Powerful Picture Books

I had fun analyzing some powerful picture books this week from my public library. The first book that I reviewed was My Two Border Towns by David Bowles. Ericka Menza’s illustrations are watercolors with bright hues of blue, pink, red, yellow, and green, which accurately reflects the setting of the book, the Mexican-U.S. border. The color scheme of the book reminds me of Mexican blankets, papel picados (banners), and traditional Mexican women’s dresses. The illustrator’s use of dividing lines such as the Rio Grande River reinforce the theme of the challenges of life at the Mexican-U.S. border. I would share this book with 4th graders or older children because of the book’s complex topic of immigration.

Bowles, D., Fabela, O. E., & Meza, E. (2022). My Two border towns. Findaway World, LLC.

In Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai the illustrations with their muted colors reflect the nostalgic mood of this book. Almost all of the pages have winding gac vines that tie the whole book together through the theme of gardening and cooking with family. For example, in the middle of the book, An and Ong (An’s grandfather) pollinate gac flowers, and they will use the gac fruit to make sticky rice for Ba, An’s grandmother. The curvy lines in the book represent the connections between generations and the circle of life. I would share this book with 3rd graders and above as a hook for a unit on family or identity. In the author’s note, Lai includes a family recipe for gac sticky rice. 

Lại, T., Quang, N., Liên, K., & Dinh, E. (2022). Hundred years of happiness. Library Ideas, LLC.

In the innovative picture book, Out of a Jar, some pages have text with illustrations and other pages have comic book panels and text. Marcero uses watercolors and pencil to create the illustrations, which perfectly reflect the theme of the story. The theme is the importance of feeling your feelings rather than stuffing them. The colors within the book reflect the main character's emotions throughout the story. The first pages discuss the adorable bunny Llewellyn’s fears, which are represented by black trees. Llewellyn’s other emotions are represented by color: red is anger, blue is sadness, green is disappointment and so on. Marcero uses hatch marks and lines to create shadows, depth and dimension across most of the pages. I would share this book with all ages because we all have emotions that we must learn to handle. I absolutely love how all of the colors (emotions) merge together at the end to create a flowery landscape and sunset.

Marcero, D. (2022). Out of a jar. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Charly Palmer uses deep, dark hues and layers of paint to create textured illustrations that remind me of impressionist paintings. In Palmer’s illustrations, the lines from the bristles of his paintbrush are apparent, and he uses the paint to create impressions of figures and objects. Palmer’s brushstrokes create quite a bit of movement and strong emotion in his illustrations. D. is feeling “scrunchy” throughout the story, and there is a dark cloud over his head, representing his negative mood. I would use this picture book with kids ages eight and up to start a discussion about dealing with strong feelings, bad days, and keeping your head up despite life’s challenges.

Neil, K. A., Palmer, C., Butler, P., & Neil, K. A. (2021). Keep your head up. Library Ideas, LLC.

Madelyn Goodnight uses gouache painting to create the opaque illustrations in Powwow Day. In the story, the young girl, River, is afflicted by an illness and attends her tribe's powwow. The bright, bold color palette of Goodnight’s illustrations highlight the bright colors of the traditional tribal clothing and the strength of the ties between the members of River’s tribal community. The illustrations of the character’s actions and facial expressions depict the care and concern they have for River, and they enhance the theme of the book which is the power of community for healing. Goodnight effectively uses lines and patterns to express movement throughout the book, especially in the powwow and dancing scenes. I would use this picture book with second graders and above to discuss topics such as community, family, and identity. As an added bonus, the back matter contains information about powwows and the healing Jingle Dress Dance.

Sorell, T., Flyte, C., & Goodnight, M. (2022). Powwow day. Findaway World, LLC. 

Bodacious Board Books

I had so much fun examining the board books today in the Butler Children's Literature Center at Dominican University! I am fortunate to work at the Butler Center as a graduate assistant and review the newest books. The Butler Center is a collection of newly published picture books, children's and teen fiction books, nonfiction children's books, and international children's books that are delivered to the Center from different publishing companies. Within the board book collection, I found some interesting titles that would be fun to read aloud to young children!

ABC Book

Alphabet has 100 safari animals with some that are less common such as tamarins, warthogs, xenops, and zorillas. The animals demonstrate action words, opposites, synonyms and more in hilarious ways. Every page has textures plus a ton of pull-tabs, foils, flaps, animations, and even a scratch and sniff page. All of the interactive features and humor will make this a exciting book for young readers and their caregivers.

Fleet, M. V., & Skwarek, S. (2008). Alphabet. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Concept Book

Both Big Science for Tiny Tots books (chemistry and physics) are more for parents than for babies and toddlers. The only thing that babies would appreciate in these books are the color photographs of babies. The humorous dialog and science facts will appeal to parents and caregivers. This series does not meet the requirements of a high quality board book according to Odean's criteria.

Esbaum, J. (2023a). Bath Time Physics: Big Science for Tiny Tots. MIT Kids Press.

Esbaum, J. (2023). High chair chemistry: Big science for tiny tots. MIT Kids Press.

Counting Book

Name Your Numbers board book has several characteristics that make it a high quality book. The book has simple pictures with animals, which babies and toddlers love, and several pages have contrasting color schemes like dark pink and green. At the end of the book, an interactive crocodile pops up for a surprising ending. 

Halls, S., & Underwood, E. (2023). Name your numbers: With a pop-up surprise! Walker Books Ltd.

Engineered Book

Bizzy Bear visits the farm, park, ocean, and zoo in this interactive board book. Based on Odean's criteria for high quality board books, this one fits the bill. Within each two page spread, there is a question for an adult to ask their child about Bizzy Bear. Plus, there are three games to play on every two page spread. In hide-and-seek, the reader matches the animal under the slider to the animal in the illustration. In matching pairs, the reader matches pairs of animals under the sliders. In search and find, the reader looks for specific items in the illustrations. The book and sliders are sturdy so that this one may last a bit longer.

Davies, B. (2022). Bizzy Bear: My first memory game: Animals: With 36 sliders. Nosy Crow Ltd.

Bonus Books

I discovered the following board books in the Butler Center that stood out to me for their humor, artistry, and/or creativity. Enjoy!