Books I Like Reading Right Now

Cheerful, bright, bold, and all about why trees are so great. Hooray!

Lovely, quietly told and depicted. Just right to read to a 2-year old.

Emily's Balloon by Komako Sakai. Another book illustrated by Sakai -- Quietly told just like the first one. So pretty and unpretentious. Perfect amount of words to read to a toddler.

Crafty Chloe by Kelly Dipucchio, illustrated by Heather Ross. Really these drawings are fantastic and I totally want to be Chloe's friend and have every outfit she wears in this book (-: Oh, and if any one of my kids ends up like this I would be a little bit giddy (but not disappointed if they don't). Hey, and guess what! -- Heather Ross who illustrates this book happens to be one of my favorite fabric designers too! (I love when artists cross media lines!)

I love this illustrator -- She did the pictures for Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore (yep, the actress -- another artist getting outside her creative medium-zone). This book is Pham's first one to both write and illustrate. It is about her and her real big sister who she adores. I really like when siblings in stories like each other -- and this one is even better because the two girls are very different (kind of like another pair of sisters I know...hmmm...).

Another one written and illustrated by Pham -- This one is about her and her first son (she has two). I love that she "gets" toddler boys without being sentimental or joke-y or trite. The drawings are just jolly.

The illustrations in this book are so my favorite combination of deep and rich and full of interesting things in every corner and yet clean and bright and clear. (And a little bit like Quentin Blake -- one of my favorite illustrators -- you know him even if you think you don't -- He did almost all the Roald Dahl books.) I love it. Just so you know, the story itself is pretty weird -- not scary-weird or dumb-weird -- just odd.

We have this one in hardcover -- It was actually Brad's when he was little. The story is lovely and lyrical and clean. Really -- It is so nice to read -- so nice I can read it every day and not get annoyed. And I just love the main character. Also Duvoisin's drawings are perfect for the story. I love this era of children's book illustrations -- 50's/60's.