Pet Shop Lullaby

Pet Shop Lullaby, by Mary Ann Fraser, is a sweet book about a nocturnal hamster who keeps the other pet shop animals awake. The animals try to come up with ways to get the hamster to go to bed, but nothing works. The illustrations are done in mostly blue and yellow, showing the contrast of day and night. This is a wonderful book!

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing

This bold statement for a title compelled me to read the book, just to see if I came to the same conclusion. Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett pose a convincing and funny argument that animals should definitely not wear clothing. The illustrations show different animals experiencing wardrobe malfunctions. My favorite picture shows a kangaroo wearing a coat with unnecessary pockets. This fashion show of a book will make kids laugh. It was published in 1970, but this picture book will never go out of style.

Happy Holidays!

Rembrandt's Hat.

Rembrandt's Hat, by Susan Blackaby, is the best picture book I've come across in a long time. Blackaby has a wonderful command of language, summoning brilliant and descriptive words that stand out like plumes and frills on a fancy hat. The text is rich and ripe with new vocabulary. Snag, launch, fidget, elegant, swirly, and glide are some of the words that activated the story for me.

Since I have been studying picture books and trying to figure out how to write them, I've been told numerous times to cut the text so that the story accommodates children's short attention spans. I've also been told to let the illustrations dominate the story so that the words are basically mortar that holds a brick wall together.

In Rembrandt's Hat, the text and illustrations shine equally bright and complement each other like skilled dance partners. The illustrator, Mary Newell DePalma, has a fun and refined style that reminds me of Arnold Lobel's. She uses different textures and media, such as maps, newspapers, feathers and scraps of fabric to illuminate the illustrations. My favorite picture, which is also the cover illustration, shows Rembrandt in a hat shop, looking for a replacment for his lost hat. This picture pops off the page with an array of colors and textures.

Children will enjoy discovering little details, such as Boo the cat sneaking around a tree, an egg splattered on a juggling caterpillar's head and a little frog that appears in almost every illustration.
I love this book and I hope one day I can contribute something just as marvelous to the compendium of children's classics.