Picture This

I love Children's picture books! You'll find me at a book store spending more time in the children's section than any other part of the store. Although I enjoy reading, I tend to stick with short stories or the like. Even better are graphic novels which tend to be the perfect meshing of art and words. I'm not known for having a long term attention span, as my train of thought oft times derails. I know, clever!



I tend to favor the children's (not kids) books that are a bit on the edgy and quirky side. My initial interest is in the actual artwork. If I don't dig that, I'll most likely put it back without even bothering to read it. If however the art rocks, then I hope the writing follows suit.

I recently received a package (LOVE to get packages delivered!) from "Amazon" full of hard cover picture books. I don't like soft covers. Hard cover books look so much better on a shelf.

My fav out of the gate was "Pete & Pickles", written and illustrated by Berkeley Breathed. If your not familiar with him, he is the creator of the former newspaper strips, "Bloom County" and "Opus" which sadly recently ended. It's about a widower pig who lives alone and is very set in his ways. An elephant named Pickles escapes from the circus and into his life, turning it on it's ear. This book, much like "Mars Needs Moms" brought tears to my eyes. Mr. Breathed clearly understands the human condition, and although a book for kids, it's just as easily a book to be enjoyed by adults as well. His simple stories tend to seemingly come out of nowhere to bite you on the ass, but in a good way.

Next is "Bone Soup" and "Skelly the Skeleton Girl". Two non-scary Halloweeny-monstery books. In other words, the type I adore! Kinda Tim Burtony stuff. I also very much dig books from creator Gris Grimly whose books are in the same vein- get it.............vein?! I made me a funny!

Another is the "Flim-Flam Fairies". This is a very gross and immature book. The kind of book little boys (& me) enjoy, although there may be some icky girls who will like it too. It's about some male fairies who are attempting to usurp the tooth fairie. I can't recall their exact names but they're something to the effect of the- Fart/gas fairie, booger fairie, ear wax fairie, well, you get the idea. Perfect art. Perfect execution of all things disgusting! Right up my alley.

"Dream Machines" is a cool book about a boy who won't go to sleep and all the machines/contraptions that will take him there. It's kind of a fantasy type book, with gorgeous illustrations. The machines are very creative. This clever book also becomes a game board when you unfold the dust jacket. Very cool! I love interactive books.

The last of the bunch is "The Castaway Pirates: A Pop-Up Tale of Bad Luck, Sharp Teeth, and Stinky Feet. As far as pop-up books go, this one is flawlessly designed and engineered. The pop-up illustrations are amazing with art on both sides of the 3-D images. The story itself is also very entertaining.

If you like illustrated kids books you'd be hard pressed not to like at least of few of the titles mentioned. Will someone please tuck me in and read to me?