Picture Book Saturday (15)

Puppy is Lost
By Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Noah Woods
Published 2011 by Blue Apple Books
This is a cute story about a lost puppy. It's very simple, so it would work for even the youngest audiences and it's great for print awareness. It would work well in a dog storytime. The illustrations are bright and bold and there is a happy ending, of course. I might keep this for the toddlers and those just beginning to read.

Scapegoat: The Story of a Goat Named Oat and a Chewed-Up Coat
By Dean Hale, illustrated by Michael Slack
Published 2011 by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
This is a funny story of a boy who blames his family's goats for every bad thing he does. It introduces a concept that is very difficult to explain to children, though I'm not sure it fully explains it - at least it provides a start. This book is also good for phonological awareness with all its rhyming. There is a cute twist at the end that I think kids will really enjoy. Interesting book.

Little Mouse's Big Secret
By Eric Battut
Published 2011 by Sterling
This is absolutely adorable. Mouse is trying to keep his growing apple tree a secret from all his animal friends. There is lots of white space and very few words in this story, making this a very appealing book for younger readers. However, my complaint about this book is that it would be terrible for storytime - the illustrations are so tiny that kids could never see them in a storytime setting. Maybe an enterprising youth services person could make this into a flannel or something - the story is so cute that I hate for it to get overlooked because the pictures are so small.

The Monster Returns
By Peter McCarty
Published 2012 by Henry Holt and Co.
This is the sequel to the fun and inventive book, Jeremy Draws a Monster. Jeremy's monster is bored now, so he comes back and starts bugging Jeremy to entertain him. Jeremy gets sick of spending so much time with his monster, so he comes up with a pretty clever solution. This is a fun story with wonderful illustrations - especially the monsters.