I'm Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris

I'm Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris is such a fun read! The poems are super silly and made me laugh out loud. Harris has a great way with words, and the illustrations by Lane Smith are hilarious and fit perfectly with the poems.

What I love is that it’s not just for kids—adults will get a kick out of it too! So many poems kicked off my imagination or made me want to send a snapshot of the page to friends. One of my favorites was "What Happened to Us Monsters? (The Mummy's Lament)" that follows Dracula, Wolf Man, Cyclops, the Blob, etc, as they age.

Speaking of age, this is one that I feel like will resonate with adults just as much as kids:

The Remarkable Age

Ah, what a remarkable age that you're in:

Right now you're the oldest that you've ever been—

And yet, you will never be this young again.

So dance, and be happy! Greet life with a grin!

You've the best of both worlds, youth and wisdom, within. 

This book is perfect for a quick, light-hearted read, whether you're reading to kids or just want something fun for yourself. If you're in the mood for some good laughs, definitely check it out! I read it in one sitting to wind down at the end of the day.

PS: This interview with the author is a good read, if you've read the book, want to read the book, or just like How I Met Your Mother.

The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel

I worked as a library page in high school. One shift I was “reading” the nonfiction section and this title caught my eye. I have to admit, I started reading it right then on the clock and then checked it out and took it home with me.

At the time, I was envious of Nissel. Not because she was broke - I was too! But how she had so much humor about it, and such an engaging writing style. I remember taking the book to school and showing the girls in my math class and they passed it around and laughed at the entries.

I actually bought the exact copy I first found, years later after the library discarded it. It’s been on my shelf since, and I read Mixed too, but The Broke Diaries remained my favorite.

I wanted some humor in my life after all of...this, and I can’t believe that the book still cracks me up so much. Like laughing out loud reading on my front porch, because now it’s in the 60s after last week’s ice and snow. But I digress. This book is hilarious and makes me miss the 2008ish period of blogging because that’s exactly how it reads now, even though it was written way before then. You should read this. Then let’s laugh about it together.

Just to note, if you don’t believe me about Nissel’s humor: she’s been a writer on Scrubs, the Boondocks, and Mixed-ish.

Best Picture Books Read in 2019

I always enjoy looking back over the books I read in a year and grouping them into genre categories, and then ranking them. I use the star ratings on Goodreads for each individual review, but when it comes to picking my favorites, I typically just go for the ones that stuck out in my mind. These books are especially memorable because I read them aloud to students during school library time. I love picking wonderful books to share with them, so I hope you'll consider sharing these with your kids and/or students. Or, honestly, just enjoy them yourself, because they are quality (and sometimes silly!) books.

There are so many amazing picture books being published that it seems hard to keep up with them all. I'm pretty proud that 3/5 of these books were published this year, and 2/5 are from 2018.

Circle by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen (2019). I cannot properly express my love for this trilogy. I'll admit, when Triangle first came out I read it and thought "Hm, ok..." It was funny and my kid and I really enjoyed it, but that's where it ended for me. Then came Square, and things started to fill out in my mind, to the extent that we were crazy excited for Circle and had to get it the day it was released! I can't count how many times we've read the whole trilogy... and I even have a tattoo in honor of it! Something about these books is just so fun to me, but the writing and illustrations are so sparse that I feel like it really allows your imagination to step in and round out these characters, and they're realistic and relatable in a way you don't think a shape could be!

Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party by Kimberly Dean and James Dean (2019). This one was a huge hit at home, so I knew I needed to take it to school to read aloud to the Early Childhood students. It's fun to read aloud because there is so much tone and inflection necessary to really pull the kids into the story. Add in the alliteration and it's just a blast to share with enthusiastic readers! I read it once, and the next class, after our planned reading was done, the children asked to hear it again! I can't count how many times I read this book in the span of a week.

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins (2018). I found this book right before school started, so of course it's what I read aloud to every class once we started back! Everyone loved it because it's so silly and fun to read, but it also does remind students (especially the youngest) how they should act at school and with friends. It's not a "moral" exactly, but the lesson is there in a fun way, so it's relevant. I kept laughing at how many people sent this book to me - friends from the public library who knew I love picture books/am at a school now sent it to me on hold, parents recommended it to me, and my mom even tried to buy me a copy of it to read because she thought I'd love it! And none of them were wrong. Read this one if you haven't yet.

Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora (2018). I got this from the library in May to read to my kid because he calls his grandmother "Oma" and we thought it was a funny coincidence. It's a very touching story, and I won't lie - I teared up at the end when reading it to him! Then it was chosen as this year's Read for the Record book, so on November 7th I had elementary students read it aloud to small groups of younger kids. Everyone really loved the book and the spirit of kindness and giving that it embodies.

Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox (2019). This is another book my son and I found at the public library, read together, and then knew I had to read it at the school library. This book is so silly, with a gluttonous Llama stuffing himself silly with cake and eventually ripping a black hole in the universe. It's a great jumping off point for conversations about outer space and black holes, which the Early Childhood students were surprisingly knowledgeable about. Super fun to read aloud, so definitely check it out.

The Twelve Bots of Christmas by Nathan Hale

We've had this book for a few years, so I'm surprised I haven't featured it before. As someone who isn't the biggest fan of Christmas music (several radio stations here start playing it 24/7 before Thanksgiving), having a fresh, silly twist on a classic is a delight to read aloud - and then get stuck in your head!

This is a tech-y, robotic take on the Twelve Days of Christmas featuring a Robo-Santa giving, among other things, a cartridge in a gear tree. The words fit perfectly to the original tune, and the detailed illustrations give you and your kid a lot to look at on each page. I can't recommend this one enough if you're looking for a fun, silly spoof of a Christmas book.

Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come by Jessica Pan

The summary of this book screamed that it was perfect for me.

What would happen if a shy introvert lived like a gregarious extrovert for one year? If she knowingly and willingly put herself in perilous social situations that she’d normally avoid at all costs? Jessica Pan is going to find out.
When she found herself jobless and friendless, sitting in the familiar Jess-shaped crease on her sofa, she couldn't help but wonder what life might have looked like if she had been a little more open to new experiences and new people, a little less attached to going home instead of going to the pub.
So, she made a vow: to push herself to live the life of an extrovert for a year. She wrote a list: improv, a solo holiday and... talking to strangers on the tube. She regretted it instantly.
Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come follows Jess's hilarious and painful year of misadventures in extroverting, reporting back from the frontlines for all the introverts out there.
But is life actually better or easier for the extroverts? Or is it the nightmare Jess always thought it would be?

Spoiler alert: IT WAS. I want to be Jessica’s best friend but as a fellow shintrovert, I know we will never hang out. Twitter friendship it is.

Jess takes a year to set goals to push herself out of her comfort zone and try to become an extrovert. She tells a story in front of an audience for The Moth, she takes stand up and improv classes and performs at clubs, she goes to networking events and actually networks, she speaks to strangers. It all gave me small anxiety attacks (which made me feel alive!) and also had me laughing out loud in so many sections.

I loved relating so hard to this person and her year. It also reminded me of the year I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to go to grad school in DC, where I also spoke to strangers and took comedy classes. But here I am, shintrovert for life, reading as much as possible and living vicariously through those books.

ASTRONUTS by Jon Scieszka and Steven Weinberg

I was so grateful to get this book from @ChronicleKidsBooks. I’ve been a fan of Jon Scieszka since falling in love with The Stinky Cheese Man in elementary school. I’ve read many of his other books over the years, and was so happy to see he’s continuing the silliness.

AstroNuts is a totally wacky book about four animals who were trained as astronauts to help find a new planet if/when humans wrecked Earth. Except there was a typo in the information, so instead of being skilled astronauts, the animals are AstroNUTS! They live up to their name and turn their adventure into a big crazy mess.

The writing style of this book was so fun and easy to read, and the art style is amazing - collage and sketch, with explanations at the back of the book about how illustrator Steven Weinberg made the art. I’ve already loaned my copy to one student, who read it in one night!

I have plans to use the book as a mentor text for creative writing lessons, because it shows that writing and art don’t have to be serious, and you don’t have to be “grown up” (no offense, Scieszka and Weinberg) to create a great book.