at Barnes & Noble, or used at Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks, OverDrive (cheapest $1.40 & up). Plus it’s a series, so where there’s one, there’s bound to be a smattering of sequels.

Extension activity: This can go one of two ways. If you want to get artsy, have your kiddo create their own patchwork elephant using multicolored sticky notes, tissue or construction paper, papier-mâché, coloring pages, gift wrap, scrapbook materials, or just odds & ends lying around the house (buttons, bits of fabric, foil from gum wrappers, junk mail, etc.) Elevate your collection of kid’s art (because, let’s face it, if you’re reading this, you probably own at least one holiday card from daycare with pasta glued onto it) with this colorful mosaic. You won’t be sorry!

Or, have your child write a reflection – What traits do they possess that they are most proud of? What do they think their friends love about them? This can lead to some valuable discussions about self-worth & assurance. I’ve even seen a combination of each! Once the art is finished, have your kiddo write one-word traits in black sharpie in every square. The possibilities are endless. You know how elephants never forget? Your kid will never forget reading about this elephant. How’s that for meta?

Picture Book 3 (something from 1999)

Title: Mr. Tanen’s Ties

Author & Illustrator: Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Recommended for: Grades 3-4, or anyone who has a madcap Dad with a tie collection

Basic plot: Mr. Tanen is the much-admired Principal of Lynnhurst Elementary, known for his flamboyant ties (let’s just say, Elmer would approve). One day, his sourpuss boss orders him to tone his wardrobe down a bit. Epiphanies ensue.

Why I love it: These neck accessories are more accurate than horoscopes at predicting the events of the day, plus it makes me nostalgic for a time in public education when a Principal’s tie collection was the biggest problem we faced. It has an Office Space vibe I really dig.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks (cheapest $3.78 & up, used).

Extension activity: You may not like this, but hear me out. Let your kid pick your outfit for the day. It doesn’t have to be for work. It can be for a walk, for going to the store, for errands, even a nice dinner. Tell them the occasion: “I want something that feels like summer” or “I want something that reminds me of the beach”, & see what they come up with. It might just be comedy gold, & provide a nice bonding opportunity (especially if you turn the tables & insist on dressing them, too!)

I know a couple that made a $10 budget & bought each other date night outfits at Goodwill. The guy ended up in overalls with bumblebees on them & the girl looked like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. It really doesn’t get more mismatched than that. But it ended up being one of their favorite memories, so use that as a starting place & see what magic/havoc you can wreak. It’s good for the economy, it’s affordable, & you can connect it to the book by asking Exit Slip questions – How do clothes define us? How do they represent our individuality? How do they show others facets of our personality? How might school uniforms impact self-expression?

Picture Book 4 (something better than Dr. Seuss)

Title: The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Author & Illustrator: Judith Kerr

Recommended for: Grades 1-2

Basic plot: Though the plot is very similar to Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat, I prefer the understated, polite pencil predator to the obnoxious, mischievous housecat. Sophie & her mother are awaiting her father’s return from work when a voracious tiger arrives & requests a repast. They are as accommodating as the tiger’s appetite is bottomless.

Why I love it: Judith Kerr knew real darkness in her life (she escaped Hitler at the advent of WWII), yet her books are full of verve & bliss. The tiger drinks all the orange juice, milk & beer, & even polishes off the bathwater Sophie was getting ready to bathe in. But not once does Sophie & her mother fret or show anything but hospitality. It really is humbling when you think about the magnitude of it.

Where can you find it? The original is from 1968 & was hard to find until 2009, when some saint at Candlewick Press reissued a lovely edition that can be found in most new bookstores. Additionally, Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, & Thriftbooks carry it (cheapest $1.45 & up, used. A new copy is less than $7 on Amazon & OverDrive has both the novel & the audiobook for free).

Extension activity: I would pair this story with an abridged reading of the Greek myth of Baucis & Philemon, who received Zeus & Hermes when they were disguised as wayfarers & spurned by wealthier neighbors. There could then be a conversation about respect, hospitality, hosting & charity. You could even parlay that into donating a nice meal to a local homeless shelter to drive the lesson of charitable giving home.

For more advanced readers (I have seen this taught in high school), consider exploring William Blake’s “The Tyger” poem, or having your kiddo write a journal prompt about what caused the tiger to visit & why it never returned. I once had my middle schoolers read this in conjunction with the wonderful short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank Stockton (recommended for 8th grade & up). We had a rousing debate about tiger character traits, ferocity vs. tameness, metaphors & non sequiturs. I even encouraged students to try to write an alternate ending. As an Exit Slip, I asked students to choose an animal to replace the tiger & provide a justification for such a fit. The best answer? An anaconda. In the text, the tiger consumes all of the biscuits, sandwiches, & buns on the platter. My student wrote the following: “As we all know, Mrs. Wallace, that anaconda don’t want none unless there’s buns, honey.” (You can’t make this up).

One of my most difficult college writing prompts was trying to figure out what the tiger symbolized. I’ve never run out of potential answers.

Just please, for goodness sake, don’t combine this with Netflix’s Tiger King documentary. Your kiddo will never recover & it’ll be all your fault (well, you & Carole Baskin, of course).

Picture Book 5 (the book I always give as a gift)

Title: The Flying Dragon Room

Author: Audrey Wood

Illustrator: Mark Teague

Recommended for: Grades 3-5

Basic plot: Patrick’s parents are painting the house & have hired kindly Mrs. Jenkins to help. She hands Patrick a box of tools & tells him to see what he can make. At first, the reader thinks she’s just humoring him so he won’t feel neglected all week. But then we realize that Patrick has actually used the tools to create a Wonka-esque series of themed rooms throughout the house. The tour begins…

Why I love it: This was the first picture book I checked out over & over from Dream Lake Elementary. It is just one of those books that really resonated with me. Every room that Patrick designed felt like one I had also dreamed of independently. I felt so seen the first time I read this. There’s so much action! Sea monsters! Zigzagging ladders! A laboratory! Snake slides! Bottomless buffets! Zero gravity! Dinosaurs! Dragons! I remember my parents driving us to Tampa one day & holding my breath as we passed Dinosaur World on I-4. One of the T-Rexes looked exactly like the one from this book. It was so unexpected & interspersed against this rather mundane foreground that it became embossed on my memory. Both Wood & Teague are widely acclaimed & famous for other works that stormed the bestseller charts, but this will always be my favorite collaboration in children’s literature. It really begs the simple yet hard-to-answer question – What would you do if your imagination was unleashed?

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks (cheapest $1.50 & up, used). This book is out of print, so it will only become more expensive with age.

Extension activity: Ask your child, straight up, which rooms they would design in their imaginary house. Then, if you have the time & inclination, build it with them! It may be fun to craft an actual dream house with a cross-section for the viewer to see into. You can also build a fort in the living room, decorate your kiddo’s room to resemble one of their chosen themes, deck out the treehouse in the backyard, or use their answers as inspiration to plan your next family vacation (for example, if your son says he’d fashion a penguin room, maybe stop by the zoo the next time you’re in St. Louis). I did this activity with a kindergartner years ago & I’ll never forget her room was made entirely of Swiss cheese. The holes in the cheese were windows & doors & the furniture was made of baguettes. If that doesn’t tickle you, nothing will.

Picture Book 6 (I bet you haven’t heard of this)

Title: When the Sky Is Like Lace

Author: Elinor Lander Horwitz

Illustrator: Barbara Cooney

Recommended for: Grades 3-5

Basic plot: A trio of sisters sneaks out of the house on a “bimulous” night & commune with their otter friends.

Why I love it: Listen, I love me some Babs. Ms. Cooney was a Caldecott medalist twice over & as far as who’s who in the world of children’s illustration, she’s the grand dame we all bowed & scraped to. This entire book feels like her palette was limited to shadows & I’m here for it.

On the other hand, the author, Ms. Horwitz, took liberties with a capital L. She made up a TON of words that will have your kiddo scratching their head. Also, I’m 90% certain she was high as a kite when she wrote this, because there’s legitimately a scene where the sisters (who look like the twins from The Shining) are eating spaghetti with pineapple sauce in a gazebo at midnight with a bunch of otters &…I mean, that’s a dead giveaway, right? But I love how unpretentious it is. This book doesn’t take itself seriously at all, yet it is still endearing. And despite my description, it is SO wholesome! It warns you not to wear orange. It warns you to venture out with a lucky penny in your pocket. It warns you to just enjoy life without overthinking or being weighed down. Plus, the songs are mega quaint! It was written in 1975, but the moral rings just as true today. Carpe noctem!

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks (cheapest $3.24 & up, used). Though there were reprints in the last decade, it is still pretty obscure. You may shell out $20+ at some retailers.

Extension activity: First, have your kiddo do a sort of scavenger hunt to find all the made-up words. Then, have them replace the made-up words with actual words that make sense in context. (If you’re a nerd like me, you could easily segue this into a discussion of all the words & phrases Shakespeare invented, or the portmanteaus of Lewis Carroll. My previous 6th graders loved breaking down portmanteaus & creating their own. It may be fun to challenge your child to find the two words that merged to create “bimulous”).

I also think it may be fun to have your kiddo draw their own zany scene. What would they do on a bimulous night? What are their own governing rules for conduct during such a sacred time? How would they prepare?

There’s a lovely poem by Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”, in which she asks the reader, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” That poem & the question it espouses can be paired perfectly with this reading. Ask your kid – “If you had one night to live, how would you spend it?” Share your own opinions, too.

I recommend you NOT emulate Will Ferrell in Elf & recreate that spaghetti, though. I know they call parmesan pasta sugar, but I think that’s just figurative language talking.

Picture Book 7 (this book is a centenarian)

Title: The Velveteen Rabbit (Or, How Toys Become Real)

Author: Margery Williams

Illustrator: Don Daily

Recommended for: Grades 4-8

Basic plot: A young boy receives & loves a toy rabbit until it is dilapidated. The rabbit then goes on a spiritual & physical journey to find what fate has in store for it.

Why I love it: This book was published in 1922, but still packs an emotional punch. It was given to me by my Mom & I couldn’t love it more if I tried. Though some of the vocabulary & the clothing are outdated, the pain of being discarded is remarkably poignant. You don’t have to be a stuffed rabbit to relate to that. You will sit there, spellbound, probably sobbing, hoping against hope that the rabbit figures it out & gets some good karma. Isn’t that powerful writing? When the author has you so enamored with an inanimate object that you just want amazing things to happen to it? Perhaps the real magic is that the rabbit is never inanimate, because we love him. There’s a humongous lesson in this book that can be applied to friendships, pet ownerships, possessions. It is cyclical, but there’s beauty in it, all the same.

Where can you find it? Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, Thriftbooks (cheapest $3.78 & up, used). It is a little harder to find this exact edition, but if you don’t care about the illustrations, you can find the original text anywhere. Antique malls, Barnes & Noble, for a few bucks on eBay, even on OverDrive for free. There are as many editions of this book as there are covers of Beatles songs, believe me.

Extension activity: Get your kiddo to complete a Venn diagram or Double bubble map comparing The Velveteen Rabbit to the Toy Story plot.

Other ideas include having them evaluate repurposing the toys they no longer need & seeking out good homes for them; writing goodbye letters to the toy(s) to give closure, thanking it for faithful years of play & fond memories; writing about which toys/possessions are their current favorites & why, etc.

If there’s a Build-A-Bear workshop near you, consider creating an incentive for reading with a personalized stuffed rabbit. Just promise to love him forever!