2007 Best of ...Too

The best books of 2007 bookworm carnival at Reading With Becky is now up! Here are my two personal favorites for young children. One is a Cybils finalist in the picture book fiction category, Knuffle Bunny Too. And the other, Orange Pear Apple Bear, which didn't make the Cybils list but it won Reading is Fundamental's best of 2007 along with Knuffle Bunny Too.

Why wasn't Orange Pear Apple Bear a Cybils finalist? I'll bet it was a toss up between, Orange Pear Apple Bear and Leaves by David Ezra Stein. While Leaves is beautifully executed and, like a toddler, expresses the the innocence and bewilderment of falling leaves- changing seasons, the sentiment is reminiscent of Milne and Shepard's Winnie the Pooh.

Orange Pear Apple Bear is entirely different. Besides being a big fan of Emily Gravett, whose website is awesome and I linked to it in a previous post, she has created a brilliant book in it's simplicity. Toddlers immediately understand what this clever bear is doing with recognizable objects (fruit.) A thinking child's primer of shapes, color, sequence and WORDS. There is a great interview with Emily Gravett at Seven Impossibe Things Before Breakfast. I hope this book wins some awards!