

From a very literary thief to Montreal’s youngest hipster, here are five great picture books for 2017

Serah-Marie McMahon, Special to National Post 

ShareAdjustCommentPrint

One good thing about the calendar turning over is that every new year brings brand new readers. To help you match your pint-sized literary novice with works of giant imagination, Serah-Marie McMahon has selected five great picture books to read together in 2017. 

The Alphabet Thief by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Roxanna Bikaoroff (Groundwood Books, 40 pp; $17.95) – March 1

A stolen ‘A’ means coats are turning into cots, and a missing ‘B’ is making owls out of bowls in this tiny, non-traditional alphabet book about a letter lifter who causes chaos. For readers who like: clever play with language.

Triangle by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick, 48 pp; $22) – March 14

The start of a new trilogy about shapes and friendship, from a powerhouse team whose previous two collaborations produced Caldecott nods. For readers who like: books that get funnier with every read.

The Gold Leaf by Kirsten Hall, illustrated by Matt Forsythe (Enchanted Lion, 48 pp; price TBD) – March 24

A former Adventure Time artist creates lush landscapes for a modern fable about a pack of forest animals who inadvertently destroy a cherished gold leaf. For readers who like: timeless tales for adults as much as children.

Bill Bowerbird and the Unbearable Beak-Ache by Tyler Clark Burke (Owlkids, 32 pp; $18.95) – March 15)

Wickety-tickety-woo-hoo-hoo. Bill the Bowerbird uses energetic onomatopoeia when he turns to his oddball animal friends for help with a sore tooth. For readers who like: a zany cast of characters.

Colette’s Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault (Tundra Books, 48 pp; $22.99) – May 23

The boundary between picture book and comic is delightfully blurred in this sensitive story about a girl with a yellow raincoat and a fictional lost pet, set in Montreal’s distinctive Mile End neighbourhood. For readers who like: relatable protagonists.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/from+very+literary+thief+montreal+youngest+hipster/12687086/story.html
www.ottawacitizen.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-04
98750
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:ISWV27BAOYMQ4H3TOOM4NXXTTPSWZHZJ
<urn:uuid:a7bece11-b199-4183-8a9c-e10ea4be824e>
2017-01-23T04:29:04Z
192.33.31.70
sha1:RT2DCXVQDZNACPUSQ4QYKYUI2SPA2BLX
<urn:uuid:d5e85a19-5867-484b-9782-dc996e84e7e1>
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/from+very+literary+thief+montreal+youngest+hipster/12687086/story.html
length
response
<urn:uuid:5324921e-6150-4d41-8de3-4ff73ce38d94>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-04
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf