Tickle Monster is an adorable picture book that takes the fear out of monsters and makes them fun. Children are encouraged to tickle the monster, thus "moving" each body part (arms, legs, horns, etc.) and repurposing it on the next page to create a comforting nighttime scene.

French author-illustrator Édouard Manceau uses high-contrast illustrations and simple repetition to take the reader on a gentle journey that explores this monster in a fun and enticing manner. Exclamation points make the book exciting and perfect for reading aloud with gusto. The oversize white-on-black lettering is great practice for beginning spellers, with the monster parts providing an excellent counting exercise for preschoolers. Youngest readers will enjoy the colors and simpler illustrations such as the moon and trees, formed by the monster’s horns, arms and legs. Manceau’s question-and-answer format provides the perfect opportunity for readers of all ages to guess what’s coming next.

A standout feature of the book is its size; at 7”x13”, it’s easy for little hands to grasp and turn the pages. This is a surefire hit for toddlers through kindergarteners, one that will help them laugh and forget their fears of monsters.

In the best of all possible worlds, every child has their own dragon, not to slay but to play with—evermore.

Barbara Joosse, author of many children’s books including Lovabye Dragon, and talented illustrator Randy Cecil collaborate to create just the right mix of play, excitement and comfort in Evermore Dragon, a delightful tale of true friendship.

When smartly dressed Girl and her friend Dragon decide to play hide-and-go-seek, Dragon insists on being first. Though he proves abysmal at hiding, Girl kindly pretends not to see his “Drag-enormo self” tucked behind a very little rock, and she continues looking for him, sighing that he is so, so good at hiding. She surprises him with a big “BOO!” and tells him he is the “smartest dragon ever.”

Now it is Girl’s turn. Since she is small, it is easier for her to find a satisfactory hiding place, and she takes cover in the hole of a large tree trunk where she waits and waits and waits and finally falls asleep. Meanwhile Dragon hunts everywhere for her without success. Girl awakens and finds herself all alone amid the cricking and the cracking of the woods. She sheds silver worry tears and her heart thumps—a sound that only a very special friend can hear.

Will Dragon find her? Will he wrap his wings around her? Will he stay forever? In the best of all possible worlds, of course!

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Sometimes the most incredible stories are the true ones, the stories passed through generations, eventually becoming legend. Rebecca Bond’s Out of the Woods, based on her grandfather’s childhood at Lake Gowganda in Ontario, Canada, is one of these.

Life in his mother’s hotel provided Antonio with myriad things to discover. Between days spent helping cook and stoke fires, and evenings spent listening to hotel guests make music and tell tales, Antonio’s life was happy and busy. But more than anything, Antonio was enthralled by the elusive animals of the forest. When a summer forest fire threatens Antonio’s home, the hotel’s inhabitants take refuge in the lake. But they aren’t alone in the water. Readers will share Antonio’s disbelief as the forest creatures—also fleeing the blaze—join them. Predator and prey alike quietly, peacefully share the lake. 

With a skillful artist’s hand and an eye for intriguing detail, Bond captures not only one remarkable event in 1914, but also an era. Hunters and loggers, tourists and miners fill the pages, along with near-forgotten trappings of their world: kerosene lamps and tobacco pipes, wood-burning stoves and travelers’ trunks. Bond’s stylized drawings do more than just evoke the setting and the time; her lines echo tree bark, the animals’ rough fur and thick wool blankets on beds. Bond tells the story simply but illustrates with the pride that comes with telling a story you’ve not just heard, but inherited.

A beautiful story in its own right, Out of the Woods rings with an honesty that will captivate readers of all ages. By passing along her grandfather’s tale, Bond reminds us that the most fascinating stories are those that really happened.

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

BookPage Children's Top Pick, August 2015

Fannie Lou Hamer was a tireless champion of civil rights, from the moment she attempted to register to vote in 1962 until her death in 1977. Malcolm X called her “the country’s number one freedom-fighting woman.” In 1964, Hamer came to prominence at the Democratic National Convention, where she delivered a speech that aired on national television. An older white man once expressed what many felt, telling her that she did “what he was afraid to do.” 

Award-winning poet Carole Boston Weatherford and debut artist Ekua Holmes bring Hamer’s courage and legacy to life in this striking volume. The large, attractive format shares Hamer’s life story through powerful, first-person poems and colorful, detailed collage illustrations. The poems often incorporate Hamer’s own words, and source notes, a timeline and bibliography are included in the back matter.

As Weatherford tells us in her author’s note, Hamer was an unlikely heroine. Born in 1917 into a large sharecropping family, she married Perry “Pap” Hamer in 1944 and worked with him on a plantation. She first became active in voting registration efforts after realizing she didn’t even know she had the right to vote. Being arrested and beaten only solidified her resolve, and she became a leader and inspiration to others. 

“All my life I’ve been sick and tired. Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Hamer. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer is a fitting tribute to her unforgettable spirit.

Illustrations © 2015 Ekua Holmes. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick.

Deborah Hopkinson’s next book, Courage & Defiance, will be released this fall.

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

Bernice Gets Carried Away begins with a zinger: “It was a horrible, dreary day, and it suited Bernice’s mood just fine.” This young cat stands sulking behind a tree while her animal friends enjoy an outdoor birthday party. No doubt young readers will sympathize with Bernice’s plight, since birthday parties can frequently be filled with intense emotions and overwhelming disappointment.

Poor Bernice: Her piece of cake had no frosted rose; she got stuck with prune-grapefruit soda; and the piñata burst open before she got a turn. So she pounces at the sight of a bunch of colorful balloons, triumphantly shouting “MINE!” as she grabs them. Her victory is short-lived, because moments later, she floats away, straight up into the sky, where she comes face-to-face with a brooding black rain cloud.

Author Hannah E. Harrison’s plot is compelling, but the real star here is her stunning acrylic artwork, filled with realistic whiskers and strands of fur, and luminous colors that pop in just the right places. Harrison’s expressive menagerie of anthropomorphized animals is reminiscent of Rosemary Wells’ beloved characters, although drawn in finer detail.

As Bernice floats away, the muted tones of the clouds and tree trunks reflect her ill temper. Later, as Bernice pulls herself out of the doldrums, the world around her erupts into a symphony of bright blues, greens, pinks and purples. The story’s resolution (Bernice learns to share) seems simplistic, but nonetheless young readers will be drawn into this beautifully illustrated world.

On the third spread of this story of a hurrying parent with a curious child, readers see a street scene with a “one way” sign in the background. It’s fitting for this horizontally oriented book of a mother rushing to get someplace on time. “Hurry!” she keeps telling her son, dashing to the next page. But “wait,” he says. There’s a big and endlessly intriguing world to see, and he wants to slow down and take it all in.

There are several surprises from Antoinette Portis in this story about the unexpected joys of the world. For one, don’t rush past the title page spread. The boy stands next to the book’s title in warm, orange letters: Wait. And he stares at the letter “t,” because—look closely now—perched on it is a ladybug. His mother walks off the spread, tugging him along. She has, we already know before the story begins, somewhere to be. And fast.

Portis takes advantage of every available opportunity to tell this quiet, poignant tale. Even the book’s front and back cover cleverly convey the heart of the story, as we see a relaxed family of cats going one way (following the aforementioned ladybug, no less), while the boy—so eager to stop and pet them—is dragged along by his mother, stage left. Readers are invited to read slowly and carefully, just as the boy would have it: Look carefully, because what looks like a blossom on a bush is actually, as seen on the next spread, a butterfly, just waiting to be seen and appreciated.

Using pencil, charcoal and ink with digitally colored spreads and thick outlines, Portis showcases a primarily cool palette that gives way to a vivid, colorful rainbow that the boy insists his mother stop to see. She gives in, mercifully, even forgetting the subway car she had been so diligently heading toward.

This is a story to be savored.

Julie Danielson features authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children’s literature blog.

Bear enjoys his house in the woods and the perfect solitude it offers. When a group of rabbits build a house up the hill and get too neighborly, he’s less than kind about it. Can he learn to adapt, or will Those Pesky Rabbits destroy his peace?

Author-illustrator Ciara Flood has fun with these incompatible neighbors. Bear’s pleasant seclusion is a bit undone by the mouse who appears in many scenes, pilfering a bit of tea or cake. The rabbits are solicitous to the point of sarcasm, but the snow-bear they make on the hill wears a big frown. Flood's artwork is warm and energetic, and Bear and the rabbits could be second cousins to animals from classic Disney animation. Warm browns and nighttime blues give way to jazzy fall colors and scenes that pop against a plain white background. There’s a nice visual gag in the end papers as well.

It’s clear that when Bear makes peace with his neighbors, it’s imperfect—a scene with the rabbits baking a cake (and making a mess) shows him covering his eyes in dismay. But Those Pesky Rabbits still turn out to be more than neighbors, but friends to watch the stars and share books. This is a sweet and charming debut.

Self-confidence is not all it’s cracked up to be, as we learn from ebullient little Poppy in Susan Eaddy’s Poppy’s Best Paper, charmingly illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet.

When Poppy’s teacher, Mrs. Rose, asks the class to write about what they want to be when they grow up, Poppy’s elated. She wants to be a writer. She dashes off a few quick lines and deems her paper ‘‘pretty much perfect.” But Mrs. Rose doesn’t read Poppy’s essay. She reads her friend Lavender’s paper about becoming a brain surgeon. Poppy takes so many breaks while writing her next assignment that she has to finish it on the bus. When Lavender’s essay on world peace wins, Poppy can’t handle the injustice. She ends up in the Chill-Out chair and, after some rude behavior at home, is sent to her room.

After a good cry and several broken pencils, Poppy has an idea. This time she writes a sentence and takes time to fix it. She doesn’t stop to play with her dog or call Lavender. She focuses. This time, when Mrs. Rose prepares to read the best paper on “How to Do Something,” Poppy is not overly confident. She sits very still.

Poppy’s paper is read aloud! She’s written “How to Get in Trouble,” a topic that plays to her strengths. Bonnet’s lively drawings are endearing and keep the story moving. Thumbs-up to clay artist Susan Eaddy on her debut picture book. She’s created a character readers will gladly visit again and again.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

In the author’s note of The Night World, Caldecott Medal-winning author-illustrator Mordicai Gerstein writes, “I’ve . . . been a great watcher of sunrises; to me, they are like watching the creation of the world.”

Ultimately, that’s what this beautiful book is about—a celebration of the dawning of a new day, though most of the book is dominated by a nighttime palette. Such dark, nocturnal colors are challenging to pull off in picture books, but Gerstein does it masterfully in this story of a cat named Sylvie waking a boy from his sleep and drawing him outside to see “the night world.” The boy is awed by the adventure, as he and his pet tiptoe through the house and yard, a world of shadows.

Using acrylics, pen and ink and colored pencils, Gerstein celebrates the stillness and mysteries of night, both in and outside, with dark smudges, the only color indoors being the cat’s shining green eyes as she guides the boy. Compelling page turns dominate the story, as Sylvie’s “meow” become “me-out!” and she leads the boy through the house, telling him to hurry and that “it’s coming . . . it’s almost here.” Gerstein outlines the creatures of the night that the boy meets in his yard—a yellow-eyed owl, rabbits, a skunk, a raccoon, deer, a fox and more—by the shadows of the night surrounding them.

The moment the sky starts to warm with the colors of the sunrise is an alluring one: “Through the leaves of the trees, there is a glow,” Gerstein writes. All creatures stand in astonishment, though once the sun dominates the sky and the palette drops us into a sea of colors, not unlike Dorothy having just landed in Oz, all the nocturnal animals flee. With the vivid colors now on display, readers see Gerstein’s loose, relaxed lines, which communicate such energy and spontaneity. And look closely at the sunflowers in the sun: They include intriguing textures. There’s a lot to pore over. It’s a book that invites reflection and celebrates wonder.  

Find a copy pronto, and make a night of it.

Julie Danielson features authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children’s literature blog.

Young readers are lucky to have a new book posthumously published by Bernard Waber, the talented creator of more than 30 titles, including the beloved Lyle the Crocodile series.

Ask Me is a tender story that’s full of Waber’s trademark naturalness. As a father and daughter set out for an autumn walk in the park, their conversation forms the entire text of this book, with the daughter’s words in black and her father’s responses in blue. Their world becomes our world, with no distractions from extraneous descriptions or quotation marks. For example,

Ask me if I like ice cream cones.
Do you like ice cream cones?
No. I love, love, love ice cream cones.

Dad lets his daughter lead their back-and-forth exchanges in a truly delightful way. These two understand each other completely on their day of gentle adventures: watching geese and butterflies; remembering a ride on a merry-go-round; frolicking in the leaves; brushing their teeth together later at home; and finally saying good night.

Award-winning artist Suzy Lee strikes just the right note with her colored-pencil illustrations, creating minimalist, scribbled drawings that shine with exquisite expression, color and movement. Despite the simplicity of Ask Me’s plot, Lee’s art brings this young heroine to life, whether she’s jumping down her front steps, kicking bright red leaves high in the sky or fleeing as her father pretends to be a bear.

It’s hard to imagine a sweeter father-daughter outing than this.

Nearly every person, no matter what age, has experienced the sting of knowing a friend said something behind her back. And all of us know what it’s like to misunderstand something and let a situation get out of hand. This is the drama at the heart of Liz Rosenberg’s What James Said, where one elementary-age girl tells readers how she refuses to talk to her friend James. “We are in a fight,” she declares. Word has gotten around, you see, that James said that he thinks our narrator thinks she is perfect.

This is hurtful to the girl, and she lays out the reasons she is, in fact, not perfect. Her hair is plain brown, and she’s not very good at spelling—to name but two things. She’s good at art, however, and one of her pieces has been chosen as “Best of Show” in art class at school. And while she does her best to ignore James all throughout the story, readers will notice his confusion and his stubborn attempts to convince her to talk to him. “Are you feeling okay?” he eventually asks her. When the misunderstanding is revealed—he thinks her art piece is “perfect,” and the girls’ friends clearly misunderstood James and started an impressive game of Gossip—readers breathe a sigh of relief.

Rosenberg’s elegant text channels the way children this age think and feel, and Matt Myers’ uncluttered artwork, in clever ways, lets the girl and James have all the focus. When other children are part of a spread, Myers often outlines only their bodies in muted and thickly lined watercolors. And for several highly emotional scenes, he covers the moment with watercolor splashes: When the girl hears the unfounded gossip, her hands cover her eyes and she’s covered in pink splashes of watercolor paints. Myers’ use of these paint splashes to communicate the strong emotions of the story really works.

It’s an honest exploration of best-friend dynamics. Spread the word: This one is not to be missed.

Julie Danielson features authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children’s literature blog.

Hopper is a happy frog who loves to play. But Hopper also has a problem—he doesn’t quite fit in with everyone else. In fact, Hopper seems so different that an old turtle, sounding suspiciously like another wise elder who lived near a swampy pond, tells him, “Hmm . . . young pond-hopper . . . perhaps you are not a frog.”

Now, as everyone knows, a frog that is not a frog can only be one thing: a prince! And that’s how it happens that Hopper embarks on a quest to find a princess who can, with just one kiss, turn him into a prince once again.

Like all heroes on a quest, Hopper encounters enormous challenges. First of all, it’s just not that easy to find a likely princess—especially in the forest. Hopper meets a woodpecker and a skunk, but when he runs into a dangerous fox, he begins to think the whole quest might be a very bad idea.

Then, miraculously, Hopper’s life is saved in the nick of time by a ball—a ball chased by a dog who loves to give wet, slurpy kisses. A dog whose name just happens to be Princess.

Jackie Urbanovic, author of the New York Times best-selling Max the Duck series, has created a fanciful, funny tale that reminds us that although we may not turn out to be princes or princesses, in the eyes of a true friend we will always be royalty.

Deborah Hopkinson’s next book, Courage & Defiance, will be released this fall.

A rambunctious preschooler can be a hard trial for even the most patient canine. After all, sometimes all a dog wants is a nap—a nice, long, uninterrupted nap.

But there’s not a wink of sleep in store for the long-suffering dog in Laurie Ann Thompson and Paul Schmid’s delightful new picture book, My Dog Is the Best. Looking a bit like a young Linus, complete with blanket, the boy in this story is definitely ready for action. His good-humored, four-footed friend goes along with one activity after another—rolling over, playing with a ball and engaging in a game of tug-of-war (though it is clear that playing dead is this dog’s favorite). Eventually, the little boy tires out and snuggles down for his own nap, just as his fluffy companion gets a second wind and is ready to play in earnest.

With its deceptively simple text and spare, gentle illustrations, My Dog Is the Best is a wonderful bedtime story with enough subtle humor to bring a smile to parents’ faces on multiple readings. And with its repetitive chorus of “My dog is the best” and clear sentences that match text to action, the story is also ideal for beginning readers. Most of all, this book celebrates that special bond that can exist between a child and a family pet.

Next time you’re invited to a baby shower (or puppy shower, for that matter), consider giving Thompson and Schmid’s story of two best friends.

Deborah Hopkinson’s next book, Courage & Defiance, will be released this fall.