Lovely picture book with an even better message, will hopefully help instill a love of reading in those who read it!

The picture book My Book and Me by Linda Sue Park (illustrated by Chris Raschka; Red Comet Press, 2024) is a poem championing a child’s favorite book. It’s told with a first person child’s voice and, with Raschka’s distinct and unique, almost childlike, illustrations, it becomes universal with many children sharing their thoughts about their favorite book.

Did your child have a favorite picture book they would carry around the house? Mine did. They went through stages with various different favorite books, and yes, sometimes they dragged it along with them out of the house, simply because they didn’t want to leave it. (For a while, my little one would carry Peter Rabbit around the house because it was just the right size for her 2-year old hands.)

Linda Sue Park’s words are from a first person point of view, a child’s perspective in describing what the favorite book looks like and where she takes it and who she reads it with. Ultimately, the child says

I move like the characters,
Groove like the characters,
Dress like the characters —
Guess who I am?

I love the words. I think it’s really sweet, and the subject of a favorite book is so familiar that many can relate.

The illustrations by Chris Raschka are different from many picture book illustration. He has a more abstract style that seems mostly water color but also incorporates marker or crayon or pastels. It is obvious that the illustrations show people and books but you can always step back to look at him to get a bigger view of the art. His abstract style won’t be a favorite for every reader, but it certainly unique. Such abstract and yet recognizable art requires significant talent. He accomplishes a lot with broad strokes of color and shape.

One thing that I love about the illustrations is that every page depicts a different child. Some of the pages depict a child with long hair, and other pages show short hair. One shows a child with a mother and another a child on a subway. The children have different colored hair; glasses, no glasses. On one page, Raschka illustrates a child reading Braille! There’s huge variety in the “favorite books” too. One book has pictures of horses; others have flowers, people, a restaurant, etc.

I really do like the simplicity of illustrations, with the exception of the picture on the cover. I feel it was an unfortunate choice. The girl pictured has her neck bent and her neck looks strange, almost as if she is in a painful position. I wish there was a different picture chosen for the cover.

The sentiment and the diversity depicted in this book make it a fun book for children to read, especially those with their own “favorite book.”

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was lovely. While it does not rhyme, it has a cadence that makes this a breeze and quite fun to read aloud. This is about the love of books, where and when one reads what they read, etc. It’s an ode to the beauty that is a child with a favorite story. The illustrations are watercolor and have a soft memory like feeling that will be hard to forget.

My Book and Me is a sweet picture book featuring two fabulous talents in the kidlit world: Linda Sue Park and Chris Raschka. Younger children will love listening and looking at the pictures, while slightly older children could use it as a model text for their own writing about their favorite book/object!

This was so cute! Something about it reminded me of a classic children’s book like Corduroy or Madeline. It just felt timeless. I love a book about loving books, and this is a great first one to introduce chisten to the genre. With its rhymes and splashy illustrations, this book is sure to delight both parent and child.

Book 095 of 300 ~ 2024

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This could be a companion book after you introduce your child to a wide range of books and ask them to pick a favourite or two.

This will encourage ways to love reading and appreciate books although the crayons bit is a big no no.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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This book is perfect for the little book lover in your life. Even as an adult I absolutely adored this story. This book celebrates our love of reading, of amazing authors and illustrators and those favorite books that take us back to the first moment we read them. My life is all about reading and books and this was the perfect sentimental story that sums that up. I love that I can share that with my children who also love reading. I love how the story expresses how we feel about books and what they mean to us. Even when we aren’t reading them they are with us. I don’t want to give away anything from this treasure of a story. You will love every page and passage from the lyrical tribute to the wonderfully illustrated pages. I highly recommend this for all book lovers to enjoy. I was able to review this as an ARC but I will be adding it to our home library as well as gifting to several book loving friends.
I would give a thousand stars.

Beautiful illustrations accompany simple, but rich rhymes that demonstrate the love a wide variety of readers have for their favorite books. Encouraging and empowering in equal measures.

It's Linda Sue Park and Chris Raschka together, what more is there to say? A perfect poetic ode to the favorite book, the best friend in ink and paper form.

This is a sweet little picture book about different young children saying what they love about their favorite books. If you ever have young children, or remember what it was like to be one, you will know how obsessed children become with that *one* book that they have to read again and again and again.


As one child says, her book keeps disappearing, and she has to find it so she can read it again and again. And, as another one says, “I know every word. They’re right here inside me. I say them out loud whenever I want.”


Pictures are simple yet full of life. Each child dearly loving their special book.


Super cute. I’m sure there are kids that will totally relate to this.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published the 4th of June 2024.

I received an electronic ARC from Red Comet Press through NetGalley.
Characters share how important books are to them. The rhythmic text offers a look at the joy found in reading. Softly focused illustrations capture the swirl of emotions and other activity happening around the child on each page. I love how the books are worn from use and that's all right.
A read together book for families to continue discussion on their own favorites, and a terrific read aloud for classes and libraries.

A very sweet book about loving books and will bring to mind the childhood book you have a special place in your heart for! The watercolor was fun and bright, and this was a sweet book. Opens a great conversation to get readers to talk about their favorite books!

This is a cute book about books for the youngest of readers. The illustrations are colorful and energetic, depicting lots of diverse kids with their books, and the upbeat text celebrates the connection that kids feel with books. This book playfully shows that books are not just receptacles of stories and information, but can also be special companions and comfort objects.

This doesn't have a plot, but it doesn't need one. This is perfectly sufficient as a jaunty, cute look at the reading life, and even though books about books tend to be hit-or-miss for me, I really liked this. It celebrates reading without being trite or sentimental, and without making it seem like readers are inherently superior people. This is a great book for little bookworms, and can also be a fun gift for adult readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Comet Press for this DRC.
This book spoke to child me and adult me in many ways. Yes, I was that child who carried a book everywhere and I still do. My favorite line – “I’m too far away in the world of my book.” I remember so clearly that wonderful ability to tune everything. I think this book will appeal to all book lovers.
#MyBookandMe #NetGalley

A simple, sweet song in praise of books. I mean, you can't go wrong with a collaboration between Linda Sue Park and Chris Raschka.

This book was so cute! I loved the illustrations, and I loved the message in the book. I really enjoyed how it helps to instill the love of reading in children!

“Do you have a book? A favorite book? A book that you love the way I love mine?”

What bookworm would say no? Linda Sue Park, author of the critically acclaimed book, A Long Walk to Water, has penned a book for the very young, a picture book that features child after child reveling in their own special book. (Mine was Miss Bianca.) This would be the perfect gift for any child to introduce the wonders of reading.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Red Comet Press in exchange for an honest review.

This clever picture book shows that books are about so much more than reading. They're comfort, they're social, they're habit, your favorite books have such an important place in your life.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Lovely little picture book about the joy of reading. I love the quirky watercolor art and the simple, repetitive and sweet text. I think lots of kids will relate to this.

This was such a cute story! I always have a book with me wherever I go and love that this shows kids they can always be reading.