Ladybug Nominee Profile

The Book That Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed and Hatem Aly (Dial Books, 2024)

What do you do with an interrupting sibling? Especially when she's stepping all over your story with wild ideas that don’t. Even. Rhyme. Knights riding rockets? Dancing pirates? Who’s ever heard of a fire-breathing armadillo?! But when this big brother realizes his sister just might be improving his yarn—and doing it with an impressive surprise of her own—it's clear what you do with an interrupting sibling. You share the narrative! Turns out adventure is way more fun when you build it together, rhyme by daring rhyme.

About Omar Abed

Omar Abed has written a wide array of poetry, children's stories, and young adult novels. His publishing career began in 2019 with his first picture book, "You, Me, and a Tree". Aside from being an author, Omar is a software engineer, basketball coach, investor, and entrepreneur. Omar is Palestinian-American and lives in Northern Virginia. His website is at: https://omarabed.com/

About Hatem Aly

Hatem Aly is an award-winning, Egyptian-born illustrator who has illustrated many books for young people that earned multiple starred reviews and positions on the New York Times bestseller list including, The Proudest Blue with Ibtihaj Muhammad and S. K. Ali and In My Mosque with M. O. Yuksel. He currently lives in New Brunswick, Canada. His website is at: https://www.metahatem.com/

Activities & Links

• Check out this Read along at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8NJ0xpsRdY
• Here's an interview with Omar Abed and Hatem Aly about "The Book That Almost Rhymed": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBs92YfVPWw
• Check out these activity sheets for the book at: https://school.teachingbooks.net/media/u/20240220/ActivitySheets.pdf 
• Reflection exercise: How would you continue the story after the book? Where do you think the new treasure map would send the characters?
  
• Here's a link to fun rhyming worksheets for kids ages 2-8: https://www.abcmouse.com/learn/printables-and-worksheets/rhyming-worksheets/44525

Suggestions for Further Reading

• Check out the other 2025 Ladybug Longlist titles featuring Adventure at: https://nhbookcenter.blogspot.com/2025/01/ladybug-longlist-adventure.html 
• Duck Duck Taco Truck by Laura Lavoie and Teresa Martinez, a 2025 Ladybug Longlist title is another book about rhyming that you can count on. 
• For another book about adventure, consider The Great Caper Caper by Josh Funk, a 2023 Ladybug Longlist title. 
  

This is one of nine titles nominated for the 2025 Ladybug Picture Book Award.

We will be posting information about a different nominee each Friday throughout the summer and will issue a pdf voters guide featuring all the titles by Labor Day.