Friendship Kitten; Happiest Woundabout Color; Summer Raindrops Mess

Lumberjanes, vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy and vol. 2: Friendship to the Max, by Noelle Stevenson
This series is marvelously FUN. I know I use that word a lot, but seriously. Kids running around having PARANORMAL scouting adventures and saving each other's bacon in clever and varied ways. And the characters are ALSO varied, every single one of them has some personality! What a hoot. I wish I could be 10 again just to read these.
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A Brush Full of Color, by Margriet Ruurs
A beautiful picture book biography of Ted Harrison that reminded me how much I love his stuff and sent me on a bit of a tear.
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Woundabout, by Lev A. C. Rosen
I was a bit cautious of this one because I really dug both of his adult novels for different reasons, and was worried he wouldn't successfully make the transition to upper-middle-grade. Silly me. This is a lovely book, only didactic in the way I *like* such books being didactic, and full of memorable ideas and images. Also has a sufficiently high excitement quotient.
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When I Am Happiest, by Rose Lagercrantz, illustrated by Eva Eriksson
This series! How utterly charming and Scandinavian and humane it is! Possibly my favorite early reader series of all time (which puts it up against some VERY stiff competition!!!).
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Mess, by Barry Yourgrau
This was hard to read, because I am always involved in a complicated dance with my own clutterbug tendencies, and some of my dear ones have it far worse than me in that department. But it was funny and honest and wry and, in the end, triumphant. More memoirs like this one, please.
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Raindrops Roll, by April Pulley Sayre
Pretty but not otherwise memorable. I think very young kids would like the alliteration and the macros.
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Summer Birds, by Margarita Engle
Such an incredibly beautiful book. Not only are the images astoundingly lovely, the story is written with care, delicacy, and verve. I think perhaps the writing evoked Merian even better than the pictures did. <3 <3 <3 <3.
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Quick Splendid Inch; This Is King Yeti; Come Wolf-Birds World

Quick as a Cricket, by Audrey Wood
I checked this out wondering if it was one I'd liked as a kid, because I vaguely remembered the title. BUT NO, it was one I thought was dead boring as a kid. Le sigh.
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A Splendid Friend, Indeed, by Suzanne Bloom
Not much of a story, but what's there is quite cute, and the illustrations are adorable.
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The King and the Sea, by Heinz Janisch
This is a wonderfully absurd and strange series of fables that manages to be koan-like for adults and also make sense for kids. Plus the illustrations are very perfectly child-like (which is harder than it sounds!).
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Inch by Inch: The Garden Song, by David Mallett, illustrated by Ora Eitan
This was my favorite song as a little kid so I thought I would explore some different ways of enjoying it. This picture book was among my favorites. Bright, potent pictures accompany the text of the song, and then at the end there's a musical setting so folks can learn to play/sing it. Absolutely excellent.
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No Yeti Yet, by Mary Ann Fraser
Pictures that buzz with affection and humor, and a text that shows the author is quite familiar with sibling dynamics. I really liked this, enough that I bought it to give to a little kid I know whose older brothers read to him a lot.
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This Is Sadie, by Sara O'Leary
What a splendid, splendid book. The story is inspiring (which is what I call didactic stories which a) I like and b) I don't find heavy-handed) and the illustrations fly and sparkle. Bought a copy for each of my nieces for Christmas and the jury's still out on whether I will buy myself a copy too. I hope eventually I will get to read it to both of them.
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The Wolf-Birds, by Willow Dawson
I very much enjoyed this story about the relationship between wolves and ravens, but the violence level and the apparent age level are... not terribly consonant. I mean, if *I* read it when I was the age the text is aimed at, I would've loved it, but I was a very odd child who watched a great deal of nature television.
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The Night World, by Mordicai Gerstein
My inner 5-year-old informs me that this book is just a little bit scary but mostly it is very exciting and full of pretty things. Sounds about right to me.
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Come On, Rain!, by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Jon J. Muth
I was wary of this book because most of Karen Hesse's YA/middle-grade books have depressing enough themes that I've avoided them. But it's not like that at all, it's an expression of pure joy. Beautiful. And of course Muth manages to match that joy in his illustrations.
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