105 Ways to Give a Book

My Best Picture Books

You have all been so good about getting together your lists for for the Best Books of 2007 (So Far). Bravo, people, bravo. You can still post your own list or add a special title to the comments. It’s certainly not too late, as evidenced my my own Best Of lists beginning today. I’d like to do a round-up of the lists over this weekend, when I am blissfully free of obligations.

Finding my favorite picture books of the year is always extremely hard, because while I might read thirty/forty/fifty Young Adult books or middle-grade books, I’ll see about two hundred picture books as they come into the public library system. I read — or at least skim — most of them. (Of course, the exception is any book with a corresponding TV show, like Dora or SpongeBob. Then the exception to the exception is the Charlie and Lola books, which my kids and I adore.) Bringing it down to five top choices is tough, but I look for those that stuck with me as the year went on.
  1. Knuffle Bunny Too, by Mo Willems
    Yeah, I know I’m a huge Mo fan, but in all sincerity, this sequel is just as strong, interesting, and funny as the first. If anything, I’d say the story and humor are even more developed than the first. Total slam-dunk by the Mo man.

  2. Lissy’s Friends, by Grace Lin
    I love the lively, detailed illustrations, the sense of whimsy (did the stork really come alive?), and the theme of friendship. Beautiful, sweet book.

  3. Me I Am! by Jack Prelutsky
    The message of individuality is so well done with Prelutsky’s adapted poem, but for me the real joy is in the lovely and whimsical illustrations which develop their own story. Really special.

  4. 17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore, by Jenny Offill
    I loved this book the instant I saw it, but didn’t review it because it felt like it was being mentioned everywhere, because everyone loved it. It’s one funny book with amazing illustrations. (Apparently, this title brought out a range of emotions in Amazon reviewers, who either loved it or despised it. Interesting.)

  5. Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
    I suppose I just forgot to review this title, but I loved the simplicity of the drawings, the text, and the humor. It’s a funny book, but in a subtle way. It makes a great beginning reader book too.
I was tempted to include Someday, by Alison McGhee, but it’s really less a book for kids than for adults. I’ll mention it, but I won’t put it in my top five.

I don’t recall anything standing out in the Beginning Readers except Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series. They are wonderful and I’ll be talking about them soon with the folks at 7-Imp in a cross-blog review.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting my Elementary School favorites. No! Young Adult. No! Elemen...

Let’s just wait and see, ’kay?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! We're working on lists now and hope to post tomorrow or the next day ("hope" being the operative word here).

And I swear I'll start that Mo tri-review soon. I was just wondering to Eisha if we can hire a 7-Imp secretary just for correspondence? Whew, I've been doing that all day instead of blogging (but this isn't a bad problem to have either). Starting that tri-review is top on my list, I promise.

Unknown said...

I also thought "Someday" was more an adult book, but my little kids (4 and 6) really love it. I'm pushing it quite a bit these days.

Unknown said...

Oops, nope, different Someday. My kids liked the Eileen Spinelli "Someday". Eileen Spinelli is on a roll this year - I thought "Heat Wave" was terrific too.

Jill said...

You would not believe how excited I am to learn about the new Knuffle Bunny book! Thanks for the hot tip! :-D

Anonymous said...

You might also note that Barnes and Noble has refused to carry 17 Things on it's shelves, presumably because it has taken sides along the lines of the war being waged on the Amazon review area.

Anonymous said...

1. Bur Bur's Boating ABC's
2. Bur Bur's Fishing Adventure.
3. Bur Bur Throws Out the First Pitch

This is a charming simple book series and the colors are like none I have ever seen. My son never tires from these books!

Franki said...

I had a student walk into class backwards last week--said, "I am going to try all of the things in 17 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do Anymore." (My students are 8-10 so they kind of get the humor. I am pretty sure she won't try ALL 17 of them!)