SKUNK AND BADGER :: Amy Timberlake

With adorable illustrations by Jon Klasson, Amy Timberlake's Skunk and Badger is a lovely story of friendship, sharing and compromise. I was drawn in by a connection with Badger, a curmudgeonly rock scientist living in his Aunt Lula's den surrounded by geodes and a rock tumbler, doing very important rock work (sounds pretty awesome). Badger doesn't have much besides rocks and his work, but he doesn't realize life has more to offer until Skunk comes knocking on his door, suitcase in hand.

Seems Aunt Lula has also offered Skunk a room in her brownstone, though Badger has been too busy doing his important rock work to read her last several letters. Badger is put out by Skunk's presence, initially trying to pass off a closet as the luxury guest quarters. He soon finds life with Skunk isn't all bad, particularly at mealtimes (breakfast hot chocolate!).

Of course not all goes smoothly and soon Badger is surrounded not only by Skunk, but hundreds of chickens  (because that's what happens when you blow the chicken whistle), a treacherous stoat and some odors that are not as wonderful as breakfast hot chocolate.

I adored the drawings interspersed throughout the book, particularly Skunk reading under the covers of his room in the moonlight. Although there are certain conflicts between species (stoats and chickens apparently can't bridge the gap, for instance), there is never any discussion about inter-species relationships. Aunt Lula, for instance, is a pine marten. There is just family and friends and roommates and some natural enemies, language barriers be damned. Also, CHICKENS IN BELL-BOTTOMS.

Geared for grades 2-5, which I am decidedly not, Skunk and Badger is a worthy tale for all ages. Timberlake is a Newbery Honor recipient and Klassen a Caldecott Medalist, coming together to show how we can all be better together.

POOL :: JiHyeon Lee

This may seem a bit out of the MAR wheelhouse, but I love a good children's book and Pool is one of the most beautiful I've seen in a long time. I finally had the opportunity to flip through a copy in person last weekend when it caught my eye in, of all places, a little nautical gift shop in Pacifica. It's a fabulous picture book with art that tells the story as well or better than words could have. When I bought a copy for my nephew I couldn't help but throw one in for myself as well.  

The story is simple. Here's the blurb from Publisher's Weekly, which describes it much better than I could:

In this wordless debut, Korean artist Lee combines imaginative power and emotional restraint. With a murmur of shaded pencil, she draws a boy in a bathing cap and goggles standing alone beside a public pool. Swimmers arrive suddenly and crowd the water—some are all but indistinguishable from the blubbery inflatable toys they carry—taking up every available bit of space. Diving beneath them, the boy heads straight down. Now, Lee draws the boy and the world he discovers in full color. A girl his age swims toward him, and together they play and explore, swimming among schools of wildly improbable fish of scarlet and blue, fish with snouts like snorkels and fins like ferns. They play hide-and-seek among the sea vents, encounter more threatening fish, and then, deeper still, find themselves eye-to-enormous-eye with a placid, whalelike behemoth. When the two surface and exit the pool, they exchange a shy, intimate glance, silent testimony to all they’ve shared. It’s perhaps the quietest, least remarkable-seeming people, Lee suggests, who see what’s below the surface of the ordinary world. An auspicious and memorable debut. Ages 3–5.

  

I can't recommend Pool by JiHyeon Lee highly enough. Simply gorgeous work and a sweet story that resonates.