My Name is Elizabeth by Annika Dunklee; Matthew Forsythe, illus. (Kids Can Press)
What’s in a name? For Elizabeth, the star of Annika Dunklee’s adorable debut picture book, plenty, apparently. It has a lot of letters and makes her mouth do fun things when she says it. And there’s even a queen with the same name, so it must be special.
Picture books are often either silly or visually stimulating, but rarely both at the same time. My Name is Elizabeth captures the best of both worlds, offering a fun, vivacious character and simple story arc complemented by the whimsical illustrations of Matthew Forsythe (whose 2008 graphic novel, Ojingogo, was also a Q&Q book of the year). It’s safe to say this is the kind of story children will ask to have read to them again and again (and again), regardless of their monikers.
