Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus (Harcourt, 2008)

Lynn: Deep in the goop of a long-ago swamp
A whopping big dinosaur went for a stomp.

In the footprint puddle, Tadpole Rex swims and grows, accompanied by the floops and fleeps of emerging arms and legs. Tadpole Rex’s inner tyrannosaur grows biggest of all though and he challenges the world with a roar of “ribbet” - much to the delight of the five-year-old reviewers in my house. I think this is their favorite picture book of the year - and it may be mine too. We love the vivid pallet of browns, greens and yellows of the bloopy swamp, the frog-eye level perspectives and the inventive page design. The text is delightful and perfect for reading aloud – which we do over and over again. Nicely incorporated science information rounds out a book ideal for the tadpoles in your life.
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Cindy: This book makes me miss my public library days as it just NEEDS to be presented in a story hour setting to fully appreciate the illustrations from a distance as well as from a lap--and the rhyming, bouncing, text is perfect for read-alouds. I'm thankful for publishers who include art detail information. Some of the illustrations look like woodcuts (a favorite form of mine) but the end matter says this was created on scratchboard and then digitally colored. We originally planned to focus this blog on middle and teen readers, but we're addicted to picture books, too, so books for all ages will be included. I think we all have an inner tyrannosaur--just one more reason to ROAR about this brilliant book.

Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher by David and Ruth Ellwand

Cindy: I love authors and publishers who take a risk on books and this quirky gem delighted me when I first read it last spring. This one falls into the read-it-again-and-again category because you need multiple reads to figure out what is going on...and even then you aren't sure. The discovery of a chest of artifacts left by a photographer who worked on an archeological dig and claimed to photograph a fairy is the centerpiece of several mysteries and disappearances. What do you think happened? Even if you can't decide, the photographs and collage illustrations will delight, just as the author's 2002 book, Fairie-ality, (also published by Candlewick) did.
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Lynn: OK - I get that the pictures are cool and the book design is cooler and we're supposed to feel tantalized and eerily puzzled. Instead I finished the book feeling irritated. It was just not enough for me. It was like getting one lick of my favorite flavor ice cream, finding one shoe in the closet, restoring two sentences of a stunningly written review I forgot to save. I like my fantasies at least 300 pages long and packed with detail! This was just a beautiful tease.

Traction Man Meets Turbodog by Mini Grey

Cindy: I was so excited to get my hands on this sequel to a favorite picture book. This is one that parents and grandparents will not mind rereading and that I found my 17-yr-old daughter sneaking a look at yesterday. Anyone who has lost a trusty friend or a security item, or who has had to dig through a trash bin, will find empathy with poor Traction Man who finds Turbodog a poor substition for his trusty pet, Scrubbing Brush who has gone missing. Evil parents who are more concerned with hygiene than loyalty learn an important lesson here.
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Lynn: Anyone who spends more than 5 minutes with me hears about my 5-year-old twin grandsons who spend part of every day with me. They love books and I have loved diving back into the fabulous world of picture books with them. The boys have strong opinions about what we read - hmmm, wonder where THAT comes from - and we all love this new adventure with Traction Man and Scrubbing Brush. The bin creatures are wonderfully weird and we all laughed about Turbodog's watery fate. This gets our Read-It-Again-and-Again stamp of approval. Don't miss Traction Man, always appropriately garbed, in his latest adventure!