Various Picture Books
As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection, I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around.
Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle.
That's Not My Dragon - Fiona Watt and (illustrator) Rachel Wells
The Little Yellow Digger - Betty and (illustrator) Alan Gilderdale
When Ezekiel was Born - David Cadji-Newby & Julia Gray and (illustrator) Pedro Serapicos.
Wild Animals: A Sparkle Board Book - Robert Frederick Ltd.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Pirate Pussycat - Jonathan Emmett and (illustrator) Ed Eaves
No Matter What - Debi Gliori
It is called Garden Fun, and as with Wild Animals, doesn't have an author (it is copyright to Kidsbooks, 2022). But it doesn't really need one. Garden Fun is made of cloth rather than paper, has tactile elements sticking out of each page, and has some sort of 'crunchy' material inside the pages for baby to make noises with while squeezing the pages. There are also a grand total of two words on each page, one for each garden creature represented.
So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life:
Karl's List
Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019).
This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on their way to the train station, narrowly avoiding various other animal denizens as they do. The story, told in poetic form, manages to highlight how dangerous parts of this story are through liberal use of exclamation marks, and even occasional SENTENCES WRITTEN IN CAPITALS. The fun and silliness of it all is apparent even in the writing, but what makes the book even better is the beautiful and detailed illustrations, with a number of background storylines taking place concurrently to the main plot. A pair of bank-robbing squirrels, a post-man pig chasing a floating letter, and a vain lion with a bad haircut are among the storylines that can be seen to unfold in the background of what is a mildly cheeky book with a silly feel.
Not a deep message in this one, but very entertaining.
Published by Usbourne Publishing Ltd: London, 2011 (2006).
Much simpler (and aimed a lot younger) than Bunnies on the Bus, this book is one I (and Ezekiel) enjoy because of its tactile elements. Each page has the unnamed protagonist (a little white mouse) pointing out an aspect of each dragon that shows it to not be the titular dragon, and in each case that aspect is one that little hands can touch to experience for themselves.
Some of the words are ones that seem to be used only to create variety (how many times would you use the word 'tufty' in everyday conversation?), but the dragons are cute, the mouse is expressive, and the tactile elements are fun. This is also one in a very large series of similar books; we also have That's Not My Penguin, which has to be even more creative in the differences it describes due to the strong common characteristics found in penguins as a whole!
Published by Scholastic New Zealand Ltd: New Zealand, 2023.
First published 1993 by Ashton Scholastic Ltd.
This one is a classic Kiwi picture book, but not one that I had actually ever read before the arrival of Ezekiel.
The titular little yellow digger is trying to dig out a drain while it is raining, and gets stuck in the mud. Then the digger that arrives to pull the first digger out gets stuck. And then the next digger gets stuck. And the next one too! Who will save the day?
Apparently based on a true story, the 'twist' at the end is satisfying and fun, and the rhyming verse is among the better written of the stories that we currently own.
Published by Wonderbly: 21 Brownlow Mews, London, 2023.
A gift from our very thoughtful sister-in-law Chayla (who is great at gifts), this is one of those 'custom made' books you can order online. In this instance, the customisation includes a child who looks like Ezekiel (or, how he looked when he was born, anyway) and the storyline involves animals who talk about the traits and strengths of that child, and in the process spell out Ezekiel's name, based on the first letter of their own names.
It is very special, and sweet. With Ezekiel being spelled as it is, it also requires the story to contain three animals that start with E (elephant, eagle and emu) as well as an ibex!
Not only is the book fun (and will be even more special for Ezekiel once he can understand the words!) but it is very cleverly made, and led to me wasting an afternoon on the website it came from trying out the limits of the customisation. It's actually fairly impressive; you can even make a book for a kid named Xxyzz!
Published by RUMC (HK) Ltd./Robert Frederick Ltd: Bath, UK, 2005.
This book is at the other extreme. I am including it on this list because I think that it needs to be acknowledged how weird this book is!
Firstly: the 'author' of this book is 'the staff at Robert Frederick Ltd', which is already a sign that no one wants to be the person to put their name to it.
Secondly (English teacher gripes here): the rhyme scheme in this book is all over the place. We start with an ABCB rhyme, before changing to an ABCC without warning (and what kind of rhyme is that anyway?!) and then end with AABB. The rhythm of the lines also changes inconsistently. So, it's not well written.
Thirdly: the pictures are odd. Elise particularly struggles with the lions - they have oddly round faces, and brown manes, which is at odds with the text telling us about their "golden manes" - and the water that the elephants splash on themselves, which is an unappealing off-pinky/chocolatey colour.
Fourthly: After focusing exclusively on African animals, one page randomly includes the anaconda, before returning to Africa for the final animal. This would be weird enough on its own, but the anaconda page has a picture of a smiling anaconda, with a drop of drool coming from its mouth, approaching an unsuspecting (and strangely happy) deer, accompanied by the text (in ABCC structure): "Deep in the Amazonian jungles you'll find / The mighty anaconda waiting for prey./ It gobbles up animals, both big and small, / Using its coils to squeeze the life out of all." What kind of kid's book talks about squeezing animals to death?!
As you can probably tell, this is not a book Elise and I are all that fond of, but the irony is that as a result we've been reading it to Ezekiel quite often. Why? Because he is in the middle of his "grab everything and chew on it" phase, and we are quite happy for him to chew this one to shreds.
It's probably his favourite book.
Elise's List
Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Random House/PRH Children's UK: London, 2021.
Board book published 1994.
First published 1969.
This is one of the ultimate 'classic' children's picture books. One Sunday morning, a tiny caterpillar pops out of an egg, and begins looking for food. Throughout the following week, the caterpillar chomps down on a wide variety of foods, starting with an increasing number of fruits (helping to learn counting skills), and then having a feeding frenzy on Saturday, with a whole bunch of foods, including junk food, that makes the caterpillar feel quite ill (teaching the perils of junk food and over-eating). After eating a tasty leaf, the caterpillar is "now a big fat caterpillar" and makes a cocoon, before eventually emerging as a beautiful butterfly.
The pictures in this book are great - handpainted and quite stylistic. The book also includes some variety in the page layout; we get a very narrow (physically) page when there is only one food to eat, with the pages expanding in width as more food is added. There are also physical holes in the pages to show which foods the caterpillar has eaten.
Sweet, occasionally funny, and a classic for a reason.
Published by Simon and Schuster: London, Great Britain, 2010.
The art of pop-up is quite impressive when done well, and this is a very well-done example. On the first page we are introduced to five sleeping cats, and told that each one has a secret to be revealed! The following five pages then show each cat revealing their secret identity in an impressive pop-up page. We get a Wild West cat, a pirate cat, a wizard cat, a space cat and a knight cat (who "wears a cloak made out of real Rottweiler skins").
There isn't much more to the book than that - each page also has a short rhyming introduction to the cat in question - but the pages are beautifully put together, and the moving parts are enough to grab Ezekiel's attention every time we read it. The trick at present is keeping it far enough out of reach that he will still be able to enjoy it when he is older.
My Dad Thinks He's Super Funny - Katrina Germein and (illustrator) Tom Jellett
Published by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd: Newtown NSW Australia, 2022 (2021).
Why on earth did Elise put this on her list? What is she trying to say?
This book is full of nothing but dad jokes, told from the perspective of a kid who might not actually agree with the statement that his dad is indeed 'super funny.' It was given to us by my brother, Jared, who (like his wife Chayla) is good at buying gifts.
Considering that I tell a lot of jokes myself, and have done so even before Ezekiel was born (my co-workers tell me I was getting practice in), I relate to only part of this... the hilarious part. If the title removed the words "thinks he's" and replaced them with "is" then I would understand this book. It would apply to the situation Ezekiel finds himself in. I worry that as it is, he may not truly relate to the child protagonist.
Or, maybe...
Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books: London/Dublin, 2014 (1999).
This sweet and surprisingly moving book stars two foxes, Small (the child) and Large (the parent). Small is feeling glum and grumpy, and is worried that Large might only have conditional love for them (the book only refers to Large and Small by their names, meaning that any child/parent relationship could be represented on the pages). Large reassures Small that their love will last "no matter what."
Small queries this carefully by firstly checking whether they would still be loved if they were a bear, or a bug, or a crocodile. Then, nearer the end, we get some deeper questions: whether love wears out, or whether it will last even after "we're dead and gone." This is not the sort of topic you necessarily expect to find in a children's picture book, but even this is addressed in a sweet and child-friendly manner: Small is told to look at the stars, and realise that some of those stars "died a long time ago." Then, the reassurance is given: "Love, like starlight, never dies."
Wow.
Old MacDonald's Farm - Donovan Bixley
Published by Hodder Moa Books/Hachette New Zealand Ltd: Auckland, New Zealand, 2011.
This is our favourite version of Old MacDonald's Farm, even if at this point Ezekiel prefers a more 'chewable' older version we got from an opshop. What makes this version special is the beautiful illustrations, with a strong kiwiana theme coming through. Old MacDonald wears stubbies, a black singlet, gumboots and a toweling hat; the dog cooks a pavlova (I know!); the cow drinks out of a 'Longest Drink in Town' milkshake cup...
Honestly, these illustrations are truly gorgeous. I could imagine some of the scenery being painted on its own and hung up in a gallery somewhere.
Well worth checking out.
BONUS 'BOOK'
Since starting this post (it has taken a while to work through each review) I decided to add one more 'book' to the list. I am using quotation marks around this one, because it's not really a 'book' per se, but it still deserves some acknowledgement as Ezekiel's first truly favourite 'book.'
The point of this 'book' is for a very young child to have fun touching it and sticking it in their mouth, and Ezekiel absolutely loves this. He might be starting to grow out of it a little now, but although it is not in any way a work of great literature, as a first 'book' experience it was very successful.
Another gift from Jared and Chayla, too! Well done, you two!
(Ezekiel Books)
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