Great new books

It's winter break here, but the day before our break started, I got three boxes of brand new books, many of which I'd never read, so yippee!  It's winter break, I have tons of free time AND lots of new books to read.  Does it get better than this?

The first one I read is called Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed.  It's about a little pig named Pete that lives a quiet, orderly existence.  One day his order is disturbed by a runaway elephant named Pickles and really, things are not the same after that.  It's a funny and a little strange ride, but as with most friendships, it's totally worth the weirdness.  I think this would be a great book to match up with some of the other unlikely friendship books like Amos and Boris by William Steig, Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant, Mr. Putter and Tabby also by Cynthia Rylant.

I also read "Spoon" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  It's also a picture book.  It's about a little spoon who is feeling like maybe his other friends have it better than he has it.  He thinks about what a great life the fork and knife have but his (very wise) mom reminds him about all the cool things that he can do because he is a spoon.  It's a great reminder to think about things in a positive way-there are always things you can't do, but there are lots of things you can do too.  

The last one I read today was also a picture book, but this one is a graphic novel.  It's called El Deafo by Cece Bell.  It's sort of a combination of memoir and autobiography in graphic novel form.  The author lost her hearing at age 4 and uses a comic strip format (with rabbits as the characters) to show us what it was like to grow up with limited hearing.  She comes with the idea that she is a superhero called El Deafo and I think really, she is a super hero, as she takes us on her ride and shows exactly what that was like.  It's a great story.