Book Reviews by Dad (Page 2)

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 -

This is a Book of Shapes - Kenneth Kraegel

Rating: 7/10 Short, but funny. I don't have a lot to say about this that won't spoil it, but I think it has poor re-readability value which is unfortunate because I absolutely did laugh out loud with joy when I read it for the first

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! - Mo Willems

Rating: 10/10 I love the design of this book, it's fun to have a book written in the second person. Reading it out loud is such a pleasure. Funny, interactive, and the format works so well. The art is nothing special that makes you say "wow&

Corduroy - Don Freeman

Rating: 6/10 The art is pretty good, it's a touching story. Definitely a couple moments of suspense, sorta. The department store aspect doesn't hold up well at all, which is unfortunate. I imagine myself being like, imagine Amazon but it's a whole building

This Moose Belongs to Me - Oliver Jeffers

Rating: 8/10 I enjoyed this. It was a fun story, some amusing situations - clearly a book written by someone who's actually funny. Great art. Lessons, of a sort. I don't know if I'd want to read this every day, but there are

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

Rating: 9/10 This book is, of course, a classic. We have the board book version because real books are lost on our son (and this is what we got as a gift). The art is great, the plot is gripping, it has a solid ending. There's nothing

Pajama Time! - Sandra Boynton

Rating: 1/10 No story, no point, not enamored with the art. Some okay rhymes, I guess. Honestly I can only imagine liking this if I were, like, 80% less literate. But as someone who actually likes words I found this book really, really tedious. At least it's

Here We Are - Oliver Jeffers

Rating: 10/10 A former colleague gave me this book as a gift when we had our son. She said there would be lots of awful books we'd read, so we should have a good one that we can enjoy reading. She was right! I think this is

Banana Banana Banana! - Sarah Finan

Rating: 3/10 Who likes bananas this much? Was this sponsored by Dole? It feels like propaganda from Big Banana. I like bananas just fine but this person is way, way over the top about bananas. The art is good, but there's no plot or anything. Just a

Blueberries for Sal - Robert McCloskey

Rating: 7/10 I liked the art, the story, and the general concept. A small problem is that this has too many words per page for our 3 month old, so I can't really finish the book without some fidgeting and possibly screaming, which kills the vibe a

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