Picture Book Recommendations-Week of January 15, 2024

Picture Book Recommendations–Week of January 15, 2024 is by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

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A mother otter and her pup are floating on the water while they giving snuggles. Water lilies and a water fly are around them. Cover of Animal Snuggles.

Animal Snuggles: Affection in the Animal Kingdom

by Aimee Reid (Author), Sebastien Braun (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Young readers are shown how various animals display affection towards their babies.

Comments: There are large double-paged illustrations with the parent and baby.

There’s a back section of the animals and more specific details of how they snuggle with their young, the name of a baby, and their home.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.

First page of the book. A mother otter and her pup snuggle while floating with flowers around them and a little pad.

Fungi Grow

by Maria Gianferrari (Author), Diana Sudyka (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Young readers will learn how fungi grow above, on, and under the ground. Mushrooms can be edible, poisonous, or medicinal. There are mushroom details of how they multiply and what animals eat them. The underground fungi network helps the forest.

Comments: The gouache watercolors are detailed with two-paged spreads or small vignettes that move the nonfiction story along as we read the large print prose and the smaller informative text for more details.

This would be an excellent addition to the mushroom section in any children’s library collection.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.

A skunk is eating fungi on the right side of the page while long fingerlike fungi is releasing a stinky odor to attract flies.

A young girl is dancing in Bollywood technique with er younger brother and parents while standing on the brightly lit up stage.

My Bollywood Dream

by Avani Dwivedi (Author, Illustrator)

Brief summary: A young girl goes to the theater in Mumbai with her parents and brother. As they go through the city traffic, the girl imagines several of the nearby people as characters in a Bollywood movie.

Her family and other people in the theater enjoy the happy ending and music of the movie before heading home.

Comments: I love watching Bollywood movies because of the bright and beautiful colors and happy dancing style. This book captured all of that with vivid illustrations.

There is an author’s note in the back where Avani Dwivedi shares her childhood in Mumbai, listening to old Bollywood films and music.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.

A young Prince wearing his well known ruffled shirt and purple jacket playing the guitar is on the top of the book's right side of the cover while there is another scene of him walking down the street with his guitar. The cover has a purple hue. Doves are flying.

Ordinary Days: The Seeds, Sound, and City That Grew Prince Rogers Nelson

by Angela Joy (Author), Jacqueline Alcántara (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Prince Rogers Nelson was named after his father’s jazz band, The Prince Rogers Trio. He had parents who constantly argued resulting in his father leaving when Prince was age 7.

Prince lived in poverty, sleeping on couches in various homes, not having his own place. He excelled at playing basketball as well as playing the piano, guitar, and other instruments.

While still in high school, he created a cover band named Grand Central that played at parties, nightclubs, and the Battle of the Bands. Prince got his first recording contract at the age of 18.

This rhyming and rhythmic picture book did not give details of Prince’s life as an adult, the success of his music, or how he died.

Comments: The author’s note details Prince’s life, including a family playlist. The illustrations really capture Prince’s personality with a hue of purple throughout.

I recall being in the Music Conservatory when Prince came out in the 1980s. His music played in the dorms and in the stores. People went to his movies to see him perform. I recall watching Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon. That was when we had Walkmans, and I remember having the soundtrack to Purple Rain and listening to it all the time. People liked his Minneapolis sound a lot.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.

Pass the Baby

by Susanna Reich (Author), Raúl Colón (Illustrator)

Brief summary: The baby is passed around a large family gathering at the dining room table, where Grandpa, Grandma, and other family members visit with the baby.

The meal has ended, and it’s time for the baby to go to bed. Will she go to sleep or stay awake?

Comments: This rhyming picture book captures the excitement and love of a newborn baby in a family.

The humorous illustrations display the facial emotions and chaotic mess of a large gathering.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.

Children’s book titles are carefully handpicked by a certified elementary school librarian who, although retired, still enjoys reading children’s books, especially picture books, and recommending them to busy teachers, school librarians, parents, grandparents, and other book lovers.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris reads before recommending are checked out from the public library, except for those much-appreciated complimentary copies sent to her for an honest review. Those are noted.

Picture Book Recommendations–Week of January 15, 2024