My Twenty-Teens in Picture Books

I first began reviewing picture books on this blog in January 2016. Since then, I’ve posted over 50 reviews each year. Beginning in 2018, I’ve been pairing two picture books weekly as well.

Although that’s quite a few books, I’ve read many more picture books than I’ve reviewed, and I also was reading many picture books before I began this venture. Interestingly, the first review I posted, Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation, contains two of the themes which run through several of the books I’ve reviewed: immigration and family separation. Note that I posted this review, and this book was published, prior to the political changes that encouraged my focus.

I’ve heard that these past several years have been a renaissance in picture books. I agree! When I looked back through my posts and perused my shelves, it was wonderful to see the blossoming of this craft.

Several of these picture books of this past decade have stuck with me. Here, in no particular order, are a baker’s dozen (the magic 13, my favorite number) that first came to mind:

The Journey

The first of, sadly, many of the picture books chronicling the refugee experience

 

I Am Henry Finch

So thought provoking

 

Two White Rabbits

The arduous journey through Mexico to the US

 

Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph

A photograph illuminated via poetry

 

A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation

Brilliant new insight into a seminal moment in history

 

The Remember Balloons

Explaining memory loss to children & their adults

 

Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad

Bilingual, poetic & I loved learning about this Cuban hero’s sojourn in NY

 

Grandad’s Island

Reflections on the loss of a loved one

 

The Field

Pure fun! I felt like I was on the soccer field with the players

 

I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness

So calming

 

You Nest Here with Me

A reassuring bedtime story, filled with bird facts & back matter

 

Love, Triangle

Best title ever: so simple yet so profound

 

When I Coloured in the World

Possibly my favorite picture book of all time – we can change the world for the better, one word at a time.

Happy New Year, dear readers! Here’s to a wonderful year and decade ahead of reading, writing, and positive changes!