Mole wants a hat, but none are quite right, so they decide to make their own. This book is typical. Nothing special, nothing new. The illustrations are also typical. Nothing special, nothing new, nothing unique. This book will get checked out, but has no long-term staying power. 

 This feels like a money grab. The author uses wordplay such as shelf and book and latte to make this rhyming story work. Instead of working, it’s just annoying. I can’t espresso myself. It’s like bad Ray done poetry in a TJ Maxx book. It needs to be left on the shelf. 

 This is a Sesame Street book. No fault to find but it’s a Sesame Street book. You buy it because you know it’s going to be good, and that people are going to want to read it over and over again. 

 This book will get so much play at story time. It’s simple but it’s fun. The illustrations are like modern day Dr. Seuss. The kid and their hair remind me of Thing One and Thing Two. And while nowhere is “wacky wow squiggle noodle caboodle day” the idea is the happiness of that word flow throughout the story. This book has a nice refrain that anything is possible that will get kids saying along every time it comes up. 

 This book looks at grandma‘s around the world and what they cook for their family. This book is simple but a great way to share a culture. 

 These are fine. My favorite is “Let’s Go” about where books take you all over. The spring and the gnome or the goblin is also really fun and that is probably my favorite illustration in the book. I’m not really a fan of the illustration and altogether this would not be a book I would pick up frequently. It’s hard to compare to Shel Silverstein and this author doesn’t come close. 

 The only redeeming quality in this book is the various words in various African languages that are presented on the pages. The story is over long. It’s supposed to be about a princess who learns it more to life than crown, but it is so overdone. The ending doesn’t make up for it and neither do the illustrations. The illustrations are fine, but they feel like a college student still learning. 

 In this book, we have a kid who loves to make art. They make art everywhere. So much so it gets out of hand, and they must be curtailed. They discover that there are places to make art as big and bold as you need it to be. This book is just as colorful as one would expect. What I really like is the main character Kenji is always listed as they. Children can read what they want into it or see themselves. 

 This is probably one of the most unique picture books I’ve ever read. When the very first illustrations are of a little girl in a gas mask all expectations go out the window. This book feels like a dystopian future but could very much be now. A young girl has a baby sibling who is not breathing well and needs lots of attention, so she goes off to play. She wanders the woods and finds the witch who explains about the cycle of life. This book feels like a story you would study in literature class but written for grade three and four. The illustrations are unique and interesting but fit the story well. 

 Chris Pine did a decent job of writing a kid’s picture book. He has fantastic rhyming skills, but he needs to practice his cadence skills. Digs an adopted dog, and Zorro the neighborhood squirrel finding their spots in their homes and become friends in this adorable story.  However,  a reader finds himself tripping over the text because there is no flow. There will be sections of flow in cadence that by the next page is completely gone. How Chris uses language and chooses to rhyme parts of the stories shows the ability to do better. This book is a pretty gosh darn good first attempt. I hope he tries writing more picture books, but also get some more practice.