Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter: Conversations with 21 of the World's Most Celebrated Illustrators
compiled by Leonard S. Marcus
All Ages (or for the kid in all of us)

Random House, paperback edition, 2012
A New York Times Bestseller for a very simple reason: It's fantastic! This is not the usual memoir of a Hollywood movie star and star-studded parties, but much better instead a subtle and loving look at being a daughter to a mother and a mother later in life than most. Diane's thoughts about the happy and sad, hard and providential particular times of her life are woven with the words of her mother's journals in a marvelous way that gives meaning not only to the words on the page, but the spaces between. Diane is real and her mother-daughter collage takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery right along with her. Moms and daughters: this one is for you!

New features in the paperback: A new afterword by Diane, and a conversation about the book between Diane and Anna Quindlen.

12-year old Riley Mack is the leader of a band of unsung local kid heroes who look for trouble, but instead of making it, they try to solve and correct it. His mom works at the bank for Chuck "Call me Chip" Weitzel who along with the Chief of Police are the real criminals, which put Riley and his merry band to work solving crime big and small. Since the Chief of Police thinks Riley is nothing but a troublemaker, Riley must come up with clever solutions to problems like who is stealing things from kids at school and how to prove the Chief's mother is in on the job. Told with great humor and characters you want to get to know better, Riley Mack puts cool into doing good and standing up for the little guy.   

The Island Horse by Susan Hughes
Kids Can Press, 2012, Ages 7 +
Ellie and her dad live on the coast of Nova Scotia during a time long ago. She is content with her best friend Lizzie and her dreams, stories, and drawings of wild horses. So, when the only job her father can find is to patrol and rescue on the remote Sable Island, Ellie is devastated. The only saving grace is that there are real wild horses on the island. The descriptions of Ellie connecting to one of the wild horses are the stuff dreams are made of. When she discovers the horses may be in danger of being captured, she and her new friend find a way to save some of them, including Elli's special horse. An endearing, engaging novel for young readers who have moved past easy readers but are not yet ready for longer fiction.

A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play
by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, Clarion, 2012
From walking the edges of the curb as a balance beam to splashing in puddles to being the first one outside on a summer morning, easy poems show the joy in the simple pleasures of playing outside. A stick, in the title poem, is a perfect example of how children need only their imagination to become a king or create magic with a wand. The colorful pictures only add to the sheer fun of it all.

Little Treasures: Endearments from Around the World
by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, illustrated by Chris Raschka, Houghton Mifflin, 2012
Each page is devoted to a country and the sweet things that parents and family members call children. The foreign language term, "Mon petit chou (mon pe-TI SHOO)" follows the English, "my little cabbage." Endearments from countries on nearly every continent are given next to Chris Raschka's great childlike drawings. Nicely done.