My reading goal for 2025 is to read 300 picture books.

Not in the library, but by an Alabama author I met recently. The illustrations are cute. The book, I believe, is a metaphor about the before and after of being saved. Mr. Fish sees the world as lonely and dirty. Then one day, he is fished out of the muck with a net and placed into a beautiful place where he makes friends and all is bright. The book quotes 1 Corinthians 2:9 -

A Book of Shapes. It's like a "Where's Waldo," but easier and with a monster. On each page there are shapes you can find. A cute, black and white, book.

The Narrator plays a game. They provide a letter and the three contestants, two children and a dog, must go find something that begins with that letter. The boy and the girl come back with Imaginative but appropriate items. The dog brings back something that doesn't seem to fit until..... well, you'll just have to read it. I love the surprise with everything the dog brings. Cute illustrations, too.

The book is about a grandfather and grandson sharing memories and learning about all the things in the garden, and the earth (the ghosts) that keep them alive. Everything has a trace of a memory. Written as a lyric poem. Nature, relationships,

The rules are simple. The reader must answer "No" to every question or they have to start reading from the beginning again. It's a cute book and the last question, well, is perfect for the book. This is funny and your kids will love saying, "No!"

Not in the Gadsden Library: Andy Catling illustrated my book, A Night in Lacey Manor. I love his images. This is not the tale you think it is. With fun rhyme and colorful pictures, this book is fun to read. The princess is trying to kiss anything but a frog to find her prince.

This is a PAW Patrol story. It's cute. Rubble hears noises and checks it out, but then he sees a ghost. They patrol tries to set a trap but that get's messed up and they finally all see the ghost. (I won't spoil it.)

A beautiful book about a mother and young son (and their kitten) going into Nana's attic to go through Nana's things because Nana has died. I love how Nana says "So, we'll make sure to keep her in our stories." and Xavier says, "Do stories hide in boxes?" The Green Baby Swing is a swaddle baby carrier and Xavier uses it for the kitten. They share it in the end. Just a warm hearted feeling when you are done reading. It deals with emotions of loss.

A young princess still wets the bed. The royal family and staff do all kinds of crazy things to stop the problem, but none of them work. Grandmother finally comes and using love and acceptance, solves the problem.

A book about Spring! Squirrel is adorable and bird is the ever rational voice. Squirrel brings up all kinds of questions about the one little flower and calls it his flower. His attempts to protect the flower end up harming the flower so he learns that you can't protect it and that it's really not his flower. It's a wildflower for all to enjoy. The book has discussion points in the end matter. Animals and nature.

It's a book about accepting yourself no matter what you look like. It starts out with a cute baby with big dreams, but soon, the children at school begin to tease her about her size. She grows bigger on the outside but seems to shrink into herself. But then she has enough and she makes room for her bigness. She gives all the bad words back to the people who said them saying, "These are yours, they hurt me." A few people try to make excuses and someone tries to change her one more time, but she's finally accepted who she is. Acceptance, love of self, emotions

It's a book about how the smallest gestures can make a difference. It's a book about not listening to the naysayers who say, "It won't work." The illustrations are by an award winning illustrator, but he use a darker color palette which surprised me. Each page starts out with what the naysayers say, "You're told..." then it offers a little grain of hope. Self-confidence, tenacity, creativity

This is a good story for showing kids what a therapy dog is. It's also a "feel good" story where the puppy finds a new home that has lots of love. Dog, happy ending, therapy

I read the story, then I read the story behind the story, and both were heartwarming. The book is about a boy who has lost his father. The boy doesn't want to go to their special place in the woods, but a letter from his dad about a treasure and other events convince him to go. He finds that peace is the treasure and acceptance of loss. Loss, healing, emotions

Part of an educational series: ECSELent Adventures. This book deals with loss. The kids are proud of how responsible they are and are allowed to get a pet fish. But after spending fun times with the fish, they wake up one day and the fish is dead. It's sad but the characters are allowed to cry and be sad. I like how they equate death with a body that has stopped working forever so their are no religious biases. Fish, loss, pets, emotion

I love the message. "A library isn't just a home for books: it's a haven for your dreams, imagination, and adventure." Beautiful illustrations of a girl and the places that books takes her. Creativity, imagination, books

It's a lovely book about new friends that team up as a "sisterhood" they build a club, do lots of fun things and uplift the town with their individual talents. They also discover that the strange scary lady is not so strange and scary. Friendship, discovery, community

A beautiful story about the Pangolina, an endangered species, sort of like an anteater, in China. It is creative non-fiction and has wonderful backmatter. A great book when doing a study on animals. Pangolina, animals, non-fiction

Not in the Gadsden Library. An alphabet of crazy animals trying to do things they can't but in the end they can all have fun trying. Terrific, fun illustrations. Animals, alphabets, accepting limitations

Wonderful illustrations. The poor shy bear can't find anywhere in the woods to poo but then he finds an outhouse. It's cute and I think would be a great read for three year old's who are still on the fence about potty training, especially since the bear finds a toilet to poo in. Potty training

A little girls shows you around her house. She never sees the ghosts, but the readers will. The book has velum pages with the ghosts that you can see only when you turn the page. Clever and cute. Kids will love seeing the ghosts. Halloween, ghosts, interactive

An Alabama Author also called "Father Goose" The poetry is lovely, the illustrations are earth tones. The book explores a time when there were not cars, buildings, and people, then shows all those things but that you can still go out to a grassy area in a city and be outside, enjoy nature. History, nature, discovery

What a cute book! It's the kind that you can probably read over and over because of all the sounds which aren't what you think they are. Each page turn is a surprise. I bought this for my 2 1/2 year old grandson and hope he can learn it enough before his brother is born so he can read it to his baby brother. Animals, sounds, creative

This is an adorable book. The illustrations are touched up photographs of Andy's sculptures. The trees, the characters, the other backdrops are all made of clay. Wolfboy (an adorable blue monster) is hungry and searching for the rabbits. The rabbits are just out of reach(site). Finally, Wolfboy catches them and we discover that Wolfboy wants the rabbits, not to eat, but to get the moonberry pies that the rabbits make for him. Adventure, thrill, monster

An empowering story about doing what you love. The MC loves dancing. He dances everywhere, then goes to ballet class in his basketball jersey and shorts. The illustrations are beautiful. Self-confidence, independence, strenght

I think a skilled story teller can make this book fun. The book describes words, sentences, paragraphs, by saying it doesn't want to read them. Probably, most kids will relate to it. ie: Sentences are too many words smushed together, or "I would love to meet a person who is able to read a full paragraph and not lose their Train of Thought. (The words "Train of Thought" are rail cars on a track.) Writing, vocabulary, puns

It's a rhyming book, but I think that takes away from the story. The kids babysitter for the night is a pirate who fixes pirate stew. The book goes through all the piratey things that need to go into it. The kids don't eat it. But they do eat the doughnuts when the ship sails into town to the doughnut shop. When mom and dad come home, they are hungry, they see the stew and take a sip before the kids can stop them and they turn into pirates. It's okay, but not my favorite story. I can't see the reason or the humor.

A beautifully written and illustrated book about family and a young boy's desire to participate in the reunion with something special to present to great grandma. It takes him a while to figure it out but his presentation is from the heart. It also has a little history. Family, culture, accomplishment

The fairy godmother turns a rat into a coachman, but then his sister is turned into a barking girl, then midnight strikes....what will they do? Fairy tales, wishes, princess

I like the premise, but I think the reader will have to explain a lot of things. Will a kid even understand the comparison of a spine on the book with a person without a spine?

With minimalistic but beautiful artwork, this book is about unlikely an friendship between a bear and a bird. Nature, friendship, animals

Yes, it's the song they wrote, put to sketches of two friends who are separated but continue their friendship with letters and phone calls. Friendship, communication, distance

This is a book about the tie between and owner and a pet and the loss of that pet. It takes you through stages of grief with the Fox, Evan, not wanting to do anything and living in the darkest of hours, but soon there is hope. Loss, emotions, hope

Vividly illustrated dragons and children. Can an energetic dragon follow the rules? Written in good rhyming schemes with the repetitive phrase of, "Do not bring your dragon to recess." Fun, creative, community

This is a book about the old saying, "The Grass is Greener on the other side." A girl trades her parents for a dragon, but soon learns that having a dragon is not as fun as it seemed at first. A great book about appreciating what you have. Family, wishes, acceptance

A group of fruit named princesses must help out another fruit princess who lost all the bees that pollinate her fruit. The illustrations are colorful. The rhyming scheme is okay, but stretched in some places. Princess, heroes, adventure

Such a cute book and wonderful example of determination, teamwork, and friendship.

It's a beautiful book about loving who you are and your culture and religion. My favorite lines are, "There are questions this world will ask......and there will come a day when some people in the world will not smile at you. On that day tell them this: Yo soy Muslim. I am from Allah, angels, and a place almost as old as time." Culture, community, love

It's an interactive book, meaning you push pretend buttons and turn the book in different ways, to make the next thing happen. I think this feature takes away from the message the book tries to convey which is be nice to the planet. But I can also see how the interactivity will engage the child. Nature, environment, earth

A tractor that can talk, farm animals, a fire, and a rescue. What's not to like. A cute tale of the tractor that saves the animals then the animals save him. Animals, cat, farm, adventure

Poor wolf is too nice, honoring the tradition of giving his prey a final wish. This wryly humorous book demonstrates that good manners can bring unexpected results. Manners, honesty, animals

An Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Book. If you like this series, you'll like this book. A creative lesson on individuality. The author uses green blades of grass as subjects. They each grow slightly differently except for one. This one doesn't know what his special ability until a lawn mower shaves them back and we find out. (I saw the lawnmower coming and knew what was going to happen and worried how the author would handle it, but it's well done.) Individuality, acceptance, nature

Colorful and fun illustrations with dinosaurs dancing. Each pages adds another dinosaur until T-Rex comes to the party... Counting, dinosaur, dance

Animals throughout the book with cute rhymes about all the different types of babies. Animals, nature, family

It's the classic tale of the three little pigs with wolf and all, but it is made for young children. The illustrations are cute and colorful. It's a counting book too. Counting to 100, fairytale, animals

It's a silly book. Chu goes to the beach, sneezes and the water separates and he can't seem to sneeze again to make it right until finally, he does and everything is better again. Adventure, family, creativity

A poetry book about birds. Creative Non-fiction at its best. Rita Gray introduces the calls of morning doves, woodpeckers, starlings, and more, but the robin in its nest doesn't every sing or move. In the end, we find out that the robin is sitting on her eggs and her still quietness is their protection from predators. There are bird facts about the robin in the end notes. Nature, birds, family

Written with speech bubbles and many images on a page, but not as crowded as a comic book. A white mouse notices things and sees where everyone's missing items have been lost. He finds them and anonymously returns them with a notes that he types on his typewriter. After the entire population of the small town have been helped, they invite their hero to be honored. When they see he's a mouse, they shriek and run away, all but one girl who notices things. They become partners in her detective agency. Community, friendship, adventure

Colorful birds show concepts. Up, high, tall. It has fold out flaps. Bird, concepts, fun

This little history book covers Thanksgiving, The Boston tea party, The Bill of Rights, Washington crossing the Delaware, Honest Abe, Western expansion, First Flight, Ellis Island, wars for freedom, space travel, volunteering, and July 4th. It paints the United States in the way we want it to be. History, United States, people

A substitute is a monster. He comes into the classroom and starts telling kids what happens to kids that act up in class for substitutes. But Mr. Creacher isn't what he seems and after sharing a bit of loot that he stole when he was a child, he slowly returns to his boy self. The illustrations have dark hughes, almost poster like or comic like in places. I liked this book. As a former substitute, I can relate. ha ha ha. School, teachers, monsters

It's about what it means to make a difference no matter your size. It's a charming book. Acceptance, Hope, selfworth

There are few words in this book and that's just mom yelling, "Dinner's ready," from another room. You also have to hold the book with the spine on top to read it. A young girl plays with shadows and turns normal everyday things into a fantasy in the shadow world. Honestly, when I first looked through it, I didn't get it. It's not a "read aloud" book but if you understand what's happening from the beginning, you could use it to teach creativity.

Three princesses, each with a special talent. One day they decide they want to try what the other sister is doing, and even though they say, "Princesses are good at everything" but they soon learn that is not the case. Limitations, talent, princess

A young boy hears the ghosts from the graveyard behind the tall wall. The ghost haunt because they are hungry. Then he discovers ghosts of blueberries, bananas and other food. And the ghost eat the ghost food and then move into heaven. Halloween, imagination, creativity

It's a cute book with lots of dinosaur pictures. All Mamma wants for mother's day is a big hug, but T. Rex feels he needs to give her more. But his attempts at crats and things in the past have all proven disastrous. But Mamma shows her love by accepting the things he does, not yelling at him for making huge messes, and lovingly accepting the hug he gives after he's done. Family, love, relationship

In the busy bubbling world of the inner city, only a young boy notices a pigeon who is in trouble. He, with the help of his family, nurse the bird back to health then let it go. The illustrations are set up with one, two, and sometimes 6 panels to a page. Bob Graham has mastered where and how many to use. Community, nature, city life

A beautiful story of a grandfather telling his granddaughter the story of his fleeing from slavery via the underground railroad and how he came to own his own land and apple orchard. History, culture, love

With pages that look old, with edges and corners nibbled by mice, and mouse themed news and flyers, this book takes you through all the things a little mouse would be afraid of like spiders, monsters under the bed, dogs, and cats and more. But in the end, we find out that mouse, even though it's very tiny, can scare a person. Adventure, self confidence, bravery

A cute bedtime story but you say "sheep" a lot. Colors, feelings, fun

Bright yellow chicks, golden bees, and striped kitty cats play in the warm sunshine, clucking and buzzing and skitty-scatting. But then it rains, what will they do and will they ever get dry. Full of fun words like Fizzy fizzy fuzz fuzz fizzy fuzz fuzz... cute pictures.

It's an alphabet book with a repetitive first line, There once was a....and then the next letter. It's has silly and made up words and would be a delight to read to little kids. Alphabets,

This is a longer story about Clyde, a bunny, that doesn't want to participate in the sports events because he feels he can't be part of a team. But then he finds out about individual events, and with encouragement from a friend, he tries and succeeds. Hope, community, self confidence

Caldecott Winner: If you get a magic pebble, you must think before you wish anything, or you'll be stuck in a rock until someone comes along and helps. Patience, emotions, hope

Beautiful free verse poems accompanied by almost photographic looking illustrations which depict the relationship between a father, his child, and their strong ties to prayer. This is a spiritual uplifting. A subtle showing of the strength of prayers. Family, love, hope

A true story. I think this book should be in all classrooms and used when they discuss the history of slavery in the USA. Beautifully written and they don't leave out the sad in the middle. History, community, feelings

A beautiful story of a father (with tons of patience) encouraging his daughter to be creative and be a princess before bedtime. Love, family, creativity

Cute animal illustrations. The chicks are afraid of all the "dangerous" things at the playground, but with the help of some kind friends, they try the slide and realize how fun it is. A cute story that would help children overcome fears or accept help from others. Community, friendship, bravery

This is a looooong picture book. It's a collection of 6 stories about silly things like a bee falling in love with a bird and loosing it's buzz... and one entire page is covered in words.. it's so long.. I recommend it for older readers who haven't quite made it to chapter books yet.

Joe and all his animal friends use the little red potty chair. The book uses phrases like, "Neat little bottom, round pink bottom, striped bottom, spotted bottom, white-feathered bottom, etc. It ends with the MC looking at the potty while zipping up his shorts.

Big sister wants to read only about the pirates so that's what they do. The pirate story is vivid. They count their gold, creep around and bury the treasure, they loot ships, they murder anyone in their way, they pick their teeth with the bones of shipmates, wooden lest thump, long filthy nails scratch, and alligators with sharp teeth wait. A storm comes in while they are reading and it scares both of them so they find something else to do. So... if you don't mind reading to your child about all these scary things, it will be fun. Pirates, adventure, silly

The illustrations are cute. It goes through various types of ghosts, the chimney ghost, the garden ghost, the parent's bedroom ghost, even a bathroom ghost and more. Each ghost is presented with an original spread. Some spreads are small images with bubble like texts. Other spreads are huge paragraphs that cover an entire page. Each ghost has a placard that says what kind of ghost it is, but it's sometimes hard to find on the page. To me, it's very busy and I wasn't interested in reading it all, but the parts I read were humorous, just hard to follow sometimes. Recommend to readers out of picture books but not yet into chapter books.

Dad's uptight and still in his work clothes, but the fun of playing and sliding soon make him play way past the time the kids are tuckered out. Family, love, fun

With modern illustrations & dark colors reminiscent of the title of the book, Eve takes us into a house with mother and child watching a riot across the street. In this short picture book, she shows love, fear, blessings, and how new relationships/friendships can be created through a shared experience. community, family, love

Originally published in England, this book is satire. The role of parent and child are switched and the book ends with the child walking the parents with a leash. I know adults will get the humor, but I am not sure what kids would think. Lost parents, even for a little while, may not sit well with youngsters. Family, relationship, responsibility

If your kid likes bugs, they'll like this rhyming tale of an insect celebration, set in a city park. Nature, bugs, community

A fractured creation story where singing creates flowers and butterflies.

There are no words printed in the book. It took me a minute to actually figure out the story and even then, I had to improvise. If you are good at telling stories based off of pictures, you'll like this. Some pages have 6 different illustrations on them (like a photo book), all of which are a different scene. Imagination, creativity, art

This book is me. What if this happens? What if that happens? But, despite their fears, the Wombat, Weasel, and Woodchuck went on their journey. Friendship, adventure, animals

A biography of the life of Wilson Bentley (Willie) 1865-1931 - The man who photographed snowflakes. History, nature, snow

The author takes you through a day and Pigs can accomplish anything with their can-do attitude. The illustrations are colorful. The text is a series of things, events, jobs etc. that pigs can do. It would be a good book to help a child bolster their "can-do" attitude, but it's not a "story" with a beginning, middle and end. Confidence, character,

It's a concise tale of an adventure in Narnia. Imagination, adventure, family

Beautiful illustrations accompanied by silly statements like, "Pigs, don't wear hats, hens never swim..." Fun, creative, silly

An old tale about a Rabbi who shaped a giant man from clay. Golem's task was to kill those who persecuted the Jews of Prague. The book is kind of dark and has violence, but if you are looking for history that doesn't sugar coat things, then this would be it. History, religion,

A princess doesn't speak so her royal parents offer gifts for the one who can make her speak. They all fail and finally a tiger comes. He succeeds, but then the princess leaves the castle with the tiger. It's an old tale but it is beautifully illustrated. Culture, legend

This is a longer word count book. Mirette works hard at her mom's bed and breakfast. Then she meets a high-wire man. But he not longer does shows because he's scared. Mirette practices and practices on his wire until he catches her doing it. In the end, the man must do a show to save the rest of them. He goes out on the wire but fright freezes him. It takes Mirette joining him on the wire for him to regain his head and from then on they are a high-wire act together. Perseverance, hope, friendship

ABC's with food. Brightly illustrated.

A beautiful book about a grandfather showing and sharing with his grandchildren what he used to do on vaudeville. History, family, fun

A baby owl dies in this book- trigger warning. It's a cumulative book based on a West African Tale. It starts with a mosquito accidentally scaring an iguana who ten scares the python who then scares the rabbit, and so on. I liked it up until the baby owl, that really threw me and haunted me for the rest of the story. Culture, legend, animals

Except for the fact that a fox gets its tail cut off (which is later sewn back on), this cumulative story is, though not realistic (I mean, would a chicken really give a fox an egg?), it is interesting and the illustrations are lovely. Based on an Armenian folktale. folktales, legends, animals

I think it's a cute book. A young child is invited by the king and queen to an event and the child asks if he can bring a friend. The royal couple answer yes, that any friend of the child's is a friend of theirs. So the child brings animals. In the end, the child invites the royals to his place and it ends up being the zoo. Relationships, kindness,

Its depiction of monsters is adorable and the boy has to leave his room to find them (they're not under the bed.) He starts out getting punished for doing "Wild Things" and sent to his room without dinner. Then he gets mad, meets all his monsters, but then misses his mom and when he returns, after banishing all the monsters, his dinner is waiting. I know some find this questionable because of the display of anger, but the boy calms his angry monsters and returns home, to find that he is loved because his dinner is waiting. To me, it's a time-out story but told from the feelings of a child.

The book takes you through the seasons of Penosbscot Bay. It's lyrical writing is about 3rd grade level. The images are soft pastel colors. Geography, art,

Caldecott Winner: I like the way the pages alternate black & white with color. The book is about the usefulness of trees. Nature

It's a book about the forest and all the things it sees from the first snowflake to the blossoming flower buds. Written poetically, so not always complete sentences. Nature, animals, seasons