Picture Book Saturday

Red Hat
By Lita Judge
Published 2013 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
A follow-up to Red Sled, this is a fun, sweet, and simple story of what happens when some animals get hold of a red hat. I love both these books because they are lovely to behold - the illustrations are charming and bold - and because they tell a fun story so simply. Both are nearly wordless and make great use of onomatopoeia to express most of the action in the story. Both books remind me a bit of The Mitten, though I suppose the story of animals stealing a little something from humans for their own use isn't new. Very cute and fun - great for dialogic reading.


Wilfred
By Ryan Higgins
Published 2013 by Dial
OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK - okay, that's out of the way. I picked this up because I couldn't resist the cover illustration. Wilfred is a giant and many people are scared of him, so he's pretty lonely. One day, he finds a new friend. Unfortunately, the town people see things a bit differently. What will happen to Wilfred? This book is heartbreaking and hopeful, full of important lessons for young people. The illustrations are so sweet and lovely - I want to cuddle Wilfred! I thought this book was beautiful and I hope readers discover it.

The Story of Fish and Snail
By Deborah Freedman
Published 2013 by Viking Juvenile
I really liked Freedman's Blue Chicken so I was excited to see this new book from her. It's a very cute story about two friends who share stories with each other and what happens when one friend asks the other to do something he isn't comfortable with. The illustrations are nice - they seem to jump off the page at the same time they invite the reader in. This is another story with few words but a lot of heart and kid appeal. This could prompt some good discussion about courage.