In his warm, weathered house, stuffed in crannies and nooks, were heaps, rows, and stacks of beloved bound books. The only thing that brings Alfred Zector joy is collecting books. And so he sets out on a mission to collect every last one, until his home on the hill is stretched at the seams with books big and small. But what happens when the rest of the townspeople have nothing left to read? In this clever rhyming story, Alfred Zector discovers what it means to find true joy in a good book.

Alfred so loves books that he spends much of his life collecting every one in his town, and when his collection is complete he sets out to read each tome, while the lives of the townspeople grow dull and dreary.

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.