Peep can’t wait for Egg to hatch. They will have so much fun together! But Egg isn’t quite ready yet.

Sophie and her mother make very special treats for their party, but Sophie worries there won’t be one left for her.

This book encourages kids to pair shapes together to make new forms.

It’s early morning in the jungle, and Little Gorilla is not happy. Someone has woken him up, but who?

Illustrations and rhyming text follow a small group of tadpoles as they undergo a change, from tiny, tailed swimmers to leaping frogs.

Alan comes from a long line of very scary alligators. But what will happen when his big secret gets out?

This variation of the nursery rhyme features a chaotic household of children and pets who live in a shoe, and who know how to repair, remake, reuse, and recycle.

Look for Big Bunny all over town. He passes the museum, the toy store, the library and the construction site.

Explore the wonderful world of cars zipping up and down, fast and slow. Cruise alongside cars of all kinds.

A motley crew comes to the rescue of a dragon in pain, but it’s a clever little girl who saves the day and everyone else.

When Ava and her giant cat run out of things to do, they invent their own games and have a rainy play day that is absolutely purr-fect.

Lucy and her dog, Mr. Barker, find themselves lost in a fairy tale where they meet new friends and find surprises around every turn.

As crickets sing in the breeze, hunting owls watch over the bay, and sea otters doze on the tide, two children on different continents go to bed.

Every day after school, Hannah sees her classmate’s dog, Sugar. Hannah is afraid of dogs. But one day, Sugar goes missing and it’s Hannah who finds him.

Mr. and Mrs. Barleycorn find something unusual growing on their land. And when Mr. Barleycorn decides to bring it inside, he brings the outside along with it.

This story follows the everyday life of two dancers, one a professional ballerina, the other a very young student, both of whom love ballet.

Two mouse friends have two distinctly different uses for leftovers: one builds, the other eats.

Three noisy foxes are always banging and clanging and singing and stomping until one day they decide that it might be nice to move somewhere very quiet for a change. 

Presents animals acting out the verbs made from their names, including hogs hogging, slugs slugging, and others.

A young boy and girl, with very different ideas about what they want to play, face off during a playdate.

Simple, playful haiku offer clues about the animal hiding on he next page.

A mother and son use their imagination to have fun on a rainy day.

After the zoo closes, monkey slips out of his cage to explore the zoo, introducing the reader to the other animals and the idea of opposites.

The little bears pick up their instruments and play a noisy song. But will their lively music wake Big Brown Bear?

Feeling yaaaawny, oh so snorey-snoozy? Time to cuddle up close and snuggle in deep.

Told using just one word, a hungry dog tries everything he can think of to get a TREAT.

When Maisy and her friends have a special day for races and competitions, it’s not about winning or losing–the fun is in playing the games.

This is a rhyming story that encourages children to get outside and play.

A bare bear dons purple hair and leaves a trail of destruction behind him as he goes about his day.

Dylan is the very best and cleverest super-villain in the whole wide world, until he meets Addison Van Malice.

When it comes to new babies, friends, or other special people in your life, it’s very important to let them know just how adorable they are.

Teeny’s mama is stuck in a bucket. Her big, strong brothers rush to save the day, but soon they’re in trouble too. Now it’s up to Teeny to be the hero.

Niko wants Sasha to come play with him in his spaceship, but his sister Posh has other ideas.

In search of writing ideas, an author takes a walk with his dog around the neighborhood.

One day, the children find a bird lying on its side with its eyes closed and no heartbeat.

From the time she wakes at 8 a.m. until the curtain rises at 8 p.m., a prima ballerina’s day is busy, busy, busy with classes, rehearsals and fittings.

A polar bear grieves over the loss of his companion, based on the real-life Gus and Ida of New York’s Central Park Zoo.

Swooping and squawking, flapping and fluttering…birds of all shapes and sizes are celebrated in this tale of extraordinary plumage.

Bo is lonely. So he sets out to find a new friend. And that new friend just happens to be an egg.

A little boy digs, plays, and explores in his garden.

Spring is here and new life is stirring. There is so much for Big Bear to teach her cub as they leave their den and step into the forest.

An update of the classic folk song Old MacDonald, featuring farm vehicles like excavator, dump truck, and bulldozer.

Anna and Crocodile set off on a dangerous adventure to find gold.

Gnome cannot wait to help his friends harvest the school garden! But his eagerness and excitement get him into trouble.

🙂 When little dinos fuss and fight, they find a way to make things right.

🙂 Little Green is a proud and strong pickup truck who loves helping with chores, but when Farmer Gray buys a big new blue truck, Little Green is left to rust in a pasture.

🙂 Babies observe and make friends with friendly little animals.

🙂 A pint-sized pirate trades a button for some teacups, but that’s just the start. Soon he’s swapping   rope for oars, oars for flags, flags for anchors and more.

Told she cannot have a puppy because it would just be another mouth to feed, Lula Mae decides to turn one of the chickens into a very special dog.

🙂 Leaving her best friend is difficult for a young hedgehog whose family is moving, but everyone assures her that things will be alright.

🙂 When Old Turtle dies and is taken back by the sea, his friends remember that he was a wonderful teacher and friend who made his world a better place.

A granddaughter recounts the reasons why her grandmother is hard to love–and why she loves her anyway.

🙂 🙂 The crayons are all set to put on their production of Frankencrayon, when disaster strikes, a scribble is found on the set.

A vegetable garden appears to be a quiet, peaceful place. But appearances can be deceiving.

Kids celebrate happiness as they have fun doing everything from riding a hot air balloon into outer space to dancing on clouds, laughing with emojis and rocking out as a band.

One rainy day, Sam spots a perfect spring puddle. With his very first jump, he is off on an adventure of the imagination.

🙂 At the top of the world, a polar bear hunts, swims, courts, raises cubs, and worries as they go off on their own.

An African wild dog, a warthog, a lion and an elephant argue about the animal each sees through the hole in the wall–which turns out to be a mirror.

🙂 Nellie Belle, a puppy, has fun from morning to night.

🙂 How does anything start? With nothing? Perhaps. Close your eyes. Imagine everything is gone, even you, then start again.

🙂 A buzzy fly and a frisky kitten make a messy muddle on the farm.

🙂 Little Jumbo works tirelessly to be a superhero in his neighborhood, although not everyone appreciates his crime-fighting techniques.

🙂 A little boy’s animal friends help him discover the poetry to be found in nature.

I catalog hundreds of new picture books each year, and I read as many of them as I can. Unfortunately, I can’t review them all, but I can share them. Below are a few recent titles. (Summaries have been taken directly from the books whenever possible.) Rating System: 🙂 Good, 🙂 🙂 Great, 🙂 🙂 🙂 Excellent. Don’t let my ratings keep you from reading a title just because I didn’t give it a smile. You may absolutely love it!

🙂 When Ben’s best friend moves away, he decides he will move, too–under the table, where he lives as Caveman Ben.

🙂 When Meg’s jar of happiness goes missing, she must find other ways to be happy.

🙂 The seasons change and a little tree learns the joy of sharing. First published in Italy in 2004.

All the tools show what they can do. But what can Drew the Screw do?

🙂 Mr. McGinty and his dog Sophie love observing Monarch caterpillars and butterflies on their morning walk, so when they discover that the milkweed they need to survive has been mowed down, Mr. McGinty comes to the rescue.

Andrew has joined so many clubs and signed up for so many lessons, he doesn’t have time for his best friend Edie anymore.

When Beatrix brings home her neighbor’s pet guinea pig so that she can practice painting it, well..it dies! Now what?

🙂 Little Card is going to school to become a birthday card. But there’s been a mix-up. Maybe he’s meant to be a different sort of card.

🙂 🙂 A young bear spotter ventures into bear country. What will he do when he actually spots a real live bear or two?!

🙂 Sworn enemies Space Dog, Astrocat, and Mousetronaut team up to save the Spooniverse.

🙂 🙂 Bear can’t wait to spend a pleasant day alone. But Duck wants to hang out. Will Bear ever get to relax by himself?

A young panda uses his feet as a way to explore his imagination.

🙂 A rhyming picture book about how trucks and other vehicles say good night.

🙂 🙂 The cat can’t meow, the dog can’t woof, and the mouse can’t squeak! When they find their voices, there are catastrophic consequences.

🙂 Animals and children alike watch as the world transforms from the dark and dead of winter to a full and blooming spring.

🙂 🙂 It seems there’s been a mix up. The zoo got the restaurant’s food and the restaurant got the zoo animals.

🙂 Beau is dirty. Theo is dirty. It  must be bath time! The only thing better than bath time is bath time with a friend.

🙂 🙂 Rhyming text introduces young readers to 20 common, but lovely, North American birds

A hefty feline puts up with all kinds of indignities from the children in her loving but rambunctious family.

This story explores all kinds of kisses: hello kisses, goodbye kisses, noisy kisses, wet kisses, and more.

🙂 🙂 Bro and Dude have very different ideas about how to spend a day at the beach.

🙂 Snappsy the alligator is trying to go about his very ordinary day when a pesky narrator steps in to spice up the story with slanderous claims.

On Sundays in New Orleans’ Congo Square, slaves were able to gather, sing, dance, and play music together. Here, at least for half a day, they could feel free from their oppression.

🙂 This story follows a day in the life of a rabbit family, from sleeping to grazing to hiding from danger.

🙂 In this twist on the classic song “The Wheels on the Bus”, the wheels on the tuk tuk go round and round all over the city in India.

🙂 Cat loves to nap. If only he could find a good resting place to hide from playful Kitten.

🙂 Bored with doing the same thing all the time, Number Three quits and sets out to see what else he might do, then, after trying many other possibilities, finally finds the perfect job.

🙂 When the glass kingdom begins cracking, the king and queen fail in their quest to get help from the fairy Bloom…so they send Genevieve, an ordinary girl..to save the day.

🙂 🙂 This is a book with peek-through holes that let a child view the changes in a tree throughout the four seasons.

A little mouse is asleep until a ball suddenly bounces into his home, setting off an epic chase–from A to Z.

Tiger and Badger are the very best of friends. Of course, sometimes even very best friends can get into disagreements.

🙂 Everyone in the ocean can  make music, except for Wendell the narwhal.

🙂 🙂 A hungry hawk is outsmarted by the rabbit he hopes to have as a meal.

🙂 For one young boy, visiting the library for the very first time is an adventure.

Jack is searching for the perfect tree–one that he can chop, hack, and stack. But when it becomes too hard to find, Jack stumbles across three unlikely friends who want to show him their perfect trees.

🙂 This nearly wordless tale offers a window into an imaginary yet hauntingly familiar world under our feet, where moles suddenly recognize the precarious balance between progress and preservation.

🙂 Nancy and JoJo are having a sleepover, and it’s JoJo’s first one ever. JoJo’s a little nervous about sleeping away from home, but her big sister, Nancy, is determined to put her mind at ease.

This book introduces the five senses to  young readers through charming vignettes portraying a wide range of activities.

🙂 Quirky egg-shaped creatures known as the Hueys explore the concept of opposites.

🙂 Sophie and Goose are best friends, but Sophie worries that Goose gets lonely while she’s at school. What if Sophie found Goose another friend to play with?

🙂 Whether spending time with Papa, singing songs with Grandma, playing games with Lucy, or racing with Charlie, toddler Henry wears his family out until bedtime.

Blast off to bedtime with this adventure-filled story about a little boy and his big imagination.

🙂 🙂 How will best friends Girl and Gorilla get to the park? There are all sorts of things they can do to get there, but only one way is best.

After falling from the cradle, baby sets off on an adventure around the farm in this familiar lullaby reimagined.

🙂 A sweeter-than-pie ‘bedtime recipe’ helps walk baby through his bedtime routine.

🙂 A small child helps his reluctant, toddler-like dragon get dressed.

In bunny dreams, anything can happen. A bunny might know the ABC’s, or count by 1 2 3’s.

🙂 This is a humorous picture book about a group of bunnies fighting over a big juicy carrot.

🙂 🙂 Dennis is an ordinary boy who expresses himself in extraordinary ways.

🙂 🙂 When Bizzy, an admittedly strange bird, meets Dill, a self-professed ordinary duck, it is the start of a most unusual friendship.

🙂 Bear is supposed to sleep through the winter, but he doesn’t want to miss out on any of the fun.

Best friends Etho and Birt love going up Sudden Hill and sitting in simple cardboard boxes imagining they are kings, soldiers, astronauts, or pirates until Shu asks to join them, and their two-by two rhythm is disturbed.

🙂 🙂 🙂 Ella and Penguin want to see her new stickers glow in the dark, but neither of them wants to go into a dark place.

🙂 🙂 A girl and her father go for a walk, experiencing all the sights, sounds, smells, and feels of the woods.

Lenny, the class reporter, follows Elsie for a school project and learns about her life with her two moms.

🙂 When a worm meets a special worm and they fall in love, you know what happens next. They get married!

🙂 🙂 Two cockatoos meet two more cockatoos in tutus and two tutued toucans. And then two more! Can they all can-can? They can! 

🙂 Find the cow who jumped over the moon. Find Little Bo Peep’s lost sheep. Find the Owl and the Pussycat. Find all your favorite nursery rhyme characters hiding in this book.

🙂 Two friends, a bear and a bunny, decide they’d like to have a pet, but a pinecone and a caterpillar just won’t do.

🙂 The orphan boy Bruce Wayne conquers his fear of the dark, making it possible for him to grow up and become the crime-fighting hero Batman.