Tag: book recs

Children's Book Recommendations

When You Have to Wait

The Retired School Librarian1 Comment

When You Have to Wait Children’s Book Recommendation is by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(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.)

When You Have to Wait cover--A little girl is looking out the window with geese fling in the background while her orange cat is beside her

When You Have to Wait 

by Melanie Conklin (Author), Leah Hong (Illustrator)

Brief summary: A little girl learns that sometimes we must wait even when we want the time to be now. We sometimes have to wait in line, wait for a loved one to return home, and wait to grow enough to ride a bicycle.

Comments: This gentle book explains that we sometimes have no control over making something happen faster. I’d share this at the beginning of the school year and when the class needed a little reminder about patience.

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. 

Children's Book Recommendations

Holi

The Retired School Librarian1 Comment

Holi Children’s Book Recommendation is by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(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.)

Happy Holidays Holi cover of bowls full of bright colored powders

Holi (Happy Holidays!) 

by Betsy Rathburn (Author)

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about colorful Holi, a Hindu spring holiday that is celebrated on the full moon.

Comments: This nonfiction picture book has large fonts for primary readers to easily read. Bolded words are found in the glossary. Other back sections are Holi Facts, To Learn More, and an Index.

I would pair this nonfiction book with a fictional picture book about Holi for a spring holiday unit.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

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

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

Children's Book Recommendations

Garmann’s Summer

The Retired School Librarian1 Comment

Garmann’s Summer Children’s Book Recommendation is by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(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.)

Garmann's standing in water with two orange floaties on each arm with a ship in the background.

Garmann’s Summer 

by Stian Hole (Author), Don Bartlett (Translator)

Brief summary: Garmann’s three elderly aunts come to visit just as the summer is about to end and school begins. The boy talks to his aunts and parents about what scares them. What scares Garmann?

Comments: This book is a translation from Norway, initially published in 2006.

I like this book’s candid humor about what scares us, death, and new beginnings.

The illustrations are collages of mixed media.

My students enjoyed these Garmann books and would read them together.

*I was sent a complimentary copy to give an honest review.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

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

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

Children’s Picture Book Recommendations–Week of December 17, 2023
Children's Book Recommendations

Children’s Picture Book Recommendations–Week of December 17, 2023

The Retired School Librarian1 Comment

Children’s Picture Book Recommendations–Week of December 17, 2023, are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(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.)

There is a black Shaggy Dog following a little girl on the Street sidewalk with in it within a crowd of people. This is the picture book's cover of A Human for Kingsley.

A Human for Kingsley 

by Gabriel Evans (Author)

Brief summary: Kingsley, a dog, decides to own a human. He goes into the city looking and intermingling with several people but does not find a good fit. He saw a little girl walking on the street and followed her home. Will she be his human?

Comments: This picture book is hilariously written from the viewpoint of a dog.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

There is a very small girl wearing a yellow dress with a red hat being followed by a black Shaggy Dog while walking down the street. This is a page from the book called a human for kensley.

There is a family of ducks in a river that is surrounded by tall green grass with a pink tree leaning over it going into the city with a white bridge over it with two children looking down. This is the picture book cover of if the river runs free.

If the Rivers Run Free 

by Andrea Debbink (Author), Nicole Wong (Illustrator)

Brief summary: A boy and girl play on the street, unaware that a river is flowing underneath them.

Young readers learn 1)how humankind can settle along a river, 2)how a river can be routed underground to change the flow when the city grows, and 3)what the pros and cons are of moving a river.

Comments: This is an exciting book that helps explain how people built around rivers, moved them underground, and how some engineers and naturalists are now freeing them to above ground, having learned that this can prevent flooding and bring back a valuable habitat.

More details and explanations are given in the back section called The Wonder of Rivers.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

There is a nephew Leo and his Uncle Moe back to back with scenes from the book and the background of the secret society Anson uncles picture book cover.

The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles 

by Jake Gyllenhaal (Author), Greta Caruso (Author), Dan Santat (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Uncle Mo babysits his nephew, Leo, who claims he is the worst uncle. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Great-Aunt Gloria and Uncle Munkle Carbunkle magically appear in the middle of the street. They teach Uncle Mo about the Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles, where Mo learns about how to be a good uncle before the two are popped back into the car to continue home.

Comments: This picture book is full of laugh-aloud humorous situations with matching illustrations.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A close-up of all boy thinking from the book's cover of Do You Remember.

Do You Remember? 

by Sydney Smith (Author)

Brief summary: A mother and son exchange memories of when the father was still with them. They have moved to a new home in the city where everything is new. They decide that they will begin to make new memories together.

Comments: This book could be shared as a read-aloud between two people. The mother’s voice is in red ink; the boy’s is in blue.

We are not told where the father is or what happened to him. This could be a discussion point with students.

The soft and calm illustrations match the mood of lying in bed and reminiscing.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

There is a small Sparrow and a bowl of water with a watercolor background of greens and the book cover of Zorro the Sparrow.

Kozo the Sparrow 

by Allen Say (Author, Illustrator)

Brief summary: A young Allen Say trades all of his treasures to save a sparrow hatchling from the hands of bullies. He takes it home and nurses it to adulthood, bonding with his bird, Kozo(Little Boy).

Allen takes the bird to school to share with his classmates. Will the bullies capture the sparrow again?

Comments: This is the true story of Allen Say and the bird he raised and loved while living in Japan as a child at age eight.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A squirrel is holding a nut in the middle of the forest this is the picture book cover of Evergreen.

Evergreen 

by Matthew Cordell (Author)

Brief summary: Evergreen, an anxious squirrel, lives in Buckthorn Forrest with her mother who has asked her to take soup to a sick Granny Oak who lives on the other side of the forest. Although frightened, Evergreen leaves the tree and heads towards Granny Oak’s, encountering several forest animals along the way.

Comments: This picture book is divided into a new chapter for each animal Evergreen meets. The illustrations are done with a 005 Micron Pen and painted with watercolors.

Students will be in suspense with each forest animal encounter wondering if the squirrel will be eaten.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗 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.