Great Graphics, Amazing Stories, and Predictable Patterns

A couple weeks ago we read our second installment of books in the H section* and I didn't do this review right away, so it might seem a little bland. These are the authors we sampled:

Hopkinson

Horse

Hubbell

Hughes

Huneck

Hutchins

Pick up Patricia Hubell and Stephen Huneck's books for bold graphics enjoyable for children and adults.  Patricia Hubell's books are filled with awesome mixed media art and very few words per page which make them perfect for little pre-readers who like to memorize text. The Sally series by author/illustrator Stephen Huneck whose unique woodcut prints are both humorous and beautiful. (I think the farm one might have had something weird in it--I can't remember what it was.) We loved Sally Goes to the Mountain most.

Deborah Hopkinson's books are picture book historical fiction at their finest. I loved Apples to Oregon most because I could picture my own tree-loving father trying to transport tree saplings over thousands of miles: its subtitle reeled me in "Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Vrave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Plums, Grapes and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains." Girl Wonder about Alta Weiss who played semi-pro baseball in 1907 at the age of 17, is also highly recommended.

We picked up a few of Pat Hutchins' books (because we love Rosie's Walk and The Doorbell Rang), and this time we liked The Wind Blew and Shrinking Mouse best. The latter is perfect for teaching about perspective, by the way.

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.