Beautifully illustrated children’s books are a wonder, bringing together artistic images with sensitively rendered stories.
Monitor contributor Tegan Tegani’s five favorite selections range from “A Dinosaur a Day,” with its scientific-looking full-color pictures, to “A Voice in the Storm,” with its painterly evocations of turmoil and refuge.
Why We Wrote This
Reading picture books aloud is soothing for both children and adults. Celebrating good things, acknowledging worries, and giving and receiving help are all messages to savor.
Other books in the roundup speak to cultural and family dynamics. For example, the family in “When Love Is More Than Words” shows their care for each other by small daily acts of kindness rather than in big pronouncements.
In another story, “A Roof!,” set in a Filipino village, a father and daughter set out after a flood to return a corrugated roof that has washed up in their yard.
Affection and cooperation are important themes in these stories, but so are having fun and enjoying all the visual delights from these talented illustrators.
During dark or difficult times, reading aloud to children can help both adults and young ones recognize good things in the world around them. The books featured here offer delightful ways to augment appreciation, reinforce enthusiasm, inspire creativity, create community, and bolster courage.
Many ways to express love
Although no one in her extended family uses the phrase “I love you,” the child who narrates “When Love Is More Than Words” understands the affection behind their actions. Author Jocelyn Chung and illustrator Julia Kuo, both Taiwanese Americans, touch on their own cultural experience, but the overall emotional experience is universal.
Why We Wrote This
Reading picture books aloud is soothing for both children and adults. Celebrating good things, acknowledging worries, and giving and receiving help are all messages to savor.
The book opens with the young narrator saying, “Some people say they love you with hugs, kisses, and three special words. But in my family, we do something different.”
Her grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles demonstrate love through dancing, making meals, and reading together. The warm scenes of family life are surrounded by motifs that foreshadow specifics of love languages that we will learn in the pages that follow: the iris bulbs planted by her grandpa to bloom on her birthday; a jar of Tiger Balm her mama uses to care for her when she’s sick; the lima beans her great-grandmother grows.
Everyone can bask in the sense of loving care among the family – and even the wider community – assured that, like the narrator, “I know I have a village of people around me who love me.”
A year’s worth of dino delights
Do you have a favorite dinosaur? Have you ever asked the young people in your life about their favorite dinosaurs? Dino trivia is a love language for some people. “A Dinosaur a Day,” written by Miranda Smith and illustrated by Jenny Wren, Xuan Le, Max Rambaldi, Juan Calle, and Olga Baumert guarantees a year’s worth of paleontological pleasures, if you can limit yourself to just one entry a day. There really are 365 dinosaurs, with their key characteristics, behaviors, and habitats gloriously and meticulously rendered. I highly recommend dipping into the book at random to stimulate curiosity and satisfy the craving for knowledge. A dinosaur can make any day special.
Stepping out of one’s comfort zone
Sometimes new experiences can feel uncomfortable or overwhelming. The main character in “A Little Like Magic,” written and illustrated by Sarah Kurpiel, is not a fan of the cold or of scratchy winter clothes, so an ice sculpture festival outdoors does not seem like something they will enjoy. The opening line, “I do not want to go,” probably resonates with a lot of us at one time or another. Bundling up doesn’t feel worth the trouble, especially if it means leaving a cozy home and devoted dog. Anxiety might outweigh our sense of adventure.
“We follow a loud whirring, brr-ing, buzzing sound I hear even in my chest,” the narrator says. Mother and child brave the weather and the crowd. They see the talent on display in a landscape of gorgeous frozen creations, but the narrator leaves behind a special toy. This leads to the painfully honest statement “I wish we’d never gone.” Despite that, the pair return the next night, when they both appreciate the ephemeral beauty and the lingering power of memory. Sometimes trying new things to stretch beyond our comfort zones can bring great rewards.
Acts of cooperation
In a year when everyone has seen images of, or experienced, real-life climate disasters, “A Roof!,” written by Stephanie Ellen Sy and illustrated by Daniel Tingcungco, feels like a particularly healing story.
The book opens with a dramatic storm spreading ominously across the page, above a little house and tree: “HOWL RUMBLE WEEWOOOOOH!” On the next page, we see someone peeking out of the lit window of that house: young Maya, who discovers that the typhoon has deposited someone else’s roof in her backyard. She and her father set out to return the roof to the address written on it. This book chronicles their journey and the many acts of cooperation that overcome obstacles they face along the way.
The Filipino concept of bayanihan, a sense of working together that the author translates as “being in a community,” is depicted beautifully. Maya leads the way, but everyone she encounters joins in to assist, support, and repair. “Together, they rebuild. Nail after nail, board after board, heart after heart.” Through this gorgeous, loving book, readers see how one person’s instinct to help the community inspires others to pitch in, too.
Courtesy of Kokila
Learning to ask for help
“A Voice in the Storm,” written and illustrated by Karl James Mountford, is lovely and affirming, offering ways to deal with the storms inside us (and the ones outside, too). The main characters, Rat and Bear, show how much courage it can take to ask for help and to receive it.
Several well-intentioned animal friends recognize that Rat is not doing well, but Rat tries to run away from her feelings, despite the intensifying storm outside. “The storm screamed with loneliness, sang loudly of sadness, and seemed to sigh in between. It reminded Rat of how she felt.” The natural world echoes Rat’s tempestuous inner world.
When Rat stumbles upon a big and perhaps intimidating stranger, readers might be worried (especially after her near-
devastating encounter with a snake). But rather than threatening the vulnerable Rat, Bear offers understanding and support.
This book exemplifies how to be gentle with yourself and strong for others. The pictures offer reassurance. Bear’s solid bulk looks comforting. The whorls of tree stumps provide a place to rest, proof that even things that are broken still have use. Snails are present throughout Rat’s journey, slow and steady. Mushrooms and flowers grow, sometimes side by side, showing that life can flourish in both shade and light. Raindrops and tears can be visually similar, both representing catharsis. After the storm, the sun emerges and stays for the rest of the book – an enduring symbol of hope.
