Our Picture Book Reading

I mentioned in my readolutions post that I wanted to make a point of reading more picture books with my kids.  At ages 7 and 12, they both still really enjoy them, so of course I should be taking advantage of this!  I want to encourage them to read picture books all their lives.

Here are some of our recent favorites:

Press Here (Hervé Tullet)

I've seen this one talked about a lot, and I kept finding it in different places at our library, which suggests to me that kids are loving it, pulling it off the shelf and playing with it.  I finally checked it out.  Skye and Felix agreed that it's a lot of fun, and I love that everything that happens uses only the magic of the two-dimensional page.

Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? (Susan A. Shea, paintings by Tom Slaughter)

This one has been mentioned on a few "Best of 2011" book lists.  The rhyming text is catchy -- Felix and Skye had fun remembering the rhymes later that day, and making up some of their own.  The pictures are gorgeous, simple and bright, using gentle colors.  It's a neat concept to think about, too.

Color Zoo (Lois Ehlert)

This is an old favorite.  We had the board book, but recently gave it away, so I checked out the hardcover from the library.  For some reason, I felt this version helps you see the creativity even better.  My kids flipped the pages back and forth to see how Ehlert created the different animals using only shapes.  I was inspired to get this one again because of the following book...

My Heart Is Like a Zoo (Michael Hall)

My kids enjoyed this one, too!  They liked finding and counting all of the different hearts that made up each animal.  And the ending is sweet.  Michael Hall is from Minnesota!  The website is really cute, and the trailer there helps you to find some hearts you might have missed.

Perfect Square (Michael Hall)

So, of course we had to check out Hall's newest picture book, too.  I've also seen this one on some 2012 Bests lists.  I'd love to get this one again, so that we can do some artsy/craftsy stuff inspired by it.  Check out the trailer and you'll see what I mean.  And another nice ending.


Now, the layout of this post looks okay on my computer screen, but I'm assuming it's different for others.  As a new(ish) blogger, I'm not sure how to put together posts like this to be sure that pictures of book covers are next to the writing about them.  Any advice?

What picture books have you been reading?