SOME RECENT LIBRARY FINDS MY KIDS L-O-V-E

*Un-Brella by Scott E. Franson -- This book is a visual delight. The author is a graphics design professor at BYU and he definitely knows his stuff. (LDS pals, be sure to check it out!) The story is completely visual, with absolutely no text, and the kids continually get a thrill out of "reading" it out loud to me. The gist of the story is that a little girl has a special umbrella that creates weather under it that is the opposite of the actual weather -- so she wears a swimsuit in the snow and makes a sunny path of green grass and flowers wherever she walks, etc., etc. It's simultaneously gorgeous and cute.

*The Octonauts & the Only Lonely Monster, by Meomi (and Oliver Chin). I checked this one out because Oliver Chin, the publisher (and writer?) is speaking at an upcoming conference I'm attending. This book is fabulous. It's incredibly innovative with appealing characters that conjure up Hello Kitty or Pokemon without the mass market/cult following. The story is sweet and adventurous, focusing on individualism and friendship; the art is exciting; the presentation is sometimes daredevil. Like that last description? What I mean is that they take risks. For example, four pages are devoted to the octonauts and the lonely sea creature traveling to extreme places underwater on the planet -- so when they go south, the two-page spread is upside down. This is confusing and funny, especially when you turn the next page, and/but it really works. A terrific book.