I cannot think of two more opposite books than Morgan Plays Soccer by Anne Rockwell (illustrated by Paul Meisel) and Look and Be Grateful by Tomie dePaola. Actually I probably could if I really thought about it, but right now out of the books I have read and are reviewing here, I can’t.
You see Morgan is about a new kid who gets himself involved in playing soccer. With only a soccer jersey as his connection to the game. But he learns it is fun, but hard and the moral is trying, hard work pays off. Fairly simple and familiar story. Whereas Grateful is more of an idea, a poem about being grateful in simple text but big ways. The artwork is also slightly different but is probably the only real connection it has. Outside of the superficial ones I got them both at the library and I read them. Both images are cartoon-like, not realistic and not overly detailed. The colors are simple and overall not a lot happens in the text or images. They are.
What I like about them is that they are simple and different. If I need a fun, quick book about soccer I can get Morgan. I picked it up because I thought my nephew might be interested in it, as he does a little soccer, but we read other titles and never got around to it. After I read it, I figured it probably was too easy for him. And Grateful was read just because it is dePaola. It was for me as I try to read as much of his works as I can. It is more spiritual than other books you might be familiar with, but perfectly his work.