Favorite Picture Books of 2012

Hello, friends! As usual, it's been a while and I am a bad blogger. BUT since it's almost the end of the year (can you believe it?!) and it's Picture Book Month (yay!), I thought I would share some my favorites that were published in 2012. What are yours? I would love to know!

 And Then It's Spring, written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin E. Stead, published by Roaring Brook Press
-A little boy and his dog, (turtle and rabbit, too!) plant some seeds and eagerly anticipate the arrival of spring. This simple story is made wonderful by the illustrations and muted color palette.

 Sweet Dreams, written by Rose A. Lewis and illustrated by Jen Corace, published by Abrams Books
-Oh, how I love Jen Corace's illustrations! This is just such a lovely rhyming bedtime story.

 Olivia the Fairy Princess, written and illustrated by Ian Faconer, published by Atheneum
-Now you could argue that Olivia has become a bit a franchise, but I still love the books. The latest is one of my favorites, simply because Olivia, like myself, is sick of princesses! She has a bit of an identity crisis in this story because she doesn't want to be ordinary, she wants to stand out! Follow her humorous journey to answer that question in this quirky book.

 More, written by I. C. Springman, illustrated by Brian Lies, published by Houghton Mifflin
-Goodness, I love this book about a magpie who collects too much stuff and his little mice friends show him how less can be more.

 The Insomniacs, written by Karina Wolf, illustrated by The Brothers Hilts, published by Putnam
-A fabulous story of a family that moves twelve time zones away for a new job and has trouble adopting to the time change. They discover a whole new world at night when they are unable to sleep, and eventually find beauty in their new schedule. This book channels Charles Addams and Edward Gorey which is probably why I like it so very much.