I recently wrote a blog titled Lucky Me, in which I reminisced about how lucky I felt because of all the time I had spent reading and rereading some great picture books to my children when they were young.  Well, this trip down memory lane got me thinking. Not only did my children love those books, but I did too - and still do! No matter how unusual it may seem, I checked out some new picture books just for me. I decided to look for books that were very new so I chose only books published in 2013. Yes, me, a mature woman with grown children (you get the point without me giving up my age), curled up in bed with a stack of picture books - and loving it! So here are some of my new favorites that I'm sure would have made the Lucky Me list had they been written when my children were younger:

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea
Poor Goat is very upset at the arrival of Unicorn in his neighborhood. Unicorn is popular and anything Goat can do, Unicorn can do better - or so it seems. Until one day, when Unicorn and Goat share a piece of goat cheese pizza together and Unicorn admires the unique qualities that Goat has. This is a great book to help children deal with feelings of jealousy and envy and to encourage appreciation for everyone's uniqueness. I loved the colorful pictures and playful nature of this book. I promise it will leave a huge smile on your face.

The Dark by Lemony Snicket
Do you have a child who is afraid of the dark? This is the story of how young Laszo, who is afraid of the dark that lives in his house but mostly stays in the basement, overcomes his fear. In true Lemony Snicket style, this book has a sense of suspense sure to entertain any reader.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
I confess, I love to color! When I was a child, I didn't collect stuffed animals or play with Barbies and there was limited television, especially since there was no cable television or VCR, let alone a DVD player. All I needed to make me happy and keep me occupied for hours on end was a box of crayons (preferably brand new) and a bunch of paper. I literally had buckets of crayons and more than one Crayola Caddy in my room, so it is no surprise that I absolutely love The Day the Crayons Quit. I can actually imagine orange crayon and yellow crayon fighting over who gets to be the color of the sun, and red crayon on strike because he's overused and black crayon angry that he only gets to outline. Each page of this book is a letter of protest written by each individual crayon in their own unique handwriting, making the reader eager to see which color is on the next page. The Day the Crayons Quit is a humorous tale with a colorful resolution - you won't look at your crayons the same way after reading this. 

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman
This book is certainly for the younger child but any adult will have a lot fun reading it to them! You see, when Chu sneezes bad things happen, so this book offers several opportunities to "almost sneeze" and - yes, of course - end with a super loud AAaachooo! This is a quick, colorful, fun story perfect for bedtime.

I hope you get a chance to read these books to a special young child in your life and, if not, don't let that stop you! I certainly didn't let it stop me. I still feel like "lucky me" even if I only read them to myself.