![\"oliver\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/oliver.jpg?resize=229%2C240&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Oliver<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>by Birgitta Sif: gorgeous, rich, layered illustrations in muted earth tones and fluid character lines that suggest life and movement \u2013 brava. So beautifully done, and each page has so much going on; you can follow the unwritten story of the mouse on each page, and careful readers will see that many characters turn up over and over (besides Oliver, of course). Olivia is there all along, living her life parallel to Oliver\u2019s; you can see that they will become best friends. So precious and wonderful.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Rabbityness<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>by Jo Empson<\/span>: because neon paint splatters. And because of the word \u2018rabbityness.\u2019 And because this is a book that doesn\u2019t pretend bad things don\u2019t happen, it\u2019s one that acknowledges that good & bad and old & new change in relation to each other all the time; and one person (or rabbit) can have a big impact.<\/span> If you think children\u2019s literature isn\u2019t worthy of discussion, pick up one of these books and prepare to eat your words. These books are not just beautiful, simple, cute stories for children: they have big ideas, big hearts, and important messages to teach readers of all ages. Whether you have[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,1,8],"tags":[885,378,1811,2010,2130],"class_list":["post-19911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-art","tag-children","tag-childrens-books","tag-juvenile","tag-picture-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-5b9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19911"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19942,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19911\/revisions\/19942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"anna](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/anna-the-bookbinder.jpg?resize=196%2C240&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Anna the Bookbinder<\/a>,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>by Andrea Cheng and Ted Rand: A fantastic picture\u00a0<\/span>book! Anna\u2019s father is a bookbinder; she\u2019s helped him in the shop her whole life, and she knows the process very well. When her father is called away from work, Anna steps in to complete an important order. It\u2019s odd to see these\u00a0<\/span>historical books where children and parents are coworkers as well as family members, since it\u2019s so unusual now. Despite this book\u2019s happy ending, I found myself wondering if Anna would be able to go to school, to travel, to marry for love \u2013 or if her father\u2019s need of help in the bookshop would keep her tied to home forever. Maybe I\u2019m thinking about it too much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"miss](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/miss-moore.jpg?resize=228%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Miss Moore Thought Otherwise<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Jan Pinborough and Debby Atwell: Oh Anne Carroll Moore! How I wish I were you. This book \u2013 the story of how Miss Moore created the Children\u2019s Library space as we know it today \u2013 will make you thankful for children\u2019s libraries. Miss Moore blazes her own trail, she has agency and verve and it\u2019s just so satisfying reading about her successes! Since this is a children\u2019s book, it is biased towards the positive, which made me wonder what Anne\u2019s life was really like, and whether she ever wanted to give up, and what she dreamed of doing but couldn\u2019t finish, and who were the intractable powers-that-be that she overthrew to make her dreams a reality for children everywhere? (It also really, really made me want to time-travel to the opening of the NYPL. Where\u2019s my tardis?)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n![\"Rabbityness\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Rabbityness.jpg?resize=709%2C355&ssl=1\")
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