I’ve written before about the joy I feel when books that are hyped are actually worth all the excitement that surrounds them.

I had heard and read so much about two books lately that when I saw them in my favorite book store this week, I wondered. Would they be any good at all?

No need for worry…

Green, by the amazingly talented Laura Vaccaro Seeger, is a work of art. Caroline summed it up perfectly when she said, “Those paintings are incredible!” Each page truly is a painting, not a book page or even an illustration but a painting. Seeger takes the concept of green and shows it’s many variations. There are two words per page making the book, after many read alouds (which would not be hard to accomplish), a potential Read Together Book.

And then there is Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky‘s Z is for Moose. The reading specialist in me makes me a tough critic of alphabet books. In fact, there are few that I truly love. I find that people try too hard with them and as a result, they are often useless for teaching the alphabet. While Z is for Moose isn’t quite a straight forward alphabet book, it is so clever and so funny that I love it. In fact, I laughed out loud standing in the store while I read it.

So there are two more books to add to your shelf… Enjoy!