What's Your Favorite Food? by Eric Carle and Friends

The picture book What's Your Favorite Food? features Eric Carle and selected children's book illustrators responding to a simple query. Each artist describes a favorite food with a brief paragraph accompanied by a two-page spread of eye-popping art. The book is a cornucopia of flavors from around the world. Strawberry daifuku, paella, and pitaya fruit are interspersed with universal favorites such as cheese, berries, and salad. Find kid-friendly fare: French Fries, ice cream, and pizza. It is fun to explore this potpourri of scrumptious food choices. The colorful mix of art styles are visually arresting with an appealing melánge of realistic images and bold graphic design. Food is celebrated with illustrations employing collage, printmaking, painting, and line drawing. A delicious introduction to a variety of artists.

Let Them Eat Cake

Cake. We wanted cake. Today a chocolate cake would be especially nice. However, due to the current world situation, ingredients are in very limited supply. What to do? Then I remembered collage days and my roommate Delena. She had a good recipe for chocolate cake made without eggs, butter, or milk.  Cake is on the menu, thanks to Delena.

Let's Get Baking

When butter and eggs are plentiful, this scrumptious cake is my go-to chocolate sheet cake. Gooey, chocolaty goodness. The batter fills an oversize sheet pan. At my house we consume a lot of this cake, so the size is just right. The chopped pecans on top are the crowning touch. ​Find the recipe here.

What's Your Favorite?

The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents (Presidents Book for Kids; History of United States Presidents When They Were Young)

It's difficult to write informational picture books. It's doubly difficult to create picture books on contemporary political topics that have a timeless quality, transcending the current political climate. These books can easily become outdated. Messner and Rex have brilliantly overcome this problem. How did they do it? The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents is set in the present at a museum that closely resembles the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Black is a Rainbow Color
​by Angela Joy ill by Ekua Holmes

A picture book blending images and text to describe and define a color,  Black is a Rainbow Color is rhythmical verse punctuated with rhyme.  The poetry has a singing quality, inviting reading and responding aloud. It’s a jubilant affirmation of identity. It’s a lyrical homage to history. It’s soul-stirring, thought-provoking. It’s a gorgeous array of colors. Individuals pictured throughout the pages have a variety of skin tones and physical features. All share a noble heritage.  my color is black.

Listen: Playlist Selections

Picture This: Celebrating Black Color & Culture

​Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Big Words)
by Doreen Rappaport ill by Eric Velasquez

This generously-sized picture book celebrates the life and legacy of the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. Using her trademark format, biographical narrative interspersed with appropriate quotations,  Rappaport recounts important events in the life of this influential woman.  The U.S Constitution serves as a backdrop for the cover’s close-up portrait of the Associate Justice. Looking directly into the faces of readers, Ruth is clear-eyed and resolute. ​Opening pages feature Ruth as a young girl, her childhood filled with books and school activities, music and traditional Jewish observances.

My mother was the bravest and strongest person I have known.

Big Words: Picture Book Series

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
​by Kevin Noble Maillard ill by Juana Martinez-Neal

This is a story of bread. But it's more than bread. Much more. This is a story of family. Of tradition. Of Native American pride. Kevin Noble Maillard, member of Seminole Nation, Mekusukey Band shares a long-standing Indigenous special food: fry bread. Recipes for fry bread are as diverse as the numerous Native nations. The sentence stem "Fry bread is..." introduces this delightful cultural staple. By turns it is food, shape, sound, color. flavor, time, history, place, nation, everything. Written in free verse, each concept fills the entire two-page spread. Replete with information and symbolism, each fry bread attribute is also a metaphor for Native Americans.

Making Fry Bread

Fry Bread brings back warm memories. When I was a college freshman, one of my roommates, Norma, was a Navajo from Arizona. She was very proud of her nationality and delighted in sharing Navajo culture with her roommates. She loved to sing, but not the hit songs playing on the radio. She sang traditional Navajo songs, with distinctive tonal patterns, and language. In my mind, I can still hear her singing. She was gentle and patient with us, helping us appreciate the Navajo Way.

Straw by Amy Krouse Rosenthal  ill by Scott Magoon

First there was a Spoon, then Chopsticks, and now Straw joins the trio of picture books featuring eating implements. Amy Krause Rosenthal’s fertile imagination gives Straw a distinctive personality and character trait. That’s right. Straw is his name so a capital letter is in order. Here’s the thing: Straw has a compulsion to be first. He measures his consumption in relationship to the nearby straws, constantly comparing himself to others. ​With help from friends, he learns to slow down and savor the moment. ​The text is chock full is delightful word play. "I think what you're feeling is called awe, Straw."  Gentle message. Charming characters. It's better than a thick milkshake with whipped cream and cherry on top.

Making Things

Eat Up

Chinese New Year Colors by Rich Lo

Bold graphic design. Vibrant color. Strategically placed traditional symbols.  Chinese New Year Colors is a visual treat. Take a look inside: ​The left-hand page splits to display a color word written three different ways: English, Chinese in the Latin alphabet,  and Chinese characters, inverting the color scheme on the bottom half of the page.

Companion Books

Bilingual alphabet book in ​English, Mandarin Chinese in the Latin alphabet, and  Chinese characters.

Written and illustrated by Rich Ho, young readers learn about Chinese opera and the value of persistence.

Superlative 2019 Illustrated Children's Books 

Travel the world with this year's award winners.  Pairing these picture books with a map of the world would make an interesting learning experience for young readers. Note: Books with a connection outside the continental United States are designated with a global icon.

Small in the City written and illustrated by Sydney Smith Sydney Smith  lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Small in the City published by Neal Porter Books, is an imprint of Holiday House. The story is set in Toronto. Fun Fact: Town Is by the Sea, illustrated by Smith is a 2017 Best Illustrated Children's Book.

Another written and illustrated by Christian Robinson Christian Robinson lives in San Francisco, California in a converted warehouse. Another is published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Fun Fact: Leo: A Ghost Story was recognized a 2015 Best Illustrated Children's Book.

The Lost Cousins written and illustrated by B.B. Cronin Brian Cronin was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland.  He now lives in New York. The Lost Cousins is published by Viking Books for Young Readers. Fun Fact: Cronin has created several Lost titles including The Lost Christmas, The Lost Picnic, The Lost House.

A Million Dots written and illustrated by Sven Völker Sven Völker, German Professor of Art and Design. A Million Dots is published by British publisher, Cicada Books. Fun Fact: There's a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today is a collaboration: "King of Pain" lyrics by Sting and illustrations by Völker.

Just Because written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault Isabelle Arsenault is a Canadian illustrator living in Montreal, Quebec. Just Because is published by Candlewick. Fun Fact: Migrant (2011) and Jane, the Fox, and Me (2013) are New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books.

Child of Glass written and illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna Beatrice Alemagna is from Bologna, Italy. Child of Glass is published by Enchanted Lion Books. Fun Fact: Alemagna's On a Magical Do-Nothing Day is a 2017 New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book.

Monkey on the Run written and illustrated by Leo Timmers ​Leo Timmers was born in Belgium. Monkey on the Run is published by Gecko Press in New Zealand. Fun Fact: Timmers is currently developing an animated TV series based on his work. The Boring Book written and illustrated by Shinsuke Yoshitake Shinsuke ​Yoshitake, born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan illustrates children's books and essays. ​The Boring Book is published by Chronicle Books. Fun Fact: Yoshitake also creates comics.

​The Farmer written and illustrated by Ximo Abadía Ximo Abadía, illustrator and graphic designer, lives and works in Madrid, Spain.   The Farmer is published by Holiday House. Fun Fact: His work was selected for the Bologna Children's Illustrator's Exhibition in 2017. I Miss My Grandpa written and illustrated by Jin Xiaojing ​Jin Xiaojing is an illustrator based in New York City. I Miss My Grandpa is published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Fun Fact: Printed in a bilingual format with Chinese translations and Mandarin pinyin transliterations.

The Perfect Seat by Minh Lê ill by Gus Gordon

With gentle humor, the author sends the pair on a search for a solution to their problem. Eventually, the perfect solution falls right into their laps.   Lots of explore on each page. Gordon chooses to focus on the central characters by sketching supporting cast members with a blue-grey outline. A bird flits from page to page. The map featured on the end pages warrants attention.  There is a street to "nowhere interesting" and a Nessie-like creature floats in the middle of a lake that is "quite wet."  "Can you read to me?" is an invitation to explore. Lê shows readers that reading brings delightful and unexpected discoveries.

Red Rover: Curiosity on Mars by Richard Ho ill by Katherine Roy

Here's an intriguing approach for an informational picture book: anthropomorphize a mobile space laboratory. Red Rover: Curiosity on Mars introduces young readers to Curiosity, a two-thousand-pound laboratory exploring the geology and climate of Mars for seven years. With succinct sentences and elegant language Richard Ho describes the mission, history, and accomplishments of the scientific endeavor. ​It ...is quiet...but not still. Vast...but not empty. Barren...but not lifeless. Near the book's conclusion the perspective shifts. Moving beyond Curiosity's close-up view, the planet Mars takes up the narration and provides readers with an expanded view of space exploration.