What parent hasn’t had a child beg for a pet, with heartfelt promises to feed it, walk it and even clean up after it? In Paul Schmid’s A Pet for Petunia, his first solo venture as author and illustrator, one spunky little girl pleads and pleads (“Pleeeease?”) for her own pet. But not for a cat, a dog, a hamster, a rabbit or even a goldfish. Petunia wants a skunk!

Set against a white background and rendered in pencil and spare splashes of purple and gold watercolors, Petunia makes her case, telling her parents that skunks have cute little noses and stripes (just like her oversized striped dress). “Petunia tells anyone who will listen just how perfectly awesome skunks are.” Her tenacity and adorable expressions, accompanied by an equally irresistible skunk stuffed animal she takes everywhere, can be convincing—but not enough for her parents, who sum up their response with two words: “They stink.”

Petunia knows what really stinks, though: her parents’ reluctance, especially after they wouldn’t let her get a python either. She runs away to the woods, where she crosses paths with an actual skunk who indeed gives off the worst smell Petunia has ever encountered. The girl immediately runs back home, but in an amusing twist, she reaffirms her love for “Awesomely STINKY” skunks. And she also decides that her stuffed animal skunk is the right choice until, walking by the woods again, she spies a prickly animal that would make a perfect pet. Children and adult readers alike will find humor in Petunia’s predicament.

Considering all the snow that’s fallen recently in many parts of the country, some parents might be yearning to get rid of snowmen, snow shovels and everything related to winter. But the popular picture book team of Caralyn and Mark Buehner has an entirely different idea—wouldn’t it be wonderful, they ask, to have snowmen around all year long?

Expanding on the theme that produced two previous best-selling picture books, Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas, the Buehners portray snowmen not just as decorative yard art, but as warm and appealing characters. In Snowmen All Year, a young boy muses about the disappointment of seeing his newly built snowman end up as a puddle. What if the snowman could magically hang around for a whole year of activities?

Caralyn Buehner’s peppy rhyming couplets take the snowman through four seasons of fun, from flying a kite in spring to trick-or-treating on Halloween (and, hey, he doesn’t even need a costume!). The snowman’s human pal is delighted to have his rotund friend for company, especially when the two take a daring ride on a roller coaster.

Mark Buehner’s richly colored paintings feature a softly glowing snowman and vibrant background scenes in which the shapes of tiny creatures are concealed (a Buehner trademark). Children will also enjoy searching for the pair of ducks that appears on every spread, often in unexpected spots.

Snowmen All Year is a sweet and amusing treat that the youngest listeners will want to hear read aloud again and again. Who knows—it might even make the next blizzard an appealing event for the whole family.

Illustrator Loren Long teams up with President Barack Obama to create a picture book tribute to several notable Americans in the form of a letter from the First Father to his daughters. The text is minimal and begins with questions for Malia and Sasha—“Have I told you lately how wonderful you are? How the sound of your feet running from afar brings dancing rhythms to my day?”

Other questions for the girls introduce discussions of famous figures from throughout the nation’s history. “Have I told you that you are creative?” the president asks his daughters, eliciting a brief comment about painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Some of those included here are obvious choices: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Neil Armstrong, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson. Other memorable Americans highlighted might surprise the reader: Billie Holiday, Albert Einstein, Sitting Bull, Maya Lin, Jane Addams and Cesar Chavez are also on the list.

Loren Long’s tall and thin stylized illustrations are perfect for the images of the Obama children and the president and serve to add visual interest to the spare text. Especially memorable are the images of O’Keeffe painting an enormous flower, Maya Lin reflected in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the young Chavez addressing farm workers. On the opposite page are smaller images of Malia and Sasha, joined by images of the famous folk carrying the tools of their given work. The final spread is a joyful collection of all sorts of American children with young versions of the famous standing in the front row.

While folks might argue about who was included or not in this selection of 13 American icons, there is little doubt that children will enjoy learning a little about them through the illustrated pages and the biographical notes at the end. Families or teachers looking for an accessible introduction to a diverse slice of notable Americans will enjoy this collection.

Obama wrote the book before becoming president and is donating profits from its publication to the families of injured service members.

The breeding habits of hares and the numerical sequencing of a 13th-century mathematician are not the usual substance of children’s books, but British author-illustrator Emily Gravett ties the two together masterfully in The Rabbit Problem.

The tale begins in January with Lonely Rabbit and a hand-lettered invitation to join him in friendship in Fibonacci’s Field. A female rabbit named Chalk takes him up on the offer. It’s not long before the two are the proud parents of Alfalfa and Angora. Rabbits mature quickly, however, and by the end of March, their new offspring are pronounced “All grown up.” Two pairs become three. By the month of May, the field boasts five pairs and counting. Rain, heat, famine and glut—there isn’t anything that the ever-growing rabbit population doesn’t encounter. Each page brings mounting excitement until a climactic end draws the story to a paper-popping surprise.

Cleverly constructed with each two-page spread displayed as a month-by-month calendar, The Rabbit Problem delights with a host of paper enhancements including a pop-up baby announcement, carrot cookbook and a local newspaper. Multimedia illustrations incorporate crayon, pencil, watercolor, folded paper and a knitted bunny hoodie. The book is packed with so many “extras” that readers will happily return again and again to re-examine the minute illustrative detail and notations on each calendar page. Young readers will find the story to be a visual feast, and adults will appreciate the subtle humor often aimed at the travails of child rearing.

Look carefully at the illustrations and you will see that The Rabbit Problem offers a solution to Fibonacci’s age-old puzzle. However, one need not understand the complexity of mathematical musings, or even the details of rabbit reproduction, to realize that one rabbit plus one rabbit equals a whole lot of fun.

Anthony Browne turns his prodigious talents to a clever retelling of the Goldilocks tale in his latest picture book, Me and You. This is no fractured story, though—it’s a full reimagining of Goldilocks from an urban point of view. Browne’s work always begs to be read slowly and the careful reader or lap-listener will be rewarded for patience.

The amusing details start on the first page—“This is our house.” Of course the address of the house is number 3 (for the three bears) and alert readers will spy a little wolf sneaking into the left corner of the page. Surrealism is Browne’s stock in trade and even the first page has hints of things to come: a ball in the backyard seems suspended in midair and what appear to be trees behind the house are really smokestacks and apartment buildings. Turn the page and the sunny yellow house is replaced with another house; this time all color is drained from the four inset illustrations except a child’s golden bangs. Despite the sepia tones and grim urban surroundings, the reader knows who the child must be in this new narrative: none other than Goldilocks, but in this version of the story she is wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.

The separate stories of Goldilocks and the three bears unfold side by side on each two-page spread of the book, with the muted tones of Goldilocks’ world in stark contrast to the colorfully bright environment and warm family life of the bears.

Reading new versions of old nursery stories is always fun for a beginning reader, and Me and You is especially satisfying with all the visual elements to be pored over. New revelations will be noticed each time, from the foreshadowing on the cover to the sly reappearance of the wolf. For older readers and adults sharing the story, Browne’s two-sided retelling adds a powerful new edge to this familiar tale.

In the latest picture book by Japanese author-illustrator Komako Sakai, a young rabbit and his mother share an all-too-common experience. The rabbit boy, testing his independence, exclaims, “I AM SO MAD AT YOU!” as his mother sleeps in late on a Saturday morning.

Unable to rouse her, he begins a litany of complaints. She’s always demanding “hurry up—hurry up—hurry up,” but then makes him wait while talking to a friend; she’s always yelling for no good reason; and she forgets to wash his clothes, forcing him to wear the same pair of socks he wore yesterday. His mother only responds by drawing the covers up over her face.

She awakens, however, when her son threatens to leave and closes the door behind him. The following two wordless pages prove that this tender book is as much for parents as for their children. As the mother rabbit sits up in bed and looks toward the closed door, young readers will note that she looks sad, but adult readers will know that there’s some regret and guilt mixed in with the sullenness. Yet happiness and forgiveness prevail when the boy quickly returns and discovers that his mother has missed him.

On light blue backgrounds with a subdued palette and textured brush strokes, Sakai creates a beautifully quiet atmosphere, much as she did in her acclaimed earlier book, The Snow Day. But in Mad at Mommy, she also reveals the range of emotions in the parent-child relationship. Child readers will understand the admonishment the rabbit boy feels as a finger from above points at his unfinished dinner and a menacing hand pulls him to walk faster. Adults will understand the mother’s frustration as a clueless son lets water, soap bubbles and toys overflow from the bathroom sink.

Readers of all ages will appreciate the final page—a clothesline with clean socks—and know that mother and son are at peace, for now.

Luckily, Angela Leeper’s twin six-year-old daughters are only occasionally mad at their mommy.

“I’ll call you Dust Devil, and from now on we’ll ride together. I reckon I’ve finally found the horse that can carry me.”

So declares Swamp Angel, the wildest wildcat and most wonderful woodswoman in all of Tennessee. Well, actually, Swamp Angel has moved on since we saw her last, to magnificent Montana, Big Sky country, a place grand enough for Swamp Angel’s size and energy. It is there, while wrestling a dust storm, that she finds Dust Devil, her horse and sidekick.

And just in time. Because before she can croon a cowboy ballad, Swamp Angel must face the notorious Backward Bart (half rattlesnake, half badger and half mad hornet) and his gang of Flying Desperados.

Anne Isaacs and Paul Zelinsky, who teamed up to create the Caldecott Honor book Swamp Angel, have created a fabulous original folktale in this long-awaited sequel. Isaacs’s rollicking prose is perfectly matched with Zelinsky’s humorous, accomplished art.

Backward Bart, the bad guy in this tall tale, is so big his hands are the size of shovels, and his varmints are so ornery no self-respecting horse will carry them. So, naturally, they ride mosquitoes. And as everyone knows, mosquitoes in Montana are monsters. Why, “A Montana mosquito can carry a heavy suitcase and two watermelons on each wing without sweating.” What’s worse, their stingers are as long as swords.

Swamp Angel is up for the challenge. But, as Sheriff Napalot informs her, the law says that only a man can be deputized to join the posse to hunt down an outlaw. Luckily, there’s no law that says a woman can’t round up a mosquito! So Swamp Angel and Dust Devil set off on a mission to outride and outsmart Bart’s mosquitoes—and their riders.

Dust Devil is a big and spectacular in every way. And it’s sure to garner a lot of buzz (pun intended). Even better, Dust Devil will delight boys and girls whether they’re sitting around the campfire, or curled up in their bedrolls for one last story after a hard day on the trail.

Siblings can be a pain, particularly younger ones. Ask any older child what they find irksome about their brother or sister and they will undoubtedly rattle off a litany of complaints.

Flora is no exception. Though the latest accident with spilled paints is clearly her younger brother Crispin’s fault, responsibility falls to Flora. Exasperated by the mess, and in spite of the day’s blustery weather, her mother sends Flora outside. Of course, she must take Crispin with her. Flora is not worried about the wind’s gusts. She has her “super-special heavy-duty red boots” to protect her. Flora taunts the wind and even offers up her brother, who is clad in ordinary boots. The wind accepts the challenge and suddenly Crispin is aloft.

The look of fear on Crispin’s face prompts her to action and quickly Flora kicks off her own sturdy red anchors and joins him in the sky. Grabbing his hand, Flora soon discovers that flying through the air is rather “comfortable.” Before long Flora and her brother are making new acquaintances, a dragonfly, a sparrow, a rainbow, even the moon. Each offers a new home for her brother, and a solution to her troubles, but suddenly Flora is not so sure. She repeatedly declares, “He’s my brother and I’m taking him home,” but ultimately, whether she receives safe passage home is up to the wind; Flora must answer a difficult question and decide her brother’s fate.

Known for her National Book Award winning tale, The Penderwicks, author Jeanne Birdsall expertly captures a sense of place in her inaugural picture book, Flora’s Very Windy Day. Calling on a classic theme of children’s literature, Birdsall personifies the wind and evokes its movement through alliterative phrasing: “swirled and swooped,” “whizzed and walloped.” Matt Phelan’s gentle watercolor and ink illustrations echo the sense of motion and capture the season with dazzling red and orange leaves drifting across the page.

Broadly appealing, Flora’s Very Windy Day, will engage the imagination of those who have ever wondered what it would be like to drift away with the clouds, or like Flora, have the wind offer to whisk away all your troubles. A perfect pairing of whimsy and realistic conflict, this book is sure to become a new favorite.

The first lines of this clever book say it all: "From the moment the baby arrived, it was obvious that he was the boss. He put Mom and Dad on a round-the-clock schedule, with no time off. And then he set up his office right smack-dab in the middle of the house."

Wearing a suit and tie, this hard-nosed boss baby has three strands of hair and rules with an iron fist from his bouncy seat. With his multitude of expressions, he looks like a fuming, tantruming, smirking and bellowing Donald Trump.

Nonetheless, his adoring young parents desperately try to please him, despite the fact that "He conducted meetings. Lots and lots of meetings, many in the middle of the night."

Award-winning author and illustrator Marla Frazee obviously knows and loves babies—she also penned Walk On: A Guide for Babies of All Ages and illustrated a multitude of other books, including The Seven Silly Eaters and the Clementine chapter books. If you haven't already, put her in your "authors to watch" file, because every one of her books overflows with heart and humor, while the characters she illustrates are full of energy, honesty and soul.

Frazee’s latest creation, The Boss Baby, is the perfect book for any household with a new baby or one on the way, because every word and illustration is spot on. With this book in hand, I recently met my beautiful one-month-old great-niece for the first time, and our family repeatedly referred to The Boss Baby’s many droll lines. Although, for the record, I must say that my great-niece is a much kinder boss than the little fellow in this book!

You know the story: Chicken Little and her rhyming cast of friends run pell-mell through the woods, convinced that the sky is falling. Well, think again.

Our story begins with an egg—a very BIG egg. Out of that egg emerges an enormous chick. The other barnyard chickens are perplexed. “What is it?” they cry. The smallest chicken declares it an elephant, and the fun begins.

As in the traditional tale, an acorn drops from a tree and the birds take off in a panic. In Keith Graves’ ridiculously comical retelling, however, rain surely means “the sky is leaking” and a chill wind indicates that “someone has put the world in a refrigerator.” When a fox comes calling, the larger-than-life chicken must save the day with cleverness, kindness and bravery.

Young children will delight in this zany rendition, in which humorous dialogue is enhanced by the opportunity for adult readers to add a chorus of chicken squawks. Pencil line drawings with muted colors make an exception for the bright yellow main character who makes a bold statement throughout the tale.

Like all fables, Chicken Big is at its best when the moral emerges. Regardless of our appearance, we all long to be accepted, and readers will be touched that Chicken Big finds a flock of friends willing to make room for him in the coop.

While the hen, horse, goose, dog and other animals on the farm are quick to cluck, neigh, hiss and woof, the ladybug never says a word as she silently goes about her business. In the charming new picture book What the Ladybug Heard, the ladybug’s demeanor changes when she overhears two robbers’ plan to steal the farmer’s fine prize cow. Julia Donaldson’s rhythmic verse, perfect for story times, describes the ladybug’s humorous counter plan to foil the robbers. With the help of her barnyard friends, the diminutive heroine saves the cow by leading the robbers away from its shed and right into the duck’s pond. After a round of cheers, the ladybug returns to her typically reticent behavior.

Lydia Monks’ jovial and vibrant collage illustrations, rendered in acrylic paints, colored pencil and patterned fabrics, lend many funny flourishes to the story, from the robbers’ coffee-stained map of the farm to their slapstick stomp through manure. Children will also delight in comparing the first and last double-page spreads of the farm, which offer a before-and-after bird’s-eye perspective. They can follow the path the robbers took (leaving a trampled garden and dirty footprints along the way) and imagine where the barnyard animals hid as they conducted their parts of the sabotage. Although the little ladybug doesn’t appear in these larger illustrations, young readers will still feel her strong, quiet presence. What the Ladybug Heard is an excellent pairing of story and pictures and a reminder that even the smallest and least assuming among us can use her unique skills to save the day.

In The Village Garage, author/illustrator G. Brian Karas depicts an often overlooked but integral part of every community. A boy and his dog follow a diverse work crew around town, beginning in spring as they clean up debris from winter storms. Summer, their busiest season, has potholes to be patched and bridges and phone lines to be mended after a thunderstorm. Autumn is all about gathering leaves. (“And they fall. EVERYWHERE.”) Winter brings a little time to relax and play a card game until a snowstorm moves in, and then it’s off to plow the roads.

Karas’ energetic gouache and acrylic paintings with pencil lend humor to the hard-working crew, from the “accidental” spraying during a truck wash to the appearance of the boss’ signature cowboy hat on a snowman. Young readers will delight in the range of machines represented—wood chipper, steamroller, backhoe, snow plow, road striping machine, elephant truck (“That’s what they call the big machine that sucks up the leaves.”) and more—all in vibrant yellows, oranges and reds.

Karas puts a new spin on the seasonal picture book with this entertaining and original title. Children will find a diligent crew that works together (and plays together when time allows) to help the village run more smoothly. And they get to do it all on those cool trucks, too!