Two Picture Book Titles to Share

I thought I would share a couple of titles today-- instead of focusing on just one. Lately, I have been reading in small pockets of time and devoting weekends to longer novels. 

Two picture books made their way to me, and I want to briefly tell you about them here:

A POLAR BEAR IN THE SNOW 

Written by Mac Barnett

Illustrated by Shawn Harris

Published by Candlewick Press

Pub. date: 10/13/20 

I am rereading this book now, but it only took me two reads to appreciate so much about this book. The text is sparse, but each line is satisfying enough to send you to the next page as you try to figure out where the star of the book, a lone polar bear, is heading.  Barnett's latest picture book does what you want picture books to do: engage readers in wonder. It's a thoughtful, introspective kind of book, and yes, though most of the art is white as readers can imagine, Shawn Harris comes in on the latter half of the book with burst of brilliant blues that accompany the quiet text appropriately-- yet also brilliantly and powerfully increasing the volume on the power of the polar bear's story. I'm noticing more and more as I read it. This author/illustrator pairing works -- as their Instagram stories showed us during quarantine -- and now we can enjoy the fruits of their collaboration in a meaningful picture book that I will definitely be recommending. I see applications to prediction, animal conservation, cause and effect - and so much more. 

GNU AND SHREW

Written by Danny Schnitzlein

Illustrated by Anca Sandu

Published by Peachtree Publishing

Pub. date: 10/1/2020

In this picture book, two friends share opposite approaches to life. Gnu is the dreamer, thinking of grand things. Shrew is the doer, inspired by Gnu's vision -- getting things done. (You can even see this in the cover!) Gnu's latest far-fetched(?) dream leads Shrew to action, and completed, successful achievements-- but does he forget Gnu in the process? Where does this lead them? Read the story to find out! There are many applications to this story: friendship, problem-solving, making, planning, etc. -- but it is also a very entertaining story to have someone read to you! 

When I first started drafting this post, I thought I might include three titles. I've decided to save it for my next post-- and leave you with these two titles.