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I am a big fan of children’s picture books, even though I am no longer the target audience. My favorite picture book when I was little was Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban, about a fussy little badger.
“Frances did not eat her egg. She sang a little song to it. She sang the song very softly: ‘I do not like the way you slide, I do not like your soft inside, I do not like you lots of ways, and I could do for many days without eggs.’” That’s still my favorite part of that book. It’s so charming! And the illustrations are so cute.
And that’s what I love about picture books. They are great for when you need a break from everything. It doesn’t matter how old you are! You can pick up a story about a grumpy monkey, or a scared squirrel, and lose yourself for a few minutes. (Or maybe longer—I do read them faster than I did when I was five, so I don’t know.)
Me, personally, I like picture books with lots of bright cartoony illustrations and tons of silliness. And so I decided to share five of my favorite picture books that I read recently. Next time you need a gift for a baby shower, skip Goodnight, Moon (no offense, Margaret Wise Brown) and get one of these!
Dog vs. Strawberry by Nelly Buchet and Andrea Zuill
A basset hound decides she is going to challenge a strawberry to a race. (This is probably the only kind of race I could win, tbh.) Silliness ensues! I am a big fan of every book Andrea Zuill does, whether she writes and illustrates them, or just contributes the artwork. My very favorites are Sweety and Business Pig.
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The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please
Mikey Please is a BAFTA Award–winning and Oscar-nominated animation director. This is his debut picture book, about a café that opens in a fairy tale-like woods, and how Rene and Glumfoot try to please their first customer, a very difficult ogre. Rene needs to find substitutions for the ogre’s demands, because no way is she putting bats and mice on her menu!
The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever by Sandra Salsbury
“In the light of the moon, a little baby lay fast asleep. HA! Yeah, right! Not this baby! Sleeping is for koalas and teenagers. This baby intended to stay awake forever.” This is hands-down my favorite picture book of 2025. No lie, I have read it at least 50 times. It’s so funny! It’s about a baby who won’t go to sleep, no matter what her family tries. I love it so much.
Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend by Bob Shea
Bob Shea has written many wonderfully silly picture books (Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great), but this might be the most ridiculously delightful one of all. It’s about a turtle who puts on a bear costume and tries to convince another turtle that he really *is* a bear. My favorite part is his tiny little head peeking out of the bear suit (which you can see on the cover.)
A Pinecone! by Helen Yoon
And last, but not least, my favorite picture book of 2024! While the family dog drags a young girl’s dad around their yard, she picks up pinecones off the ground. She finds more and more pinecones, and her collection grows, and eventually she brings them inside the house, where chaos ensues. It’s so charming and the illustrations are both funny and beautiful.
To wrap up, I have a couple more picture book recommendations! Out this week is the hilarious The Crayon Stub by Marcus Cutler, and watch for Watch Out for Falling Iguanas by award-winning author Edwidge Danticat and illustrated by Rachel Moss, coming out in July. (And unrelated: Do you remember that Curious George doesn’t have a tail? Most people don’t. It’s the Mandela Effect for cartoon monkeys!)
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Bluesky and Instagram.