Picture Book Saturday

I'm the Scariest Thing in the Jungle!
By David G. Derrick, Jr.
Published 2013 by Immedium
What I like best about this book is that the tiger and the crocodile, who are fighting for title of scariest thing in the jungle, act like children. However, I think this fact will be more amusing to parents who read this book than kids. I do think kids will like the back and forth and the simplicity of the story and, maybe, they will enjoy the one-ups-manship.  The illustrations are quite nice as well.



Carnivores
By Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Dan Santat
Published 2013 by Chronicle Books
I've said it many times before - I'll pick up anything that's got Santat's name on it. I just love his artistic style. I find it really appealing. I think this is a really fun book as well, one that will greatly appeal to elementary age picture book readers. As fun as I think this book is, I don't think it's a good one for storytime. I think it requires more patience and attention than we usually find in the storytime setting. However, for the right reader, I think this is a perfect book. I really enjoyed it.



Battle Bunny
By Mac Barnett and Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Matthew Myers
Published 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Here is another pretty awesome book for elementary age readers. How many times have you received a lame gift and wished you could transform it into something awesome? That's the idea here - a lame book that a boy is gifted for his birthday because a raging tale of battle and carnage. This book is oozing kid appeal and I think would be a great one to share and turn into a program - perhaps taking discarded books and transforming them in a similar way. The only worrisome bit is that some kids might get overeager and apply this "rewriting" technique to all their books!