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.
The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
See a Pumpkin Grow (See It Grow!)
by Kirsten Chang (Author)
Publisher : Bellwether Media
Year: 2023
Grades: 1-3
Children’s nonfiction paperback : 24 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8886872033
Brief summary: Young readers will learn the pumpkin’s life cycle and what uses there are with this fruit.
Comments: Words and photos are large, with many nonfiction text features. The back sections are Glossary, To Learn More, and Index.
This book also comes in library binding.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
This is part of the See It Grow! series.
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
Pumpkin Day at the Zoo
by Susan Meissner (Author), Pablo Pino (Illustrator)
Publisher : Tommy Nelson
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1400243386
Brief summary: It’s Pumpkin Day at the zoo when the zoo animals receive yummy pumpkins to eat from families who donate their uncarved and unpainted pumpkins.
Comments: The illustrations are vivid and humorous. The text is a mix of fonts and sizes that are fun to say aloud with many descriptive adjectives, alliterations, and all in rhyming sentences.
The back page does have a word about pumpkin donations to zoos.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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There Was an Old Lady Who Picked a Pumpkin!
by Lucille Colandro (Author), Jared Lee (Illustrator)
Publisher : Cartwheel Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-1
Paperback picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1338882953
Brief summary: There was an old lady who went on the school bus to a farm looking for a pumpkin patch. She and the students follow the sign and see many farm items before finding the patch. Each child picks out a pumpkin and hops back onto the bus.
Comments: This is a fun fall early reader in rhyme. The book is not the usual cumulative “There was an old lady” who eats something book.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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The Pie That Molly Grew
by Sue Heavenrich (Author), Chamisa Kellogg (Illustrator)
Publisher : Sleeping Bear Press
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK -2
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1534111840
Brief summary: Molly plants a pumpkin seed and transplants the sprout to watch it grow into a vine with yellow flowers. After all of the care she has given to produce the ripened pumpkin, Molly bakes a pie.
Comments: Cumulative story of the pumpkin’s life cycle.
The back pages have four additional informative sections: American Pie, How to Turn a Pumpkin Into Pie, When You’re Ready to Make the Pie…, and No Bees.No Pie.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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.
The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
On the Edge of the World (Stories from Latin America)
by Anna Desnitskaya (Author), Lena Traer (Translator)
Publisher : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-5
Hardcover picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 0802856128
Brief summary: Vera lives on the east coast of Russia. She longs to have a friend and often imagines one enjoying her interests and the places she goes. When it is dark, Vera goes to the beach with her mom and turns her flashlight off and on in Morse code for “hi.”
Lucas lives in Chile and longs to have a friend too. He imagines what it would be like to have someone to play soccer or read a book high up in a tree. In the evening, Lucas and his father go to the beach and turn his flashlight off and on, blinking four short flashes, pause, and two short flashes.
Will these two get a response?
Comments: Half of the book is Vera’s story, and then one flips the book over and reads about Luca’s story. I love upside-down books.
Teachers could share this in social studies. For example: “If we are standing on the eastern section of our school and shine a flashlight at night, what is the closest city, state, or country.
It could also supplement a science class on how far a flashlight’s beam can be seen or even have the students practice Morse Code.
Rating: 4/5📗📗📗📗
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*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.
Carina Felina
by Carmen Agra Deedy (Author), Henry Cole (Illustrator)
Publisher : Scholastic Press
Year : 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 1338749161
Brief summary: Pepe the parrot loves Carina Felina, the cat. He invites her to his house for dinner, where he has made 100 Cuban crackers. Carina Felina ate them all and Pepe! The greedy and narcissistic cat goes through the town, eating and eating everyone she comes across. Will they ever get out of the cat’s belly?
Comments: This is a Caribbean retelling of “The Cat and the Parrot”. There are some Spanish words in the story with a pronunciation key in the back and the recipe for Pepe’s Cuban Crackers.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Grandpa and the Kingfisher
by Anna Wilson (Author), Sarah Massini (Illustrator)
Publisher : Nosy Crow
Year : 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8887770178
Brief summary: A young boy and his grandpa visit the river in the spring and discover a kingfisher diving in the water to catch a fish. They come back in the summer to find two kingfishers building a nest.
The boy and his grandfather keep coming to the river over the seasons, watching the birds’ life cycle.
The boy asks questions about the birds while the man answers, paralleling his life.
Comments: This story does talk about death and how nature continues but gently and matter-of-factly so that children can understand.
Wonderful watercolor illustrations.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Colorful Mondays: A Bookmobile Spreads Hope in Honduras (Stories from Latin America)
by Nelson Rodríguez (Author), Leonardo Agustín Montes (Author), Rosana Faría (Illustrator), Carla Tabora (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
Publisher : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 36 pages
ISBN-10 : 0802856160
Brief summary: Luis lives in Villa Nueva, Honduras, and prefers sharing happy stories with his friends and neighbors to take their minds off unhappiness. He is good at storytelling and likes to retell stories. Monday is when the bookmobile comes for the Hour of the Chochororochochochó, where the bookmobile comes to share stories and books. Luis repeats the stories he has heard with his family.
Comments: The back pages tell the factual story of JustWorld International. This would be a wonderful book for children to learn about how other cultures learn about storytelling and books.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.
Baller Ina
by Liz Casal (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers
Year : 2023
Grades: Prek-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593567099
Brief summary: Ina loves to practice her ballet steps. She changes into her high tops to play basketball, using the steps she has learned in ballet class.
Comments: This is an upbeat book on how athletes can use skills from one sport to another.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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The Baddies
by Julia Donaldson (Author), Axel Scheffler (Illustrator)
Publisher : Scholastic Press
Year : 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1339009064
Brief summary: A troll, ghost, and witch are baddies who enjoy being bad and bragging about it. A girl moves into a nearby cottage. The baddies devise different ways to scare her but are unsuccessful as she shows them kindness and understanding.
Comments: Young readers will enjoy the humorous story.
This is the author of the two books Room on the Broom and The Gruffalo.
This was originally printed in the UK in 2022.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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Together We Swim
by Valerie Bolling (Author), Kaylani Juanita (Illustrator)
Publisher : Chronicle Books
Year: 2023
Grades: Toddlers-K
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1797212494
Brief summary: A toddler learns to swim in the pool with the reassurance of his mother and father when he fails and the praise when he accomplishes the steps to swimming without help.
Comments: I recommend this book for preschool and kindergarten teachers looking for fun rhythmic and rhyming text that young readers will enjoy saying aloud.
Perseverance and reassurance after failing a task can lead to success.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Wepa
by J de laVega (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Lil’ Libros; Bilingual edition
Year : 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1948066548
Brief summary: Besides being intelligent, Mia likes to be creative and fashionable but has some things she does not do well. Her Mami says she has too much wepa. Mia tries ballet, hoping to get some of the wepa out, but it does not work. She finally finds an avenue where she releases her wepa.
Comments: According to dictionary.com, wepa means “a Spanish slang used to convey excitement, congratulations, and joy, similar to the English Oh yeah!, Wow!, or That’s awesome!“
The author shares that everyone in her family has ADHD.
This is a bilingual English-Spanish picture book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Queen of Chess: How Judit Polgár Changed the Game
by Laurie Wallmark (Author), Stevie Lewis (Illustrator)
Brief summary: Judit and her sisters were trained by their parents to play chess. They competed, with Judit being the youngest. She won junior tournaments against adults. Judit and her family went to the USA, where she competed in games against adults and won. Her goal was to become the youngest grandmaster. She returned to Budapest to study and became the national champion of Hungary. Will Judit’s chess journey lead her to her goal?
Comments: The back pages include Timeline and The Mathematics of Chess.
This is an inspirational story of encouragement, hard work, and perseverance.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (Stories from Latin America)
by Irene Vasco (Author), Juan Palomino (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
Publisher : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-5
Hardcover picture book: 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0802856179
Brief summary: A young teacher is given her first teaching assignment in Las Delicias, in the middle of the jungle in the Amazon. She brings her many books on an eventful four-day journey to the new school, a straw roof with a blackboard against a tree trunk.
She begins teaching and sharing her books for the students to take home. One morning, the children ran by the school, urging her that a great serpent was coming. They must get to higher ground. The serpent does come, destroying everything, including her precious books.
A few days later, around a fire, the women began to share legends from the squares of white fabric they had been embroidering and making into cloth books. The students translated the words for the teacher. Over time, the teacher learned the language of Las Delicias and how to embroider. She decided to stay.
Comments: Young readers will stay interested in the curiosity of how this young teacher’s journey unfolds.
I kept wondering where I would have been sent to teach. I’m thankful I was able to choose myself.
Wouldn’t this be an excellent book to share on a teachers’ professional development day?
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.
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.
The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
Children’s Book Titles A to G
All By Myself
by Stephanie Shaw (Author), Emilie Gill (Illustrator)
Publisher : Peachtree
Year: 2023
Ages: Prek-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1682634876
Brief summary: Hen refuses help from Pig, Horse, and Cow as she struggles to carry a large flour sack to the wheelbarrow to take home to bake bread. On her way, Hen comes across Fox, who wants to watch her cook. Hen agrees to allow Fox to observe her in the kitchen.
At the end of the day, the three barn animals notice Hen’s footprints, the wheelbarrow marks in the mud, and the footprints of a fox. They hurry to Hen’s cottage to rescue her, predicting the worst.
Comments: This children’s book has the flavor of The Little Red Hen and Henny Penny mixed throughout.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Ancestory: The Mystery and Majesty of Ancient Cave Art
by Hannah Salyer (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Clarion Books
Year: 2023
Grades: 2-6
Hardcover narrative nonfiction picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 0358469848
Brief summary: This narrative nonfiction picture book explains to young readers when and how our ancestors created ancient cave art all over the world.
Comments: Nonfiction text features help explain the materials used to make the art, when it occurred, and where. Although the illustrations were detailed, I would have liked photos of the most famous art cave drawings.
This book is a good choice for an art teacher and school librarian lesson collaboration. The librarian could teach how to research online for art cave drawings, and the art teach could help students creating their own modern art cave drawings.
The back sections include Site Map, A Story Within a Story: The Rediscovery of the Lascaux Caves, Author’s Note, Words to Know, Time Line, and Resources for Further Reading and Investigation.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Animals in Pants
by Suzy Levinson (Author), Kevin Howdeshell (Illustrator), Kristen Howdeshell (Illustrator)
Publisher : Harry N. Abrams
Year: 2023
Ages: PreK-3
Hardcover nonfiction picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1951836626
Brief summary: Short rhyming poetry about various animals wearing different types of pants that fit their personalities.
Comments: Cute and humorous verses and illustrations that will amuse young readers.
It’s nice to see a silly book to make young readers laugh.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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The Bee Without Wings
by Amberlea Williams (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Princeton Architectural Press
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1797222503
Brief summary: Sasha is out in her garden and notices a bee without wings. The girl decides to help the insect become more robust and live in a safe environment. She calls it Bea, and they have a good time together until Winter comes along. Sasha honors her friend in the spring.
Comments: Lovely large illustrations. It’s a nice story about empathy, friendship, and death.
The back sections are Care for Early Spring Bees and Create Your Own Bee-Friendly Garden.
Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗
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Bunso Meets a Mumu
by Rev Valdez (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Paw Prints
Year: 2023
Grades: 1-3
Hardcover picture book: 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 1223186393
Brief summary: Bunso is having trouble with a Mumu, a ghost, who is taking all of the fun out of the boy’s life. Bunso comes up with a plan to catch it even though he is scared. His plan succeeds in capturing the supernatural creature but with a few consequences.
Comment: The illustrations have a comic and cartoon feel with large words and figures. Tagalog terms are sprinkled throughout the book.
I enjoyed learning about the Filipino version of the Boogeyman that adults use to tell children for them to behave. I hope that Rev Valdez does more picture books with Filipino lore.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Chef Edna: Queen of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis
by Melvina Noel (Author), Cozbi A. Cabrera (Illustrator)
Publisher : Harry N. Abrams
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
BiographyHardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1951836391
Brief summary: Edna Regina Lewis grew up on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, where she learned to cook southern dishes from Mama Daisy. Edna’s father passed away, requiring the teenager to work to help her mother and five siblings. At 15, she left for New York to find work to send money home. She had dinners for her friends, cooking the Southern dishes she had learned. They were so successful that she co-owned a restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan featuring the flavors and dishes she knew in Virginia.
Comments: The back sections are Author’s Note, and Edna’s “Biscuits for Two or Three”. The illustrations of this book are large and bright, really bringing the story to life.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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Cicada Symphony
by Sue Fliess (Author), Gareth Lucas (Illustrator)
Publisher : Albert Whitman & Company
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-5
Hardcover nonfiction picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 0807511617
Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the interesting life cycle of a cicada and what they do in each life stage.
Comments: This children’s book has large rhyming text and smaller detailed text on the pages.
I believe it would be a good one to share with younger kids as a read-aloud with just the larger text and possibly choosing to share more details of each illustration if there is time or interest.
Or. After reading the large text, I would do a book teaser and suggest they learn more about this extraordinary insect by checking out the book and reading the smaller detailed text.
Large two-page spreads. The back pages include a cicada’s life cycle, a glossary, an author’s note, and a detailed insect parts diagram.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series
by Traci Sorell (Author), Arigon Starr (Illustrator)
Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the life and careers of two Native American baseball legends, Charles Albert and John Tortes Meyer. They excelled despite racist remarks from the newspapers and fans.
Comments: The back section includes other Native American baseball players from the past and present. There is an Author’s Note and Time Line.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Dear Earth
by Isabel Otter (Author), Clara Anganuzzi (Illustrator)
Publisher : Tiger Tales
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1664300147
Brief summary: Tessa writes a letter to Earth highlighting and celebrating all its beauty. She enjoys all of the habitats and creatures.
Comments: This text is uplifting. The back sections include If You Want to Know More… and Get Involved!
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Eat Your Superpowers!: How Colorful Foods Keep You Healthy and Strong
by Toni Buzzeo (Author), Serge Bloch (Illustrator)
Publisher : Rise x Penguin Workshop
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover nonfiction picture book: 80 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593522958
Brief summary: Young readers will learn how fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables help different body parts.
Comments: I loved this book! It is so informative and done humorously. The book is in sections by the color of the food. Meat is not included. The bottom of the page lists if the food is rich in vitamins, nutrients, etc. The back sections are Food Options and Body Chart.
This children’s book is a cross between a picture book and a board book. The pages are cardstock.
Where was this book when I was a kid? It is an excellent addition to home, school, and public libraries.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗 1/2
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Forever Our Home
by Tonya Simpson (Author), Carla Joseph (Illustrator)
Publisher : Orca Book Publishers
Year: 2023
Grades: Prek-2
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1459835638
Brief summary: This is a beautiful and touching lullaby honoring the prairie plants and animals while connecting them to the sacred spirit of the land to where the child and mother belong.
Comments: Illustrations are with acrylics and truly capture the Ingenious children enjoying the nature around them.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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by Vivian French (Author), Ya-Ling Huang (Illustrator)
Publisher : Candlewick
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover narrative nonfiction picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1536225118
Brief summary: Zane sends Anna an invitation to come over, including a map. Anna decides to try to make her own map with the help of her father, who explains different types of maps and what various symbols mean on them.
Comments: An elementary introduction to maps with simple explanations that young readers are able to understand.
Rating 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Girl Who Heard the Music: How One Pianist and 85,000 Bottles and Cans Brought New Hope to an Island
by Marni Fogelson (Author), Mahani Teave, Marta Álvarez Miguéns (Illustrator)
Brief summary: Mahani heard music wherever she walked on Rapa Nui(Easter Island). She enjoyed it when visitors came and played music but had none of those instruments herself. There wasn’t a piano on the island until a music teacher visited and gave Mahani lessons on playing. A visiting Chilean pianist visited the island as well and encouraged her to leave the island to study music. Although it was hard to leave Rapa Nui, she did and became a famous pianist playing all around the world.
She returned home and joined a team to build a music school. Using the garbage coming to the island by the ocean, they created an Earthship, a structure built with natural and recycled materials with renewable energy sources and roofs designed to collect rainwater for gardens. It was a success.
Comments: This book’s story is about music, upcycling, and island life and could fit in several units. I enjoyed learning about the pianist’s life and how she came back to help others from her island enjoy music.
Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗
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Gloria’s Promise (American Ballet Theatre): A Ballet Dancer’s First Step
by Robin Preiss Glasser (Author), Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman (Author)
Brief summary: Gloria wants to be in the summer program at the American Ballet Theatre School. She auditions for the opportunity to be in the class, but it does not go as well as she planned.
Comments: A story of persistence towards perfecting an artistic talent. This is an inspirational children’s book for young readers.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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God, Right Here: Meeting God in the Changing Seasons
by Kara Lawler (Author), Jennie Poh (Illustrator)
Publisher : IVP Kids (June 20, 2023)
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1514006596
Brief summary: Young readers will learn how God is in Nature all around us through all four seasons.
Comments: The lovely illustrations align with the text, sharing the peace and harmony one goes through in each season.
I especially liked the different color palettes used with each season and how the fonts and styles matched the emotion being emphasized. Clever. This book’s mood and message is positive and uplifting. I hope to see more books from this duo.
*I received a complimentary print book copy of this children’s book from the publisher to review, and I’m so glad. I was a child who found God through Nature and enjoyed this book’s positive and beautiful message.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
Children’s books 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. The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
H-R
I Hope You Will Know
by Jaren Ahlmann (Author), Pete Olczyk (Illustrator)
Publisher : The Collective Book Studio
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1951412982
Brief summary: While a father and child snuggle, a father gives thirteen wisdoms wishes for his child for the future.
Comments: Done in rhyming couplets.
A sweet bedtime story or a nice gift for a child attending school, college, or an important milestone.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine: Josephine Cochrane’s Bright Invention Makes a Splash
by Kate Hannigan (Author), Sarah Green (Illustrator)
Brief summary: Josephine Cochrane was tired of spending so much time washing dishes while wanting to do more exciting things in her household. Plus, her dishes were getting chipped. After several tries, she came up with the dishwasher and patented it.
Her invention was used in hotels, hospitals, restaurants, and other places with high quantities of dishwashing. Thankfully, she was also able to invent a small dishwasher to be used in homes.
Comments: The back sections are Author’s Note (with a photo of the dishwashing machine, patented on Dec. 28, 1886), Notable Women Inventors, and Timeline of Fascinating Inventions.
This is an excellent addition to any library for learning about inventions.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Jump In!
by Shadra Strickland (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1619635801
Brief summary: Various members of the community join in and show their moves as they share the fun of Double Dutch jump roping on a spring day.
Comments: Fun and lively illustrations made me want to jump in and do Double Dutch skipping myself.
Several foldouts.
This book has many ways that it can be shared in a school. I can see this book being read by a PE teacher before a lesson on jump roping. Or a classroom teacher could share it with a short video demonstration before taking the students outside to try it. I can even see this book shared in music class to help students learn the rhythm and rhymes of Double Dutch chants.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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A Llama Is Not an Alpaca: And Other Mistaken Animal Identities
by Karen Jameson (Author), Lorna Scobie (Illustrator)
Publisher : Running Press Kids
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
ISBN-10 : 0762478780
Hardcover nonfiction picture book : 32 pages
Brief summary: Readers are asked if they know the name of a pair of two animals that are similar in looks.
Comments: This book teaches how to look at specific traits to identify an animal.
I even learned the difference between crocodiles and alligators which I never knew before reading this book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Mind-Blowing World of Extraordinary Competitions: Meet the Incredible People Who Will Compete at ANYTHING
by Anna Goldfield (Author), Neon Squid (Author), Hannah Riordan (Illustrator)
Publisher : Neon Squid
Year: 2023
Grades: 3-6
Hardcover nonfiction children’s book : 80 pages
ISBN-10 : 1684492866
Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the exciting stories of some of the most unusual competitions of humankind from ancient times to now.
Comments: I learned about competitions I never knew existed before reading this fascinating book. Ripley’s Believe it Or Not and Guinness World Record fans will love this children’s book.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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My Elephant is Blue
by Melinda Szymanik (Author), Vasanti Unka (Illustrator)
Publisher : Flyaway Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1947888412
Brief summary: A young child has a blue elephant sitting on him and rides on his back wherever he goes. His family tries different things to make the elephant go away. The child and elephant decide to walk together to see if that will make them feel less of the weight of sadness that has been with them. Soon, the elephant changes colors and does not weigh as much.
Comments: This children’s book is about being sad and not really knowing what to do about it except acknowledging it and later figuring out what will work to make you feel happier in your own time. This is not a “heavy” book, thanks to the use of humor and empathy.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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No Horses in the House!: The Audacious Life of Artist Rosa Bonheur
by Mireille Messier (Author), Anna Bron (Illustrator)
Brief summary: Rosa Bonheur loved to draw animals. In France in 1829, Rosa would go around the city drawing animals all day even though her mother wanted her to learn to read. Her mother was finally able to teach her daughter how by having the girl make each letter into an animal.
Because Rosa was not good at the skills traditionally taught to young girls, like sewing, cooking, gardening, and so on, her father decided to teach his daughter about art like he did with his sons. Rosa loved to draw horses but was dragged out of the market several times as it was not considered ladylike.
She even dressed like a boy to sneak in and draw. She was finally given permission to go to the market and draw and paint horses. Her paintings were exhibited, and she became famous for being a realistic painter.
Comments: The back sections of this children’s book are Author’s Note and Rosa Bonheur Milestones.
I like stories like this that remind and teach what privileges and rights we have now and to understand what a person’s life was like about two hundred years ago without them.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Ode to a Bad Day
by Chelsea Lin Wallace (Author), Hyewon Yum (Artist)
Publisher : Chronicle Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 1797210807
Brief summary: A child’s day begins with mushy cereal, not finding comfortable clothing, and hurrying to get to school. The rest of the day has little mishaps all adding up. Hoping for a better day as hers falls apart, she continues making odes with each incident.
Comments: This children’s book would make an excellent choice to read to young readers to encourage perseverance and hope to get through a difficult day because tomorrow’s could be fantastic.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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One Chicken Nugget
by Tadgh Bentley (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Balzer + Bray
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0062689827
Brief summary: Frank loves to eat chick nuggets from Celeste’s food truck but doesn’t pay for them and scares everyone away. Celeste went to the library and did a little research, coming up with a plan based on the Indian folktale of Sissa to solve her problem with the monster.
Comments: Young readers will enjoy the silliness of the monster and the hilarious illustrations while trying to guess just how many chicken nuggets Frank can eat.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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All reading books 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. The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
S-Z
The Seasons Within Me
by Bianca Pozzi (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Rise x Penguin Workshop
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593522915
Brief summary: A young girl feels sad and alone as though it is raining on her and realizes no one is noticing. The child tells her mother and is consoled with the hope of feeling better soon. On her way home from school, she meets a dog that matches her rain. The girl cares for the dog, and they become friends, both feeling happier.
Comments: This children’s book is a lovely metaphor for feeling sad.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Sometimes, a Tiger
by Z.B. Asterplume (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Feiwel & Friends
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250823447
Brief summary: Dario wakes to another morning without a good breakfast but uses his imagination to bring a tiger to school. Soon, other students use their imagination to create something exciting and different.
Dario walks home in the rain with his friends, parting ways when it is his home. They return later in the day with food for his family’s pantry.
Comments: This would be an excellent book to share before a school can/food drive.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Spicy Spicy Hot!
by Lenny Wen (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0316281026
Brief summary: Lintang ‘s grandma, Nenek, is flying in from Indonesia to meet her for the first time. Nenek teaches her granddaughter how to make sambal, which is too hot for her granddaughter to enjoy. After several different variants, Nenek creates one with mango that is just right.
Comments: Young readers will learn about different peppers and how to make sambal using the recipe in the back of this children’s book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054
by James Gladstone (Author), Yaara Eshet (Illustrator)
Publisher : Owlkids
Year: 2023
Grades: 1-4
Hardcover nonfiction picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 177147498X
Brief summary: A distant star exploded and was seen by earthlings in 1054. It was called a guest star(later called Supernova 1054). It faded. Over the centuries, astronomers have studied it through the eye of telescopes, realizing it had changed to a nebula, a large cloud of gas and dust. It is now called the Crab Nebula.
Comments: In this children’s book, there are three back sections called What is a Supernova?, Supernova 1054, and The Crab Nebula.
I thought this would make a great beginning understanding of supernovas and how they change over time.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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The Stars (Aldana Libros)
by Jacques Goldstyn (Author), Helen Mixter (Translator)
Publisher : Greystone Kids
Year: 2023
Grades: 2-5
Hardcover graphic novel: 72 pages
ISBN-10 : 1771649194
Brief summary: Yakov(Orthodox Jewish) meets a girl, Aicha(Muslim), in his neighborhood. Both are passionate about the stars and share their interest when meeting in a park. They watch the stars together one night when her hijab slips down, revealing her beautiful hair.
Her father sees this and bans them from seeing one another. The two parents argue about their children not seeing each other ever again. Many years later, the boy and girl encounter one another at an international astronomy conference. Will they talk to one another?
Comments: A Romeo and Juliet type of story. The illustrations are vignettes, comic frames, and regular text styles.
Some libraries have this in the picture book area, while others have it in the graphic novel section.
This is an English translation.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Stuck in the Middle: A Story About Separation (Difficult Conversations)
by Tom Tinn-Disbury (Author, Illustator)
Publisher : DK Children
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 0744080282
Brief summary: Tilly lives in a beautiful area and enjoys playing in it, except that her Mommy lives on one Mountain and her Daddy lives on another. Each week, she must climb down one mountain with one of her parents and up another to be with the other parent. It was leaving her very tired, and she wanted to use the bridge in the middle that connects the two mountains but was told that the bridge was too dangerous with fog or too wobbly.
Tilly decides one night to go and fix the bridge. The parents come together and learn how to repair that bridge to make crossing easier for their daughter.
Comments: There is a Guide for Grown-Ups page in the back of the book. This is Tom Tin-Disbury’s second children’s book of the Difficult Conversations series.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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by Nicole Melleby (Author), Alexandra Colombo (Illustrator)
Publisher : Algonquin Young Readers (February 7, 2023)
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 164375095X
Summary: Sunny does not like cats, especially the one her father brought home called Oswaldo. She tried to play with it and pet the cat, but they did not get along. She was glad that Oswaldo would leave for the day but always returned in the evening. The cat adored her father. The cat did not return one day, making her father very sad. Sunny tells her father that the cat is mean, and her father explains the cat’s history, helping the young girl understand the cat’s emotions and actions. The cat returns, and a new perspective allows Sunny to care for the cat too.
Comments: A story of understanding and empathy towards another. Social and emotional learning.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Swing
by Britta Teckentrup (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Prestel Junior
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-3
Hardcover : 160 pages
ISBN-10 : 3791375369
Brief summary: A swing sits by the sea and is shared by many people. Seasons come and go. The narrator shares the many reasons people visit the swing: to make big decisions, to just play, for reflection, and so on. These people grow older, and sometimes, some new people discover the swing. The swing was deserted for a while, and vegetation covered it until a group came and repainted and cut away the weeds so that others could enjoy it again.
Comments: Beautiful illustrations that calmly examine the passing of time. Some things change; some do not.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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This Art Is for the Birds
by Susan Bednarski (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Kind World Publishing
Year: 2023
Grades: Prek-3
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1638940185
Brief summary: Alex is not like the other birds in the neighborhood. He likes to collect things and combine them to create mobiles and accessories for his pals. He and his friends decide to take his creations to the art museum. Will the establishment accept art from a crow? Will they love and appreciate them as much as his four pigeon friends?
Comments: Whimsical text with puns. Some speech bubbles. Watercolor and ink illustrations.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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The Umbrella
by Beth Ferry (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)
Publisher : Clarion Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 48 pages
ISBN-10 : 0358447720
Brief summary: The walk to the school bus stop is soaking wet as they wait and does not let up after a day of school or when getting home. A girl and her dog need to walk despite the weather. They come across an antique store with a yellow umbrella for free. They run home with it, unaware that it is falling apart as they go.
It continues to rain and rain. The girl and the dog go on a walk and discover something magical has happened to make the sun come back out.
Comments: The illustrations are what I believe a picture book is all about in telling a story. The grays are the only color seen until the umbrella is bought.
The words rhyme and are ones that a young reader can read and relate to in their world.
The text and illustrations complement one another in portraying this humorous story of sharing and fun in the rain.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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Welcome, Rain!
by Sheryl McFarlane (Author), Christine Wei (Illustrator
Publisher : Greystone Kids
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture books : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1771646950
Brief summary: A young girl talks to the rain as she walks through the spring, observing how it provides puddles, worms to come out of the ground, and helps the plants grow. Then, it rains a lot, so the little girl says they have enough. Summer comes, and it is hot with little rain. The autumn leaves fall, and the grass is brown. She is glad that it rains again and asks for snow.
Comments: Each season with rain in it(or not so much) is addressed in this children’s book. I’d pair this with seasons or the water cycle units of study.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike
by Dashka Slater (Author), Laura Hughes (Illustrator)
Publisher : Candlewick
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book: 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1536215678
Brief summary: Kayla’s dad believes his daughter has outgrown her bike with training wheels(Pink Pony) and is ready to learn how to ride a bigger bike without the extra help(Wild Blue, horse). Kayla gets bucked off Wild Blue several times, and her father encourages her to get back in the saddle.
Comments: The metaphor of her bike as a horse using equine language is clever. Book of encouragement, grit, and perseverance.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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The Yellow Áo Dài
by Hanh Bui (Author), Minnie Phan (Illustrator)
Publisher : Feiwel & Friends
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250842069
Brief summary: Naliah planned to perform the Fan Dance, the same one her mother learned from her grandmother in Vietnam, on International Day at school, but found that her ao dai was too tight. She went to her mother’s closet to see if any of her mother’s ao dais fit. As she practiced the fan dance, she tore it.
Naliah’s mother presented her with a unique yellow ao dai to wear. The young girl confesses to her mother that she tore the yellow one in the closet and learns about the history of it.
Comments: This children’s book is a lovely story of tradition and remembering our ancestors.
Rating 3/5 📗📗📗
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by Russell Miller (Author), Judith A. Proffer (Author)
Publisher : Meteor 17 Books (April 4, 2023)
Year: 2023
Grades: Babies-2nd grade
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1957317043
Brief summary: An adorable tribute to Broadway with a baby dreaming of dancing and singing on stage. Baby shares about opening night, getting ready in the dressing room, and reviewing lines before going on stage.
The rhyming text is fun and exciting. The illustrations are bright and full of detail.
Comments: A cute bedtime story for babies and toddlers or the perfect gift for any music or drama teacher.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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*It should be noted that this a complimentary book sent to me for an honest review.
All Your Tomorrows
by Harriet Evans (Author), Heidi Griffiths (Illustrator)
Publisher : Tiger Tales (February 14, 2023)
Year: 2023
Ages: Babies-2nd grade
Hardcover : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1664300139
Brief summary: A mother and father hold their baby and bestow upon the child all their hopes and dreams for the newborn’s future. Readers are taken upon the parents’ wishes as the child grows with bright, beautiful, and pleasant illustrations with many two-page spreads. Gentle, lyrical text.
Comments: What a lovely book for babies and toddlers at bedtime.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Full Moon Pups
by Liz Garton Scanlon (Author), Chuck Groenink (Illustrator)
Publisher : G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (April 25, 2023)
Year: 2023
Ages: Toddler-2nd grade
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0525514554
Brief summary: In rhyming text and gentle rhythm, a mother wolf gives birth to her pups in a cave under a full moon. The mom and pack care for the babies as they grow during the moon’s cycle.
Comments: Lovely illustrations include gouache, acrylics, pencils, oil pastels, and digital media. The back pages include Author’s Note and The Phases of the Moon.
I suggest sharing this with primary grades during a baby animal or moon cycle unit of study.
Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗
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Little Walrus
by Julie Abery (Author), Suzie Mason (Illustrator)
Publisher : Amicus Ink (March 14, 2023)
Year: 2023
Ages: Baby-Toddler
Hardcoverboard book picture book : 20 pages
ISBN-10 : 1681528711
Brief summary: Little Walrus plays near his mom and the herd of walruses while exploring his world.
Comments: The rhyming of verbs in each line is one I don’t often see, and I found it refreshing. Couplet rhyming as well. Illustrations are large and with all two-page spreads.
This is one of the adorable cute series of baby animals called the Little Animal Friends.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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One Day
by Joanna Ho (Author), Faith Pray (Illustrator)
Publisher : HarperCollins (March 14, 2023)
Year: 2023
Ages: Baby to 2nd grade
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0063056925
Brief summary: A mother cradles her infant son and dreams and shares all the wonderful ways her boy will be as he grows up.
by Stacey May Fowles (Author), Marie Lafrance (Illustrator)
Publisher : Groundwood Books
Date: 2023
Grade: K-3
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1773066617
Brief summary: Fern opens her mailbox and pulls out a yellow letter, too worried to open it until her friend, Fawn, encourages her to see what’s inside. It is an invitation to a surprise exhibition, but Fern does not want to go due to all of the things she imagines could go wrong. Fern goes to the museum’s special exhibition with the help of her friends who help tame her anxiety.
Comments: This could be a nice class discussion after reading this aloud. “How can we help someone who we see is afraid?” “What can you do if you have something you are afraid of, like Fern did?”
I would share this with the guidance counselor to read to those students experiencing anxiety.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Dear Street
by Lindsay Zier-Vogel (Author), Caroline Bonne-Muller (Illustrator)
Publisher : Kids Can Press (May 2, 2023)
Year: 2023
Grade: K-3
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1525303104
Brief summary: Alice loves her street, but only some do, making her think of writing a letter about what she loves about it and placing that letter for someone to find. She continues her letter writing whenever she hears someone complaining. Soon, others are too.
Comments: The author created The Love Lettering Project, which encourages people to anonymously write love letters and leave them for strangers to find, spreading the love.
Rating: 3.5/5📗📗📗 1/2
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Brief summary: Gigi had to move away from her grandmother and misses her terribly. Her grandma tells her, “I’m close to you from far away.” Over the school year, whenever Gigi spoke to her grandma over the phone or when she wrote letters or received letters and packages, she tried to understand this saying.
Comments: I can see this being a lovely read-aloud with the children saying the “I’m close to you from far away” sentence in red capital letters on several pages in the book.
Loved the facial expressions of the grandmother and daughter throughout the book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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*(This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).
Brief summary: Everything one would like to know about the Australian Reefs. This picture book has two-page illustrations for each letter that are bright and detailed.
Comments: This could be a group read-aloud sharing the large print, or it can be an individual reading of the more specific facts in small fonts that explain the many details of plants and marine life on each page.
4/5 📗📗📗📗
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A Is for Ambitious (Ambitious Girl, 2)
by Meena Harris (Author), Marissa Valdez (Illustrator)
Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 031635449X
Brief summary: ABCs of descriptive words of empowerment. Aimed towards girls. A “stand up and go for what you believe in” type of book. Inspirationally driven.
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B Is for Bananas
by Carrie Tillotson (Author), Estrela Lourenço (Illustrator)
Publisher : Flamingo Books
Year: 2023
Grades: Prek-1
Hardcover picture book : 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593528069
Brief summary: Banana does not want to go to bed and makes “B” for banana instead of bedtime. Banana gets tired after going through the alphabet and changing or adding words.
Comments: Cute, humorous bedtime story.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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B My Name Is Boy: A Song of Celebration from Australia to Zimbabwe
by Dawn Masi (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593487125
Brief summary: Twenty-six boys share their name, someone else they know, their country, and a verb, all in alliteration.
Comments: It would be a fun activity for students to copy the book’s style by developing the alliterations with their own names and then sharing them with others.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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If you enjoy this one, there is a companion book titled G My Name is Girl, 2021.
Playful Pigs from A to Z
by Anita Lobel (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK -1
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 1534495037
Brief summary: Twenty-six pigs come across a field full of letters. Each pig finds the letter matching its name. In the evening, they all return to their pen.
Comments: Each letter is paired with a pig’s name and a verb. The pages have capital letters across the top, with small case letters on the bottom of each page.
Originally printed in 2015.
Rating 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Alphabuddies: G Is First!
by Beth Bacon (Author), Karen Kane (Author), Eric Barclay (Illustrator).
Publisher : HarperCollins
Year: 2023
Grades: PreK-2
Hardcover picture book : 40 pages
ISBN-10 : 006305597X
Brief summary: “G” wants to be first in the alphabet song, but “A” argues it will mess up reading. The letters experiment to see if this statement is true or not.
Comments: Humorous. Speech bubbles. Individual frames or multi-panels like a graphic novel. Large letters and words.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Alphabet Board Books
My First Brain Quest ABCs: A Question-and-Answer Book
by Workman Publishing (Author).
Publisher : Workman Publishing Company
Date: 2023
Ages: Baby-3
Board book : 26 pages
ISBN-10 : 1523514124
Brief summary: Each letter has a noun and a matching alliteration with three questions at the bottom of the page about the page to encourage more conversation. Capital and small letters are featured. Bright colors. One letter per page.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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If you enjoy this book, there are other My First Brain Quest books in the series by Workman Publishing.
P Is for Pirate
by Greg Paprocki (Author, Illustrator)
Publisher : BabyLit
Year: 2023
Ages: Baby-3
Board book picture book: 32 pages
ISBN-10 : 1423661532
Brief summary: This board book ABC book is all about pirates and sea jargon. Unique illustrations in the mid-1900s style.
Comments: I could tell immediately it was a Greg Paprocki ABC book. He has several others in this cool artistic style.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
A is for Aretha
by Leslie Kwan (Author), Rachelle Baker (Illustrator)
Publisher : Kokila
Year: 2023
Ages: Baby-3
Board book picture book : 26 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593406532
Brief summary: Twenty-six black female musicians with a brief explanation of their accomplishments.
Comments: I learned a few I was not aware of too. Illustrated with their portrait and colorful background. I’m unsure how much a baby or toddler could understand, but an excellent source for introducing female musicians and vocabulary.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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My First ABC Animal Book (Happy Fox Books)
by Editors of Happy Fox Books (Author)
Publisher : Happy Fox Books
Year: 2023
Ages: Baby-3
Board book picture book : 28 pages
ISBN-10 : 1641242973
Brief summary: An animal alphabet book illustrated with photographs. Big and small letters. The back has all the animals, and the child is asked if they know them.
Brief summary: As a girl, Patricia Polacco’s family moves from Union City to Battle Creek, Michigan. It is hard for her to adjust from living in a rural area.
One day she walks home from school, taking a different route, and discovers a stately building with giant pillars along the front with many steps leading up to a porch. It is the Willard Library and full of books for people to borrow. Mrs. Creavy, a librarian, helps Patricia find bird books and even shares the notable books of John James Audubon, full of watercolors of birds.
Soon, Patricia paints birds and shares them with her class. This sparks an Audubon bird club at Fremont Elementary School for the next sixty years.
I will always recommend a book by Patricia Polacco, as she is one of the best storytellers and illustrators in the USA. I was honored to have her as a guest author for our elementary school. I will always cherish having lunch with this legendary author and illustrator that day in our little elementary library.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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Our Incredible Library Book (and the wonderful journeys it took)
by Caroline Crowe (Author), John Joseph (Illustrator). Publisher : Floris Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 1782507418.
Brief summary: Readers will learn about a library book’s adventures into several children’s homes.
In rhyming text. This book was first published in the UK.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Mikayla and Drew take out books from the library and read about things that don’t make sense. Should they believe everything they read? The children suddenly understand when they return their books.
Cute story. It could be used to start a research project to demonstrate why it is essential to check the facts.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Pearl, an anglerfish, reads her book in the depth of the sea but is constantly interrupted. Looking for personal space, she swims down into the abyssal zone, where it is tranquil, and she can finish her book. Lonely, she returns to the twilight zone.
The illustrations were in shades of blues with the various fish in other colors and often two-page spreads. Speech bubbles mixed with traditional text.
Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗
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This Is a Story
by John Schu (Author), Lauren Castillo (Illustrator). Publisher: Candlewick. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-1536204520.
Brief summary: The title page begins this story with a girl receiving a library card from her father.
A little girl walks to the library with her father and younger sibling. She goes into the children’s section carrying a seahorse kite, where a librarian helps her narrow her search from many of the books to the perfect one–a sea horse library book. She begins to read. Other readers in the area are reading books we all know and love that are connected to our hearts and imagination.
The child has found her special library book and now helps her younger brother find his. She proudly uses her library card to check out.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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by Robin Robinson (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-1665906814.
Brief summary: Two best friends, Sunny and Aarush, want to check out the same library book, Factory Friends, but there is only one copy. They each try to persuade the other why the book is their best friend and needs it more. Having failed at trying to book talk each other into other books to check out instead, they realize how to share the library book.
I recommend this book to school librarians who have students fighting over a book, as I have had many times in my school libraries. (They did not always share, so I had a big die on my desk. The one who rolled the highest number could read it first).
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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The Library Fish Learns to Read (The Library Fish Books)
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Author), Gladys Jose (Illustrator). Publisher : Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. PreK-2. 2023. Hardcover. ISBN-13 : 978-1534477070.
Brief summary: Library Fish lives in a bowl on the librarian’s desk, Mr. Hughes, where she watches the students check books in and out of the public library. One day, she is listening to Mr. Hughes tell a story about a dog learning how to read and is inspired that she, too, would like to learn to read.
After the librarian says good night, Library Fish gets out of her bowl (with special accommodations) and begins to teach herself the ABCs. Each night she practices until she can read books.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).
Brief summary: The kindergartners of 2B arrive on the first day of school to find a missing teacher. Their first clue is the desk has a ruler, a steaming cup of coffee, and a giant sandwich. They notice “Mr. S” has been written on the chalkboard. They wonder if their teacher could be Mr. Sandwich. They immediately create an alphabet of different sandwiches. They continue their day doing school-related activities without the supervision of an adult. Suddenly, the door opens, and a man hurries inside the classroom. Is this their teacher?
This was one of my favorite back-to-school books. Great mystery. A subplot is also going on in the window frame throughout the story. Clever. Well done. I can’t wait to read more imaginative stories like this from Monica Arnaldo.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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9 Kilometers (Stories from Latin America)
by Claudio Aguilera (Author), Gariela Lyon (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator). Publisher : Eerdmans Books for Young. 2023. Grades 1-4. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 0802856004.
Brief summary: A young Chilean student begins his nine-kilometer walk to school in the darkness of dawn while counting his steps and animals he sees along the way.
Young readers will follow his journey as he goes under a barbed-wired fence, through a forest, across a river, etc., until he is FINALLY to school.
This book could spark some interesting classroom conversations. What was the longest you’ve ever walked? How much is a kilometer? Why did the boy walk so far? Why didn’t a yellow school bus take him? Was it essential for him to go to school? Dangerous?
The back of the book has brief stories of other children worldwide and how they walk to their schools. There is also a section on the birds seen during the boy’s walk.
The front pasted-down end pages have a map of the beginning of the walk, with it continuing onto the back end pages.
Rating: 4.5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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Translated and printed to English in 2023.
Marker
by Anna Kang (Author), Christopher Weyant (Illustrator). Publisher : Two Lions. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 1542039614.
Brief summary: Red Pen welcomes the teacher supplies to getting ready for the first day of school. Pinking Shears is accepted as a new member and is placed in the superpower mug on the desk, displacing Permanent Marker to a canister. The supplies are creating back-to-school posters and lists when Marker, which is always used for the class rules poster, makes a mistake but cannot fix it, causing her anxiety as everyone will see it day after day. Will Red Pen come up with an idea to help everyone realize it’s okay to fail?
What a fun read for the beginning of the school year. Cute illustrations and a humorous storyline will help students with any first-day jitters. I’ll not be looking at the supplies on my desk ever the same.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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If you like this book, you may also enjoy Anna Kang’s Eraser, published in 2018.
And Then Comes School
by Tom Brenner (Author), Jen Hill (Illustrator). Publisher : Candlewick. 2023. PreK-1. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 1536209139.
Brief summary: Two young girls enjoy the last summer days with their friends. A list of school supplies is received. They sort through clothes that are too small, pick up back-to-school supplies, and play on the last day of summer vacation. They prepare for the first day of school by picking out an outfit, filling a backpack, and going to bed, imagining what the first day will bring.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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This is one of the series of And Then Comes by Tom Brenner. I like this series as they share little rituals before a holiday or event that young readers can understand. Nice, lyrical text.
Shy Robin and the First Day of School
by Jaime Kim (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Candlewick. 2023. Hardcover picture book. PreK-1. ISBN-10 : 1536209295
Brief summary: Robin is usually brave and energetic at home but not in public. Her mother gives her a purple headband on the first day of school to help her feel confident.
While at school, Robin notices another student who is also shy and withdrawn and is wearing purple bracelets. After temporarily losing her headband, Marco offers Robin one of his bracelets while they all look for the hair accessory.
This would be a nice back-to-school story to share with preschoolers and kindergartners to let them know that students may feel shy.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Young readers will wake up early with various kids returning to school. Once inside the school, the day begins with introductions, new routines, and friend-making.
This book would be suitable for preschool or kindergartners who have never been to school to get a general idea of what happens on the first day.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Giant-Sized Butterflies On My First Day of School
by Justin Roberts (Author), Paola Escobar (Illustrator). Publisher : G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 0525516433.
Brief summary: A young girl has a nervous stomach going back to school and is reassured by her mother that everything will be okay. The mother shares a time when she had butterflies in her stomach and how she let them go.
Teachers and parents could share this book with students about the first day of school to let them know that sometimes we are nervous doing or going places for the first time.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Mina attends kindergarten and needs help understanding what anyone is saying or asking. Mina hugs the teddy bear and is quiet all day until she returns to her home and tells her mother about her day.
The next day of school, Mina makes a friend with a girl named Ava even though they do not speak. She returns home to tell her mother all about her day at school.
Each day, Mina learns new words and becomes more relaxed. Her dreams parallel her feelings and become more vivid and bright.This German translation from 2020 was published in the USA in 2023.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Back to School, Backpack!
by Simon Rich (Author), Tom Toro (Illustrator). Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 0316628344.
Brief summary: A backpack going back to school has the first day jitters but soon fits in the new environment.
This would be a good book to read during the first day or week of school to help those with any nervousness. Cute and humorous.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Mr. Keene, the principal of Fine Elementary School, loves his school as he strolls through the hallways watching the students drawing, painting, reading, and singing. He immediately has to leave for the hospital. Tillie, one of the students, worries about his recovery.
Mr. Tatters takes over as the principal and notices all of the get-well banners, cards, and artwork the students do for their beloved sick principal and does not like it. He insists that to be a smart, smart school, they must have tests every day that week, causing everyone to have stress and boredom. The students visit their principal at the hospital on Saturday, bringing all their get-well gifts.
Tillie talks to Mr. Keene upon his return on Monday about all the tests. He gathers everyone into an assembly and announces how they will be a smart, smart school again.
What a great book to anonymously leave on each principal’s, board member’s, and central office administrator’s desk. *wink*
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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Brief summary: We watch as many wake up and go to the city pool with other families. They change into a bathing suit, get covered with sunblock, and go into the cool blue water. Everyone plays above and below the water until it’s time to eat lunch on spread-out towels on concrete. They do more swimming before heading home with a treat from the ice cream truck.
The bright summer colors illustrations are showcased in many two page spreads with details and descriptive words that had me feeling like I was at the pool smelling the chlorine, hearing the shouting and laughter, and the coolness of the water.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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When You Can Swim
by Jack Wong (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Orchard Books. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 : 1338830961.
Brief summary: A young child encourages those to learn how to swim and shares all the aquatic wonders they could experience while swimming in various types of waters.
The back pages include the author sharing his experience of learning how to swim and going back to some of his favorite swimming spots for inspiration to write and illustrate the book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Brief summary: A young girl shares her fear of diving into the public pool while standing at the edge of the diving board and letting her imagination almost overcome her from swimming. Will she be able to dive into the blue water?
I would share this book with students to help them learn coping skills to navigate their fears.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Brief summary: Sasha is excited to go swimming with her best friend, Mr. Sloth, but is losing her patience with his slowness every step of the way. They finally walk to the lake and have lunch before entering the water. Sasha’s friend is taking too long, and she goes into the lake without him, only to realize it’s not as much fun. Sasha returns to their picnic to find Mr. Sloth in a tree enjoying his surroundings. Will Sasha and Mr. Sloth go swimming together in the future? Will Sasha learn to be patience?
In the back of the book, there is a discussion of ways to calm oneself when waiting.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Brief summary: Young readers get advice on ways to be calm if they are afraid of the water and are encouraged to take small steps to learn to be able to go swimming.
The back sections are Sink or Float, Glossary, Read More, and Internet Sites.
Brief summary: Grammy and her four grandchildren walk through the forest and to the garden, learning about plants, animals, and insects. They place a blanket on the ground and picnic while Grammy reads to them. Narrated by one of the children.
Blue ink illustrations with the plants, animals, or insects highlighted with full-colored words that match the subject.
Picnic recipes are in the back.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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If you enjoy this book, you may be interested in Virginia Brimhall Snow’s Seasonal Walks series. For more details or to buy, click here.
Brief summary: A young girl and her grandfather tend a garden together until he moves to an apartment where he brings some of his plants.
She grows up and lives far away, but her grandfather sends her a gift of peonies. When her daughter grows, the granddaughter visits the man showing her little one how to tend the house plants and flowers like he taught her.
An Author’s Note in the back explains how this story is based on her relationship with her grandfather.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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Brief summary: Lihn needs to find blueberries for their brunch and walk around the rooftop looking at all the fruits and vegetables. The girl describes what a blueberry looks like and compares those characteristics to each plant methodically until she finds them.
There is a blueberry and banana pancake recipe in the back.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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If you enjoy this book, you may be interested in the other three books of the Where in the Garden? series:
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Watch Me Bloom: A Bouquet of Haiku Poems for Budding Naturalists
Brief summary: A collection of twenty-four haikus about different flower species, all illustrated with lovely bright colors, including the paste-down end pages.
There are Floral Fun Facts in the back of the book.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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Brief summary: Worm begins its day crawling through the garden when two humans cause it to have self-doubt. The worm crawls through a garden talking with each insect and creature it comes across, asking what it can do. Will the worm realize its importance to a garden and regain self-confidence?
The back pages include Make Your Own Quilled Butterfly, Earthworm Facts, and a Glossary. Illustrated using quilling techniques to make the plants.
I recommend that this picture book be read to supplement a quilling unit.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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George Washington Carver: More Than “The Peanut Man” (Bright Minds): More Than “The Peanut Man”
I’ve only known George Washington Carver as the “peanut man” and updated my education when reading this narrative nonfiction about this knowledgeable and talented man nicknamed “Plant Doctor.”
Brief summary: This book begins with his life as a child who studied plants and painted them. It continues with his young adulthood of going to college, learning, and experimenting with plants. The book tells of his adulthood of going around in a Jesup wagon, educating farmers on improving their crops and livestock. Readers will learn about many of his inventions and personal life too. I enjoyed reading about this remarkable man.
This book is full of a variety of nonfiction text features. The back sections include Your Turn!, Glossary, Index, and Further Reading.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Little Land
by Diana Sudyka (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023.
Brief summary: This is an ecological/environmental story from the beginning of the earth to its present of how the land and its inhabitant have changed and how to live in balance.
I included this book under gardening(although it could be under ecology or environmental) as it highlights how to tend a little bit of land.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Brief summary: A young girl with her mother and grandfather plant seeds in the spring garden and tend them to grow, observing how the seed changes to develop. Birds and bugs visit the garden. Soon fall comes when the plants begin to produce seeds they gather for the next planting.
A plant’s cycle.
A story in rhyme.
Facts about seeds are in the back of the book, including a seed diagram.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Brief summary: An animal/creature is paired with a flower in the garden, and readers are asked why they coexist so well. Answers are in the book of how they benefit each other.
Symbiosis.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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My First Garden: For Little Gardeners Who Want to Grow
Brief summary: This nonfiction book is a beginning guide to gardening with step-by-step instructions. Everything one needs to know is covered with illustrations.
This is for the primary children to learn by looking at the lovely illustrations or for older elementary students who want to start a gardening club.
I usually stick to picture book reviews, but this nonfiction book’s illustrations make a difference with the covered topics by clarifying the lesson.
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A Garden in My Hands
by Meera Sriram (Author), Sandhya Prabhat (Illustrator). Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593427101.
Brief summary: A little girl has her hands Painted by her mother for a wedding the next day. Her mother tells her memories as she paints a garden of flowers and decorations. She sleeps with gloves on over the henna to wake and brush the flakes off to reveal her red garden of stories and the fragrance of henna.
Facts about henna are in the back of the book.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Emotions, high concepts, or other abstract ideas picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.* All books were checked out from the public library and not sent to me for a review.
All About Nothing (All About Noticing)
by Elizabeth Rusch (Author), Elizabeth Goss (Illustrator). Publisher : Charlesbridge. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1623543525.
Brief summary: Nothing can be so many things around us. Negative space. Nothing can also be something. Young readers will see that nothing can be where ideas come from or just something relaxing. It is all around us.
Two back sections are About Negative Space and More About Nothing.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Someday, Maybe
by Diana Murray (Author), Jessica Gibson (Illustrator). Publisher : Henry Holt and Co. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1250782755.
Brief summary: Children daydream about what future jobs they will have, inventions they will create, and lives they will have when they grow up.
The back pages talk about some future possibilities.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Bear Is Never Alone
by Marc Veerkamp (Author), Jeska Verstegen (Illustrator), Laura Watkinson (Translator). Publisher : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0802856036.
Brief summary: Bear plays the piano in the forest and comes to his last song, ready for a break. The animals around him start to shout for him to play more. He just wants to be alone, but the animals chase him, demanding for Bear to play more. Will Bear ever be alone?
Rating 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Twenty Questions
by Mac Barnett (Author), Christian Robinson (Illustrator).Publisher : Candlewick. 2023 PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1536215137.
Brief summary: There are many questions with many types of answers. Some questions have a simple solution, while others have a profound explanation. Some questions have no one exact answer or even an answer at all. Some may come with emotions.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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The Hospital Book
by Lisa Brown (Author).Publisher : Neal Porter Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1536215137.
Brief summary: A young girl has a terrible stomachache and must go to the hospital. She shares the nine times she cried as young readers go along with her to the emergency room, her diagnosis, surgery, recovery, and back home. This story is in an honest and light tone that young readers will find reassuring.
Each page contains detailed illustrations that had me stop and explore the many two-page spreads. Traditional text and speech bubbles.
A definite read for young readers to understand and be calmly assured what could happen when going to a hospital in an emergency situation and the emotions they could feel.
The back page includes A Note From the Author.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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I’m so glad to see another picture book from this author that she both wrote and illustrated! The illustrations and storytelling are done in a way relatable to little ones with humor and action. I also recommend another one of the picture books that she wrote and illustrated that features this family–The Airport Book.
Stanley’s Secret
by John Sullivan (Author), Zach Manbeck (Illustrator).Publisher : Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1534487833.
Brief summary: Stanley is a shy and quiet boy. He helped the janitor and would tap dance as he swept. One day the principal saw him and encouraged the boy to sign up for the talent show where he could share his gift with others. Will Stanley be able to get over his shyness?
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Sometimes: A Day Full of Feelings
by Stephanie Stansbie (Author), Elisa Paganelli (Illustrator). Publisher : Crown Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593568910.
Brief summary: A brother and sister experience everyday feelings that come and go. They learn to recognize their feelings in different situations, realize that another one will come along, and learn how to move through that one too. Emotions are everyday occurrences.
There is a back page of encouragement to help young readers to get through more difficult feelings.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: A boy shares that his family lives in an old school bus until they get a house again. It was hard to leave his friends. His parents encourage him to look on the bright side of things. He gets to take showers outside. Have pizza toast with bread and ketchup. He learns to use his imagination to create something he does not have.
He is nervous about attending a school where everyone knows each other and the routine. Will he learn how to fit in with everyone else?
The author shares that he did live on a school bus for four years and did not go to school until he was in third grade. I thank him for sharing his story of houselessness.
This book could be shared to help others understand those in poverty and, hopefully, develop empathy and understanding. Written in a way that a child could understand.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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The ABCs of Inclusion: A Disability Inclusion Book for Kids
Brief summary: Young readers will learn about twenty-six children, each with different diagnoses, and a brief explanation to help understand it a bit better.
I would love to see this book read to all of the students at the beginning of the year in a way to show that we all have things similar and different from one another. We can learn about how to interact with one another and even become friends.
Rating: 3.5/4 📗📗📗1/2
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Sometimes It’s Nice to Be Alone
by Amy Hest (Author), Philip C. Stead (Illustrator).Publisher : Neal Porter Books. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0823449477.
Brief summary: A young girl enjoys time being alone but can also enjoy a friend’s company. She can sit in solitude eating a cookie but finds it pleasant when a friend visits and eats a cookie with her.
This comforting book made being alone (not lonely) enjoyable. Having a friend visit was not nerve-racking but a time to share and enjoy the company.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Shy and quiet children who would rather observe and not be in the spotlight are given encouragement to be themselves. They may like to be heard at times, but not in an extroverted way.
This book celebrates introverts and does not try to change them from being wallflowers but instead bloom with their emotions.
The illustrations are drawn with them looking like the background.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Billie and Bean at the Beach (Billie and Bean, 1)
by Julia Hansson (Author), B.J. Woodstein (Translator). Publisher : Orca Book Publishers. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1459834415.
Brief summary: Billie and her dog, Bean, go to the beach. Bean enjoys running around and playing in the sand, while Billie just wants to rest in the umbrella’s shade. Her mother encourages Billie to take a swim, and the girl is stung. After her mother comforts and calms Billie’s emotions, the little girl decides to try the water again with the help of a gift Bean has dug up. The girl enjoys the underwater silence and fish. Billie dives towards the bottom and finds something shiny that makes her resilience worth returning to the sea.
Will we find out what it is in a sequel? What an excellent discussion to have with the class.
This is a Swedish translation.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Mouseboat
by Larissa Theule (Author), Abigail Halpin (Illustrator). Publisher : Viking Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593327357.
Brief summary: A girl who has recently lost her mother goes on a trip to their lake house with her father. She misses her mother but can not find a connection until she takes out the mouse boat she and her mother built together. She can face her emotions.
The illustrator caught the facial expressions of a mourning girl and the sad tone in the house of grief with cool and darker colors. Well done.
I could follow the storyline with or without the text, which is an excellent picture book to me. I’d like to see more picture books with this duo. They complement each other well.
Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗
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The Noise Inside Boys: A Story About Big Feelings
by Pete Oswald (Author).Publisher : Random House Studio. 2023. PreK -2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593483220.
Brief summary: Brothers yell how they feel while playing outside on the beach. One boy is encouraged by his father to take a moment and experience the feeling and name it. Be aware of your emotions and name them to understand them. He is told that a feeling will come and go.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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You Are Loved: A Book About Families
by Margaret O’Hair (Author), Sofia Sanchez (Author), Sofia Cardoso (Illustrator).Publisher : Scholastic Inc. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book.ISBN-13 : 978-1338850079. Paperback picture book is available too.
Brief summary: Young readers are talked to by Sofia Sanchez, who explains that a child is loved by many people but most of all by one’s family. There are many different types of families. Sometimes a family is not perfect. There are arguments, sadness, anger, and other emotions. But a family makes up and continues loving one another.
This is an optimistic book with brightly colored illustrations of all cultures, ages, races, etc. Readers will be able to see and understand that there are families unlike theirs but still have shared love for one another.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2
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by Jessica Love (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Candlewick. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1536212396.
Brief summary: A boy with trouble falling asleep goes camping with his father. They pack up the pickup truck, Darlin’, and head for the desert. His father tells him about the plants and animal tracks. They build a fire and watch the sun set while sitting on the hood of the pickup until the stars come out. They get in the sleeping bag in the truck bed, enjoying the stars above them.
His father is able to teach his son how to connect with the universe and not feel so small. They drive home, where Mom has a surprise waiting for their boy.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Brief summary: Mai and her papa like to play crocodile chomp with their hands. Papa leaves Vietnam to go to America to make a better life for his wife and daughter. Mai does not understand where her father has gone and waits for him to return each day to play. Mama packs and bag and takes her little one on a long journey through the rice paddies, across a river, and onto a boat across the ocean to a refugee camp in Singapore until they are released when Mama travels in the city to find her husband.
This story is based on the author and her mother, who journeyed in 1983 from Vietnam to America. Both author and illustrator share their families’ journey of immigration.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Basketball Dreams
by Chris Paul (Author), Courtney Lovett (Illustrator). Publisher : Roaring Brook Press. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1250810038.
Brief summary: Chris wants to become a basketball player and looks up to his granddad, Papa Chilly, for guidance as the man’s dreams have come true. He gets up early to practice. He learns how to be a good team player and to help others. Papa Chilly attends Chris’s games and cheers him on.
The back page has Chris Paul’s recollection of his grandfather and a photo of them.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Daddy & Me, Side by Side
by Pierce Freelon (Author), Nadia Fisher (Illustrator). Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0316055864.
Brief summary: A father and son go camping together. As they hike and fish, the father shares how he did the same with his father, who recently died. It almost feels like Pop-Pop is there with them as they create new and share old memories of being together.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Trucker Kid
by Carol Gordon Ekster (Author), Russ Cox (Illustrator). Publisher : Capstone Editions. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1684466214.
Brief summary: Athena misses her father when he is trucking and has to leave the family for days. She loves ANYTHING to do with eighteen-wheelers and is proud to be a Trucker Kid. She shares her joy and enthusiasm with the kids at school. Her classmates understand her passion once her father visits the school via his semi to share everything about his job.
The back pages have sections Keep on Trucking and Author’s Note.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Baba’s Gift: A Persian Father’s Love of Family
by Ariana Shaheen Amini (Author), Christina Maheen Amini (Author), Elaheh Taherian (Illustrator). Publisher : Little Bigfoot. 2023. Grades 2-4. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1632173232.
Brief summary: Baba shares stories with his six daughters while they sit and play on the Persian carpet of his boyhood in Iran and his stories of immigrating to America.
This is based on the true story of Dr. Fariborz Amini. Authors’ Notes in the back have a photo of the lovely family.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Hurry, Kate, or You’ll Be Late!
by Janice N. Harrington (Author), Tiffany Rose (Illustrator). Publisher : Margaret Ferguson Books. 2023. PreK-1. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0823445103.
Brief summary: Kate was late to preschool this morning, but why? Was it because of her breakfast? Because she and her dad stopped to wave at friends?
Young readers will follow Kate and her father’s journey to go to preschool and ask to figure out and predict why Kate was late.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Pop’s Perfect Present
by Corey Finkle (Author), Lenny Wen (Illustrator). Publisher : Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-1250819444.
Brief summary: A young girl tries to think of the best gift to give her father because he is such a wonderful Pop. As they spend the day together, each attempt of creating the present is a failure. Will she be able to give her father the perfect present?
Humorous rhyming with a fun rhythm.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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No Fair!
by Jacob Grant (Author, Illustrator).Publisher : Viking Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593117699.
Brief summary: Pablo and his father get on their bikes while their dog, Waffles, runs aside them. It’s Market Day, and Pablo wants a donut, but it is allowed once all the shopping is finished. As Pablo tries to help, he finds that everything he picks out is too big. He protests, “Not fair!” Will he realize with the help of his dad that not all things are fair?
This book could be a shared read-aloud with the father’s voice in black ink and the son’s in red.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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My Dad Is a DJ
by Kathryn Erskine (Author), Keith Henry Brown (Author, Illustrator). Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-0374307424.
Brief summary: Trevor’s parents separate, and his father moves out. They once shared time listening to music late in the night after his father returned from being DJ. They would shoot baskets after school. He would even hear his father dedicate songs to him over the radio.
Lately, though, they have yet to connect since he moved out. His food preferences are different. He has a new friend his father has yet to meet. The end-of-the-year dance is coming up that his father has DJed. Will combining the latest hip-hop that Trevor likes and the soul his father favors work out? Will DJing together bring them closer?
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Brief summary: Harper packs a suitcase and drives to a huge family reunion in a park with her fathers, where she meets family members for the first time, like her cousins, second cousins, and first cousins once removed. She also meets family she already knows. Harper learns that she has some things the same and different from everyone, but they are all connected by their love for one another.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Daddy Dressed Me
by Michael Gardner (Author), Ava Gardner (Author), Nadia Fisher (Illustrator). Publisher : Aladdin. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-1665921954.
Brief summary: Ava’s father is good at making things but especially sewing her dresses for special occasions. She will recite a poem onstage during Move Up Day and is worried she will forget the words.
Her father tells the nervous girl that he will help her memorize the lines and would like to sew a unique dress to boost her confidence. Will both of their hard work pay off on the big day?
Based on a true story which can be found in the back–The Story Behind the Story. Loved to see the photos of the real father and daughter duo.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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Maribel’s Year
by Michelle Sterling (Author), Sarah Gonzales (Illustrator). Publisher : Katherine Tegen Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-0063114357.
Brief summary: Maribel must wait an entire year before her father, who is in the Philippines, can rejoin his daughter and wife in America. Each month the young girl tells about the memories of her father and the emotional thoughts she has that he is with them again.
Illustrations change with each month and capture the feelings and thoughts of Maribel.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
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Brief summary: A young girl asks her father to stand with his arms outstretched and become a tree.
This whimsical story continues throughout the day, with more creatures visiting the father and making themselves comfortable as though he were a real tree.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Papa’s Home
by David Soman (Author). Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardback picture book. ISBN-13 : 978-0316427838.
Brief summary: Papa is going away for a little while, and Aunt Jessie will come to take care of the little bear. Father and son spend the day doing activities together. At the same time, the child asks questions about what it will be like when the father is away. The father quietly answers his child’s many questions with reassurance that everything will be okay.
Lovely illustrations that capture the emotional expressions of the father and child.
The text in this book allows for a reader’s theater opportunity with the child’s voice in green ink; Papa’s in purple ink.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
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Board Books
Daddy’s Hugs and Snuggles
by Linda Ashman (Author), Jane Massey (Illustrator). Publisher : Cartwheel Books. 2023. Baby-3. Board book with thick cardstock(not cardboard). ISBN-13 : 978-1338854046.
Brief summary: A child tells in rhyme what their father does with them in that part of the day while another child continues until young readers have learned the morning, noon, and evening routines.
Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗
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Daddy and Me
by Gary Urda (Author), Rosie Butcher (Illustrator). Publisher : little bee books. 2023. Baby-3. Board book. ISBN-13 : 978-1499813517.
Brief summary: Each child shares what activity they share with their father.
Diverse with different families, backgrounds, and what the child calls their father. Papa, Dada, Pops, Baba, and so forth.
The illustrations are full pages with happy and bright colors matching the happiness of each child and father relationship.
Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2
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*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).
by Laura Purdie Salas (Author), Alexandria Neonakis (Illustrator). Publisher : Millbrook Press ™ . 2023. Grades PreK-2. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-1728442990.
Brief summary: A mother and father loon raise a mallard duckling. The duckling learns the ways of the loons, like eating minnows and taking food from them.
This story in verse is based on a true story in 2019 in a Wisconsin Lake as part of the Loon Project, where researchers observed a loon pair taking care of a duckling. What makes this unique is that loons usually drive away mallard ducks.
The back pages include sections such as Is This Story True?, The Intruder, and Very Different Birds(with a Venn Diagram).
Brief summary: A book is made and journeys in various forms of transportation across the city, sea, and through the country until it reaches Pip’s Bookshop, where it is bought and sent to a grandson.
The back has Special Delivery Numbers of interesting statistics about the book’s journey.
Full, detailed illustrations with bright colors. I stopped and looked at each page to get more details of the transportation story from them.
Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: A True Story About an Amazing Swimmer
by Lynne Cox (Author), Richard Jones (Illustrator). Publisher : Anne Schwartz Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-0593425688.
Brief summary: A Loggerhead hatchling finds her way across the Australian beach when the moon is full. She swims for the first time in the Indian Ocean, encountering many marine and land animals and fish on her journey.
The turtle is tangled in a net until a fisherman rescues her and helps her return to good health. Unable to keep the turtle, the fisherman gives her to an aquarium, where she is released into the sea with a tracking device. People can watch where she swims in the ocean. Will she make it back to her home?
This is a true story with more information in the Author’s Note.
I kept reading to find out more about Yoshi and if she was going to be okay or not.
Brief summary: Young readers will learn about why some animals eat feces. One can read a simple narrative or include a more correlating detailed description as the story continues teaching readers everything they need to know, including the correct terminology of why animals eat poop.
Well, I learned a lot from reading this book and recommend it to children and adults who desire to learn more about this topic, which was done in a very tasteful manner (excuse the pun).
The back sections include The Scoop on Poop, Be a Book Detective, By Any Other Name, and Further Reading.
Brief summary: As soon as I open the book, I meet the main character as big as bean, Jumper, a jumping spider. Jumper is hungry and goes hunting for food in the family’s backyard. She jumps without worry as her silk is a safety line. Vibrations help the spider know if a predator or prey is nearby. Will Jumper ever find dinner, or will she become dinner?
Excellent back sections with more details about his spider, with close-ups illustrated by hand. A few other spiders are discussed, along with the life cycle of a jumping spider. There is a Glossary, Author’s Note, Finding and Identifying Spiders, and Resources sections.
This book begins and ends on the paste-down end pages. There is a fold-out demonstrating how a spider sees with eight eyes.
This book asks readers questions to pause and reflect upon the spider’s life. Dialogic reading.
Brief summary: Jadav Payeng, a tribal boy living in India, went to the elders in 1979 when the Brahmaputra River took large parts of the islands’ land mass away when it flooded. He wanted them to help him plant trees on an island called Majuli to help prevent the island from disappearing.
The forest department gave him bamboo seedlings and told him to plant the forest himself. So, he did. Has the past thirty years of his hard work helped the area and animals?
The front and end pages give more details about this passionate individual whose hard work and dedication completely changed Mujuli Island and the Molai Forest(named after him). It can take just one person to make a significant impact in a positive way.
by Barbara Davis-Pyles (Author), Liz Wong (Illustrator). Publisher : Little Bigfoot. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 : 978-1632173355.
Brief summary: A turtle narrates how much it does not like frogs while learning all about them as the story progresses. Does the turtle have a change of heart? Will the reader?
The back sections are Frog Facts and Be Somebody Who Likes Frogs by Helping Them!. The pasted-down end pages are full of different types of frogs.
This is a general book about frogs. I learned that frogs can live as long as twenty years.
