Picture Books We Love: “Open This Little Book,” “Flora And The Flamingo,” and “The Banana Police”

The great ideas are often the simple ones. They can make you wonder why they didn’t appear years earlier. Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier and illustrated by Suzy Lee is an adorable yet high-concept picture book that celebrates the love of reading in big (and small) ways. It's published by Chronicle Books.

The Worst Best Pictures

Life is inherently unfair. But you know what’s even more unfair (if you’re a movie lover)? The Academy Awards. The following is our opinionated list of the worst films ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The story is similar for all: they haven’t aged well. Stories that may have had some edge in their day have dulled through the years and we’re left with slightly embarrassing, often boring films peopled by phony characters menaced by even phonier straw men. In honor of the Academy Awards (a statue we love to hate) we present our dingy dozen:

TV Shows We Love: “Imagination Movers” on Disney Junior

After suffering through the relatively minor inconvenience of living without electricity for a week after Hurricane Sandy, I was interested to learn that one of the best live-action preschool shows, Imagination Movers, was almost permanently derailed by Hurricane Katrina. The more I learn about the show’s four stars—who encourage preschoolers to brainstorm—the more I want them to be a part of my child’s life.