Dad's Bookshelf: January 2024
January is always the trickiest month for Dad’s Bookshelf, because it comes immediately after our list of the best picture books of the previous year. Sometimes it can be a challenge to find more books to write about after listing so many great books in one article - but thankfully that isn’t the case this year!
It wasn’t hard to find three books I’m excited about, primarily because we just got a new shipment of several books to sell in our store from Eerdmans. Up until this point they’ve been criminally underrepresented in our store, but I won’t be making that mistake going forward! They make some very beautiful books.
One thing I like very much about Eerdmans is how many collections of poetry they make for kids. I love when good poems are accompanied by good art, so I definitely had to include one of those in this article. It will be a very welcomed addition to our poetry section.
And, speaking of things I love, this edition of Dad’s Bookshelf features a picture book about chess too. I think there are far too few stories for kids featuring chess, particularly with its booming popularity. Maybe this wonderful one will be the start of more to come!
I hope everyone’s year out there has gotten off to a great start. And I hope you enjoy learning about these three new picture books that we’re loving in our house. Hopefully at least one of them is something you’ll be tempted to track down at the local library!
Dad’s Bookshelf is a continuing, monthly series featuring the kids books we are most excited about each month. The series is named after the real life bookshelf we have in our home, where I keep all of my favorite picture books of all time. While the books we share on Dad’s Bookshelf are often brand new releases, it’s also not uncommon for us to be excited about an older book we just discovered or rediscovered.
Disclosure: Some of the books on this list were shared with us by their creators. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Links in this article are affiliate links that will lead you to view the books on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
A Pond Full of Ink
Written by Annie M. G. Schmidt, Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma, and Translated by David Colmer
I’ve always had a soft spot for illustrated poetry collections for kids - ever since I grew up reading the great Shel Silverstein. I can’t resist them at all when I see them - the weirder and wilder the better.
A Pond Full of Ink is a great collection. The poems were written by the late Dutch writer Annie M. G. Schmidt in the 1970s - but the illustrations are from 2011. It’s worth pointing out however, that the pictures have a very 70s picture book feel to them. I don’t know what to compare them to exactly, but just picture three fancy otters riding bicycles in a quirky 60s/70s art style and you’ll have the right idea.
The poems feature the aforementioned the otters, a man who writes fairy tales using the titular pond full of ink, more than one extremely naughty child, and some robbers who want to steal the moon. It’s all over the place which is exactly what I want out of a book like this. If you like poetry collections for kids as much as I do, this is definitely one to add to the collection. A real classic as far as I’m concerned.
The Queen of Chess
Written by Laurie Wallmark and Illustrated by Stevie Lewis
There were quite a few picture book biographies released in 2023, particularly about women changing the world or dominating their field, but I think The Queen of Chess is my favorite of all of them. I might be a little biased because of my deep love for chess, but that’s beside the point.
The Queen of Chess tells the tale of Judit Polgar. When she was born, no woman had ever achieved the title of grandmaster in chess. Judit became the youngest grandmaster of all time, and she reached as high as the eighth best player in the world.
This is truly a very good picture book, and not just for people who love chess or people who love biographies. This is simply a well made book. The art is great and the storytelling is top notch. I’d love to know more backstory on this one, because I’m very curious how involved Polgar was with the details, and how familiar with chess the author and illustrator are. Because the chess seems to be spot on - both in the illustrations and the descriptions. Even the endpapers have real chess puzzles to solve!
Based on what I see, I have to imagine the descriptions as well as the pictures themselves feature accurate chess positions from Polgar’s games, and, if so, I have to commend that attention to detail! Her story is a wonderful and inspiring one, and it’s not just because I’m a chess fan that I think this is one of the best picture book biographies I’ve ever read.
Harriet’s Reflections
Written and Illustrated by Marion Kadi
The cover of this book caught my eye and instantly made me want to know more about it. It gave me a good feeling that this was going to be a quirky one, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s really quite beautiful and original.
The story starts out with a lion dying and leaving his reflection all alone. And a little girl named Harriet spots the reflection and swaps it out for her own reflection. Pretty weird and great so far right?
Harriet’s personality changes a lot when she has the lion reflection. As you can probably imagine, it gives her a lot more confidence and she’s a bit wild too. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but eventually she tires of it a bit and realizes she misses her old reflection too.
In many ways a book like this has everything I could want. On the surface it’s like an old fairy tale or legend with a far-fetched premise we simply accept for the sake of the story. I love stuff like that. And on top of this it explores self-confidence and happiness and personality too. Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, it looks pretty great too.
Have you read any of these books? What stories are you loving lately? Let us know in the comments!
