Perfect Picture Book Friday
Leave Me Alone! (Roaring Brook Press, 2016) written and illustrated by Vera Brosgol is a fun picture book that goes from normal life to the fantastic and back again.
An old woman just wants to be left alone to do her knitting, but her grandchildren won’t leave her and her yarn alone. So she goes to the forest. Then the bears won’t leave her alone. So she goes to the mountainside where the goats won’t leave her alone. At the top of the mountain she . . .
You’ll have to read it yourself to find out what happens. I like the humor, the language, the illustrations. It makes me smile.
The book is Vera’s debut picture book and a Caldecott Honor award winner, too. Learn more about Vera on her website where you can see more about her art and writing and even buy prints.
Category: Award Winners
Wolfie the Bunny
Perfect Picture Book Friday
Wolfie the Bunny (Little, Brown and Company, 2015) by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Zachariah OHora is a funny twist on the new baby book. It makes me smile whenever I think of it.
When Dot’s bunny family finds and abandoned wolf baby on the doorstep, young Dot warns, “HE’S GOING TO EAT US ALL UP!” But her parents don’t believe her. Wolfie eats carrots, he sleeps, he drools, until one day . . .
You’ll have to read the end of this New York Times bestselling book yourself. 🙂 Or you can listen to Ame read it here. (And see Zachariah as Wolfie!)
Read about Ame on her website where you can learn more about her and her other books.
Zachariah has 10 books out–two he illustrated by Ame, and four he wrote himself as well as illustrated–read about them here. On this page you can see lots of sample work in his portfolio.
The Only Road
The Only Road (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016) by Alexandra Diaz is a book I wish I could get everyone to read.
After the murder of his cousin Miguel, twelve-year-old Jaime and his fifteen-year-old cousin Angela either have to join the destructive gangs in their village or leave Guatemala. To keep them safe their families spend everything they have to get the two the United States where Jaime’s brother Tomas lives. But once the two are on their way, they are on their own. They face discovery by la migra, gang violence, death by train, hunger, thievery, thirst all in their quest for a safe place to live.
The Only Road is inspired by true events (not the author’s) and is a Pura Belpré Honor book!
Alexandra Diaz has this at the head of her website: “Writing: to experience life in someone else’s shoes.” That’s one of the reasons we read and why I’d like others to read this book.
Alexandra is also the author of Good Girls Don’t Lie–a YA novel–and other books. On her bio page there are lots of links to interviews, too.
The Wolf’s Boy
The Wolf’s Boy (Disney-Hyperion, 2016) by Susan Williams Beckhorn is a touching tale of a boy who struggles because he doesn’t fit in.
Twelve-year-old Kai has a club foot, so he’s not allowed to touch weapons, or hunt. When Kai rescues a motherless wolf club, he’s warned that she can’t eat the People’s food. As the yellow cub grows, the People look on her as a threat. With winter approaching Kai and Uff leave the village. How can a boy who can’t even hunt survive on his own?
This book is a Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2017 Notable Children’s Book. I love the cover too.
Read about Susan here where you can also see a picture of the stone house that she and her husband built themselves. And read about her other books here. She’s also an illustrator.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Greenwillow Books, 2011) by Rae Carson is a wonderful YA fantasy. I just discovered book one of this trilogy and raced through it.
Sixteen-year-old Elisa has been chosen to be the Godstone bearer. But as the younger princess, the princess who keeps getting bigger and bigger because she eats when she’s upset, she doesn’t see how she can ever be used. Married off to a neighboring king, at risk from the enemy, Elisa goes on a journey that changes her and her whole world.
Loved this book and am looking forward to reading book two, The Crown of Embers (2012) and following it up with The Bitter Kingdom (2013). Why didn’t I hear about this New York Times bestselling trilogy earlier?!
This was Rae Carson’s debut novel and was a William C. Morris Award Finalist. The trilogy has been translated into other languages. See covers here. She’s also written other stories in the universe, The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories (Girl of Fire and Thorns Novella). 
Like a River Glorious, book one in the Gold Seer Trilogy, came out in September 2015 and is a YALSA 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. More to add to my TBR pile. 😉