Newest in the perennial favorite series that started with a now classic picture book, If You Give a Mouse and a Cookie. This one takes off quickly into a lively series of 'if-then' moments that take a boy and his dog full circle back to a donut. Fun...but don't miss the original and still best. 

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Though most of us know a verse or two of this old song, this oversized picture book includes many more stanzas than you probably ever heard. Best of all, the glorious illustrations follow a 19th Century family in their horse and sled on the way to Grandfather's house. The sights and scenes capture a sense of another time and place that takes the song back to its roots and gives young children a bit of visual history.

Age: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Little Bunny thinks it's not fair that he is the smallest bunny in the family. On Christmas Eve he falls asleep under the Christmas tree. When the ornaments come alive, as they do every Christmas Eve, they invite Bunny up into the tree. They tell him how to shrink to their size and together they share a magical adventure until Bunny's sisters and brothers come down to open their stockings.  The illustrations are full of action and the story has a not too surprising but satisfying ending with Bunny finding happiness being the size that he is. 4 & up.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Those five mischievous little monkeys are at it again, only this time, they are so excited about being able to read they cannot stop. Of course, it is bedtime and Mama says it is time to put the books away and go to sleep. When Mama takes away the books though, the story gets even sillier. Now it is Mama who cannot stop reading!

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A mysterious French Canadian folktale about six fur traders far from home on Christmas Eve. A stranger comes to their camp and offers them a chance to go home for the holiday if they can travel there in silence. The images of the six men in a flying canoe give this holiday tale a very different look from the usual Santa and his sleigh. In the end the men get the better of the bargain they have made. It's a bit strange--though oddly haunting.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Our family experienced this kind of magic just once, a very long ago, so this book resonates with a tender memory our family shared. Our house is gone now, the children are grown, and though we always hoped the monarchs would return again, it was, as the author writes in this lovely book, a treasured memory that does last. It's hard to know if the book will replace the experience for those who have never seen a flock of Monarchs filling several trees. One can only hope that you will have such an experience at least once!

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011.

There's a lively lilt to the tale of a favorite dress that gets outgrown and remade into a shirt and then a tank top and then--etc. You get the drift. It reminds us of Simms Taback's, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, but that had more the feel of a folktale. In contrast, this is so now and conveys the resourceful creativity and joy shared between mother and daughter.

Age: Preschool. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Anyone who has ever lost a pet will relate to this sad but happily ever after tale. Told from two points of view, we get a sense of what both the lost puppy and the boy are feeling. There is not a lot of text here, but there are tons of vivid cartoonish images with details that kids will like to explore.

Age: Preschool. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A handsome and original approach to an adoption book. Unlike the usual storybooks that center on bringing home a baby, this book uses realistic photographs of babies and bigger school aged kids. It stresses the idea that there are so many different ways, reasons, places, and families that have grown through adoption. This is the kind of book that raises many questions children have about being adopted. It may also be a liberating book prompting children to ask questions they have kept to themselves. Full color photos capture diverse families with children of many ethnic backgrounds.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011.

One day, Otto Bear, who lives in a book, discovers that he and his book have been abandoned when his children leave. Poor Otto is left to roam the city and he is most unhappy until he finds a big building lit up with a golden glow. He climbs the steps and discovers a world of other book bears and books that are enjoyed by many, many children in the public library.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.