Recent picture book favorite:

Hest, Amy. Mr. George Baker. Candlewick, 2007. ISBN 978-0763633080 32 pp. $

Whimsical, descriptive language tells the story of a 100 year-old-man, Mr. Baker, and a young boy who wait for the bus together. They are both learning to read.

Recent chapter book favorite:

Munoz Ryan, Pam. Becoming Naomi Leon. Scholastic, 2005 (reprint). ISBN 978-0439269971 272 pp. $7.99

Munoz Ryan never disappoints. Naomi is a soft-spoken, thoughtful, clever little girl with a talent for carving. Owen, her younger brother, has been diagnosed by Doctors as an FLK, “funny looking kid” because of his physical disabilities. That doesn’t stop him though, Owen’s the smartest kid in his class. Gram is Naomi and Owen’s great-grandmother, and their guardian for about seven years. She loves and treasures them and takes care of them like they were her own children. They are a happy family in a trailer park in the town of Lemon Tree until the day that Naomi and Owen’s problem Mom shows up and wants to take Naomi away. Read the story of an unusual family’s struggles and travels to keep things together.

Recent grown-up stuff:

Sedaris, David. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Back Bay Books, 2005 (reprint). ISBN 978-0316010795 257 pp. $17.99

It amazes me that one write manages to make me laugh until my guts are about to burst and in the next paragraph cry like a baby. Sedaris’s poignant stories about life, love, family, Christmas celebrations, gun laws and much more have a way of piercing the most tender part of your heart and then hammering on your funny bone.