We Don’t Lose Our Class Goldfish
by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney · Hyperion, 2023)
Suitably whimsical. Higgins’ illustrations serve cleverly to complement the text, adding humour to a straightforward story of overcoming preschool anxieties. Also, of course, the protagonist is a young T-Rex(!), which puts a delightfully zany slant upon her fear of the class goldfish.
Night Walk
by Jason Cockcroft (Walker, 2024)
Beautifully illustrated, simple but effective in its exploration of grief. A grandfather and young child take a night walk to Grandma’s favourite spot, remembering all the things she liked best. The new dawn is overtly symbolic but nonetheless strikingly vivid and effective.
A Leaf Called Greaf
by Kelly Canby (Freemantle Press, 2024)
A bereaved bear carries a green leaf (his ‘Greaf’) with him wherever he goes, until eventually the seasons change and it crumbles away. Canby’s illustrations—a mix of pastels, ink and coloured pencil—serve beautifully to capture the churn of Bear’s emotions.
Drawn Onward
by Daniel Nayeri; ill. Matt Rockefeller (Harper, 2024)
A boy mourns his dead mother. This quasi-palindromic exploration of grief and loss is driven less by the written narrative (which is rather forced) than by dark-hued fantasy illustrations that offer freewheeling adventure and emotional resonance in lieu of any direct connection.
The Dictionary Story
by Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston (Walker, 2024)
Desirous of telling a story for once, a dictionary allows some of her words room to move—beginning with an alligator hungry for doughnuts! Chaos ensues: madcap antics for children, with oodles of good-humoured, metatextual word definitions for older readers to enjoy.
The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars
by Jean Merrill; ill. Ronni Solbert
(The New York Review Children’s Collection, 2015) [First published by Pantheon Books, 1967]
![Book cover: “The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars” by Jean Merrill; ill. Ronni Solbert (The New York Review Children’s Collection, 2015) [First published by Pantheon Books, 1967]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Merrill_Solbert_Elephant-Who-Liked-to-Smash-Small-Cars.jpg)
A simple, whimsical picture book that revels in its tale of comeuppance. The elephant, gleeful smasher of cars, changes his ways after receiving a taste of his own medicine. Solbert’s crayon illustrations evoke the spirit of preschool paintings or early computer games.