Jane Yolen is a master storyteller. Along with the illustrator in less than 20 words, they can have a book from beginning to end. It’s a perfect book for bedtime for that last push right before sleep. 

 This is a story of a bear and a woodpecker. Bear needs to sleep and accidentally destroyed the woodpeckers’ home. The woodpecker needs to build. Between the two of them, the bear is not getting to sleep. This results in name-calling. While the bear starts it out, the woodpecker completes it. And fuzzybutt is born. However, the woodpecker apologizes and the two find a happy balance. As someone with a woodpecker in their yard, I fully understand the pecking and how grading it can be sometimes. I like that these two became friends and that the book has the lesson of a don’t call people names. The illustrations are lovely, and I do enjoy them. I do wish this story while Good had a shorter better flow, but it still works. 

 This book let you know there was glitter on every page. Gloria, the rhinoceros loves glitter and know that’ll make everybody happy. But glitter spreads. Once it touches one thing it sure to be on everything. And at one point in the book the other characters get a little annoyed, but I’ll end up being happy because glitter makes you happy. Part of this book rhymed part of it didn’t. I just wish the story was better. That illustrations are lively and fun. 

 Joe is a little boy. A little boy who is tired of being considered amazing. He’s just a normal kid. He’s no more amazing than his best friend. But he constantly gets told how amazing he is. What Joe is is a one-legged student. Joe is different but being different is normal. Being different is not amazing. Save amazing for when things are amazing. The message in this book is fantastic.  The message is treat me like everybody else. Treat me as normal. I am as normal as can be. I just do things differently. Make disabilities normal not amazing or not something to fawn over. This book is excellent and so are the illustrations. 

 This book is about a book. This book does not want to tell a story. However, the pages of the book want a story. And they help the book find the words he needs to make the story. This book was just fun. It says it was written by the daughter of the author challenging him to write a book with no story. And they did a successful job. The illustrations are wonderful the contents of the book whether story or not are a great funny read. 

 Where was this book when I was a child. As a 46-year-old woman I am all in my feels about a book that makes me 11 again. I am lucky that I did not have Ellie‘s mother, but my aunt and my grandmother were just like her. Ellie is a girl who is not small. She’s been big all her life. She’s been picked on by people at school, people in neighborhood, and even her mother. This constant referring of “you could be pretty if you lost weight”. “Your problems are your own because you’re fat”.” We could love you and like you more if you weren’t big”. If you have a big girl in your life they need this book. Whether they’re two years old or 102 years old. This novel in free verse is written with love and compassion and hope and bravery. The best thing about this book is how happy it leaves you feeling at the end. Happy and knowing that Ellie will most likely be OK. Because she’s learned to stand up for herself. She learns to let others know that their behavior affects more than just them. I loved Ellie in the story. I understand the idea of star fishing and just floating. At age 11,  I was in Alaska and the pool was my best friend. So much to not only like but to love about this book no matter your age, no matter your size. It moves quickly, so quickly that you’re done before you had a chance to fully live out the message in the pages. I love everything about this book and it will probably be one of my favorite books of the year.
 

 You know that feeling when you have waited too long to read a really good book. I’m living that now. I’ve had Thornhedge since it came out and I already know I love T. Kingfisher.  But no, I waited on this. The story that this woman can put in 111 pages. It’s sweet, it’s uplifting, it’s happy, it’s fascinating. Let the adjectives continue. This is a sleeping beauty retelling that imagines a different villain and a different reason for beauty to sleep. It dares to say that beauty can be ugly, and commonness can be beautiful. It weaves a story we know into a culture we don’t to produce a story that will want to be read repeatedly.
 

 Once again, this man hits it out of the park. I wish he would write more children’s books. He has such a creative mind and such a way with words. In this book, our character gets a new teacher. The new teacher is kind of gruff and our main character goes into some pretty crazy stories. But how much is true how much is not?  Weird Al can tell a story, whether he’s rhyming them to polka music or putting them in a book, this man makes words that adult and children want to listen to. And when you read his books, they sound like him. I love that about his writing about this book and his other one. Please Weird Al write more books. 

 I love this book when it first came out. I still love it now. It’s weird Al so you know his cadence and his storytelling is on point the story itself while some may consider long. It flows so well that while it’s as wordy as an Eminem song, it goes as fast as a word page. Weird Al is able to weave magic in these pages. And the ending makes my heart go pitter patter my eyes tear up and make me go. Let’s not forget about our illustrator Wes HARGIS. They have created the perfect illustrations to go with this book. A little in line a little watercolor, but a whole lot of fun. 

 I am impressed. This is a very good children’s book. It has a cadence, it rhymes, but it has an important message that kids need to hear. That you can be multiple things. That you are more than just what people think you are. I love the letter in the back of the book from LeBron. That says you may think I’m a basketball player, but I am more than!. I do believe he has another picture book called IPpromise and before making my final thoughts on LeBron James, I am going to read that one. But so far I would say this is a picture book not a celebrity picture book. Well done. Readable With great saying power on Library shelves.