The Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey

Look there, in the sky!  It’s a fat, bald man wearing nothing but underwear and a cape!  Tra la laaaaaa!  It must be Captain Underpants!  There’s no other superhero quite like him, and honestly that’s not a bad thing.  Two troublesome boys, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, mistakenly hypnotized their school principal so now when they snap their fingers, Mr. Krupp suddenly finds himself transformed into the hero of their homemade comic books!

If this sounds like a crazy plot then believe me, we’re only getting started.  Each book in the series seems to raise the bar for outrageousness and third-grade humor.  Combined with the hilarious cartoons and the action-packed fight scenes (in Flip-o-Rama!), each installment in the Captain Underpants saga will have boys flying through the pages with laughter.  These books are the perfect choice for a reluctant reader ages six to sixty!

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

This book is arguably the most famous picture book of all time, so there was no way that I’d consider leaving it off my list!  When a naughty, misbehaving boy named Max gets sent to bed with no dinner, he wishes himself off to a magical land where the creatures are just and nasty and wild as he is.  The beasts stomp and roar happily in a wild circus…at least until Max starts to feel the slightest bit homesick!

This book is over fifty years old now, and it remains one of the best-selling picture books of all time.  It might sound silly, but “Where the Wild Things Are” was actually banned from several school libraries because parents feared it might encourage their kids to misbehave!  Thankfully cooler heads have prevailed, and now it’d be nearly impossible to miss a copy of this book.  Check one out if you haven’t already…it’s the perfect book for the wild things in your life!

Bagels from Benny, by Aubrey Davis

Benny loves to help out at his Grandpa’s bakery, and the customers love the crusty bagels with their soft insides.  When Grandpa explains to Benny that God, not him, should be thanked for the wonderful bagels, Benny decides to do just that.  After some thought, he leaves God a bagful of bagels in the synagogue each week.  Miraculously, it appears that God is actually eating the bagels…or is He?

This picture book is an awesome story of gratitude and sharing.  It’s hard to review a book so short without giving away the ending, but I’ll do my best since it’s such a powerful story.  I loved the way that both Benny and his Grandpa discovered a way to help others through their work, and I think it’s important to remember just how much a simple thing like food can mean to someone in need.    

Good Boy, Fergus, by David Shannon

Meet Fergus, the Scottie dog who takes disobedience to a whole new level.  This book follows him through a perfect doggy day, from chasing cats and motorcycles to being scratched on his favorite spot.  Even though Fergus has a mind of his own, he’s a perfect angel in the mind of his owners.  There’s nothing he could do that would make him anything but a “good dog!”

This picture book features very few words, and Mr. Shannon chooses to tell the real story through his hilarious illustrations.  Our kids found themselves cracking up at these situations, since they were old enough to know what was really expected of a “good dog”.  This book quickly became one of our favorites, destined to be read again and again.  

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst

Let’s face it, we’ve all had days where absolutely nothing is going right.  Alexander is having one of those days too.  From the moment he gets out of bed in the morning, it seems like the whole world is lined up against him.  His brothers get toys in their breakfast cereal but he doesn’t.  He has to sit in the middle seat during the carpool ride to school.  His friends all have better lunches than he does.  The day just keeps getting worse as it goes on, and eventually Alexander thinks that the best course of action might be for him to simply chuck it all and move to Australia!

I love this book because it’s so easy to sympathize with Alexander and the situations that he’s facing on this one particular day.  For example, anyone who has brothers or sisters knows how hard it can be to share a bathroom!  When you’re having a bad day, even something that’s normally fun, like going shopping for new sneakers, can quickly descend into arguments or even fistfights!  I imagine that Mrs. Viorst must be a mother or a teacher, because she certainly knows how young men can sometimes act out when things don’t go our way.  The book follows Alexander through every heartbreaking moment of his “bad day”, and the hilarious illustrations by Ray Cruz do an awesome job of making the reader feel sympathetic.  Some of the pictures might seem a little dated since this book is now over forty years old, but I think that even kids raised up with Playstations and iPhones will still be able to relate to them.

One of my favorite things about this book is the fact that it doesn’t condescend to the reader, even though it’s a picture book aimed at younger men.  Sometimes you’ll feel like things aren’t going your way, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do but keep trying.  The world doesn’t revolve around you, after all.  In the end, I actually appreciated the fact that no one rushes in to save Alexander from his bad day because, as his mother says, some days are like that.

Even in Australia.

Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg

I love reviewing the occasional picture book, especially if it’s one that older audiences can enjoy as well!  Chris Van Allsburg’s story is about Judy and Peter, two ordinary kids who discover a mysterious board game called Jumanji.  The game is actually infused with magical powers, so the kids find themselves faced with all the dangers of the jungle!  Wild animals running loose, a powerful monsoon, even an erupting volcano!

One thing I enjoyed about Jumanji (and this is true for all of Mr. Van Allsburg’s books!) is how his illustrations can simply suck you into the story.  In this book, it almost feels like you’re playing the game right next to Judy and Peter!  The awesome illustrations don’t just tell the story along with the narrative, they support it by helping you to imagine yourself in those surroundings.  It’s no wonder that this book is so popular with boys of all ages, especially those with a healthy sense of adventure!

Let’s imagine for a second that you could actually get drawn into one of the games that you have at home.  Is there any particular game that you’d like to experience the way that Judy and Peter did?  Would it be a board game like Monopoly or Sorry!, or would you like to get drawn into a video game?

Castle, by David Macaulay

What can I say about “Castle”?  It’s kind of like a picture book about architecture, with an awesome story set in medieval Europe.  This is one of those books where I won’t be able to describe it no matter how hard I try, so you’ll just have to go out and read it for yourself.  “Castle” tells the story of a typical medieval fortress, from its planning stages through the actual construction.  The story even includes a fierce battle that tests the building’s defenses!  It’s an awesome look inside a huge construction project that spanned several decades.

One awesome thing about this book is that the author actually takes you inside each piece of the castle’s architecture with his blueprint-style illustrations.  The narrative is excellent as well, because the story explains why each step of the building process was so important.  When you read this book, you not only learn about all the steps in building a castle was built, but also why this type of building was so important to life in the dark ages.     

Macaulay’s book is a great choice for visual learners, those people who understand an idea better once they’ve had a chance to “see” it up close and in detail.  I’d guess that the book is probably geared towards 10- or 12-year old boys since it includes a lot of really technical details, but it’s so easy to read that younger boys might appreciate it as well.  Whatever your age, don’t miss out on reading this classic!