New Picture Books

J 811.54 SILV

Oh, yeah! Never-before-published poems and art from the late Shel Silverstein. Usually that means "poems we didn't think were good enough to publish until said author died and we figured we could make money anyways", but these are all on par with everything else he put out. I have several marked to copy down already (M., page 35 is for you!) Don't worry, we got two copies, so I can take one home and still leave one here for the first lucky patron.


E SEND

Cute concept and pictures, but the rhythm is off, making it a bit jarring to read. I'm sure it will be popular, though - animals and underwear, after all!


E DEMA

Nothing wrong with the rhythm and rhyme in this one! We'll definitely be reading this one at some future story time!


E PARK

Beautiful, both the story and the pictures! The young narrator follows his father through the desert, collecting 'tears' of resin - also called myrrh - from trees, to sell at the marketplace. One day, they find a larger than usual tear. It is purchased by three men buying gifts for a baby...

At first I was annoyed by the number of men depicted - I'm a stickler for accuracy in my historical fiction, even in picture books - but, in an author's note, Park explains that we aren't sure how many there actually were. I am appeased.


E JARM

Speaking of classy pictures, here we have a kid picking his nose, and people covered in snake excretions. What more could you ask for in a picture book? Fun rhyming text, too. Adding it to the read-alouds.


E SAVA

Rounding out our unintentional zoo theme, the walrus escapes and is chased through this wordless picture book by the zookeeper. Can you help find him? A good one for the very littles.


E WIVI

It can be hard to explain a terrible event in history to young children, but there are sometimes picture books to help. This one chronicles the events before, during, and after Kristallnacht from a cat's point of view. Definitely one to read with your kids.


J 973.7 POLA

Along those same lines, this one tells the story of a slave family that escapes - and is found again - after witnessing the beating death of another slave. While "Benno" mostly describes events in a vague way, this one is detailed enough that we decided to stretch the definitions a little and shelve it in nonfiction. Extremely well-written, it would make a great addition to a history lesson at any grade level.

Stop by today and check these out!