Picture Book Recommendations

We are pleasantly drowning in picture books around here. There were 264 eligible books nominated in the fiction picture book category of the Cybils!!!

All of this means that I have roughly 5 trillion books that I should be reviewing. The two I'm sharing today are actually NOT on the Cybils list, although I think they should be.

A Long Piece of String by William Wondriska

This is one unique little book. Without words, Wondriska takes you on a journey through the alphabet. The string that you see on the cover, leads you from page to page connecting everything from animals, to plants, to the Queen.

Call me dense, but I didn't realize it even was an alphabet book until I reached the end where it tells you what everything is.

Because the pictures follow the alphabet, it's a great way to do a guessing game with children, while teaching them their ABCs.

Very clever and highly recommended as a unique twist on the ABC books.

More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt, illustrated by Troy Cummings

I really enjoy books that are interactive with the reader. More Bears! is a fun example of that.

The author is trying to write a story with absolutely no bears in it, but the readers just keep yelling, "More Bears!" Despite the author's better judgement, he keeps adding bears on demand until the book is overflowing with bears. The bears start pushing each other off the pages, so the author gets rid of them.

What will the readers ask for next?

Cummings did a great job illustrating this entertaining story. Stylish colors and bears of all shapes and sizes add great dimension to the story.