It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

A doughnut without jelly is just doughnut.  Sure, a it’s sweet, but you pretty much know what you’re getting at first glance.  Like the jelly filled doughnut, a great picture book is full of surprises!  It serves up suspense at the turn of a page. It presents quirky characters in unique settings, and ends it all in an unexpected way.  The best picture books keep the reader guessing.

And what’s a burrito without meat, beans, salsa and cheese?  Well, it’s a tortilla, and a tortilla is pretty flat.  A great picture book has layers.  It’s more than a character getting what he or she (or it) wants.  It’s about the journey, the emotional highs and lows, the lessons learned, the concepts made clearer.

And nobody wants a chicken pot pie without chicken and veggies.  That’s just an empty crust. Readers and listeners alike need something to stick their fork into, something to chew on.  A great picture book gets us thinking about more than ourselves in our immediate surroundings.  It opens a window to a bigger picture.  It allows the youngest of readers to try on someone else’s shoes, to see things from an unfamiliar perspective, and to gain a greeter understanding of the world and themselves.

Fill yourself with some great reads today!