Iggy Peck Architect

Andrea Beaty (2007), 32 pages

Illustrated by David Roberts

Audience: pre-K

Format: picture book

Ignacious Peck is a born architect. At the age of two he was building towers out of “nappies and glue.” By age three he could build churches with steeples, temples, and more! He could build anything really using materials of all kinds from backyard dirt to apples, and pancakes … Iggy was a self-made architect. However, his success comes to a screeching halt when he meets Miss Lila Greer a second grade teacher (frightened by heights and tall buildings). She forbids any talk about architecture and upon such news Iggy’s “heart sank to floor … now second grade was a bore.” Luckily though while out on a class hike and picnic … Iggy saves the day. How may you ask? Why with shoestrings and skill … a bridge appears saving his classmates and Miss Lila Greer! With new appreciation for building ingenuity, Miss Greer happily welcomes Iggy Peck and talks of building from Rome to Quebec back in her classroom again. Full of quirky rhymes and creative verse, Beaty’s book is a gem and a great read-aloud book for adults and kids. Roberts’s illustrations are outstanding. His attention to detail, use of pattern and texture is hypnotic – long after reading you’ll pour over these pages again and again picking out new details each time. This is a book kids will go nuts for ... with just one read you’re guaranteed to fall in love with Iggy Peck, Architect!

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: Art by Patrick McDonnell, The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg, or Into the Sky by Ryan Ann Hunter

Other books by this author: When Giants Come to Play, Doctor Ted, Firefighter Ted, Hide and Sheep, and Cicada Summer

Museum Trip

Barbara Lehman (2006), 32 pages

Audience: All ages

Format: picture book

Barbara Lehman's wordless storyline is endearing and creative with illustrations that really tell a complete narrative! Similar in style to her Caldecott honored The Red Book, Museum Trip is written in a wordless narrative with illustrations that tell the story of a child's museum visit and getting lost in its maze (literary by being separated from their class and figuratively as he gets "lost" or engrossed in the artifacts/exhibits on display at the museum). But wait … was finding his way through the maze just a daydream? Well, you’ll have to decide for yourself as he leaves the museum with a shiny souvenir there may be reason to think otherwise. A story that will delight children of all ages!

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book you may like: Time Flies by Eric Rohmann, Wave by Suzy Lee, or Free Fall by David Wiesner

Other books by this author: The Red Book (Caldecott Honor), Trainstop, and Rainstorm