Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson earned (respectively) a Newbery Medal and a Caldecott Honor for Last Stop on Market Street, and now they’re at it again with another potential award winner, Carmela Full of Wishes. On the surface, their latest collaboration is a simple story about a spunky Mexican-American girl and her older brother, but like its predecessor, it packs a powerful literary, visual and social punch without ever once being preachy.

It’s Carmela’s birthday, which means she’s finally old enough to accompany her brother to the laundromat, much to his ongoing chagrin. Carmela excitedly tags along down Freedom Boulevard, past the bus stop, a repair shop and a store where her father used to linger, hoping for work. When Carmela picks a dandelion growing in a sidewalk crack, she contemplates a variety of wishes, imagining her mother sleeping in one of the fancy hotel rooms that she cleans, or her father “getting his papers fixed so he could finally be home.”

The story’s finest points are sublimely subtle with layers of meaning, as when Carmela’s brother asks her why she’s so annoying, and she shoots back, “It’s a free country.” Illustrator Robinson marvelously envisions Carmela’s many wishes as papel picado (Mexican folk art), and his vibrant acrylic and collage illustrations pay homage to Ezra Jack Keats.

Carmela Full of Wishes is a big-hearted story about the hope, joy and love that hold struggling families together amid weighty, adult-size obstacles.

This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Mousie, I Will Read to You is as gentle and soothing as a mother’s hand caressing her child’s cheek. Author Rachael Cole (winner of an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor for her book City Moon) highlights how the wonderful gift of reading may be passed down through generations.

This touching story begins as the pregnant Mama Mouse is preparing for her baby’s arrival and setting aside books to read after his birth. As young Mousie grows up, these stories bring him comfort at all times and places—in a rocking chair, during an expedition or when he can’t sleep. Reading is an essential part of this mother and son’s bond, and before long, Mousie picks out his own books at the library.

With subtly colored illustrations, Melissa Crowton captures the essential charm of this story. Mother and child are often shown touching or embracing, and Crowton does an amazing job of conveying their heartwarming affection for each other and the stories they share.

Mousie, I Will Read to You could easily become a classic with across-the-board appeal. Additionally, Cole includes a helpful section on “Tips for Raising Readers” at the story’s end.

This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Illuminating the world of those whose day begins when most of us are tucked into bed, Night Job by Karen Hesse is a sweet story about hard work and devotion. One young boy makes a lunch he and his father will share late in the night, as he prepares to join his father at his night custodial job. While the duo cleans, they squeeze in moments of levity as they work their way through the deserted school, turning a night’s work into time together.

Multiple award-winner Hesse narrates in first person with an ear for childhood wonder and honesty, as the boy observes everything from the fishy smell coming from the bay to his father’s heft of custodial keys. Exceptionally poetic, Hesse’s imaginative language lends a slightly surreal and dreamlike feeling to this nighttime adventure. Even the taste of a well-earned, late-night sandwich is amplified.

G. Brian Karas’s art perfectly matches Hesse’s observant tone. An empty school by night might seem somewhat otherworldly, but Karas manages to convey a sense of intimacy and coziness as our characters work in muted colors that are highlighted by spots of bright light. Karas illustrates with unexpected and often disarming detail; I could almost feel the early-morning breeze blowing in through the window.

Inspired by a true story, Night Job is, at first glance, a story about a boy and his father going to work. Unexpressed with words, and yet loudest of all, is its emotional undertone of love, companionship and admiration.

In this German import, originally published in 2015 by Antje Damm and translated by Sally-Ann Spencer, young readers meet the reclusive Elise. Likely agoraphobic, she is scared of many things, including people, and she doesn’t leave her compulsively-cleaned home. One day, when her open window allows for the entry of a paper airplane, it frightens her. With broom in hand, she sweeps the paper airplane into the fire.

The next morning, a young boy named Emil arrives to retrieve his plane, and the spark of a friendship is ignited. The boy stays to play, to hear a story (“It was a long time since Elise had read to anyone”), and to have a snack. “It’s fun at your house,” he tells Elise before exiting. After his visit, Elise is a changed person, and she even sits down to make her own paper airplane—one sure to serve as an invitation to her new friend.

In her delicate 3-D illustrations, rendered via paper vignettes, Damm uses color to capture the inner life of our introverted protagonist. In the opening spreads, as Elise sits despondingly at her kitchen table, no color can be found, save for a subtle yellow behind the windows. With each page turn, this yellow grows brighter, and when the boy enters her home, so do colors that eventually bloom throughout her small dwelling. In the final spread, the colors are bright; Elise’s cheeks are rosy and her heart is content.

A sweet, tender story of a friendship found.

In this double debut from Scottish poet Louise Greig and Irish illustrator Ashling Lindsay, the coming of darkness is imagined as The Night Box.

A little boy named Max is outside his house in the country as the light fades. It’s time to wave goodbye to the day and come in, but a box is waiting, and Max has the key. While his kitten looks on, Max opens the Night Box, and magical darkness begins to pour out: “Darkness tumbles into the air. / It dances and whirls around the room.”

Greig imagines the character of Night through wonderful imagery: Night is mischievous, chasing other colors away; Night is huge, big enough to hold a house, a pond and a forest. And as Night “soars, streams, stretches up to the sky,” a thousand stars appear.

This is, of course, a bedtime story, and the gentleness of Night comes through Lindsay’s rustic, comforting illustrations, in which lots of white space keeps this tale from being too dark.

In the morning, Max opens the box and “WHOOSH! Night slips inside as Day sweeps out.”

First published in the U.K. in 2017, this beautiful, award-winning picture book has the appeal of a classic and is sure to be a hit with readers and families in the U.S.

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s a snow day, and Alice’s father wakes to find her dressed in royal garb, declaring she is “KING Alice! The first!” King Alice is full of creative ideas for how to spend the unexpected day off, and whatever she says goes. While her mother tends to the baby, King Alice and her drowsy but willing father write and illustrate a story. Even though King Alice is bursting with ideas and hops from one game to another, she faithfully returns to their story—the one where, just like in real life, she calls the shots.

After a well-earned timeout breaks King Alice’s stride, father and daughter make amends and return to their bustling, chaotic story featuring pirates, unicorns and fairies. Though most of King Alice is filled with the lively pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations that won Cordell a Caldecott Medal for Wolf in the Snow, the story within the story is rendered via Cordell’s children’s stash of art supplies, and his fluid, humorous dialogue keeps things moving at a brisk pace.

The bond between father and daughter is the heart of this sweet but never saccharine story. King Alice’s father goes all in, never turning down a game in the name of traditional gender roles—he spends most of the book in a tiara and toy earrings—which is refreshing to see. Long may King Alice reign.

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Drew Daywalt, author of the bestselling picture book The Day the Crayons Quit, brings his kid-centric sense of humor to a new bedtime story with a twist, raucously brought to life by illustrator Scott Campbell.

Roderick positively loathes going to bed at night. He’s adept at coming up with excuses to delay the inevitable. There are the usual requests for more stories and a glass of water, but Roderick isn’t above pulling out all the stops: Why not ask for a pony so he can hear his parents detail all the many reasons he’s not getting one? But Roderick’s parents have a plan. They give Roderick a special stuffed goodnight buddy (Is he a moose or a bear?) named Sleepy. Roderick doesn’t like the look of Sleepy all that much, and when he tries to stash him away in the closet, Sleepy reveals that he’s alive.

The tables are then turned and the real fun ensues as we learn that Sleepy doesn’t live up to his name—he hates bedtime even more than Roderick does. And so an increasingly exasperated and exhausted Roderick finds himself on the other end of a series of Sleepy’s delaying tactics, humorously brought to life through the characters’ dialogue and Campbell’s watercolors.

While children will appreciate the story’s humor, parents may well wonder about the inspiration for the book. Let’s just say that author Daywalt dedicated it to his children, “To Abigail and Reese, but mostly Reese.” Unlike the mom on the back cover, parents can’t go to the store to buy a magical goodnight buddy, but adding Sleepy to the must-read bedtime pile for the sleep-averse ones in your home may be the next best thing.

In Ann Stott’s Want to Play Trucks? two toddlers meet at a playground and engage in the communication and compromise necessary for creative play. Alex and Jack, who meet there regularly, are always referred to by their names in the text; refreshingly, no pronouns are ever used to assign their gender.

Jack likes trucks, ones that wreck things, and Alex likes pink, sparkly dolls. Jack’s play is more physical and aggressive; at one point, the truck destroys a large pile of sand while Alex watches with hesitation. The two attempt to play yet can’t agree on whether to play with dolls or trucks, finally deciding to play “dolls that drive trucks.” When the toy crane comes out and Jack says that no one can wear a tutu and drive a crane, Alex takes offense. An argument ensues until Jack clarifies: “It wouldn’t fit in the driver’s seat.” But of course. So the tutu comes off, and the doll, now in overalls, can happily operate the crane.

An ice cream truck that visits the playground eventually trumps all imaginative play in the sandbox, and agreeing on ice cream is a cinch.

Stott’s text, laid out in simple sentences and uncomplicated dialogue, is matched by illustrator Bob Graham’s soft, spacious watercolors. As with any book illustrated by Graham, it’s fun for readers to take in the details around the children—such as the children’s caregivers chatting intensely behind them and the other park-goers, including one in a wheelchair and a woman in a headscarf. It’s a truly inclusive playground. 

Want to Play Trucks? is a joyful, authentic tribute to the dynamics of children’s play.

Award-winning author David Almold’s evocative and expressive new picture book, The Dam, tells the story of a father and daughter’s last visit to their valley community before the arrival of the newly constructed dam’s rising waters. The duo brings forth twirling, ghostly images from the past—supplied by Levi Pinfold—as they play violin and sing in each abandoned house. As remembered souls and memories drift away, the pair leaves the houses ringing with song.

Almond sets the mood with short, almost curt sentences, creating austere poetry rife with repetition. He doesn’t linger on descriptions, instead allowing the illustrations and the reader’s imagination to flesh out the story.

Pinfold poignantly illustrates this true story of England’s Kielder Dam valley and creates his own visual opus with broad, sweeping hills and hovering fog—rendered in muted colors—that foreshadow the coming loss. With incredible detail, Pinfold also gives young readers an intimate portrayal of the various creatures that made their homes in the valley with his sepia-toned portraits.

Perhaps the most extraordinarily lovely and melancholy picture book published this year, The Dam will linger in readers’ minds. But what sticks with you after the book is closed is not desolation and defeat; it’s blue water and open skies, exuberant children, dancing stars and, of course, music.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In this wondrous meditation on the origins of life, readers see matter expand and time and space blossom. In spare free verse, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer kicks off The Stuff of Stars with the “deep, deep dark.” There is only a speck in the vast blackness. But once our universe is born, the pages explode with vivid oranges, reds and blues. Caldecott Honor winner Ekua Holmes’ dazzling collage illustrations—rendered on handmade marbleized paper—feature deep, rich colors and remarkably kinetic lines. Holmes takes highly abstract concepts and makes them sing, swirl and spin on the pages. Bauer fills the text with animated, bustling verbs: After all, the creation of life itself takes great colliding, stretching, expanding and exploding.

Three spreads are devoted to the formation of Earth—a planet with “just the right tilt” to support life—where animals, including humans, eventually begin to thrive. Bauer then seamlessly weaves in the birth of a child, who also begins as a speck in the darkness. Here, the story’s second-person narration works to great effect, directly addressing the young reader: “You cried tears / that were once salty seas.”

The Stuff of Stars is out of this world.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Great news for Corduroy fans: In honor of the 50th anniversary of Don Freeman’s classic 1968 picture book, the adventurous bear stars in a new adventure, Corduroy Takes a Bow, written by legendary stage and screen actress Viola Davis.

In this new story, Corduroy heads to a Broadway show (“Mother Goose Live”) with his owner, Lisa, and her mother, and his quest to get a better view leads to an exciting on-stage conclusion. The book is a fitting tribute to Corduroy’s creator, as Freeman was a Broadway aficionado, often hanging out backstage and sketching actors.

Davis was eager to take on the project because Freeman’s book meant so much to her as a child: She remembers Corduroy as one of the few books that featured an African-American heroine. “To be able to introduce a new generation, including my daughter, to this character that was so special to me in my childhood is an incredible honor,” Davis said in a recent interview with People.

Corduroy Takes a Bow stays very much in the spirit of the original book’s prose and illustrations. Jodi Wheeler works in Freeman’s distinctive art style, filling Davis’ story with pastel-toned, old-fashioned yet lively illustrations.

This new Corduroy adventure will encourage a whole new generation of young readers to fall in love with this very special bear.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, September 2018

Grace Lin fans know that the moon is a common subject in her work. The Newbery Honor-winning author and illustrator pays tribute to this celestial sphere once again in her latest picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. In this modern folktale, wordless endpapers depict a mother and her daughter, Little Star, baking a giant mooncake—a Chinese treat usually made for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As the story opens, Mama places the Big Mooncake up into the night sky to cool and reminds her daughter not to touch it. Little Star heeds her mother and gets ready for bed, but when she wakes in the middle of the night, she only remembers the delicious Big Mooncake in the sky and not her mother’s words. Who wouldn’t want a nibble? Night after night, Little Star sneaks tiny bites, and the cake slowly disappears to mirror the phases of the moon. When Mama notices that there’s nothing left but “a trail of twinkling crumbs,” she leads Little Star into the kitchen to bake another cake.

Lin’s vibrant gouache paintings are a stellar fit for this story. The luminous mooncake and the stars from the girl and her mother’s matching star pajamas glow against the book’s black background. As in many of her previous picture books, Lin offers clever visual treats: a clock adorned with small phases of the moon; a tipped bottle of milk spilling its contents in a spiral pattern; and Little Star’s bedtime book, which readers will recognize as one of Lin’s previous folktale retellings.

Whether you’re celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival or putting little ones to bed, this is a gentle, beautiful book for all.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Deceptively simple at first glance, Cori Doerrfeld’s Good Dog is more than your average dog-finds-a-home story. When a little girl passes by the park on the back of her mother’s bike, one small stray dog sees her and suddenly knows exactly where he belongs—if only he can find her again. Readers will cheer as this plucky, determined pup dashes, dodges and digs himself home.

Narrated with only 27 words, Doerrfeld’s images imbue this story with heartfelt and earnest sentiment. Gentle, muted colors create a world that is kind and welcoming and populated with the most endearing expressions—both human and animal—and the soft, thick lines are distinctly kid-friendly. 

However, Good Dog isn’t an exercise in saccharine sloppiness. While there is plenty of sweetness, Doerrfeld also fills her pages with people of many backgrounds and families of all kinds, creating a strong sense of community and purpose. And Doerrfeld doesn’t ignore the canine population either; seeing-eye dogs, a pup with a wheelchair, working breeds and lap dogs frolic through the story. 

An overwhelming sense of belonging and contentment makes Good Dog a perfect bedtime story and will become a favorite with young readers. But whether you read with your two-legged little ones or your four-legged furry ones, Good Dog has a worthwhile lesson for all of us: When friendship and love rolls by, chase after it.