The Runaway Bunny - Margaret Wise Brown
Rating: 9/10 I like this book a lot! The story is great fun, I love the little escalations and one-uppings. And a nice little ending. The art is definitely something special, find the bunny on every page.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? - Eric Carle
Rating: 7/10 Ah, you know, this one doesn't really do it for me. I do enjoy the art quite a lot, and the "plot twist" at the end is amusing enough, especially since I'd totally forgotten it in the 30-ish years since I
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Laura Joffe Numeroff
Rating: 8/10 Well, I love a lot about this. The story is fun, I am a fan and I liked the ending. There's a good amount of of whimsy and silliness in it, and it's well complemented by the art - it's nothing
Frederick - Leo Lionni
Rating: 9/10 First, shout-out to the art: I love these pictures. They're beautiful and evocative and everything I want from my children's book art. Just a delight to drink it all in as you read the story. The story is solid too, it's
Will the Pigeon Graduate? - Mo Willems
Rating: 1/10 Sorry, but this just sucks. I still enjoy the art in a way, and the pacing is fine, but there's just nothing here. The art can't carry a book like this. Who is this for? There's no story, no real whimsy
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Rating: 10/10 I am just a huge Maurice Sendak fan, and this has to be my favorite of his. It's funny, there's an enjoyable plot, it wraps up nicely. The art has this amazing, creepy, un-sanitized feeling to it that you can't imagine
Good Night, Gorilla - Peggy Rathmann
Rating: 8/10 So, first of all, let's get this out there: you don't need to use words to tell stories, and picture books get a big leg up here. You do need great art and a lot of fun if you're going to
Moby Dick - Philip Graham
Rating: 5/10 This is an adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, which I am a medium fan of. Unfortunately I don't think that the full... literary force, or whatever, of Melville's work quite translates to children's picture books. The book nails
The Hueys in What's the opposite? - Oliver Jeffers
Rating: 2/10 I really didn't enjoy this one, which was a huge letdown after reading his other books. It wasn't interesting, it was pretty repetitive. The art was sorta cute I guess, that's definitely a strength, but it's definitely not his
Welcome - Mo Willems
Rating: 8/10 This feels a lot like a more baby-oriented version of Here We Are, which I obviously enjoyed immensely. I don't think this holds up quite as well - the art is not as impressive, it's got a lot less going on and it
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything - Elise Broach
Rating: 9/10 I really liked this one. The art is great. The tone is hilarious, I absolutely love the dialogue and the characters. The story is silly but is played completely straight-faced, which I always love. And then it builds to a very fun and clever climax with a
Stuck - Oliver Jeffers
Rating: 6/10 I continue to love Oliver Jeffers' art. The story, as a concept, is very clever! The escalation process is also conceptually good. Unfortunately it gets pretty repetitive pretty quick, and sorta runs out of steam at the end. Sort of a Deus ex Machina situation -