I don’t typically read/review picture books but I read a ton of them in the month of November and I just wanted to share my adventure. I blame the Goodreads Choice Awards even though it was actually Picture Book Month so it ended up being very fitting. When the nominees were announced and I had ended up reading almost nothing from any category, I decided that I would try to knock out some that had been on my TBR. But then I started thinking it was a lost cause and I wouldn’t complete near as many as I wanted to before the winners were announced. But wait. PICTURE BOOKS. I could read alllllll the nominees from the picture book category!
My book bestie and I started off with a single one, Ida, Always, and our addiction only grew from there. We ended off the month having read a total of 80 picture books. We spent a fun Sunday sitting in the library kids section (in one of those midget chairs) and at one point we were asked if we were “planning for the future.”
No, I may not have children in the appropriate age group for picture books anymore but dammit, adults can still enjoy them! There were an incredible amount of books with beautiful illustrations and the most amazing messages that can be appreciated by children and adults alike.
Here is the full list:
[Ida, Always – The Thank You Book – Are We There Yet? – Nobody Likes a Goblin – School’s First Day of School – Otter Goes to School – A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals – When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons – Snappsy the Alligator – Worm Loves Worm – Twenty Yawns – A Child of Books – We Found a Hat – Thunder Boy Jr. – The Princess and the Pony – This Is Sadie – Shy – This Moose Belongs to Me – Imaginary Fred – How to Catch a Star]
[Nightsong – Float – Lost and Found – The Way Back Home – The Only Child – King Baby – Interstellar Cinderella – Owl Moon – Sam and Dave Dig a Hole – The Curious Garden – The Night Gardener – Once Upon an Alphabet – Journey – Quest – What’s Your Favorite Animal – The Day the Crayons Quit – The Day the Crayons Came Home – Hug Machine – Pirate Girl – Flora and the Peacocks]
The Adventures of Beekle – Ideas Are All Around – Square Cat – Blueberry Girl – Cats’ Night Out – And Then It’s Spring – Uni the Unicorn – Squirrel and John Muir – Cloudette – Probuditi! – Chu’s First Day of School – Sidney, Stella, and the Moon – Snow Moon – Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree – I Want to be a Cowgirl – Dewey Bob – And Tango Makes Three – My New Teacher and Me! – Sea of Dreams – Little Elephants]
[Christian, the Hugging Lion – One – Two – The Eleventh Hour – You’re All My Favorites – Pardon Me! – I Dissent – The Tea Party in the Woods – The Very Fluffy Kitty, Papillon – They All Saw a Cat – Mostly Monsterly – Up and Down – The Most Magnificent Thing – Ada Twist, Scientist – The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles – Return – The Night World – The Incredible Book Eating Boy – Leo: A Ghost Story – The Heart and the Bottle]
We read about everything from imaginary friends to imaginary worlds, polar bears to panda bears, dancing cats, square cats, fluffy cats, and a fair share of penguins. Goblins, monsters, alligators, worms, raccoons, and even fat little ponies. There were books about seasons, about gardens, pirates, peacocks, and moose (oh my?)
It’d be impossible to choose a favorite out of 80 books but here are a few noteworthy titles: Ida, Always made me cry, The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home made me laugh, The Heart and the Bottle had the most, well, heart, Lost and Found made me want my own penguin friend, When Green Becomes Tomatoes was a gorgeous collection of poetry fit even for kids, A Child of Books had the best illustrations (although all of Jeffers’ illustrated books are amazing; I read a total of 12, written and/or illustrated), and Pardon Me! had the most shocking and unexpected ending (in a sorta funny way).
So maybe you don’t have to read picture books for an entire month like I did, but the majority of these were well worth the few minutes it took to read them. They took me on an enjoyable albeit quick adventure. Will I keep reading picture books? Absolutely. And when I’m stuck in my next book rut, I think a few picture books will definitely do the trick.
