PICTURE BOOKS:
EXTREMELY CUTE ANIMALS OPERATING HEAVY MACHINERY
David Gordon
Simon & Schuster, 2016, $17.99
When you're totes adorbs and bullies keep stomping your sandcastles, it's good to have bulldozer skills. Undaunted Karen and her extremely cute friends crush it. Woodstock artist Gordon has created visuals for everything from Toy Story and Spongebob to the bestselling Trucktown series; he knows how to think like a kid. With artwork that reaches across the toy aisle from pink tutu to heavy-lift helicopter, this irresistibly titled, girl-positive book is a winner. —NS
FROM WOLF TO WOOF: THE STORY OF DOGS
Hudson Talbott
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2016, $16.99
How did a prehistoric predator become Man's Best Friend? In inventive spreads that bear many viewings, Hudson Talbott offers a possible "myth of origin" with two scruffy orphans—cave boy and wolf cub—bonding over bones at a scrap heap. Their interspecies band of outsiders "eats better than anyone" (vegan parents may blanch at the spitted muskox). As humans domesticate, dogs diversify. In the final image, cave orphan, wolf cub, boy in pjs, and collared pup share a happy howl. —NS
A HIPPO IN OUR YARD
Liza Donnelly
Holiday House, 2016, $16.95
Sally tells her mother a hippo is in their backyard, but Mom doesn't believe her. She tells Dad a tiger has joined the hippo, but he doesn't believe her either. More animals appear, and then the phone rings. An escape at the zoo? Everyone believes Sally now! Simple, silly text and lively illustrations make for a fun read-aloud for young children. Liza Donnelly, who lives in Dutchess County, is a well-known New Yorker cartoonist. —SK
JUST A LUCKY SO AND SO: THE STORY OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James Ransome
Holiday House, 2016, $16.95
Before he forever altered the course of American music, cultural icon Louis Armstrong started life as a hardscrabble New Orleans kid, bound for jail at best. But a few mentors changed everything from dismal to lucky. Acclaimed Hudson Valley husband/wife duo Lesa Cline-Ransome (words) and James Ransome (pictures) excel at bringing this perilous but ultimately joyous journey to vivid life, artfully embracing some seamier aspects lesser storytellers might've glossed over. —RBW
LOOKING FOR BONGO
Eric Velasquez
Holiday House, 2016, $16.95
As every kid knows, a missing stuffed animal is an urgent matter. Award-winning Westchester author-illustrator Eric Velasquez paints idiosyncratic faces and color-drenched rooms full of books, pets, and musical instruments. His bilingual Afro-Latino family includes a slender, young-looking woman called Wela; some readers may be surprised to find out she's the hero's abuela (grandmother). But they'll be even more surprised by the story's delectable night-lit ending. —NS
ON THE FARM, AT THE MARKET
G. Brian Karas
Henry Holt & Company, 2016, $16.99
How does the food we eat get to our plates? Karas tracks three different kinds of farmers through one day's work, then follows them to a lively farm market where growers sell products, fiddlers play, and a restaurant owner uses everyone's ingredients to make a delicious market pie. Author-illustrator Karas lives in Dutchess County, and characters' resemblance to local farmers is not accidental. (Is that you, Ken Migliorelli?) —SK
OUR CRAYON COMPANY
Matthew Kelly
ColorPage, 2015, $15
Ever wonder what happens behind the closed doors of a crayon factory? Your kid certainly has. In Our Crayon Company, Matthew Kelly, who works at Kingston's R&F Handmade Paints, relates the step-by-step process of the crayon craft, with each job performed by one of his many pets, including a dog named Joe, a rooster named Kimochi, and a cat named Priest Holmes. With adorable illustrations and simple text, Kelly communicates not only the technical aspect of making crayons but the fun of it too. —JW
THIS IS MY DOLLHOUSE
Giselle Potter
Schwartz & Wade, 2016, $17.99
When is a shoe not a shoe? When it's an airplane. Rosendale artist Giselle Potter's creative heroine loves her DIY cardboard-box dollhouse, with its multispecies family, matchbox bed, and yarn spaghetti. But her friend Sophie's plastic dollhouse is "all perfect." Will she disdain the homemade house, or will her imagination soar like that supersonic blue shoe? Potter's distinctive folk-inflected illustrations include an inviting set of suggestions for young dollhouse architects. —NS
