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.

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.

School's First Day of School

Today was my son's first day of preschool, so this seemed like the perfect book to feature! I originally saw it posted on @chickadee.lit's Instagram and her review made me realize I had to read it. Our library doesn't have it in the system, so I ordered it right away, and we've been reading it all last week to get my son geared up for preschool.

This book is written by Adam Rex, who has a great sense of humor as evidenced in his other books: Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Frankenstein Takes the Cake, and The True Meaning of Smekday, which was adapted into the movie Home. It's illustrated by Christian Robinson, of Last Stop on Market Street fame. I'm thinking these guys are the new dream team, because so far this book is my stand-out favorite picture book of the year.

Frederick Douglass Elementary is a brand new school, built from the ground up, and he gets used to just having the janitor around keeping him clean. The janitor tells the school that soon he'll be full of children, and school gets very nervous. The school has to learn everyone's names, and how to act, and  how to make friends... Can he do it, or will he be too scared?!

School's First Day of School is a must-read for kids starting school, whether it's for the first time, or for a new year. Kids will be able to identify with how the school is feeling, and they'll feel understood. Parents will love reading it too - I laughed out loud several times because it's so witty.

The Llama Who Had No Pajama

Plot Summary
This is a collection of 100 favorite poems by Mary Ann Hoberman. There is no specific subject - some poems make you laugh, some poems make you think, some poems let you experience things you might not otherwise be able to. This is a great collection to introduce children to poetry, because many poems are about childhood experiences that will be relatable and inviting for children.

Critical Analysis
This is first and foremost a poetry collection, but the illustrations are a major part of the book. They add a lot to each poem. For example, the page spread featuring a poem called “Mouse” is accompanied by a drawing of a playful mouse chasing its tail around the poem, covering both pages (20-21). Some pages have an illustration as a background: “How Far,” “Growing,” and “A Year Later” are printed on the backdrop of a watercolor sunset over a lake (41). When multiple poems are featured on a page, Betty Fraser draws smaller illustrations for each poem. This layout makes the book much more interesting to children, and invites them to read the poem by showing them what it’s about before they even get to the words. For children who can’t yet read on their own, they can look at the pictures while the poem is read to them, and be more involved with the ideas than just listening alone.

     Rhythm.
The cadence of these poems is perfect for children because it has a natural up and down flow, encouraging the reader to raise and lower their tone throughout each line. There are a variety of poems - some long, some short, some with long lines, some with choppier lines. This assortment is a great way to keep children interested because no two poems are alike.

     Rhyme.
The poems in this collection rhyme, which is ideal for children. The rhymes create a natural rhythm, which makes reading poetry more fun. Rhymes also help grab their interest, and may even help in memorizing poetry, or just help them feel included by being able to chime in with the rhyming words! Many different rhyme schemes are employed throughout the book. Hoberman primarily writes in couplets and simple 4-line rhymes, but also plays with assonance, consonance, and alliteration in the lines.

     Sound.
Hoberman employs great use of sound throughout this collection. For example, in the poem “Worm:”

“Squiggly
Wiggly
Wriggly
Jiggly
Higgly
Piggly
Worm” (15).

The words are playful and encourage the reader to squirm along, becoming more and more antsy with each additional adverb. Many of Hoberman’s animals poems are written this way, helping the reader picture how the animal looks, feels, and sounds.

     Language.
Not many metaphors and similes are used throughout the poems because the writing is very straight-forward and realistic. Hoberman chooses vivid words to accurately portray the experiences written about, such as birthdays, vacations, weather, and family relationships. The words are nicely chosen because they are not juvenile, even though the poems are aimed at children. The words are not over their heads, but they encourage the children to use context clues to derive meanings.

     Imagery.
Even if this collection was not illustrated, Hoberman’s language alone would bring the poems to life. Her word choice, when describing anything from a birthday bus to a termite, makes the reader not only visually imagine the subject, but also approach it with the other senses by conveying the scent, sound, and touch of objects written about.

     Emotions.
Since the collection is intended for children, Hoberman keeps the mood light. The poems don’t delve into deep emotions, but they are not all overly perky. They have a upbeat tone, but the happiness of the poems does not undercut the quality of the writing by making it seem too silly or lighthearted.

Personal Response
This collection is fun to read aloud because the poems have great rhythm and rhyme. I loved some poems more than others, but with any collection there is some hit and miss involved. I agree with the assessment that this is a great introduction to poetry for children.

Reviews & Awards
From School Library Journal: “Hoberman's rhythms are lively and agile, and her imagination and sense of humor are still in tune with young readers. Fraser's simple but detailed gouache and watercolor illustrations exhibit the same qualities. The layout is masterfully varied and never overwhelms the poems.” Mary Ann Hoberman’s work has previously won the American Book Award. In 2003, she received the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, and received the Children’s Poet Laureate award in 2008.

Connections & Activities
Ask children which poem was their favorite, then have them write a poem of their own in similar style. If they’re having trouble, suggest they work backwards! First, think of rhyming words and jot them down. Then they can make sentences with the rhyming words at the end, and put them in poem format to tell a story or describe something!

Read it for yourself!
Hoberman, Mary Ann. 1998. The Llama Who Had No Pajama. Ill. by Betty Fraser. San Diego:
     Browndeer Press. ISBN 9780152001117

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Plot Summary
Forget everything you think you know about the three little pigs - this is the real story! Alexander T. Wolf (you can call him Al) is tired of everyone thinking he’s a big bad wolf just because he likes to eat cute animals. The truth is, he just needed to borrow a cup of sugar. And since he had a cold, he decided to just walk over to his neighbor’s house. It’s not his fault his sneezes demolish houses - who builds out of straw and sticks? Al went from merely borrowing a cup of sugar to being jailed for “huffing and puffing” - proof that reporters always skew the story!

Critical Analysis
This book isn’t actually by Jon Scieszka, it’s by Alexander Wolf. And because this is his story, told from his point of view, he’s an unreliable narrator. He’s been know throughout history as the bad guy of the story, and even with justice insisting everyone is innocent until proven guilty, you’ll find A. Wolf a little hard to believe. Even so, the way he tells the story is very humorous and very childlike - making up reason after reason for why he did this, and then that, and how it got skewed. I think that is what makes it so appealing to children: the perfect combination of silliness and familiarity, told on their level.
     With a story told from the bad guy’s point of view, you can’t expect bright colors and smooth drawings! Lane Smith’s art fits The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs perfectly. The colors are mostly dark - maroons and burnt oranges, browns and tans. Each picture looks grainy, but on closer inspection, the marks are a lot of texture added to each drawing, like bumps on bricks, needles of hay, woodgrain on the chalkboard frame. The desaturated colors work well with the few samples of newsprint on the covers and at the end of the book. The illustrations seem a little dark for such a humorous story, but they are effective at setting the mood of an unreliable narrator trying to get you to believe his side of the story.
     Publishers Weekly praises the illustrations specifically, saying, “Smith’s highly imaginative watercolors eschew realism, further updating the tale, though some may find their urbane stylization and intentionally static quality mystifyingly adult.” School Library Journal also comments on the overall dark and shadowy drawings, saying, “[…] the bespectacled wolf moves with a rather sinister tonelessness, and his juicy sneezes tear like thunderbolts through a dim, grainy world.”

Personal Response
I loved this book as a child, and was thrilled to discover it’s just as funny now! I read it to my son - he’s only three months old, but so far all the fairy tales I’ve read to him have been fractured fairy tales! As an added bonus, we got to meet Jon Scieszka August 20, 2014 - he’s just as witty in person as in writing.
     I think it’s fun to read fractured fairy tales and compare them with the originals. This book is especially fun because the wolf seems sympathetic, wanting to bake a cake for his granny! It’s interesting to see who kids side with, since most know the other story of the three little pigs, and are now faced with looking at it from the bad guy’s point of view.

Reviews & Awards
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is #35 on School Library Journal’s list “Top 100 Picture Books” of all time. In 2008, Scieszka was the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a position created to bring awareness to the importance of reading at a young age. He is also the founder of “Guys Read,” a nonprofit literacy organization. His book The Stinky Cheese Man won a Caldecott Honor medal. Lane Smith was the illustrator for that book, and has worked with Scieszka on The Time Warp Trio novels. Smith has collaborated with many other authors and won countless awards for his work, including the recent Caldecott honor Grandpa Green.

Connections & Activities
The scope of activities for this book seem endless, because it’s so inviting for children. They can make up their own fractured fairy tales. They can discuss whether they believe the wolf or not, and explain their reasonings why. They can (and should!) read The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, also by Scieszka and Smith, and discuss the fractured fairy tales told there. As an extended study, students can read more books by the author and illustrator separately, and compare and contrast their works.

Read it for yourself!
Scieszka, Jon. 1989. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Ill. by Lane Smith. New York: Puffin
     Books. ISBN 9780140544510