Being a small kid in a big world isn’t always easy. It’s sometimes hard to get noticed, let alone feel like anything is within your control. But three new picture books are guaranteed to encourage even the smallest children to stand up for themselves—and others.

SEEN AND HEARD
In The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade, family music star Justin Roberts and up-and-coming artist Christian Robinson combine their considerable talents to tell the story of Sally McCabe. While Sally may indeed be the smallest one in school, she has a large capacity for paying “extra special attention” to everything going on around her. It’s Sally who notices tiny incidents: “how a whisper could make someone cower like a bulldozer crushing through fields of wildflowers.” Eventually, Sally speaks up, starting a wave of kindness, proving that you don’t have to be big and powerful to make a difference. The rhyming text is enhanced by Robinson’s playful colored pencil illustrations.

HUSTLE AND BUSTLE
Like Sally McCabe, the Elliot in Mike Curato’s arresting debut title, Little Elliot, Big City, is tiny—a petite, somewhat shy, polka-dotted elephant to be precise. (And yes, a plush animal is in the works.) The dedication, “For anyone who feels unnoticed,” captures Little Elliot’s daily experiences as he makes his way around a 1930s/'40s New York City: riding on the subway, trying to catch a cab and, most importantly, attempting to order a cupcake from the local bakery. But as Elliot learns, there is always someone a little smaller or in need of help, and when he and his new friend Mouse work as a team, they achieve both success (yum!) and make a new friend. With its iconic images and heartwarming story, this first book is a memorable start to what is sure to be a successful series and career.

PEACE AND LOVE
It’s perhaps fitting that the last book Leo Dillon was working on before his death was about empowering children around the globe. Leo and Diane Dillon’s If Kids Ran the World is a boisterous celebration of diversity, harmony and imagination. Things, little and big, would be different if kids ran the world, whether it’s housing that doesn’t ruin the land or sea, medicine for people who need it, or just not being teased because of the clothes you wear. As the authors’ note says, “Kids who make the world better will probably grow up into adults who want to do the same thing.” And that can certainly be said of Leo and Diane Dillon, whose commitment to equality has empowered generations of children and adults to make a difference in the world.

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is The Great Trouble.

It’s trick-or-treat time again, but we’ve got something better than candy—a roundup of the season’s creepiest new books! Readers, beware: Nothing says “boo” like the spooky titles below.

TOO MANY TREATS
A madcap Halloween adventure featuring two supernatural siblings, The Sweetest Witch Around by Alison McGhee and Harry Bliss is the irresistible follow-up to the duo’s best-selling book, A Very Brave Witch. It’s Halloween, and young Witchling listens dutifully as big sis urges her not to be afraid of humans in spite of their odd ways, like the strange tradition of trick-or-treating. “Candy is gross,” says big sis. Witchling samples some, thinks otherwise, and hops on her broom in hopes of scoring more. She falls in with a group of costumed kids and collects a brimming hatful. Big sis tracks her movements and soon retrieves her, but the trip home by broom proves precarious. Witchling’s haul of treats is too heavy! Forced to abandon the candy or crash, they toss it overboard. Back home, big sis sees her sibling in a new light, admiring her pluck and sense of daring. Bliss’ trademark ink-and-watercolor illustrations are filled with not-to-be overlooked details, like Witchling’s EZ-Bake Cauldron and Graveyard Barbie. This is a sweet treat from start to finish.

A TERRIFYING TRANSFORMATION
Edgar Dreadbury, the protagonist of Keith Graves’ ingenious book, The Monsterator, is a bit of a creep. A pampered lad who’s lord of the Dreadbury manse—an unwelcoming gray pile that has all the makings of a haunted house—he has a seen-it-all attitude toward Halloween and its requisite dress-up ritual. “I wish I could be something screamingly scary,” he says. On a quest for fresh ways to be frightening, he happens upon a store with a strange machine and, following the instructions on its exterior, inserts a coin. Inside the contraption, Edgar morphs from boy to monster, a transformation that’s complete—he sports horns, fangs and a tail—and, as Edgar soon learns, permanent. Appropriately enough, every day is now Halloween for the Dreadbury boy, who’s pleased indeed with his monster makeover and takes singular delight in terrorizing trick-or-treaters. Graves’ brilliant acrylic-paint illustrations have a classic yet creepy quality, and there’s a scary surprise at the end for readers, who can make their own monsters with pages that flip. Frightening fun!

PUMPKIN POWER
A clever coming-of-age story and sweet celebration of the season, Little Boo, by Stephen Wunderli, is the tale of a not very scary, really rather adorable pumpkin seed who can’t wait to grow up. Little Boo was born ready to unleash his inner Jack-o’-lantern. As a young seed anxious to reach his full, frightening potential, he tries—and inevitably fails—to spook his garden companions. “Boo!” he says, addressing a bug, who doesn’t blink an eye. “Boo!” he exclaims to a snowflake, who smiles in response. And so it goes, though the four seasons, until sufficient time has passed, and Boo at last achieves pumpkin status. As a full-fledged Jack-o’-lantern placed in a prime spot on the porch, he proudly sends his ghoulish glow out into the world. Tim Zeltner’s swirling acrylic and glaze illustrations, executed on plywood, capture the spirit of the most mischievous night of the year. Boo is the perfect companion for little tricksters, but Halloween lovers of all ages will fall for this festive story.

Snow holds a special sway over the imagination. Daredevil sledding sessions, snowball brawls, warm cups of cocoa—snow days are coming soon, so now's the time to get ready!

NONSTOP SNOW
Caldecott Honor winner John Rocco shares an epic incident from his childhood in Blizzard, an account of the 1978 storm that dropped 40 inches of snow on the Northeast. While the young narrator is initially thrilled by the weather (no school!), he finds that snow, in excess, does not necessarily equal fun. The white stuff won’t support the weight of sledders, and walking through it is like wading. With stressed parents, a rapidly diminishing stock of food and no sign of snowplows, the narrator, inspired by the Artic explorers of old, sets off on an expedition to collect supplies—a major mission that proves a success. From this boyhood victory, Rocco has created an unforgettable book. Through his intriguing pencil, watercolor and digitally painted illustrations, he cleverly communicates the scale of the blizzard (a stop sign disappears into a drift), and his characters’ warm, beaming faces reflect the celebratory spirit that snow always seems to inspire.

WINTRY WORDPLAY
In Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold, Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen take a fascinating look at how animals endure the shivery, dark weeks of winter. Through rollicking rhymes and breezy free verse, Sidman examines the cold-weather habits of wolves, moose, snakes, beavers, tundra swans and more. Her lines are full of fresh imagery (bees have “eyelash legs” and “tinsel wings”), and the collection as a whole unlocks the secrets of nature in ways young readers will appreciate. (Who knew that snakes hibernate in the same place every winter?) Sidebars offer intriguing survival stories and fun facts about each creature, while Allen’s digitally layered linoleum-block prints provide detailed studies of the season. A collection that’s as crisp as the first snowfall, Winter Bees is the perfect way to pass a chilly afternoon.

SNOWY ADVENTURE
In her magical new book, Outside, Deirdre Gill celebrates the mind-expanding nature of snow and the ways it can lend new dimension to the everyday world. A restless boy watches through a window as white flakes pile up outside. After exhausting all of his indoor options (like pestering his brother), he leaves the house and heads into the woods, where the majestic, snow-coated trees provide a change of perspective. Left to his own devices, he rolls up a frosty white ball that transforms into—among other thrilling things—a giant snowman. When a winged dragon enters the mix, the boy enjoys a ride through the sky. Gill’s expert oil-on-paper illustrations create a telling contrast between the house’s stuffy interior and the open-ended nature of the great outdoors. Her lovely book captures the quiet mystery of the season.

This article was originally published in the November 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Whether you light a menorah every year or are new to the Jewish Festival of Lights, you’ll find something to appreciate among this year’s Hanukkah picture book offerings. All three involve combinations of rhyming verse and fine art, as well as new takes on old traditions.

OLD LADY’S AT IT AGAIN
As the title suggests, Caryn Yacowitz’s I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel is a Hanukkah-themed version of the traditional cumulative rhyme about that notorious woman who swallows a series of rather unusual objects. Starting with a dreidel (she mistakes it for a bagel), the old lady of the title eats her way through various items associated with Hanukkah, including a pitcher of oil (“’bout ready to boil”), a pile of gelt (money) and—of course—eight candles. Readers may look forward to learning the old lady’s ultimate fate, but the highlight of the book comes in the 14 classics of Western painting and sculpture spoofed in David Slonim’s illustrations. From an unusual “Mona Lisa” to “The Starry Night” featuring a giant menorah, this fun offering inspires young readers to explore both Hanukkah traditions and the world of art history.

SING-A-LONG HANUKKAH
There might be no catchier Hanukkah song than folk music icon Woody Guthrie’s “Honeyky Hanukah.” Honeyky Hanukah combines Guthrie’s festive, sometimes-nonsensical words with bold, silly illustrations by Dave Horowitz, showing a family as they dance, play music and enjoying “latkes and goody things all over town.” Once again readers should keep an eye on the paintings on the wall, which allude to classic works by Marc Chagall and other well-known images. While the song works perfectly as rhyming text, an enclosed CD by the band The Klezmatics lets readers add music to the words and pictures. A note at the back of the book explains how Guthrie’s mother-in-law Aliza Greenblatt inspired him to learn about Judaism and explore Jewish themes in his music.

CELEBRATE ALL YEAR
The final book in this year’s roundup is great for Hanukkah or throughout the year. In Here Is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays, author Lesléa Newman and illustrator Susan Gal take readers through an interracial Jewish family’s year from autumnal Rosh Hashanah to springtime Passover, including a baby naming and the weekly celebration of Shabbat. Each spread includes a rhyming couplet and a detailed charcoal-and-collage drawing in a seasonally appropriate color palette. The words and images evoke the spirit of each important day and show the various objects and settings associated with it. In the back of the book you’ll find longer explanations of each holiday, recipes, craft instructions and ideas for putting Judaism’s commitment to social justice into action. For example, the project for Purim is a noisemaker made from a box of macaroni, for donation to a food pantry after the holiday.

Jill Ratzan reviews for School Library Journal and works as a school librarian at a small independent school in New Jersey.

It’s hard to know what to do about Black History Month. On one hand, it might be the only time of year that schoolchildren will learn about the important moments and people in black history that shaped our country and world. On the other hand, one month seems paltry when there are so many stories. This year, when the news of Ferguson, Missouri, #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #BlackLivesMatter were trending issues that only the most out-of-touch could ignore, we need books about Black History more than ever. Lucky for us, there are some wonderful books out this month.

THE RIGHT TO LEARN
Starting with books for the very young, husband and wife team Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome explore the importance of education for newly enfranchised African Americans in Freedom’s School. Attending school in a very simple one-room schoolhouse turns out to be joyful and painful. Joyful because Miss Howard’s gentle and loving teaching inspires all the children to help each other learn and to share their knowledge with their parents. Painful because local white children are cruel as the kids walk to school, and eventually the school is burned to the ground. Though fiction, this is based on many stories and is an important slice of history to share with all children. Ransome’s illustrations, rendered in watercolor, are filled with emotion, extend the gentle text and are respectful of the subject.

CHRONICLING HISTORY
In Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Jamey Christoph have created a moving volume for young photographers and historians. Adults might know Parks as the first black photographer for Life magazine, but it’s doubtful that children have heard of him at all. They should. His life is fascinating. He was brought back to life by a bucket of ice water after he was thought to be stillborn; he photographed everyone from models and famous people to the most ordinary of folk; he wrote novels, composed music and made movies. The story is told in Weatherford’s clear, understandable and beautiful present-tense prose and is digitally illustrated by Christoph. In one especially evocative spread, we see Parks, with the Capitol building lightly drawn in the background, observing life in the alleys of D.C. where poor blacks lived. They became his favorite subjects to photograph. The story of his famous study of Ella Watson, a D.C. chairwoman, is also beautifully told in words and images. The final line of the book tells it all: “Through Gordon’s lens, her struggle gained a voice. You don’t have to hear her story to know her prayer.” Wow.

A NONVIOLENT VICTORY
I have a friend who grew up in Huntsville during the period that Hester Bass and E.B. Lewis explore in Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama, so I was especially interested to read a longer book about this era. The title refers to the little things that the people of Huntsville did to integrate this small Alabama city, also called in 1962 the “Space Center of the Universe.”

After making reference to the various injustices that black people faced all over America (Jim Crow laws, segregated public spaces and schools, etc.), Bass goes deeper. The first “seed” amazed me: Three black women (a college student, a very pregnant doctor’s wife and a dentist’s wife with her new baby in arms) sat at a public lunch counter and were arrested. The baby’s presence in jail made read news—the kind of news that the city with the space program and funding from the U.S. government could ill afford. Second was as economic boycott of the Huntsville stores for Easter, when everyone, black and white, was known to spend a lot of money on clothes. Instead, they created Blue Jean Sunday, and local merchants lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. For me, the most amazing story came when Governor Wallace closed Alabama public schools rather than integrate. In one private religious school for blacks, 12 white students integrated!

E.B. Lewis’ familiar and emotional watercolors add much to these stories, especially the heart-stopping scene of water hoses turned on Birmingham protestors juxtaposed with a small image of the March on Washington. For children and teachers who are looking for a new and inspiring true story, this gorgeous volume is a must-have.

Robin Smith is a second-grade teacher at the Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. She also reviews for Kirkus and The Horn Book Magazine and has served on multiple award committees.

National Poetry Month is the perfect time to introduce young readers to the joys of verse and rhyme. These three new picture books—from treatises on treats to a collection of kid-friendly masterworks—are filled with reflection, adventure and just plain silliness.  

TASTY TURNS OF PHRASE
Readers take caution: You might not want to open Deborah Ruddell's The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes without a snack at the ready. This collection of 21 food-themed poems is the perfect treat for pint-size readers. Organized by seasons alongside whimsical watercolor illustrations by Joan Rankin, this collection is brimming with rhyming odes to summer peaches (“the summery sweetness within" and their "flannelpajamaty skin") or ripe fall apples ("Peel it / Slice it / Cinnamon-spice it"). But Ruddell knows her audience, and there’s plenty of playfulness mixed right in, like the mystery ingredients of “A Smoothie Supreme”  ("A whisper of pickle / is what I detect, / with glimmers of turnip / I didn't expect!"). This is an expressive and delectable picture book that begs to be read aloud—it may even help inspire some picky or reluctant eaters.

RHYMES HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
Elizabeth Hammill, a children's bookseller and critic, became intrigued by the influence of nursery rhymes when she became a mother. But during a time when the need and desire for diverse books is strong, it has been almost impossible to find "a wide-ranging collection that sits alongside these Mother Goose favorites and injects fresh life into them," Hammill writes. There’s more to nursery rhymes than “Hickory, dickory dock,” and in Over the Hills and Far Away, she rounds up the most popular and enduring rhymes from around the globe and matches them with brilliant art and illustrations from Eric Carle, Mo Willems and 70-plus equally talented illustrators. From America’s popular playground cry of, “I scream, / you scream, / we all scream / for ice cream” to South African counting-out rhymes, Latino riddles and Trinidadian clapping rhymes, this beautiful book celebrates diverse voices and the importance of laughter and imagination in every child’s life.  

OBJECTS THROUGH THE AGES
For Poetry Month, it doesn't get much better than The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects. Paul B. Janeczko takes readers on a journey from the Middle Ages to the present with 50 of the world's greatest poems. Simple objects anchor Janeczko’s selected poems, but readers will revel in the power of poetic language as a candle, sword, wheelbarrow and even a birthday card are taken to otherworldly heights. Top-notch watercolors from two-time Caldecott winner Chris Raschka buoy masterpieces by the likes of William Wordsworth, Carl Sandberg, Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver. And of course, Billy Collins’ titular piece makes an appearance. A rare picture book, The Death of the Hat is a rich but accessible collection that children and adults alike will treasure.

My first thought when seeing the titles of these books was, “I love books about airplanes!”  Well . . . now I love books about flies . . . as in insects. These three books for very young readers will open their eyes to the joys and challenges of being a reviled critter in a butterfly world.

MAKING MOVES
Karl Newsom Edwards' Fly! is just the thing for the youngest nature lover. With one word repeated on each spread, we see a young fly trying to figure just how to get around. At first, a pink worm encourages, “Wiggle!” and the big-eyed fly tries, but can’t quite figure out the moves. The page turn reveals a grasshopper (“Jump!”) and then a pill bug ("Roll!") until a butterfly and bumblebee finally give the fly good advice: “Flutter! Flutter! Flit! Flit!” Soon, our hero is flying! The humorous illustrations are sure to bring a smile, but clever readers will enjoy discovering one subtle touch: Each new critter is foreshadowed on the page before. My favorite is the spider’s legs flying off the right side page, with the ants marching after them.

SWATTER VS. FLY
Petr Horáček’s The Fly is sure to engage readers right from the endpages. Dozens of flies, ready for flight, grace the inside cover, making experienced adults instinctively reach for the fly swatter. Heavyweight paper, bright colors and one well-spoken fly all add up to a funny and surprising book. The opening spread has the fly addressing the reader with an enormous speech bubble. The page turn is a shocker: An enormous blue fly swatter flaps from the top, nearly hitting the quick-moving narrator. The next page turn is equally unnerving: Now the world is upside down, with the clever fly hanging from the ceiling and the boy, flyswatter in hand, looking up. (Except that for the human reader, everything is tosy-turvy!) The fly escapes the house, finds some cows (who have tails for swatting) and faces the real world of hungry flies and birds. Cleverly cut-out swatters make this an interactive book of a different sort. In the end, the reader has a moral decision of her own—to close the book and squash the fly or to carefully read it again. I would read it again.

A CREATURE GREAT AND GROSS
The fly-as-narrator trope goes one step further in I, Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos. This pop-eyed fly is tired of all the attention that schools give to butterflies, when, what with flies’ metamorphosis and wings and flight, they are just insects like flies. Our fly wonders, what's the big deal? After reading this informational book, not only will young readers have new respect for poop and garbage-eating flies, they will know lots more about these less glamorous insects. Like the students shown in illustrator Jennifer Plecas’ marvelous cartoon illustrations, readers will recoil at the discussion of maggots at first, but will warm up to Fly’s arguments and tales of amazing procreation and scientific wonder. As he compares himself to butterflies, it’s impossible not to admire the fly’s halters (little spinning appendages to help with balance) and astounding wing speed (200 times/sec versus a butterfly’s paltry 5 to 12). The glossary and bibliography at the end reminds us that even though this is a light and very, very funny book, it’s chock full of information!

All three of these books will make readers of all ages think differently about flies. But adults will still feel the urge to grab the swatter.

2015 BookPage Summer Reads

Nothing says summer like a trip to the beach. Getting there is a breeze thanks to the trio of picture books featured below. Each of these seaside stories offers easy escape—just crack the covers and dive right in. No travel necessary!

AN UNEXPECTED VACATION GUEST
Duck’s Vacation by Gilad Soffer features a curmudgeonly main character in need of some R&R. Duck hits the sand, ready to relax (beach chair: check; tropical bev: check), but soon discovers he’s in the presence of an unwanted guest—the reader! Feathers ruffled, Duck grumpily instructs his audience to quit flipping pages and leave him in peace.

But Duck’s out of luck. The reader can’t resist the impulse to continue the tale, and as the story progresses, so do the disruptions to Duck’s day. There are boys playing ball, a gamboling dog and—uh-oh—accumulating clouds. “It can’t possibly get worse,” says Duck. But more surprises are in store, making this a holiday he won’t forget. Soffer’s pencil drawings are at turns vivid and bright, soft and impressionistic. This bird may have a prickly personality, but readers will love him anyway. 

DIP WITH DINOS
Cordelia, her little brother and their prehistoric pals return in Molly Idle’s delightful Sea Rex. This time around, the hijinks are set beachside, where Cordelia sports a classy hat and chic shades and her brother is in full-on pirate gear. Their dino buddies serve as more than sufficient lifeguards—hovering, attentive and HUGE. 

As usual, T. Rex manages to steal every scene. After a nap beneath an inadequate umbrella (with little brother snoozing on his belly), he creates supersize waves in the ocean. Idle’s dinosaurs—lumbering, bumbling and full of good intentions—are indisputably adorable. Her colored-pencil drawings feature clean, pure colors and display an ingenious use of proportion and scale. T. Rex roars on!

VERY BLUE WHALE
Cale Atkinson’s To the Sea is an appealing tale of friendship between two unlikely chums. Tim feels invisible—he’s a solitary lad in a dreary, rain-filled world. One day, he comes across Sam, an enormous whale who’s trapped on land, out of his element and all alone. Tim befriends the blue behemoth and vows (pinkie-swears!) to get him back to the ocean. Tim hatches various plans to help Sam until finally finding an idea that works. With persistence and courage, boy and whale make it to the beach, where life is decidedly brighter. 

Atkinson’s inventive illustrations include cool typefaces and collage-like spreads that feature Tim in a citrus-orange rain slicker. This ultimately sunny story about loyalty and the importance of keeping promises is (almost) as good as a day at the beach.

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Put away the swimsuits and break out the backpacks—the first day of school is right around the corner! Read on for three totally terrific classroom tales that will help students shift gears and focus on fall. Prepare to have a straight-A school season!

BEFRIENDING THE BULLIES
Tammi Sauer’s Ginny Louise and the School Showdown is a rip-roarin’ classroom adventure that readers will love any time of the year. Chaos reigns at Truman Elementary thanks to a bad bunch of bullies. There’s Cap’n Catastrophe, a porcupine pirate; Destructo Dude, a mischievous pig; and Make-My-Day May, an outlaw raccoon. This “scowly, growly crowd” is perpetually disturbing the peace, kicking their classmates out of the sandbox and overturning bookshelves. But things change with the arrival of a new student named Ginny Louise. A happy-go-lucky hedgehog with a personality impervious to bullying, she extends friendship to the threesome and eventually wins them over. A spirit of camaraderie soon rules the school, and that calls for a celebration—a classroom hoedown, for which Ginny Louise breaks out her fiddle. Yee-haw! Lynn Munsinger’s irresistible illustrations of the Truman Elementary menagerie make this tale feel timeless. The takeaway here: Be kind to everyone—even (and especially) bullies.

END-OF-SUMMER ADJUSTMENT
Mike Wohnoutka turns the tables on the traditional back-to-school story with his fun all-ages picture book, Dad’s First Day. The summer weeks skip by for Oliver and his pop. They read books, play ball and generally pal around. On the first day of class, Oliver’s eager to go, but Dad’s dragging. He isn’t feeling well. He hides behind the couch and ducks into the closet. Oliver coaxes him out, and they drive to school at a snail’s pace. Whose first day is it, anyway? When Dad sees the fun that Oliver has in class, his anxiety ends, and he’s able to breathe easy again. As Wohnoutka demonstrates, no one is immune to first-day nerves! Providing loads of appeal, his gouache illustrations are filled with bold lines and bright colors. His playful tale is a reminder that the beginning of school is a period of adjustment for parents and pupils alike.

COURAGE IN THE CLASSROOM
A small student-to-be takes a large leap into the unknown—the classroom, of course—in Birdie’s First Day of School by Sujean Rim. First-day fears keep Birdie awake all night. She’s heard that school is “all work and no play,” with a teacher who’s “half werewolf.” When the big day arrives, she consults her dog, Monster, on important questions (what to pack in her bag, which outfit to wear) and—with encouragement from her mother—joins the other kids. She soon discovers that class is actually awesome, with new friends, fun lessons and a mind-expanding instructor (who, beyond a beard, bears no resemblance to a werewolf). That night, Birdie can’t sleep, but this time it’s because she’s too excited about school! The latest entry in Rim’s irresistible Birdie series is a visual delight, with collage-like illustrations composed of delicate watercolor washes, colored-pencil details and crayon scribblings. Class with Birdie is a blast.

No doubt about it—there’s a direct connection between dreaming and doing. Three new picture books prove the imagination is a mighty tool, indeed. We may be living in the digital age, but as these books demonstrate, good old-fashioned make-believe never goes out of style.

CHASING DOWN A DREAM
Persistence pays off in Brian Pinkney’s inspiring On the Ball. Owen is having a less-than-stellar day at soccer practice. A fall on the field gets him sent to the bench, and then, to make matters worse, he fails to keep the ball from bouncing away. Owen chases it across a stream and into some bushes, where—imagining himself as a cat—he’s primed to pounce on it. But he can’t stop the ball on its mad journey, and his pursuit turns into an unforgettable adventure. When at last he reclaims the ball and zips back to the soccer field, Owen discovers he has new skills (“It was like his feet had wings”), and he always—always—watches the ball. Featuring minimalist lines amped up with washes of watercolor, Pinkney’s less-is-more illustrations of Owen on the run are wonderfully kinetic. As his story shows, determination and imagination are winning traits for a team player. Goooaaal!

CONCOTING THE PERFECT PLOT
A little make-believe saves the day in Nicola O’Byrne’s clever Use Your Imagination. Rabbit is bored: “I wish something would happen,” he says, and straightaway Wolf appears. Although his big green eyes and sinister grin indicate otherwise, Wolf says he’s a librarian (indeed!) and thus an expert in the art of storytelling. Despite this not-quite-credible claim, Rabbit agrees to Wolf’s plan of making up a fairy tale, complete with the requisite plot elements: a forest, a hero (Rabbit himself) and a villain (guess who). To this traditional scenario Rabbit adds a few surprises, including a huge pink elephant, but his ideas are quickly nixed by Wolf, who has his own plot in mind. An unhappy ending seems imminent until Rabbit outsmarts Wolf—using his imagination, of course! O’Byrne depicts the duo’s test of wits in lively, colorful mixed-media illustrations. Her delightful tale is a testament to the power of pretending.

CREATIVITY REALLY COUNTS
Faye Hanson’s The Wonder features a small boy with a big imagination. Fascinated by the world around him, the young lad is easily distracted. At the park, he wanders onto the grass and gets scolded by the groundskeeper. At school, he’s warned about daydreaming. But when art period rolls around and he’s urged by the teacher to use his imagination, the boy is in his element. On paper, he creates a fantastical realm where anything is possible (and walking on the grass is encouraged). There’s a flying car piloted by a pair of rabbits and a marching band composed of polar bears. What will this artist-in-the-making dream up next? His artwork earns the teacher’s praise and makes his parents proud. Hanson renders the everyday world in browns, tans and beiges, the better to play up the energy and sparkle of the boy’s imaginings, which brim with color. Her marvelous mixed-media spreads make this a book that lives up to its title.