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A helpful but slightly confused cement truck mixes a cake and icing before blending cement and finally helping the other trucks clean up.  Bold forms and bright colors add humor to the gentle tale.

Superheroes in brightly colored uniforms are used to introduce young children to colors.  The green Hulk wears “purple pants” while Captain America sports “white stars.” 

Familiar things easily found are presented in a small size using high contrast pictures to engage the youngest child.  Illustrations are stylized but recognizable (e.g., sun, moon) in black, white, and a touch of red.

What do you get when a crocodile is crossed with a hippopotamus?  A crocopotamus, of course!  Split images on sturdy pages encourage the creation of new and imaginative creatures.

Watch the bright hot rod “brrrroommm” and the taxi “skreeeek!” across the elongated pages of this sturdy board book.  The lively sounds present an animated cacophony of vehicles that go! 

Small hands can trace shapes of young animals while discovering other tidbits about them. Simple, bright forms on sturdy pages with related words make this an engaging, multisensory experience.  Also in the series, similarly presented and equally appealing, is Homes (opens in a new window).

Itty Bitty is a very, very tiny dog. But when he finds an enormous bone, he goes straight to work, gnawing out doors and windows and hollowing out the entire inside. When his work is done, however, his cavernous house still feels incomplete. Where can he find some itty-bitty things that will make this bone a home?

A donkey announces excitedly, “I yam a donkey!” Unfortunately the donkey’s audience happens to be a yam, and one who is particular about sloppy pronunciation and poor grammar. An escalating series of misunderstandings leaves the yam furious and the clueless donkey bewildered by the yam’s growing (and amusing) frustration.

In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful — and very awkward — hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear — sometimes things she shouldn’t — but also isolates her from her classmates. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become “El Deafo, Listener for All.” And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she’s longed for.

The famous toy actor, Sock Monkey, has been nominated for an Oswald Award. But to attend the ceremony, he must do something terrifying — he must take a bath. Luckily, his three best pals — Miss Bunn, Froggie, and Blue Pig — know just what to do to help Sock Monkey become fresh and clean … and maybe win his very own Oswald!

Rabbit’s carefully planned sleepover with Robot doesn’t work out exactly as he imagined in this offbeat tale about two comically mismatched friends — a rabbit who likes to be in control and an obliging robot who calmly keeps their friendship humming.

Will Timmy and Total no longer be detecting partners? Readers will find out the fate of the dynamic duo in this fourth, funny, highly illustrated and certainly not final installment in the Timmy Failure series.

In Timmy and Total Failure’s third adventure, the detective and his sidekick vie with their arch nemesis to find the mythical, magical, “Miracle Project.” The Miracle Project, they think, assures the finder of an “A” (with multiple pluses, of course) in all schoolwork.

Timmy Failure and his trusty sidekick, Total, are back for another adventure. Here, Timmy and Total are on the trail of a stolen globe.

Timmy is an imaginative (if delusional) 11-year old who fancies himself a stellar detective with his sidekick, Total (a 1500-pound polar bear) at his side. Fans of heavily illustrated, almost graphic novels are sure to respond to the dark humor in this first of a series about Timmy and his antics

The cast of the Pastis syndicated comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, share adventures in this comic book collection of slightly irreverent, always funny strips.

The Croc family is on a never-ending mission to eat Rat, Pig, Goat, and Zebra. Fans of graphic novels (or comic collections such as Calvin and Hobbes) and of the Timmy Failure series are sure to enjoy this collection.

Each section of the first in the Pearls Before Swine collections is organized by each of the strip’s characters: Rat, Goat, Zebra, Croc and Pig. Understated humor is evident in the line drawings and minimal language create an accessible, offbeat humor just right for middle schoolers.

A child can be as quiet as a cricket, as small as an ant or as big as a whale on the path from toddler to childhood. Lyrical metaphors and realistic illustrations combine for a celebration of the sometimes contradictory process of growing up.   

Young readers share short, humorous escapades with Piggy Pie Po, a large-eared porcine hero. Lively illustrations and vivacious, rhyming illustration make this an adventure to share more than once.

Little pigs play on pudgy fingers in this inventive and playful illustrated rhyme. Young children and adults are sure to enjoy reading and re-reading the book and slow down to examine the colorful paintings.

Sleepers, both human and four-legged, pile atop of each other in this clever cumulative rhyme. Rich illustrations evoke the evening setting and provide humorous personalities to the drowsy granny and her companions.

A small mouse tries to protect its lovely strawberry from a big hungry – but always “off stage” – bear. The narrative directly addresses readers, complemented by colorful illustrations of a charismatic mouse with large ears and an expressive face.

A mother warns her seven children not to open the door in her absence, but alas, the children are duped by a tricky witch named Heckedy Peg. Their mother’s wisdom, however, cleverly saves the day. Told in the cadence of a folktale, this richly illustrated tale makes a fine read aloud.