LLBs Best Picture Books of 2009

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: LLB's rankings of Best Picture Books of 2009. You won't be surprised by any of these, I hope. And if you haven't checked them out do so as soon as you can. (I should say several of these titles are either silly or very very silly. I like them that way. So, shush up.) From top to bottom, my top ten books of 2009 are:

The Song of Francis
by Tomie DePaola (Reviewed here.)

Francis was so filled with the love of God that he wanted to sing to tell everyone how much God loved them.


The Lion & the Mouse
by Jerry Pinkney (Reviewed here and here.)

Pinkney's wordless retelling of this classic fable deserves the Caldecott Medal. It wasn't my favorite book of the year, but it was certainly the best.


When I Wore My Sailor Suit
by Uri Shulevitz (Reviewed here.)

A sailor's life is dangerous, but a sailor must be brave.


Crow Call
by Lois Lowry and illustrated by Bagrham Ibatoulline (Reviewed here and here.)


Grass, frozen after its summer softness, crunches under our feet; the air is sharp and supremely clear, free from the floating pollens of summer, and our words seem etched and breakable on the brittle stillness.


Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
by Brian Floca (Reviewed here.)

Countdown to lift-off


Erika-San
by Allen Say (Reviewed here.)


And since that day Erika wanted to know more about Japan


The Odd Egg
by Emily Gravett


Everyone has an egg except for duck. Then Duck finds a spotted egg, and dreams of the prizes he will win. Everyone is flabergasted by the egg, and laughs at him. But he and his egg get the last laugh.


Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales
by Lucy Cousins (Reviewed here.)


Huff Puff Huff Puff


Bird, Butterfly, Eel
by James Prosek (Reviewed here.)


Vivid watercolors track the migration patterns of three American species in this marvelous non-fiction book.


The Super Hungry Dinosaur
by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Leoni Lord (Reviewed here.)

"You can't eat me, I'm small!" Hal said to the Super Hungry Dinosaur.

All these books are available in the Little Lamb Bookshop.

NB: I will be back to full time blogging on Wednesday, Jan 6th.

Best of 2009: What Everyone Else Says

From Emily Gravett's The Odd Egg, a favorite of 2009

May I say: this was a very good year for picture books. There were some stunning books released, as visually powerful and engaging as they were enriching and educative. Books like Jerry Pinkney's The Lion & the Mouse, and Brian Floca's Moonshot will be read and treasured for many years to come. It was also a year where the silly was celebrated, including Harry & Horsie and (what?! I have not reviewed this book yet!) The Odd Eggby Emily Gravett.

It was, alas, also a year for preachy tales more intent on spreading a message than engaging the imagination. Most notable of these titles is The Curious Gardenby Peter Brown. A story about a boy who lives in a dark brown dirty city and discovers one plant on the abandoned train tracks. He nurtures it, and it continues to grow, and then spread seeds, and suddenly the whole town is a garden. The lesson is obvious: industry is bad and gardens are good. And, while I love gardens much more than I love factories, I find that particular moral judgment distasteful and just plain wrong. Still, it is well drawn and well told, and feeds into the PC trend du jour, and therefore has gotten a lot of undeserved attention--and spots on nearly every Best of 2009 list I've seen.

From Emily Gravett's The Odd Egg, a favorite of 2009

Well, you've seen many of my favorites here already, so today I am going to feature some of the Best of 2009 lists from other published sources. Rather than re-printing the entire lists, I'll point out new titles which definitely deserve your attention, though I have yet to review them.

+ Publisher's Weekly lists some predictable titles. Besides The Lion & The Mouse, Crow Call and Yummy it mentions: The Day-Glo Brothersby Chris Barton and Tony Persaini, about the inventors of highlighters; Stagecoach Salby Deborah Hopkinson and Carson Ellis, and the thoroughly un-preachy Otisby Loren Long.

+ I've mentioned The New York Times Best Illustrated Book List before. I'll just mention that, having read all these already, they really highlighted some great ones. Of the ones I have not already reviewed, I would encourage checking out All the Worldby Elizabeth Garton Scanlon.

+ The Kirkus Review is the authority on children's books, and therefore their Best of 2009 Supplement (this links to a pdf) lists many more titles than I can possibly highlight. Here are a few they mention, however, that deserve further attention: Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymesby Alice Schertle and Petra Mathers; the British train adventure Rattle and Rapby Susan Steggal; and The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteauby Dan Vaccarino.

+The Horn Book also has a comprehensive list of the best books of 2009, from preschool through juvenile fiction. Favorites in the picture book category include: Birdsby Kevin Henkes, and The Sleepy Little Alphabet: A Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town by Judy Sierra and Melissa Sweet

+ The Huffington Post adds Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated)(silly story, wonderful illustrations, by Florence Parry Heide and Lane Smith). It also lists Moon Theaterby Etienne Delessert and A Really Short History of Nearly Everythingby Bill Bryson, both of which I have yet to read, but look wonderful.

+ The Smithsonian Magazine best of 2009 list is the most varied and dynamic of the lists, highlighting many books I have never come across in my own research. It only lists a couple books that I have seen on other lists, and draws our attention to a number of less known, but engaging and worthy titles like: An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albersby Natasha Wing and Julia Breckenreid; Night Lightsby Susan Gall; The Missing Chickby (a favorite) Valerie Gorbachev; and the true story of Mule Train Mailalong the Grand Canyon, by Craig Brown.

From Emily Gravett's The Odd Egg, a favorite of 2009

Snow Day by Komako Sakai

TITLE: Snow Day
AUTHOR + ILLUSTRATOR: Komako Sakai
PUBLISHED BY: Arthur A Levin Books, Jan 2009
ISBN: 978-0545013215

I fell in love with Komako Saki's first picture book, Emily's Balloon, a charming story about a little girl and her yellow balloon. This year Sakai released the equally charming, though not as beautiful (aesthetically), Snow Day, about a bunny stuck inside his apartment because it is snowing.

I'm not sure why Sakai decided to have bunnies rather than humans as his characters, but it hardly matters. Mama and baby bunny are at home when the snow begins to fall. He doesn't have to go to school, and so they spend the whole day inside. He is enchanted by the snow and begs her to let him out to play, but Mama, of course, says that he can't go out till it stops snowing. When he is getting ready for bed he notices that it has stopped, and so they bundle back up and go outside to play.

It is a simple story, full of the daily comforts of a home and family. Sakai's graceful storytelling and elegant drawings capture the cozy joys of a snow day--and the wonder when, finally, we can go outside and enjoy the snow. Her setting in the apartment, and the absence of an expected father (traveling for business, and stuck because of the snow) add rich detail to the spare story. The sublime beauty of a fresh snowfall is matched by the happy hope that tomorrow Daddy will be home, and all will be beautiful.

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2009, this book really is a joy. When I was snowed in last week I kept thinking of it, and of how it perfectly captures the spirit of just such a day.

(NB: Tomorrow I will be rounding up all the Best of 2009 Lists, and Thursday, just in time for the New Year, I'll be revealing to you my own Best of 2009 list. I'm sure you can guess what will be on it!


Out in the snow at last.

It's a Secret, by John Burningham

TITLE: It's a Secret
AUTHOR + ILLUSTRATOR: John Burmingham
PUBLISHED BY: Candlewick, June 2009
ISBN: 978-0763642754

I'm home in CA. And we have kittens. They are little rascals, currently wrestling with each other, shortly they will be climbing up my pant leg, and then, just as suddenly, they are likely to be curled up on the couch asleep. Cats are odd creatures, full of mysteries. When you go to bed, they are likely to join you for a bit. But, they disappear when you drift off to sleep. And they're wide awake, having breakfast, or playing again, when you wake up the next morning. We can never keep track of their whole lives, no matter how much we are with them. They must have their secrets.

The secrets of cats is the subject of this most recent adventure by British author and illustrator John Burningham. Burningham, like American contemporaries Eric Carle and Tomie DePaola, has had a long, distinguished career in Children's book writing and illustration, and was part of the revolution of Children's books in the 1960s and 70s. His success continues with his perfectly pitched combination of fantastic illustrations and vivid adventures in It's a Secret, which looks into the question "What do cats do at night? Where do they go?

I won't spoil the surprises of the book except to say that there is a masquerade ball, a cat queen, a miniature Marie Elaine--she gets smaller when her cat tells her to, very matter of factly. The book is a bit oversized, making Burningham's nighttime-cityscapes all the more enchanting and engaging.

This book has, surprisingly, not made it on many Best of 2009 lists. (I had a hard time not including it in my First Things piece.) But it was recently featured in the dynamic (and lengthy) Smithsonian Magazine best of 2009 roundup. I encourage you to check out the list, and the book. Burningham brings us another delightful story, well worth our time.

John Burningham's charming nighttime adventure, It's A Secret

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Nota Bene: I am, as we speak, flying over the great plains, on my way home (hurrah!) I won't be online the rest of the week. Monday-Wednesday next week, I'll be doing a round-up of all my favorite books of the year (and you'll find some things I have not mentioned before, and others that no one notices on the "Best of 2009" lists...but they should.




In the meantime, let me recommend to you for your Christmas weekend, a viewing of Fantastic Mr. Fox. My sister and I went ans saw it over Thanksgiving, and I keep telling people to see it (but somehow neglected to mention it to all of you!)

As any Wes Anderson film, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a aesthetically compelling, and, I dare say, perfect. Not a hair is out of place (its stop motion animation, so I meant that quite literally). He has limited his colors to the burnt oranges, reds, and golds of autumn. His soundtrack melds the beach boys (?!--yet I love it!) with rough folk. And his actors--oh my! They are perfectly cast. And he is entirely faithful to the story, while developing it so that it can fill a whole 90 minute film. Really, I loved it, and encourage you all to see it. And it is appropriate for kids of all ages.

Read more here.

The Gifts of the Child Christ, by George MacDonald

My very favorite Christmas Story is O. Henry's "The Gifts of the Magi." My second favorite Christmas story, which I did not discover until I had graduated from college, is George MacDonald's "The Gifts of the Child Christ."

C. S. Lewis famously said that George MacDonald (pictured left) "baptized" is imagination--and I never understood that statement, having read The Princess and the Goblin and liking it, but not being profoundly moved by it. Then I read "The Gifts of the Child Christ" and it all became clear. MacDonald's story of a young girls' honest yearning faith, and its transformative effects on her entire family, is an powerful instance of virtue incarnate in art.

The story is widely available online: here, here, and here. You can also purchase a new edition from Dodo Press.

Here is our introduction to the story's hero, Sophy:

Little Sophy--or, as she called herself by a transposition of consonant sounds common with children, Phosy--found her nurse Alice in the nursery. But she was lost in the pages of a certain London weekly, which had found her in a mood open to its influences, and did not even look up when the child entered. With some effort Phosy drew off her gloves, and with more difficulty untied her hat. Then she took off her jacket, smoothed her hair, and retreated to a corner. There a large shabby doll lay upon her little chair: she took it up, disposed it gently upon the bed, seated herself in its place, got a little book from where she had left it under the chair, smoothed down her skirts, and began simultaneously to read and suck her thumb. The book was an unhealthy one, a cup filled to the brim with a poverty-stricken and selfish religion: such are always breaking out like an eruption here and there over the body of the Church, doing their part, doubtless, in carrying off the evil humours generated by poverty of blood, or the congestion of self-preservation. It is wonderful out of what spoiled fruit some children will suck sweetness.

But she did not read far: her thoughts went back to a phrase which had haunted her ever since first she went to church: "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth."

"I wish he would chasten me," she thought for the hundredth time.

The small Christian had no suspicion that her whole life had been a period of chastening--that few children indeed had to live in such a sunless atmosphere as hers.

(By the way, I highly recommend all the stories in this volume. And if you have a copy already, treasure it, because it is very valuable.)

Snow Day

I was hoping to do a big Best of 2009 round up today, for you last minute Christmas shopping, but, alas, I am not able to. DC got hit by a serious snow storm (though, SERIOUSLY, it's not that bad!), and I am stuck at home, without internet, as soon as my roommate leaves town.

So you'll have to just explore LLB on your own today. Explore the LLB Bookshop, or any of the labels below. Back tomorrow with a Christmas story I think you'll all love.

Jan Brett's and Patricia Polacco's Christmas Books

From Jan Brett's 12 Days of Christmas

Jan Brett and Patricia Polacco are two of the most prolific and engaging author/illustrators alive today. And they both have a great love for Christmas, as evidenced by the large number of Christmas themed books in their respective ouvres.

The sassy and silly Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Jan Brett, who lives in the Berkshires, is almost always photographed in a wool fair isle sweater. This should tell you something. She is serious about Christmas, serious about winter, and serious about graphics.

Her Christmas and winter themed titles all posess a wonderful graphic quality--bold lines, strong colors. She is influenced by nature (of course) and by scandinavian culture and aesthetics. Her drawings are very detailed--much more detailed than I am usually attracted to--yet never too much. And she has a wonderful imagination--where animated animals and other-worldly creatures are as natural and the sun in the sky or snow on the ground (like the polar bears and trolls in Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve?). And her more traditional titles, like The 12 Days of Christmas are completely enchanting, too. Here are a few of her best Christmas titles:




Patricia Polacco's Uncle Vova's Tree
Patricia Polacco, mentioned before on LLB, is always a winner to my mind. Her stories, often drawn from her own childhood in rural Michigan, or her Russian heritage, always have the perfect blend of grace, charm, beauty, and tradition. My favorite of her Christmas books is Uncle Vova's Tree, but also lovely is The Trees of the Dancing God's which is about a Jewish family that pitches in to help a Christian family celebrate Christmas when they all come down with scarlet fever. All these books have her rich illustrative style--a mix of pencil with watercolors, vibrant, cheerful, and cozy.



From Polacco's The Trees of the Dancing Gods

Posada Books: Politi and DePaola

La Posada has begun (actually, it began last night). Do you celebrate La Posada? My best friend in grade school, always celebrated La Posada so I have fond memories of it from my childhood. In the nine nights ending on Christmas Eve, families re-enact the journey through Bethlehem of Joseph and Mary, looking for a place to stay the night. Songs are sung; I vaguely remember going back and forth, singing: "Let us in!" "There's no room" again and again and again, till finally (the ninth time), they open the doors and we all celebrate together.

A Mexican tradition (I wonder if it has roots in the Old world, or if it is only a New World custom), it has so many wonderful elements for children and their imaginations. It was so fun to play the roles--we shouted with all our fury "There's no room!" or begged with all our might, "let us in!" And when the role playing was over, we just had a marvelous time with all our families and friends. Las Posadas is one of my most treasured Christmas memories.


Well, I can relive those memories with two picture books written by two of my all-time favorite authors, Leo Politi and Tomie DePaola:

Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street by Leo Politi:

As I said in my First Things piece: Politi is the author of the classic Song of the Swallows, about the swallows returning to Capistrano. The John Paul Getty Museum has recently republished many of his classic works, some long forgotten. In Pedro, Politi introduces us to a lovely story about a section of Los Angeles where—at least in 1946, when the book was written—they still have blacksmiths, candle makers, and glassblowers. They also carry out the Mexican Christmas festival of the Posada...Pedro, a little boy who can sing like an angel, is responsible for this year’s decorations. His hard work is rewarded when he gets a beautiful music box from the piñata.


The Night of Las Posadasby Tomie DePaola

In DePaola's take on this tradition, he draws from his own his own Christmas in Santa Fe, to tell the story of a nun, and her annual re-enactment of Las Posadas. When she falls ill and a snowstorm threatens the show, its Christmas spirit (blessings, grace, and generosity!) that save the day. DePaola has a deep reverence for the feast at hand, but for the actors themselves: men and women who love the Lord and each other, and do all to make this world a more joyful place. But you know I love his work, so I'll leave it at that.

I highly recommend both these books, and encourage you to make a Las Posadas night in your own family. It is a worthy tradition!