Skip to content
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

FAB BOOK REVIEWS

  • About
  • Book Lists
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact & Requests for Review
  • Feature Interviews
  • Great Picture Books! Series & More
  • Reviews for Quill & Quire
Children’s, Reviews

Picture Book Reviews: How to Walk an Ant, Charlotte the Scientist Finds a Cure & more!

A rundown of some standout picture books I’ve had the great pleasure of recently reading!     Let’s start with author, illustrator and puppeteer Cindy Derby‘s notable debut, How to Walk an Ant, a step-by-step-with-detours-guide for, you guessed it, walking ants! Through this detailed instructional guide, readers learn that walking ants is…a messy, sometimes frustrating,…

michelle@fabbookreviews
May 27, 2019
3 minutes
brianne farley, camille andros, children’s, cindy derby, dave eggers, excellent, great picture books, lane smith, maria dek, picture books, read alouds, reviews, storytime, very good

A rundown of some standout picture books I’ve had the great pleasure of recently reading!
 

9781250162625
9780544813762
9781452172781
9781616896027

 

Let’s start with author, illustrator and puppeteer Cindy Derby‘s notable debut, How to Walk an Ant, a step-by-step-with-detours-guide for, you guessed it, walking ants! Through this detailed instructional guide, readers learn that walking ants is…a messy, sometimes frustrating, sometimes…um, fatal (for the ants) undertaking. But it is an undertaking that may lead you, the walker of ants, to something even more surprising and welcome. With its all-out peculiarity and scribble/sketched art style- along the lines of Quentin Blake, Matthew Cordell- mixed in with the punchy humour of Judith Viorst or Jory John- this is a delightfully weird treat. Bonus: With the caveat that I have not seen the final printed edition, there are also Appendices (an important one regarding ant funerals and ant anatomy) as well as a Glossary.

 

Bunny rabbit Charlotte, who readers first met in the terrific tale Charlotte the Scientist is Squished, returns in author Camille Andros and illustrator Brianne Farley‘s delightful and bright Charlotte the Scientist Finds a Cure. When an icky illness spreads and makes almost everyone in the forest sick, Charlotte is determined to find the cause and cure. Even as grownups erroneously belittle Charlotte’s scientific work, she takes stock (as well as inspiration from her beloved Grandpa) and keeps working away until a second hypothesis looks to be the answer! Classes or storytimes with a STEM focus and/or looking for a fun, approachable and educational science-leaning story might especially want to investigate the Charlotte the Scientist books!

 

Dave Eggers, in collaboration with 826 National, and illustrator Lane Smith team up for the irrepressible, jovial and sweetly affecting rhyming story Tomorrow Most Likely, which takes readers on a look at the downright wonderful, unanticipated, and cool things that a tomorrow– and the world- may bring to you. You may, for example, smell the smell of a peculiar, unknown-to-you flower, compose the lyrics to a new song, or take a bite out of a cloud! (There is also, I would like to note, an earnest bug you may meet who is looking for someone named Stu). Readers familiar with Lane Smith’s artwork for iconic children’s books like The Stinky Cheese Man (written by Jon Scieszka) may especially relish some of the more out-there jaunts and dives that Tomorrow Most Likely takes!

 

Maria Dek, author-illustrator behind A Walk in the Forest, returns with When I Am Big, a wonderfully imaginative counting journey. From one to twenty-five, readers are taken on a marvelous counting journey (with an illustration corresponding to each number): from putting “6 spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee”, living “in a tree house with 13 windows that look out on a volcano, the North Pole, and the Moon”, to having “18 pet spiders”(!). When I Am Big is beautifully illustrated and unexpected read- one that may inspire readers to detail similar ideas of their own! Readers who like their picture books- and counting books!- on the side on whimsical and grand, or who enjoy authors and illustrators such as Sara O’Leary, Julie Morstad or Carson Ellis may especially adore this refreshing and unusual tale.

I received copies of these titles courtesy of Raincoast Books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions and comments are my own. All titles have been published and are currently available.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
Like Loading…

3 responses to “Picture Book Reviews: How to Walk an Ant, Charlotte the Scientist Finds a Cure & more!”

  1. Reviews: Moth: An Evolution Story & Most of the Better Natural Things in the World – Fab Book Reviews
    March 4, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    […] of the Better Natural Things in the World, written by Dave Eggers– author of The Circle and Tomorrow, Most Likely (with Lane Smith)- and illustrated by Angel Chang (in her picture book debut!). With only a chair […]

    LikeLike

    Reply
  2. Picture Book Reviews: Outside In & My Bison – Fab Book Reviews
    July 10, 2020 at 1:25 am

    […] has numerous much-loved picture books to her name, joins forces with breakout creator Cindy Derby (How to Walk an Ant) for the sublime Outside In. A superb meditation on our forever-relationship with the outside […]

    LikeLike

    Reply
  3. Picture Book Reviews: In a Jar & The Boy and the Gorilla – Fab Book Reviews
    January 29, 2021 at 12:17 am

    […] by Jackie Azúa Kramer (author of The Green Umbrella) and illustrated by Cindy Derby (How to Walk an Ant), The Boy and the Gorilla is an exceptional picture book that shares a sensitive, poignant and […]

    LikeLike

    Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Author

Written by

michelle@fabbookreviews

Librarian. Reader. Writer. Reviewer.

Recent Posts

  • Picture Book Reviews: Maybe a Whale & Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?
    Children’s, Reviews

    Picture Book Reviews: Maybe a Whale & Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?

    michelle@fabbookreviews
  • Review: David A. Robertson’s The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage
    Children’s, Reviews

    Review: David A. Robertson’s The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage

    michelle@fabbookreviews
  • Children’s Review: Welcome to the Opera by Carolyn Sloan & Kaly Quarles
    Children’s, Non-Fiction, Reviews

    Children’s Review: Welcome to the Opera by Carolyn Sloan & Kaly Quarles

    michelle@fabbookreviews

Categories

  • Adult Fiction
  • Children's
  • Non-Fiction
  • Reviews
  • Uncategorized
  • Young Adult

Trending

  • Picture Book Reviews: Maybe a Whale & Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?
    Children’s, Reviews

    Picture Book Reviews: Maybe a Whale & Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?

    michelle@fabbookreviews
  • Review: David A. Robertson’s The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage
    Children’s, Reviews

    Review: David A. Robertson’s The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage

    michelle@fabbookreviews
  • Children’s Review: Welcome to the Opera by Carolyn Sloan & Kaly Quarles
    Children’s, Non-Fiction, Reviews

    Children’s Review: Welcome to the Opera by Carolyn Sloan & Kaly Quarles

    michelle@fabbookreviews
  • Children’s Book Reviews: How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich in 17 Easy Steps & Odd Couples: A Guide to Unlikely Animal Pairs
    Children’s, Non-Fiction, Reviews

    Children’s Book Reviews: How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich in 17 Easy Steps & Odd Couples: A Guide to Unlikely Animal Pairs

    michelle@fabbookreviews

Subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll keep you in the loop.

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • About
  • Book Lists
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact & Requests for Review
  • Feature Interviews
  • Great Picture Books! Series & More
  • Reviews for Quill & Quire

Designed with WordPress

 

Loading Comments...
 

    • Comment
    • Reblog
    • Subscribe Subscribed
      • FAB BOOK REVIEWS
      • Join 448 other subscribers
      • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
      • FAB BOOK REVIEWS
      • Subscribe Subscribed
      • Sign up
      • Log in
      • Copy shortlink
      • Report this content
      • View post in Reader
      • Manage subscriptions
      • Collapse this bar
    %d