Picture Books!

Posted on March 13, 2025 at 6:34 am by Gene Ambaum

How To Pee Your Pants* *the right way by Rachel Michelle Wilson. Feiwel and Friends, 2024. 9781250910172. 32pp.

This book has helpful advice on how to hide the evidence, how to find some clean “clothes” to wear after an accident, and how to be a great friend. I loved Wilson’s panicked, sad little bird, especially the way he dances at the end. (This book is the perfect companion to Gotta Go! by Frank Viva from Toon Books.)

I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely and Matt James. Neal Porter, 2024. 978823456666. 32pp.

I saw this on several years best picture book lists, and if I made one it would be on mine as well. After Ms. Rio’s class draws owls, she holds up Belle’s as an example and asks how Bell made her owl’s eyes so wise. The secret Belle doesn’t want to share has to do with where Belle lives, in a car in the woods with her mom. (This book has a perfect ending, which is also about being a great friend.)

Stopping By Jungle On A Snowy Evening by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by Julie Rowan-Zoch. Caitlyn Dlouhy, 2024. 9781481478021. 40pp.

A young boy out riding a blue hippo in a snowstorm encounters the poet Robert Frost. He’s supposed to be riding a horse, not a hippopotamus. Hippos live in the jungle, so the boy changes Frost’s poem slightly. But it doesn’t snow in the jungle, so he changes it more. Frost keeps wanting to go back to his original poem, but the boy resists, particularly after the hippo falls asleep. He wants action! So he brings in an enormous snake, karate, and more.

Worth noting: Robert Frost’s original poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” is reproduced on the last page.