November is Picture Book Month!

November is Picture Book Month! Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November each year. To celebrate, please stop by the children's room at the library and check out our display of recommended picture books from the Youth Services Staff.  So take a peek and see what your favorite librarian's favorite picture books are!  Please feel free to grab any of the books from the display, check them out, and read them to your youngster!  Share the love of a picture book today!

Amber's Favorite Seek and Find Picture Books

To celebrate the end of Picture Book Month, I wanted to share some of my favorite picture books that have a seek-and-find element to them. You've probably seen the I Spy books. But have you seen In the Town, All Year 'Round? For every season, there are characters to spot and story lines to follow. Turning the pages brings you through each part of town, from the country to the town center. You can watch the kindergarten building being constructed, the pond at the park ice over for skating, and friendly relationships forming over time.

When I was a kid, there was nothing more absorbing than a thorough read of Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo. Nobody knows environmental print better than Mercer Mayer, who inserts biplanes creating "brush your teeth" skywriting and flashy signs advertising one way tours the edge of nowhere at every brushstroke.

And if lovely artwork is what you need to make it through another search for a hidden object, check out Britta Teckentrup's spotting books. They are packed with cute animals and soft, rich colors. Happy hunting!

Kari's Favorite Picture Books!

Slugs by David Greenberg was an all-time childhood favorite of mine. It is a perfect mix of delightfully gross and disgustingly hilarious. In rhyming verse, Greenberg imagines more and more creative and horrible things people can do to the slimy slug while Victoria Chess's illustrations make you want to laugh and cringe at the same time. My favorite part of the book however, comes when the slugs take their revenge!

The basis for the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons, A Day With WilburRobinson by William Joyce was another childhood favorite of mine. A search for Wilbur's grandfather's false teeth leads the reader through the strange and fantastical world of the Robinson family. What I really enjoyed about the book as a young reader was that most of the action and humor took place in the illustrations. For example, the text merely mentions Cousin Pete walking the cats, but the accompanying illustration enlightens careful readers to the fact that the cats in question are in fact tigers. These delightful and often humorous details kept me coming back to re-read the story again and again to look for details I might have missed! 

My Favorite Picture Books

Remember this book? We librarians tend to avoid recommending books that are tied into other media, but this was a favorite when I was a kid and it still holds up today. When Grover notices the title, he becomes profoundly anxious about the monster at the end and proceeds to devise strategies that will prevent the reader from moving forward in the book. The reader turns a page, and Grover nails the next page down. When, in spite of Grover's efforts, the reader easily turns that page, Grover builds a brick wall. When the next page is turned, Grover asks the reader, "Did you know that your are very strong?" Grover's anxiety and antics intensify as each page is turned, until finally the big reveal at the end of the book.

This is the first book I can remember reading that spoke directly to me, that prompted me to interact with the characters. Now I read it to my kids and, just as with Hervé Tulet's Press Here, they are delighted with it's interactive elements. And I get to act melodramatic while I'm reading it, so, win-win.

Graeme Base's Animalia is another favorite for it's interactive elements. In fact, all of Base's books contain some sort of visual mystery to solve or hidden pictures. Animalia is an alphabet book with pages packed with items and creatures that suit each letter. This is a great one to build vocabulary long after the alphabet is learned, and it's super for kids who can't get enough I Spy and Where's Waldo books. The illustrations are stunning, the text is poetic, and the allusions are clever. You Whovians out there may be sharp enough to spot a little "easter egg" hidden on the dragon page above.

If, like me, you love books that share secrets with attentive readers, you may also enjoy the works of Jan Brett and Janell Cannon. Both authors garnish the pages of their beautifully illustrated books with tiny pictures depicting behind-the-scenes story lines. Awesome.

And Now...MY Favorite Picture Books

So many pictures books, so little space. Here are just a few of my favorites off the top of my head.

The Book with No Pictures, by B. J. Novak
Exclamation Mark, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Family Book, by Todd Parr
Bark, George, by Jules Feiffer
Press Here, by Herve Tullet
Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell
Moo!, by David LaRochelle

My Favorite Picture Books

In celebration of November Picture Book Month, some of the Youth Services staff will write posts regarding their favorite picture books.  They may share one, two, or even more!  It all depends upon what tickles their fancy, as we all have many faves. I have many picture favorites.  Here's some that reign at the top of my list:

My favorite picture book growing up was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. As a child, I had a paperback copy and it was well loved.  I just adored the short pages with the little holes bitten through each page, and as the caterpillar ate more, the quantity of food increased and more holes in the pages were made.  By the time he got to the big green leaf, he felt so much better...and so did I!  I just couldn't get enough of that book!  Now I own a hard back and it gets well used too!

As an adult, one of my favorite picture books to read at story time is Duck on a Bike by David Shannon.  I love how duck goes around to each animal on the farm and asks them if they want to ride a bike.  All the animals think he's foolish and such a show-off.  Its not until all the animals realize they can ride bikes too.  The art work in this animal fantasy makes the barn yard menagerie so realistic.

Another favorite I have as an adult is Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown.  This is another book I love reading out loud to preschoolers.  I just LOVE how reality is turned around by an animal wanting a child as a pet.  And how the mama bear tells her bear child that they want a pet, they must take care of it all the time.  A hard lesson is learned, but its just so humorous!

November is Picture Book Month

Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November.  In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book. 

Stop by the Children's Room at the library during the month and take a look at our display of Librarian's favorite Picture Books.  All of the books on display are available for check out.  Also take a peek at our cube display case outside of the Puett Room.