Billie B. Little

Author-illustrator Heidi Woodward Sheffield’s wonderfully detailed and brilliantly colored collages burst off the pages of Brick by Brick, her first picture book.

From his window high up in a brick apartment building, Luis gazes and waits for his Papi to return. Scraps of lace and fabric embroidered or printed with plaids and stripes festoon the windows. The little boy’s Papi is a bricklayer, with strong arms “like stone,” good for lifting little boys onto shoulders. In first-person narration, Luis draws parallels between his Papi’s work and his own daily school routine. While his Papi builds tall buildings one brick at a time, Luis learns “book by book.” Papi uses a level, slaps on the mortar and scrapes off the excess. At school, Luis pats and rolls clay to make a tiny dog and a little house.

As Luis works, he dreams of having “nuestra casa para siempre,” an “always house” for him and his family, with space for his mother to have a garden and for him to have the dog he dreams of. Whether they are working on sky-high scaffolding or climbing playground equipment at recess, neither Luis nor his Papi are afraid of heights—and neither is afraid to dream or to work hard to achieve their goals. Their story builds to “una sorpresa,” which is to say, a surprise.

Sheffield masterfully pairs her heavily textured, layered illustrations with language that is rich and pulls out sensory details that make Brick by Brick an excellent choice for reading aloud. A mortar mixer whirrrrrrrs as Papi scrrrrapes away excess mortar; the “kerchunk” of Papi’s lunch box is especially satisfying. Sheffield’s mixed media collages, which incorporate photographs, create a vibrant and lively cacophony that overflows with bold color, chunky shapes and friendly faces, welcoming readers immediately into Luis’ world. Luis’ sweet, plainspoken narration will endear him to readers immediately, making the surprise awaiting him at the end of the story feel like a triumph.

When a gentle breeze tickles the ear of a very small sleeping mouse, he awakes with a squeak, beginning a chain reaction that ripples across mountains and valleys, touches creeks and rivers, rousing every creature in its wake. With a light touch, sisters Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Kate Harvey McGee do a stellar job of showing the interconnection of all things wet and scaly, wild and wooly.

Each page delights with sound and motion: The chipmunks chitter and skitter, an eagle “whooshes” and beats her wings, and a bighorn lamb nearly misses its mark while leaping to a nearby peak, sending dirt and gravel off the cliff to the ground below. Vibrant illustrations by McGee capture the beauty and expansiveness of the Pacific Northwest, with all its creatures—ranging from the smallest mouse to bighorn sheep and the largest of them all, a bellowing bison. All the ruckus finally comes back to the mouse, still curled up in a ball and wondering what the racket is all about.

The pairing of lively language and pastel panoramas makes Squeak! both rich and evocative. Little ones will love hearing about this mouse’s wake-up call to the world.

Newbery Medal winner Jerry Spinelli presents an all-American Fourth of July from the viewpoint of a young boy who’s so excited that he runs out to join the parade in his pajamas. Golden Kite Award-winning illustrator Larry Day brings Spinelli’s evocative story to life with his buoyant drawings, splashed with flag-waving red, white and blue.

In this nostalgic story, readers will taste the smoky hot dogs, quake at the earth-shaking boom of the first firework, smell the burnt-toast odor in the night air and finally fall asleep to the creak of a red wagon as a father carries the tired spectator home. It’s been quite a day.

If you were lucky enough to have an Independence Day celebration like the one Spinelli describes, you’ll never forget it. And if you haven’t had an equally memorable Fourth of July, it’s not too late to create your own version. Put on an apron, bake a cherry crumble pie, stuff some deviled eggs, grab your family and head to the park for games, a picnic and the coup de resistance—the fireworks.

Spinelli charms us with his child’s-eye view of the Fourth, and Day’s colorful, panoramic illustrations add a necessary punch of brilliance. Kudos to this author-illustrator team for creating a sweet and fun-filled (if somewhat sentimental) depiction of a uniquely American holiday.

Award-winning author and illustrator Julia Sarcone-Roach, There Are No Bears in This Bakery is the tale of Muffin the cat, the self-appointed neighborhood watch or “the whiskers of the neighborhood.”

Against a mouth-watering backdrop of sprinkled donuts, fruit tarts and eclairs, Muffin begins the bakery night shift, listening for every squeak, crunch, snip or flap. But soon a new sound, a disturbing and unfamiliar growl, draws Muffin out to investigate.

The alley is empty, but the bakery window is cracked open “like a crooked smile.” Muffin slips back in and sees the biggest mouse he has ever encountered. But it’s not a big mouse: Seated on the floor of the bakery is a very small bear with a very rumbly tummy.

Muffin tackles the problem at once, breaking out some goodies for the appreciative bear. Then loud snuffling sounds announce something else in the darkness—a huge creature that “smelled like a dumpster on a hot day.” Muffin’s eyes stretch to the size of saucers, and then everything goes dark.

What happens next? You’ll have to gift this book to a lucky child or yourself to find out. Sarcone-Roach’s melding of charming artwork and engaging story are wonderfully done, and the fun-filled, lyrical language will make rereading a pleasure.