Be Quiet!

Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I gave this to my daughter for her 5th birthday because it makes me laugh out loud every single time I read it. Poor Rupert the Mouse just wants to create a wordless book, but his friends keep talking and ruining it! There are cameos by Higgins' character Bruce and one of the goslings (from his Mother Bruce series), which add to the fun. Plus, my daughter now knows the word "onomatopoeia"!

The illustrations really add to the story. I love Higgins' style of artwork--so much is conveyed by the expressions on the animals' faces and their body language.

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I'm Sad

I'm Sad by Michael Ian Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a FANTASTIC book about sadness/grief. It's OK to feel sad, it won't last forever, and different things make different people/animals/potatoes feel better. There is some humor, too, although I don't quite want to "shelve" it as humor. But it did make my coworker laugh out loud, which is what brought the book to my attention in the first place!

The illustrations are outstanding--similar to Mo Willems in the way that a few lines and relatively simple drawings perfectly capture the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of these three friends.

My only quibble is that the wrong verb tense is used on one page, which is a pet peeve of mine. It should say, "If I WERE an astronaut, I would never be sad." Not "was." Copy editors should have caught this mistake. It's an "unreal conditional." Yes, I know I'm a big grammar nerd, but clarity and accuracy matters in language/communication!

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