My Little Car (Mi Carrito)

My Little Car (Mi Carrito)
by Gary Soto
illustrated by Pam Paparone
2006
0-399-23220-6

"It's important to take care of the things you love."

When Teresa outgrows her tricycle, her Abuelito Benito buys her a new green lowrider her birthday.  Teresa loves driving her little car and showing off to the neighborhood.  As time passes, she neglects the little car and has to fix it back up with the help of her Grandpa Benny.

The cool thing about this book is all the Spanish slang thrown into the text.  All those phrases I used to hear Cheech Marin say in all those movies of the 80's, are here in a kid's picturebook.  The low-rider culture is represented in the story and it's refreshing to see a postivie Latino perspective in a book for young children.  Plus the artwork is so cool, you can see why Teresa loves her little car, especially when she makes it hop!

Mr. Wuffles!

Mr. Wuffles!
By David Wiesner
2013
978-0-618-75661-2

A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book!

Mr. Wuffles is a cute black and white housecat, a little pet to humans, but to bugs and tiny aliens he is a life-threatening menace.  When a group of tiny extraterrestrials land their ship in the house of Mr. Wuffles, they are victimized by the monster house cat's curiosity. Their instruments are damaged and they side with some insects to plot to fix their tools and escape from Mr. Wufflle's lair.

Mr. Wiesner's fantastic Mr. Wuffles! reads more like a comic book than a traditional children's picture book. It is fascinating how much dramatic development Mr. Wiesner can create with his pictures. I'm impressed by the book's ability to be so cinematic and can inject points of humor into dramatically charged scenes. Like when the aliens are hiding in a radiator grate and Mr. Wuffles is waiting for them, while Mr. Wuffle's human owner asks, "What's so interesting, Mr. Wuffles?"  We the readers know what's going on, even if Mr. Wuffle's human owner does not.  It's easy to see why this book wins awards.  My only problem with the book is that I cannot use it to read aloud at children's storytime, since it is a non-verbal story.  But it is a fascinating book nonetheless!  Great!

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes
by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein
Illustrated by Mark Pett
2011
978-1-40225544-1

This is the story of a girl everyone knows as "The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes." Sadly, most people don't even know that her real name is Beatrice. Beatrice is does everything perfectly everyday, until one day she has a simple mix-up between salt and pepper and causes her perfect reputation to come crashing down.  But the end results aren't all bad.  In fact, the end result is very good!

I really liked this picture book's setup and charming illustrations.  It drew me into the story from the get-go!  The finish is great!  It conveys to kids the message that it's okay not being perfect and that mistakes are okay, even good for you, a message I fully endorse.  Highly recommended!