Fun game! I think we're on "I."
There are so many "I" words for picture books: innovative, interesting, and of course, illustrations, but another word to keep in mind is INTELLIGENT. Trust the reader to be intelligent and resist the urge to over-explain (back to Andi's "use as few words as possible.")
It's okay to use an occasional BIG word, which our intelligent readers will understand in context, or their parents can define, and then those intelligent readers will expand their vocabulary. The word has to be the absolute best fit, perfect, except being above the reading level.
Click, Clack, Moo
Cows That TypeBy Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
"Duck was a neutral party, so he brought the ultimatum to the cows."
When I first read this to my son he had an inkling about what "neutral" meant, but "ultimatum" was a new word. He definitely knows it now: we read that book at least fifty times over the years, and all of the others in the series, too!
