The top 10 finalists for The 2015 Best in Rhyme Award have

been announced! The committee and I are thrilled to share reviews of each of these

wonderful rhyming picture books!

Please support these authors and illustrators by

purchasing their books this holiday season!

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The Top 10 RPB finalists for The 2015 Best in Rhyme Award

The Announcement Video link

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These reviews are done by the Best in Rhyme Committee in no particular order. The winner and honor books will be named on December 4th in NYC in a live-streaming announcement from Julie Gribble’s KidLitTV Studio. We are so appreciative of Julie’s support of our event!

Thank you Julie!

I present

the 2015 Best in Rhyme Award

top 10 book reviews!

Watch for more reviews all month!

IT’S ONLY STANLEY

Author and Illustrator : Jon Agee

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

*Review by Lori Degman

Told with perfect meter and rhyme, It’s Only Stanley is a simple story of the Wimbledon family and their dog, Stanley.

 

All throughout the night, disturbing sounds wake up different members of the family, until they’re finally all awake and in their parent’s bedroom.

With each disturbance, Walter Wimbledon (the father) replies,

“That’s very odd,” and heads off to investigate

the source of the sound.

And each time, he reports back, “It’s only Stanley,”

 

howling at the moon;

fixing the oil tank;

making catfish stew . . .

 

The book has one of those surprise endings that make you go back to the beginning and read it over again (I won’t tell you what it is, but I guarantee you’ll love it)!

 

The last thing I’ll say about

It’s Only Stanley is – it’s only fabulous!!

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I urge you to find

IT’S ONLY STANLEY

to read to your little night owls!

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About Jon:

I grew up in Nyack, New York, just up the street from the Hudson River. In our house, there was always an art project going on.

My early drawings were very animated: a lot of stuff zipping around, airplanes, racing cars, football players. No surprise my first published drawing was a pack of rats running along a highway (The Rat Race). I did that for the New York Times Op Ed page when I was still in high school.

I went to college at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. I studied painting, sculpture and filmmaking, but what I loved doing most—in my spare time—was drawing cartoons and comic strips.

That was all a long time ago. Since then I’ve written several other picture books, illustrated a few by other authors, and created a series of offbeat wordplay books, beginning with the book of palindromes, GO HANG A SALAMI! I’M A LASAGNA HOG!

I visit schools across the country and sometimes around the globe. I live with my wife, Audrey, in San Francisco.

Amazon

 Barnes and Noble

Jon’s Website

 

 

This wonderful review was written by Lori Degman, a Best in Rhyme Committee member. Thank you Lori!