Michelle Meadows

This picture book biography of James Baldwin is masterfully done, without ever getting too shallow or too weighty for the age of the intended readers. The illustrations are artistically rendered, and the conceit of a few poetic lines at the beginning of each division of the story ("Home is brick brown,/ Harlem, uptown,/ trains rumbling by...") adds to the lovely lushness and immersive nature of the telling. Highly recommend.

A little mouse experiences the wonders and terrors of life in the wider world (AKA, the human house in which his family's mouse-hole resides) in this rhyming picture-book romp. When he gets lost, a kindly older mouse shows him the way, only for our murine hero to be trapped by a cat. Will he ever get home...?

The text here stumbles in a few places, but overall it has an entertaining, bouncy rhythm, while the artwork is quite expressive. I liked the two-page spread in which the illustrations show more zoom in on the horrified mouse, who is just realizing he doesn't know where he is. All that said, I thought the conclusion of the story was a little off - it wasn't clear to me if the chase scene (and perhaps the entire adventure?) was a dream, or if the mouse escaped, and his parents found him cowering - and I deducted a star accordingly. show less

Two stuffed puppies take to the skies to rescue some of their toy playmates in this sweet picture-book from author Michelle Meadows and illustrator Dan Andreasen. Navigating their way around the features of their home - the adult people are mountains, steam from a tea-kettle is fog - they eventually succeed in retrieving their compatriots, and all the toys are back where they should be, when their children walk in...

Pairing a simple but entertaining tale told in rhyme - "Start the engine, / show more buckle up. / Down the runway... / Pilot Pups! / Rolling faster, / lift up high. / Soaring, roaring - / to the sky" - with cute illustrations, Pilot Pups would make a good bedtime selection for younger children. Although not a particularly earth-shattering picture-book, it is a fun, lighthearted look at that perpetual childhood question - what do our toys get up to, when we are not paying attention to them? show less

“Hibernation Station” is a poetry book about forest animals and getting ready for winter hibernation. Each page has a couple bars of poetry and lots of animal illustrations, with the animals each wearing pajamas. As the woodland critters get ready for winter sleep, some animals clash with one another, such as the bear, who roars, “I cannot sleep! My roommate rolls around and snores! Eventually, all the animals snuggle up and rest for the duration of the winter. I thought the concept of show more this book was cute, as their bedtime rituals mimic those of people. It was also educational, as the illustrations showed where each animal hibernates, like th frog inside a log and the bear in a cave. I would recommend this book for kindergarten-1st grade. Students operating at these grade levels should be able to handle reading this book as well as enjoy it and learn from it. show less