Books like I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean!
By Kevin Sherry
Your kid probably already shouts along with the squid in I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean!, especially the part where he squirts ink everywhere and calls it a masterpiece before anyone else gets a vote. That loud, sure-of-himself energy is the whole draw. The picks below are for kids who love a character who never once doubts himself.
The squid's confidence gets a gentle poke from the other fish, and The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett builds its whole punchline on the same kind of surprise.
Chester by Mélanie Watt takes the squid's giant ego and gives it a red marker, hijacking someone else's book instead of the ocean.
Less squirting ink, more swamp pride, but the same kid who loves a proudly unlovely hero will take to Shrek! by William Steig.
The squid's first outing, before the art supplies came out. I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry is that same swagger, just measured in size instead of talent.
If the squid's fellow fish weren't impressed, wait until Cordelia's tea party guest shows up. Tea Rex by Molly Idle turns bad manners into the whole joke.
The squid never doubts he's the best. Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal hands your kid the same stubborn certainty, just about what a picture actually shows.
Same big talk, small body energy as the squid, but Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin lets the little bug actually dream about being a superhero.
Same giddy main-character swagger, but Robo-Sauce by Adam Rubin pulls off its big reveal with an actual fold-out transformation.
Reach for A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson when you want the same singsong repetition but a farmyard crowding into a tiny house instead of an ocean.
No proud narrator this time. Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett just lines up one ridiculous animal outfit after another and lets the pictures do the joke.
An action toy's beloved, bedraggled pet Scrubbing Brush is thrown out and replaced by the shiny battery-powered Turbodog, so Traction Man suits up to brave the trash bin and rescue his old friend.
The squid never doubts he's the best. In This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers, a boy discovers his moose never agreed to any of it.
