My 10 Favorite Easy books from 2013
—Tracy Gallagher

Starting with the cover, one knows that Farm by James Brown is going to delight the parents as well as enchant the babies. This almost wordless board book features the image of a farm animal in white against a colorful background on the right side of the spread while the left side showcases the same animal in a vivid pattern. The review journals call the left side images “Escherlike patterns” and “clever tessellations.” I call the book simply delightful for sharing.

A debut picture book by Nicholas Blechman, Night Light is a striking example of graphic design. With die cut circles on each page, the reader is asked to guess what the light is representing. Combining counting, vehicles, and a guessing game, this bedtime story will be read over and over (most likely in an attempt to postpone turning out the light).

Written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, You Were the First is a sweet reminder to only or eldest children of the important role they played for their parents – that of teaching them how to be parents. With a gender neutral child and a Caucasian father/Asian mother this title should appeal to many proud parents. Make sure to keep this on your shelves to counteract all the new baby/sibling jealousy books out there for those who want to show both sides of the story.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger does it again with Bully in which a young bull discovers that the bully in the barnyard is in fact him. Cleverly drawn with the only text in speech bubbles, preschoolers will quickly understand how name-calling does hurt and that it is not the best choice to retaliate with more name-calling. While the resolution is a bit too pat for real life, it works in the story and will allow for discussion as need be.

Mac Barnett wants us to Count the Monkeys however that is harder than it sounds in this hilarious interactive book illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Starting on the title page the reader is invited to join in the fun and Count the Monkeys. However, turning the page brings, not one monkey, but 1 King Cobra who "has scared off all the monkeys." Next the reader is asked to turn the page slowly and carefully so the snake doesn't notice anything but again, instead of monkeys, we have mongooses (who have chased away the cobra). With the listener involved on every page, there will be plenty of requests to Count the Monkeys.

Jonathan Bean shares in Building Our House the story of his family embracing the homesteading lifestyle and turning dreams into realities. While on the one level many listeners will want to do this too, my hope is that every listener will be inspired to make their own dreams come true. This is a lovely one to share with the quiet children in your library.

While silent movies will need to be explained to some curious children, all children should enjoy the suspense in That Is Not a Good Idea! by Mo Willems. A very hungry fox, a plump goose, and a growing number of goslings as the Greek Chorus all star in a movie about dinner. Listeners are repeatedly told that "That Is Not a Good Idea!" and wise ones will enjoy why. After all, the lovely little twist at the end is pure Mo Willems. A prime candidate for reader's theatre or creative dramatics.

I'm not sure how two of these stories ended up in my favorites this year but in another fox v. fowl story, Duck manages to convince Fox he is a dog and therefore would not be tasty for dinner. New Yorker cartoonist Mike Twohy introduces graphic novel style in Outfoxed which will help it appeal to reluctant readers and creative story readers.

Biscuit the puppy continues to enchant in Biscuit in the Garden hardcover and paperback. Filled with the sound words of Woof and Tweet, very young children will have fun ‘reading’ with their parents who will also be happy that there are plenty of one and two syllable words for practice. A simple plotline with sweet illustrations will bring readers back again and again.

I have been a fan of Jessie Haas horse books since I first read Runaway Radish in 2001. Last year she introduced a new easy reader series about a horse (Bramble) and her girl Maggie. This year's Bramble and Maggie: Give and Take is even better than the first one. For independent readers teetering towards chapter books.