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Written and illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins, copyright: 2023

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Ahhh! A continuation of the beloved Penelope Rex series! As with all of the books in this series, the cover art grabs me immediately! The colors are bright and vivid and grab kids' attentions. This book is a great read aloud because of its pictures and engaging, silly story. What I love about this book is how it uses characters kids already know from the other books in this series and puts them in new situations that students can relate to. Obviously, kids can't relate to being a dinosaur! But in the same way the first book conveyed a very human story about social anxiety and not fitting in, this book explores themes of overcoming fear and working through big feelings. It provides a fun, silly story as a vehicle through which kids can explore their own feelings and the things which frighten them. It would be great for a read aloud, too, in how it is funny (and that humor can be emphasized through an emphatic tone) but also allows for moments of contemplation and introspection, where my tone can change to reflect that and allow kids to empathize. I loved this book!

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Written by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat, copyright: 2020

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I love this book. The cover with the contrast between light and dark and the look of amazement on the girl's face is just so inviting. What's so interesting about this book is how its words are sparing and minimal. While that may not make it seem like the ideal picture book for a read aloud, I actually like it. With the silence, the kids can truly soak in the magnificent art and let their imagination wander. The magic of the places Iris, the main character, goes to is sourced from the pictures, not from words telling the kids how to feel. The art is expressive and engaging. It also uses the fantastical to explore the very real big feeling of being supplanted by a younger sibling and allows for a safe, fun way for kids to explore family dynamics through magic. With that said, the audience would determine if this would be a good read aloud or not, as the primary focus is the art and not the story.

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Written by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown, copyright: 2022

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I absolutely love this series. It's actually one of my favorites. This is a great book for kids facing struggles in school. What I really appreciated about it was how it encourages kids reading it to try their best, even if it isn't perfect, and to be proud of their own work. With engaging pictures and repetitive sentence structures and known characters and plot structure (echoing the first two books in the series), it is also a safe way for kids to explore the horror genre. With a well-paced humorous story with engaging art and a good lesson, this book should be fun for both kids and the adults reading it to them!

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Written by Wendy Meddour, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus, copyright 2019

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The first thing that stood out to me was the beautiful, stunning art inside this book. It tackles difficult, complex topics and themes through the lens of a child undergoing extreme strife and uncertainty and instability. While all kids who read this may not be able to relate, the art functions as an anchor for them to access this world and feel Lubna's pain and fear, creating empathy in the readers. It's a moving story, both visually and in writing. The art makes the story. However, I'm uncertain if it would be the best read aloud for every kid. This would be perfect for the teacher or guardian to follow up with a paired activity or conversation.

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Written by Dan Yaccarino, copyright: 2016

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The repetition allows the speaker, if the story is being read aloud, to adopt a rhythmic cadence. The art is phenomenal and engaging, with bright, contrasting colors. This story would be best read aloud to younger children, perhaps even pre-schoolers, as there is not much of a story or plot. While the art is very striking and there is much to see on each page, it probably would not hold the interest of older kids for long. What I loved about this book was how it showed history through the lens of stories, connecting people across different times and spaces. Even if they wore different clothing and told stories in different ways than we did, we're all connected through this human need to make our voices heard. I loved it!

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Written and illustrated by Elise Parsley, copyright: 2021

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This is a great read aloud book! With funny dialogue, expressive art, and exaggerated character expressions, this is the type of book that would have kids laughing out loud! Every page is engaging and set up to capture and keep kids' attention, right down to the last page. I would use this story to discuss predictions and outcomes. This is a great story for all ages of elementary school, as the story is silly and easily followed for younger students, but also has many words on the page. What I notice with a lot of picture books that are heavy on words is that they don't flow as well when I'm reading them aloud, but this one is an exception as the dialogue is snappy, silly, and can be acted out!

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Written by 'Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Alex Willmore, copyright: 2024

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This is easily my favorite book of the bunch! I loved it so much I actually changed my lesson plans for next week so I can read this to my students! It's wacky and outrageous and hilarious! The best part? The humor is sourced from the way it subverts children's expectations. Apples don't go "honk!" Firefighters don't live in the ocean like schools of fish! It's meant to make kids laugh out loud and be read aloud. It's fun even for the adults! It allows both the reader and audience (if read aloud) to explore their silly sides. The bookmark narrator is a stand-in for the kid as they try to make sense of how the story is spinning out of control. It's super engaging, a fourth-wall breaker. The art is also bright, engaging, and ridiculous and heightens the comedy. This book allows for chaotic, controlled fun. I would probably read this to K-3!

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Written and illustrated by William "Whoosh!" Joyce, copyright: 2024

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What struck me first when I saw this book was how the art style evoked memories in me. This style (the colored pencil, the realism, the more muted color scheme) sparked memories of the picture books I read as a girl back in the late '90's to early 2000s. I was surprised to find that this was copyrighted in 2024. Then--I read it. It is LAUGH OUT LOUD funny! Reading it myself, the dry humor and sarcasm just jumped off of the page! However, I think for a younger audience this would be best read aloud so the speaker can affect the proper sarcastic voice and play up the zaniness on the page. I think for a younger elementary student reading this to themself, a lot of the humor would be lost. I would probably read this to 2-4th grade, perhaps even 5th. The puppies are adorable. The realistic art style paired with the absolute zaniness of the plot/words on the page make it even funnier!

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Written by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, copyright: 2012

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This is such a fun, interactive book! "Interactive" in the sense that it is the narrator speaking to the reader/audience, which could be played up in a read aloud setting. The art style is expressive without being overly vivid enough to take away from the words. I feel like sometimes when I do read alouds the art is so bright and "grabby" that the kids hardly even hear the words I'm saying. The art and the writing work in concert in this book, playing off of each other in a way I feel works really well without detracting from the other. This feels ideologically related to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and stories of that vein, but with more modern art and a fresh, new story. But it's a cause/effect book. Each page feels "different" in how sometimes there are multiple characters on one page under each sentence, while other pages have art which spans both pages, replete with backgrounds and less words on the page. This keeps kids focused and engaged!

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Written and illustrated by Anoosha Syed, copyright: 2022

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This is such an important book for kids about loving your name and finding your voice! It's a great book for younger students as the plot is simplistic, the word choice sparse and easy to follow, and the pictures help guide the reader with bright colors and expressive features. I also was so happy with the representation in the classroom, with students just existing in wheelchairs and from all different backgrounds; it's a way to normalize diversity, which is so critical and necessary. This would be an ideal read aloud for kindergarten, perhaps even 1st grade, but, despite the engaging art and style, the plot is perhaps too simplistic for an older reader, who would be interested potentially in a more complex conversation about self-advocacy and pride in ones name and culture.