French import Hippopposites (May) by Janik Coat brings the hip to opposites books. In every spread, a pair of hippos demonstrates the featured concept. The old standbys are there (small/large, light/dark), alongside less common concepts like full/empty, dotted/striped, clear/blurry, etc. Soft/rough adds a tactile element, while opaque/transparent, positive/negative, and front (full-on view of hippo)/side (a thin vertical line) sneak in some art- and color-theory.

Think yellow is a yawn and purple’s passé? Look to Pantone Colors (March) for raincoat, French fry, and giraffe yellow; rhubarb, mulberry, and velvet purple. Right-hand pages show the conventional color names while left-hand pages are made up of sample squares straight from the Pantone book.

Less mod but just as design-y are My Birdie and My Bunny (both March), illustrated by Jessie Ford. These “puzzle book” board books feature four removable pieces that fit back together to make a little picture. Cute animals, sturdy pages, and puzzle pieces: my two-year-old will be in heaven.

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This edition keeps the original text intact, which I appreciated. Reading the story aloud at my desk, I relished each Seussian rhyme in stanzas scattered across the eight colorful spreads. Seuss’s tall Truffula Trees and the Once-ler’s factory are perfectly suited to appear as pop-ups; gatefold panels offer additional pop-ups, pull tabs, and special effects to bring the story to life. As with any pop-up book, if read enough times this one will show its age eventually, but the spreads are well chosen and Seuss’s text and illustrations are creatively placed. I only wish Random House would have used recycled paper—it would have been appropriate given the book’s message!

And here’s another Lorax-related treat: check out Stephen Colbert’s discussion of the plethora of movie tie-ins that have been popping up everywhere (and in unlikely places). Enjoy his tribute to Seuss’s rhymes at the end of the clip!

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Jaded as I am, however, I’m still puzzling over Charise Mericle Harper’s The Power of Cute (Random House/Robin Corey, October), an appropriately adorable picture book for preschoolers about a baby whose superpower shrinks monsters down to size so that they are as cute as it is. The book has sturdy square pages; it has spacious double-page spreads; it has flaps and foldout pages and dialogue balloons; it has sound effects (“AAHHH!!”, “ROAR ROAR ROAR”).

It’s also billed as “My Very First Graphic Novel”. Wait, what?

True, the protagonist’s wide-set eyes lend it a passing resemblance to an anime or manga character, and the monsters could be Uglydolls. But aren’t all picture books precursors to graphic novels? Maybe the publisher is going after the adults who have heard picture books are dead but think graphic novels are cool. Maybe the crisis in current picture book publishing can be averted! We just need a different label.

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Needing a London fix, I picked up London: A 3D Keepsake Cityscape illustrated by Sarah McMenemy, also from Candlewick and due out in May. At roughly 4 inches by 4 inches with an accordion-fold format, this definitely isn’t a tour book or map to use as reference while wandering Kensington or Westminster, but it makes a perfect souvenir or gift. Both sides of the accordion showcase twelve cut-paper, pop-out illustrations of London landmarks with general information about each. Two maps place the sites in geographical relation to one another. For London lovers like myself, these pop-outs of famous places like Westminster Abbey (where Prince William and Kate will be married on April 29th!) or The London Eye are a great way to reminisce.

I hope more Keepsake Cityscapes are in the works and can’t wait to see which city will be next: New York? Boston? Paris? Rome? Washington, D.C.? There’s a world of possibilities.

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