Hello, friends! Today’s book is Read! Read! Read!, poems written by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and illustrated Ryan O’Rourke, a joyful and moving ode to books and reading for little ones.

Comprised of twenty-three poems written in different styles and forms, the reader is pulled into a celebration of reading, especially the impact that reading can have on a child. Books, magazines, newspapers, road signs, even the backs of cereal boxes; no type of reading is excluded or frowned upon. The poems explore the joy of getting lost in a thrilling story, how great books can change us or guide us through difficult times, and how we carry each tale we’ve read with us as we change and grow.

This book was an absolute delight. I was hesitant about a poem collection for JJ, considering the length, but this was so worth it. The poems themselves are bite-sized, only taking one or two minutes to read apiece, and the entire book can be completed comfortably in one sitting. And what marvelous poems they are, capturing the special relationship that children have with books and reading, and the impact that reading anything and everything can make on one’s life as they mature (the poem about Charlotte’s Web helping a young girl understand how to deal with grief was especially powerful). The illustrations are simply perfect, capturing the mood of each poem spectacularly and building fanciful and imaginative worlds around them. This one is a treasure, and JJ and I both loved it. Perfect for the little bookworm in your life, any age, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!