I Recommend: The Day the Babies Crawled Away

I have a new favorite picture book writer.

Peggy Rathmann is the incredible author who not only wrote Office Buckle and Gloria, but my all time favorite Ruby the Copycat.

Now, however, Ruby the Copycat has a rival. I am absolutely in love with a book I brought home from the library last week. And my kids are in love with it too.

It's called

The Day the Babies Crawled Away.

Not only is the art amazing -- it's all done in silhouettes -- but the concept is AWESOME: a little boy rescues a bunch of babies who have crawled away from their parents. He's just a kid himself, but he performs a heroic deed and brings the whole gaggle of babies safely home.

My kids love the artistic detail in this book (especially the littlest baby who hangs upside down from everything). There's tons to look at, so the book never gets old. They find it hilarious.

And I can't say enough about the artwork. The silhouettes remind me of Chinese paper cuttings. Simply beautiful.

I'm not usually a big fan of rhyming picture books, but I think if anyone can pull off a rhyming book (besides Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl), it's probably Peggy Rathmann. She's gifted.

So, if you have small children -- and even if you don't -- next time you're at the library or book store, look for this book. Your kids will love it and you won't get sick of reading it over and over and over and over to them. I was actually excited when they'd pull it out of the library book pile for the fiftieth time. "Oh good. Yes, let's read it one more time!"