Three 2012 Picture Books

George Washington's Birthday: A Mostly True Tale. Margaret McNamara. Illustrated by Barry Blitt. 2012. Random House. 40 pages.

When George Washington went to sleep Friday night, he was six years old. When he woke up on Saturday, he was seven. It's my birthday, he thought. Happy birthday to me. 

The premise of this fictional picture book starring a young George Washington is simple. It imagines one day in his childhood. It asks two questions: What was George Washington like as a young boy--say, a seven-year-old boy--and what was his home life like, how would his birthday have been remembered?

In this picture book, George Washington gets more than a little grumpy when his family seems to forget his birthday. If only there was a way for everyone to always, always remember it.

Read George Washington's Birthday

• If you like fictional picture books based on real people (though so much of this one is fictional)
• If you like historical picture books
• If you are teaching George Washington in your classroom and other books are too wordy.

10 Hungry Rabbits. Counting & Color Concepts. Anita Lobel. 2012. Random House. 24 pages.

Mama Rabbit was sad. "I have nothing to put in my soup pot for dinner," she sighed. "But. Mama," whined ten little rabbits. "We are very, very, VERY HUNGRY!" "There is the garden," said Papa Rabbit. "You are sure to find good things for Mama's soup pot there." Ten little rabbits agreed, and off they hopped.

This concept book presents colors (purple, white, yellow, red, pink, orange, brown, blue, green, and black) and numbers (one through ten). The "story" in this one is that a family of rabbits is foraging in the garden looking for things to add to the family's soup pot. Each rabbit is successful, though some more successful than others. (I'm not sure I'd personally want to add blueberries to a soup, especially if the soup had cabbage.)

Read 10 Hungry Rabbits

• If you are looking for a counting concept book to share with young ones
• If you are looking for a color concept book to share with young ones
• If you want to encourage a love of vegetables
• If you like reading bunny stories

Suppose You Meet a Dinosaur: A First Book of Manners. Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Tim Bowers. 2012. Random House. 40 pages

You're shopping at the grocery store.
Surprise!
You see a dinosaur.
This doesn't happen every day.
So, what are you supposed to say?


Hello. I'm pleased to meet you.


Imagine that the dinosaur
Is standing by a bathroom door.
You have to pee! She's in your way.
Quick! What's the proper thing to say?


Excuse me.


Commotion in the produce aisle!
The dinosaur upsets a pile
Of apples, and they roll away.
If you pick them up, what will she say?


Thank you.

This book surprised me. It really, really surprised me. Why? Well, I'm not a big fan of dinosaur books. In fact, I typically avoid reading them completely because I just don't want to bother reading them, and if I read them, I feel like I should say something about them. And also because I'm not a huge fan of Judy Sierra's rhyming. At least I'm usually not. So I liked this one. I really liked it. I'm not saying I love, love, love it or anything. I'm not saying that I could gush about it for hours or anything. But. I liked the narrative format. I liked how it was all pretend: suppose this, suppose that. I liked how it was addressed straight to the reader: what would you do, what would you say, etc. I liked how sometimes readers were asked what they should say, and sometimes asked what the dinosaur should say. It was a playful concept book.

Read Suppose You Meet A Dinosaur

• If you're a fan of dinosaur books
• If you're looking for concept books that teach manners
• If you're a fan of Judy Sierra
• If you like silly, imaginative stories

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Balloons Over Broadway

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Melissa Sweet. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 40 pages.

From the time he was a little boy, Tony Sarg loved to figure out how to make things move. He once said he became a marionette man when he was only six years old. 

Balloons Over Broadway is a picture book biography of Anthony "Tony" Frederick Sarg. Perhaps a more apt description would be a picture book about Tony Sarg and his larger-than-life hobby. True, his hobby of making things move--marionettes especially--didn't start out big or larger-than-life. But by the end, when he was making-designing balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, well, it doesn't get much bigger than that!!! I found this nonfiction book to be oh-so-fascinating. I just LOVED how detailed it was.

Balloons Over Broadway won the 2012 Sibert Medal and the 2012 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children.

Read Balloons Over Broadway

• If you love reading fascinating nonfiction, even in picture book format.
• If you love picture book biographies or picture books for older readers.
• If you love watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
• If you love history.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Pink, More Pink, Even More Pink

Pinkalicious. Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann. 2006. HarperCollins. 40 pages.

It was a rainy day, too wet to go outside. Mommy said, "Let's make cupcakes! What color do you want?"
"Pink!" I said. "Pink, pink, pink!"
Mommy put in some pink. 
"More!" I cried. "More, more, more!"
I gobbled up a couple of cupcakes while Mommy and I frosted them. They were so yummy--they were Pinkalicious! 

The star of Pinkalicious just LOVES the color pink. And in this first adventure, she is delightfully munching pink cupcakes. To her surprise--to everyone's surprise--eating so many pink cupcakes turns her to varying shades of pink. But when is enough enough?

I liked this book. I did. It was fun. It was clever. And I liked her little brother, Peter, too. I liked this one the best of all the series.

Purplicious. Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann. 2007. HarperCollins. 40 pages.

I was in art class, painting a picture.

In Pinkalicious' second adventure, she learns that kids can be very mean and bossy. It's no secret that the star of this book LOVES the color pink. So when the girls in her class tell her that pink is only for babies, well, it upsets her. She just CAN'T like black like all the others. It's black. But after a few days of this nonsense, she feels that pink is a lonely color.  Will the new girl--who loves purple--cheer her up and cure her blues?!

Goldilicious. Victoria Kann. 2009. HarperCollins. 40 pages.


I was putting flowers on the mane of my pet unicorn. "Pinkalicious, why are you dropping flowers on the rug?" asked Mommy. "I'm not dropping flowers. I am getting Goldie ready for the Unicorn Ball," I said, prancing around the room.
"What unicorn? I don't see any unicorn," said Peter.
"She's right here and she's not ANY unicorn, she is my unicorn. Her name is Goldilicious, Goldie for short. Oh, Goldie--you shouldn't have done that on the floor! You know better. Just neigh when you need to go potty. I'm sorry, Peter, but you are stepping right in it," I said.

This is the third picture book starring Pinkalicious. In my opinion, it is probably the weakest of the series. In this adventure, readers learn about Pinkalicious' (imaginary) unicorn, Goldie. Readers see the two have some adventures together. But these adventures aren't without their difficulties. Peter sees to that. (I would have liked this one more if it hadn't talked about wizards, casting spells, and crystal balls.)

Silverlicious. Victoria Kann. 2011. HarperCollins. 40 pages.


I had a wiggly tooth. It had been wiggling for days. 


In this adventure, Pinkalicious loses a tooth. But not just any tooth. She loses her sweet tooth. Ever since she lost this tooth, she's not been able to enjoy anything sweet. Her family has also noticed how losing this tooth has made her CRANKY and ungrateful. Can Pinkalicious learn her lesson and become a sweet little girl again?

I also read three I Can Read books starring Pinkalicious. I read Pinkalicious: Pink Around the Rink, Pinkalicious School Rules!, and Pinkalicious: Pinkie Promise. I found I actually preferred these early readers to some of the picture book sequels. For example, in School Rules! is an early reader about Goldie and Pinkalicious. Having her imaginary unicorn with her during the school day may help her behave herself because she's having to show him all the rules. Pinkie Promise shows Pinkalicious successfully resolving a conflict with her best friend. She promised her friend that she wouldn't use all her pink paint--she was borrowing her friend's paint--but not only did she use all the pink paint, she also used most of the red and white too. But there is hope for the friendship yet... And in Pink Around the Rink, Pinkalicious turns her new boring white ice skates into one-of-a-kind skates with the help of a pink marker...

Read Pinkalicious (and all its sequels)

• If you are looking for a fun series to read aloud to little girls
• If you love the color pink, cupcakes, unicorns, etc.
• If you are looking for sweet picture books with family-friendly messages and themes 
• If you like enthusiastic narrators

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews