Picture Books!

Posted on October 9, 2025 at 6:26 am by Gene Ambaum

Umami by Jacob Grant. Viking, 2024. 9780593624067.

Umami (a penguin) is tired of eating cold fish, so she sets out on an adventure. She travels and eats foods with lots of different flavors, and then she decides to bring those home for the other penguins to try.

I loved the cover of this book and all of Grant’s illustrations throughout, so I went to the library and checked out all of the books by him (and drawn by him) that I could. This next book was my favorite of the rest:

Cat Knit by Jacob Grant. Feiwel and Friends, 2016. 9781250051509.

Cat and Girl are friends, but then Girl brings home Yarn, and Cat really loves him. But Girl changes Yarn into an itchy sweater that Cat does not like that much… (Grant’s illustrations still have the same life in this book, but they’re drawn in a different style that I also loved.)

The Everything Trail by Meg Fleming, illustrated by Chuck Groenink. Beach Lane Books, 2025. 9781665924870.

I do not love roaming in the forest, but this book almost makes me want to hang out with trees, so I know it’s excellent. Bonus points for the giant slug and the high-fiving of ferns. And the redwoods, because even I love redwoods.