Four lyrical, homey vignettes underscore the loving relationships a young African-American boy has with the people in his family: father, mother, older sister and baby sister. With just a few words per page, Angela Johnson touches on all the most important things in the family life of a young child. In "Shoes," the child playfully describes his sneakers and looks forward to the day when they're as big as his daddy's shoes. "Spin" highlights the energetic twirling, swinging games he plays with his older sister, inside and outside. Looking at the moon through his bedroom window at night, he thinks about the things his mother has told him about "Noah's Moon." Lastly, the arrival of a new baby sister means he has to share his room and his toys with her and, when he does, "... then Mama calls me sweetheart / and Daddy calls me man." Rhonda Mitchell's realistic paintings of everyday life from a child's perspective are contrasted with the abstract paintings Daddy is shown painting at his easel in the background throughout the book. Astute viewers will enjoy seeing how Daddy's home life inspires his art, as well as how abstract art contrasts with realism, and newly independent readers will enjoy finding a sophisticated book they can read on their own. (Ages 6-9)

In four vibrant verses and spectacular oil paintings, a young boy revels in the everyday pleasures of growing up in a family of fine artists. A still life of shoes inspires Noah to measure his own little ones against the big ones of his father. The whirl of an abstract painting encourages him to spin with his older sister. The moon outside his window is the same one that glows on his mother's canvas. But the subject that brings out the best in Noah -- and inspires his daddy to call him a man -- has her crib right there in his parents' studio. With its bold colors and arresting perspectives, this book is a celebration of art and an exaltation of family.