New picture books! September 2022

I love picture books.  I think some of the most talented artists are illustrating children's books instead of creating masterpieces that hang in museums and I think that's just wonderful.  Here are two awesome new books that are going to have book birthdays tomorrow!

The first one is a sequel to one of my favorite books ever-The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.  This new one is called The Most Magnificent Idea, also written and illustrated by Ashley Spires and it's as wonderful as the first one.  This one is also about a girl who has a wonderful (dog) assistant who helps her make things.  She makes things all the time!  Until one day, she doesn't have any new ideas.  She tries some of her former idea generating strategies.  Nothing.  She tries some new idea generating strategies with some fairly large consequences.  Still nothing.  And then she is inspired.  It's a super fun book for thinking about the whole design process.  It's also a great book for talking about patience and persistence.  The art work is spare which allows you to focus in on the characters.  I loved this one and I can't wait to put it in my library. 

The second one is also about patience.  It's called "Only the Trees Know".  It's written by Jane Whittingham and illustrated by Cinyee Chiu.  It's about Little Rabbit who is tired of winter.  He's had his warm white coat all winter but he's tired of the snow and tired of being the only one around and tired of eating the same old thing.  So he starts asking around "When is it going to be spring?".  His grandmother tells him to ask the trees and at first Little Rabbit doesn't think the trees are answering, but then they do.  This is a gorgeously illustrated book that shows the beauty of winter, even if it is a bit monochromatic and the text supports the vivid imagery of the coming of spring.  I live in South Florida so our spring doesn't look like this but this book gives readers so much gorgeous detail, they'll feel the warmth of the sun and the chill of the shade and almost be able to smell the delicious smell of spring soil.  I really liked this one a lot.  It's going to be perfect in my library and I'm going to recommend it for talking about life cycles.