The Stupids Have a Ball (1978)

The Stupids Have a Ball by Harry Allard (1978) is a book I can’t imagine publishing in 2026. Mr. and Mrs.  Stupid are thrilled when their children fail every class in school. James Marshall dresses young Petunia in a dress with a pattern of incorrect addition equations: 4+2=7, 2+2=5, 6-6=12, and so on. Buster wears a shirt that has a large 0 on the front. The parents have a party to celebrate. The dog and cat make punch; the picture implies this punch has tuna, pepper, catsup, and glue in it. Since it's a costume party, Stupid wears a General George Washing  Machine outfit. Mrs. Stupid dresses up in spaghetti. The dog is The Bone Ranger. Extended family arrive wearing a variety of silly clothes. There is a bit of a surprise ending. 

*Not in the House, Newton (1995)

*Not in the House, Newton by Judith Heide Gilliland (1995) surprised me by turning art into a fun way for a little boy to spend time. When Newton finds a red crayon on the ground outside his home, he asks his mother for paper. She supplies him with a whole box. “Newton carried the paper to his room. By now he could feel the crayon humming quietly in his pocket. . .Newton loved to draw.” Gorgeous pictures by Elizabeth Sayles show this little artist drawing a ball, a race car, and a fire truck—and all of them transform into real, tangible toys. Newton’s mother praises his creations, but reminds him that loud, active play belongs outside. With this in mind, Gilliland writes the perfect ending. 

*Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns (1990)

*Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns by Ruth Heller (1990) is one in her World of Language series. The text and illustrations make for a masterpiece. Think about it; how would you go about such an open-ended task, both describing and depicting nouns?! Heller chooses wisely by referencing legend, nature, and treasure. And she does so with brightly colored, elaborate pictures that fill her pages, often with close-ups. She transforms this dry topic into a gloriously beautiful exercise of English. “SINGULAR NOUNS are always one—PLURALS two or more. Just add an S when there’s more than one. . . That’s the way it’s usually done. . .” Her illustration for this page shows daffodils, eyes, ears, beetles, bows, roses, ships, sails, cabbages, chrysanthemums, and noses. How, might you ask? As two people wearing elaborate hats! 

In the Snow (1995)

In the Snow by Huy Vodun Lee (1995) is a narrative introduction to the Chinese language. The first page lists  five Mandarin Chinese characters alongside pictorial representations, English translations, and pronunciations. The story is about a mother and child’s walk in a snowy landscape. “The ground is a canvas of white” on which Xiao Ming and her son practice writing. She begins with tree, then doubles this to write forest. Then “three strokes next to the character for forest” creates the word pond. This gentle stroll on a winter day gave me some appreciation for how different the English and Chinese languages are from one another. I wondered what effect language has upon how speakers perceive and think about the world. This is a large book and the illustrations fill every page with wide expanses of snow dotted by trees, children, and wildlife. The jacket flap indicates the pictures are cut paper art. 

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! (2006)

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!  by Lynne Truss (2006) illustrates how different messages delivered depending upon where a comma appears in sentences. On the first page, a librarian asks a panda why it entered the library, ate a sandwich, and shot two arrows into the room. The panda replies, “‘I’m a panda. That’s what it says we do.’” In an introduction, Lynn Truss writes, “Commas can create havoc when they are left out or are put in the wrong spot, and the results of misuse can be hilarious.” Bonnie Timmons illustrates 13 sentences Truss punctuates in different ways. The illustrations are colorful and cartoonish, probably intended to highlight hilarious consequences. “Eat here, and get gas.” Requires a different image than “Eat here and get gas.” Grammatical explanations for the uses of the comma take up two pages at the back of the book. 

My Name Is Bilal (2005)

My Name Is Bilal by Asma Mobin-Uddin (2005) is the story of two Muslim siblings who encounter ridicule upon entering a school new to them. “Bilal wished his family had never left Chicago. At his old school, there had been lots of Muslim kids. Here, it seemed there were none.” As one might expect, there’s an aggressive bully at this school. He mocks the headscarf that Bilal’s sister, Ayesha wears. Bilal is so afraid that he tells the class his name is Bill. However, his teacher is also Muslim and knows Bilal. This teacher gives Bilal a book about Bilal Ibn Rabah who was tormented by residents of Mecca because he would not worship their gods. The story not only inspires Bilal to stand up for his sister, but to also invite the bully to play basketball. Lastly, Bilal discovers another Muslim boy. On the final page is the salat, a special type of prayer recited five times during the day. 

The Wanderer (2019)

The Wanderer by Peter Van Den Ende (2019) is a large, wordless, picture book of intricate black and white drawings of fantasy sea creatures. I didn’t understand the story, so I can’t do a good job of describing it. On the first page, it looks to me like two people fold a huge piece of fabric into a simple boat. One of the people is wearing a costume with cape, head covering, and horns. Next, the tiny boat floats away from a giant ship by the name of Exporatio. The boat floats through page after page of ocean landscapes, often under water. It contacts a variety of sea creatures that seem to be a fanciful conglomerations of body parts from human, animal, bird, and sea life. At the end of the little boat’s wandering journey, it arrives at a place where the Exploratio seems to be  docked. There’s no evidence of any inhabitants in the boat until the end when a person resembling one on the first page materializes. The final page and inside cover is a map of the boat’s journey.