Picture Books!

Posted on October 21, 2021 at 6:32 am by Gene Ambaum

I Dream of a Journey by Akiko Miyakoshi. Translation by Cathy Hirano. Kids Can Press, 2020. 9781525304781. A hotelkeeper has never been anywhere but his little town. At night he dreams of traveling to the faraway places his guests have told him of, and of visiting them.

Miyakoshi’s drawings are amazing, particularly the contrast between the black and white drawings of the hotelkeeper’s reality and the stunning colors in his dreams. Every page of this quiet book is a wow.

Listen written by Gabi Snyder, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin. Paula Wiseman, 2021. 9781534461895.

This book encourages kids to listen past the noise (particularly the overwhelming noise of a city) to hear individual sounds, to think about sound words, and to be kind. A quiet and lovely book, despite the cacophony it describes. My favorite two-page spread is about rain.

Amara and the Bats by Emma Reynolds. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021. 9781534469013.

Amara loves bats! And she collects bat facts. But after her family moves, there aren’t any bats in the nearby park. So she starts a Save the Bats campaign to make the park bat friendly again.

Worth nothing: there are bat faces on the front endpapers! Plus several pages of bat facts at the end.