Juvenile picture books continue to amaze and impress me. The plots and characters may be simple, but their stories are succinctly and clearly told often with an important observation about society and/or people.
We recently received a new order of many great juvenile picture books. Here are three of my favorites.
“Doug Unplugged” by Dan Yaccarino is about a young robot, Doug, whose parents plug him in each morning to fill him up with facts, so that he may become the smartest robot ever. Doug’s memory is filled with statistics and a great deal of amazing, factual knowledge. One day a pigeon flies onto his windowsill. He knew a great deal about pigeons, of course.Could he learn even more by going into the city? Well, Doug unplugs and ventures out into the city. He knows a lot, but learns even more. One especially important concept he learns that was not part of his downloads was how to play.
The illustrations are simple, basically drawn using four primary colors with very little detailing. Doug, the curious boy/robot, is always willing to learn whether it be by downloading information into his memory bank or learning through real experiences.
“Ralph Tells a Story” written and illustrated by Abby Halon is essentially about the idea that “Stories are everywhere.” This is a perfect book for a teacher or parent to help a young child who might have writer’s block. Ralph believes he has no story to tell. With the help of his friend Daisy, he learns to look around himself. He, of course, discovers that he does have a story to tell.
Illustrated with clever, cartoon-like characters, the children’s faces are simple but expressive. Once Ralph gets started there is no stopping him. The end covers of the book display some of his stories: “My Bathroom Emergency,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” “The Crazy Supermarket Cart,” among others.
“Red Kite, Blue Kite” by Ji-li Jiang is very different from these other two books. Beautifully illustrated by Greg Ruth using rich colors and very expressive true-life character faces, the story is set during China’s Cultural Revolution. A boy and his father are separated when the father is imprisoned for his non-conforming political ideas. Even though they are apart, they are able to stay close by flying kites. Each day father and son look for the other’s kite, one red and one blue. The kites fly freely through the air, and one day the father will be free too.
A warm-hearted story of love between father and child and a simple introduction to China’s Cultural Revolution.