Crustacean Vacation
by Brian Benoit, illustrated by Marty Kelley
Published 2011. Immediately love the art, has charm and personality oozing from it. Lovely texture, line, and color. A silly aquatic take at the seaside resort. The story is straightforward as it goes through the arcade and is an example of a family vacation, while fine, I wished it had a little bit more to it.
Oh, No. Said Elephant
by A.H. Benjamin, pictures by Alireza Goldouzian
Published 2016. Artwork that is perfectly balanced of realistic and gestural and seeing the artist’s hand. Filled with silly expressions and rich, deep colors. Pick this up for just the artwork. The text had this very disjointed feel to it that I am struggling to explain, I noticed this book was translated and wonder if that is what I’m picking up. I’m not even opposed to how it reads it is unique. The story itself was fun and a bit expected but the language used was sometimes realistically harsh which left me surprised. Overall the artwork is what stands out and the story is such a surprise, I’d suggest anyone read this at least once, you may hate it but I can’t stop thinking about it.
Big and Small
by Elizabeth Bennett, illustrated by Jane Chapman
Published 2014. The artwork isn’t to my taste, but it is drawn extremely well and the compositions are fantastic. I’m sure someone who loves this style would find this book perfect. The story was easy to read and went as expected as we get small needing help mostly and then at the end big needs help sweetly. A decent book overall, worth the read.
Vampire Baby
by Kelly Bennett, illustrated by Paul Meisel
Published 2013. Instantly love the title. The artwork is good, simple, and clean. The story was unique and I loved its take on a baby teething, with a hint of sibling love. I found it well worth a pick-up.
Captain Jack and the Pirates
by Peter Bently, and Helen Oxenbury
Published 2016. LOVED the variation in the artwork, stunning sketches that then led into well-painted watercolor. The story was a fun telling of an imaginative tale. The text itself did a lovely job of having a rhythm to it that made the story very easy to read and flowed nicely.
Thank you,
Caleb
