Book Review, Monday, October 29, 2012: Books for People Who Can't Read

Madame L has been enjoying a series of picture books lately. She has also been enjoying lots of books for so-called "young adult" readers, but she loves the idea of books written especially for people who can't read but are read to.

Here are three she has enjoyed lately, chosen randomly from the shelves of her local library:

Maggie's Monkeys, by Linda Sanders-Wells, illustrated by Abby Carter: What do you do when everyone else in the family goes along with your little sister's idea that there are monkeys in the fridge?

Elf Night, by Jan Wahl, illustrated by Peter Weevers: If you hear whispers from outside while you're trying to go to sleep, what will you find when you go out there?

Potch & Polly, by William Steig, pictures by Jon Agee: Potch loves life so much that he drives other people batty, but he eventually finds his match, in Polly.

And three books for people who are just learning to read but still love being read to, who still enjoy the pictures and whose reading is helped by pictures:

No fighting, No Biting! by Else Holmelund Minarik, with pictures by Maurice Sendak: an "I Can Read" chapter book with a funny and true-to-real-children's-lives story, featuring two fighting-and-biting children and two fighting-and-biting alligators, and what it takes to get them to sit quietly and enjoy a good book.

Star Mother's Youngest Child, by Louise Moeri, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman: When an old woman without family or friends wishes she could celebrate just one Christmas the way everyone else does, and Star Mother's youngest child wants to celebrate Christmas on earth before being stuck up in the heavens with all the other stars for the rest of eternity, they both get their wishes.

Golem, story and pictures by David Wisniewski: This Caldecott Medal winner is a scary story about the legendary golem created by a rabbi to stop the attacks on the Jewish ghetto. The golem does his job, but he begins to love life so much that he doesn't want to be turned back into lifeless clay again. 

Madame L hopes to share more picture books and early-reader books, and hopes her Dear Readers will share some of their favorites with the rest of us, too.