Oona is a mermaid who loves to explore and seek treasure.  There is a not quite buried treasure that she has wanted for some time, but the obstacles to achieving this goal are many.  However, Oona has the help of her friend Otto the otter.  There are parts of this book that I see holes in as an adult reader.  Why the need for the special glasses, and who made the bridge for what reason.  But most of that will fly by the children.  What they will see is a beautiful black mermaid and her fuzzy soft friend having adventures and living a glorious life.

I am not sure what I like more, the story or the illustrations.  The cadence and rhyming is spot on.  It has the sweet sing-songy quality that I love in a picture book.  A boy and a young dragon meet.  They become friends, but realize too late that they are supposed to be enemies.  This story was absolutely wonderful and will need to be added to my personal collection.

I love when picture books introduce the reader to someone new.  Until this book, I had never heard of Tyrus Wong, even if I have seen Bimbi too many times.  I also never knew about “paper sons” and paper families who used fake identities to enter the US when specific cultures were banned.  This story was so heartwarming, and at times sad.  It follows the life of a man most won’t know, but will come to know, and start looking for his art.

This book is just as awesome as the first one.  Julian is headed to a wedding and they are in the procession with Marisol.  Once the wedding is over and the party starts, it’s time to play.  Marisol gets their dress dirty and Julian helps make a new one from the vines of a weeping willow.  This book is just perfect.  It’s inclusive, it breathtaking, and so full of love and acceptance.  Please write more of these.  Please.

This book is a fictionalized story based on a real life girl who decided that she had to help our planet.  The giants have taken over and are destroying everything.  Greta is going to take a stand, and others will join her to defeat the giants and make them learn better ways.  What a wonderful story of a true superhero who stood up and said Not today.  

75 words have never meant so much as they do in this immigration story.  The Caldacot worthy illustrations are as much a part of the story as the heart wrenching words.  This story is beautiful and heartbreaking, and very needed in libraries now.  

This is such a fun book.  Crankenstein is a regular boy who is almost always cranky. This books is about what makes him such a crank, and what makes him laugh.  The picture and the story match and make this a laugh riot.

Do you love the movie the Holiday.  I have found that movie in picture book format.  Tabitha the elephant and Fritz the cat trade houses for a birthday holiday.  Hijinks ensue.  This is an espolistory picture book (the story is told through emails between the two characters).  It was so much fun and while it is a bit long for story time, it would be perfect at home or in classrooms.

I love this book.  It is the sequel to The Very Impatient Caterpillar.  By now the caterpillar is a butterfly and the got lost.  He is way out I the ocean and it is 200 miles back home.  There is no way they can do that.  He is anxious, scared, and a little crazed.  But the help of a whale telling them, they can do it, they make it home, only to be hit with the next anxiety inducing event.  This book is full of heart and full of laughs. The illustrations are bright and colorful and set the story off perfectly.

No one wants to lose a loved ones close to a holiday.  It takes all the holiday spirit right out of someone.  Stephan is a little boy who is having a bad time since his father died.  While in a bit of a bad moment, he tells his brother there is no Santa.  Boy does that put him on the naughty list.  And it makes him ripe for the picking from Krampus.  And pick him he does.  Krampus wisksStephan away to the land Christmas forgot and a war between Krampus, the forgotten and Santa’s helpers ensue.  This was a fun holiday listen.  Not too scary, but still “horror” for the holidays for kids.