Some Favourite Picture Books About Books

Today’s book round-up came about, because I was invited to suggest a topic for tonight’s #top5friday Twitter chat hosted by The Happy Book Club, and it’s an idea I had been playing around with in my head for a while – picture books about books! How meta is that. Turns out, there are quite a few, but I managed to whittle it down to five of our favourites. So, clockwise, starting from the top:

• Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar, by Emily MacKenzie – Ralfy is no ordinary rabbit. Where his peers love carrots and greens, he craves books instead. He will do anything to get his hands on them, which eventually leads him to a life of crime. Bookworm Arthur is determined to catch the book burglar. Will he succeed? And what will happen to Ralfy in the end? A wonderfully funny book, that drives home the message of how great books (and libraries!) are whilst also teaching a lesson on why it’s wrong to just take other people’s things.
• The Incredible Book Eating Boy, by Oliver Jeffers – Another book about someone who really loves books, but unlike Ralfy the Book Burglar, Henry doesn’t steal books, he eats them! And the more books he eats, the smarter he gets. But before your kids start getting any silly ideas, read on to find out what happens when Henry eats too many books. One of our first ever Oliver Jeffers books, and a favourite in our house.
• Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler – You can’t much go wrong with a Julia Donaldson book, and the premise of this one is both simple and clever. Charlie Cook is reading his favourite books, about a pirate chief, who is reading a book about Goldilocks, who is reading a book about a knight, who is reading a book about a frog, who is… You get the idea! The ending is very clever too.
• Bears Don’t Read, by Emma Chichester Clark – This title had been on my radar for a while, and when I recently came across it in a charity book shop, I immediately added it to our home library. It’s a beautiful story, in which George the bear finds a book in the woods, a moment that changes his life. A story about following your dreams, about determination, and about friendship. The illustrations are beautiful too.
• Baxter’s Book, by Hrefna Bragadottir – We only discovered this book last week, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The adorable Baxter loves books, and would love to star in one himself, but his dreams are cut short when the judges in a book audition deem him to curious a creature. He’s not scary like Wolf, cuddly like Bear or cute like Rabbit. Poor old Baxter. Will his dream come true in the end?

Do you have any other favourite picture books about books to recommend? Please feel free to share your recommendations in the comments.

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