something missing...

It hit me the other day just how much I missed having picture books be a part of my daily life. I'm not sure when it happened really, but I guess it was to be expected since "my babies" are far from being babies anymore.

But that doesn't mean we really have to say goodbye to picture books forever. I decided that RIP was the perfect time to reintroduce them, so each week I'm grabbing a few from the library. To be honest, I had no idea how the munchkins were going to react...was I going to get eye-rolling from Annie combined with a chorus of moans from the boys? Thankfully, I didn't. In fact, there wasn't a single complaint to be heard.

First up was Ollie's Halloween by Olivier Dunrea. The story? Well, this is definitely aimed at the very young, and we didn't get much from it. But that mattered not one bit. Because all of us were completely charmed by the artwork. Adorable as freakin' adorable can be. The sort of cuteness that has one wanting to reach through the pages and hold the characters in one's own hands. :) I wish I could have found images on-line to share, but if you can get past Max's goofy face, maybe you can get at least a tiny idea of what it's like from the book cover.

Annie read Annie Was Warned by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. A bit more of a story to this one...a girl who is warned not to go out of Halloween night but chooses to anyway. Again, I'm guessing that the story would be much more appreciated by a younger set. But also again, the art was enough to make us glad we read it.

Monster Mischief by Pamela Jane, with illustrations by Vera Rosenberry, was our favorite by far! Yet another book with awesome art, but this one had us interrupting the story with comments, had us laughing, had us enjoying the rhythm of the story. This was one of those picture books I'd like to own ...simply because it made me happy. :)