The Cheese by Margie Palatini
This is a great picture book about the rat from The Farmer in the Dell song who really really wants to eat the cheese that is standing alone in the middle of the farmer's field. Eventually he is able to garner interest in the cheese from the cat, dog, child, wife and farmer. This is a fun book with great pictures.


Playground Day! by Jennifer Merz
This is a very simple rhyming story about a girl who imitates different animals while she plays on the playground. The pictures are composed of what appears to be ripped/cut papers assembled together.

Samsara Dog by Helen Manos
I don't like dogs, but this is such a touching, sweet book! It's a story with heavy Buddhist tones about a dog that reincarnates and his many different lives. His final life in the book is the most heartwrenching of all as it focuses on his life with a little boy who is blinded in a tragic accident.

Purplicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
A little girl named Pinkalicious (WTF?!) freaks out when all the other schoolkids proclaim that pink is out and black is in. She only learns to accept pink again when another girl teaches her that pink mixed with blue makes purple. The story really speaks to kids being singled out for their likes or dislikes, which is a pretty common occurence among children.

Will You Read to Me? by Denys Cazet
Hamlet is a clean pig, and rather an outcast among members of his squalor loving pig family. When he asks his father and mother to read with him, they reject him and he goes to the nearby pond to read to his reflection which he pretends is his twin called Eggs. As the night progresses, Hamlet's "twin" fades away but Hamlet soon discovers a new audience to read to. This book is very sweet, my favorite part is when Hamlet reads the poem about the moon being a slice of cantaloupe "ready to be carved by the constellation Spoon."

Previously by Allan Ahlberg
The pictures aren't that appealing, but the concept is interesting enough. It basically travels backwards in time and connects many different famous stories.

Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest by Alma Flor Ada and Leslie Tryon
This book is basically newspaper articles of Fairy Tales. There are editorial pieces that explore whether or not Jack's beanstalk should be cut down, etc. Interesting book--it seems like the authors had a lot of time on their hands . . .