PB word count and my angst

I visited one of my town's two bookstores (yes, we have two and they are still kicking) to check out the picture book section which is in the back of this lovely, classy, galley store. The shelves for pbs are broken up by non-fic, concept, toddler and classic/new. There are also shelves for new titles, topical titles, themed titles, puzzle books, fairy/folk tales etc...

I focused on the new/classic...the largest shelf. Because I wanted to see what I see as a classic and what I see as a hip and fun pb. There is a difference. And today's hip and fun could become a classic I suppose.

(My teenager is nagging at me saying, " I need to go home do to my mountains of homework," interspersed with, "I LOVE WHERE'S WALDO.")

"So do I Emily... who doesn't... in a minute..."

I perused about twenty books. Mostly new titles I've heard about or googled beforehand.

But I came back to two books that always leave me laughing/amazed and a wee bit sentimental... those being Lily and her Plastic Purse and Skippy Jon Jones. These books are not short (in any aspect)... and they have everything... everything. They are rich and they linger, and I LOVE THEM. They really touched me and they still do. And the writing is good and the plotting is good and they have enormous heart with a touch of humor. They capture real child emotions and situations and adults relate.

I want to beef up my writing to match their's but with all this 'keep thine short...what is a writer to do....?' Grrrr. I want to add add add.

Minor beef...