Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books

May 24, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Narrative Nonfiction picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/1W55B2WL32ZNO?ref_=aipsflist .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

A young girl and a young woman are standing in front of Al-Qarawiyyin Library.

Behind My Doors: The Story of the World’s Oldest Library

by Hena Khan (Author), Nabila Adani (Illustrator)

Summary: Al Qarawiyyin Library tells us about itself being built in 859 in Fez, Morocco, and being the oldest library in the world. Fatima al-Fihri built a mosque and school for her community with a small library that grew over the centuries.

There is a room that can only be entered by four guards, who have to turn all of the keys at the same time for the copper doors to open. Now, only the curator has the keys. What could be so precious inside?

Comments: This narrative nonfiction book is told from the perspective of the library, from its very beginning until Dr. Chaouni, an architect who was hired to restore the building, renovates it.

The illustrations were created digitally.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A young Fannie Farmer cooking with a large pot with vegetables. There are measuring utensils on the side. Book's cover

The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook

by Emma Bland Smith (Author), Susan Reagan (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In the late 1800s, Fannie Farmer developed a passion for cooking. Despite contracting polio at the age of sixteen, she enrolled in the Boston Cooking School, where she excelled and eventually became the principal. Fannie’s teaching focused on precise measurements and exact cooking methods, ensuring success for home cooks.

She rewrote the school’s cookbook with precision, which became incredibly popular. Fannie also gave lectures nationwide and even taught at Harvard Medical School.

Comments: After reading this narrative nonfiction picture book, I learned that people used non-standard measurements for cooking even though standard measurements were available. I was surprised to discover the variety of measurements in recipes passed down from generation to generation, such as a dash of this, a smidge of that, or a pinch of this.

The back sections contain photos and additional information about Fannie and the Boston Cooking School and how Ms. Farmer really improved cooking through precise and detailed recipes.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Annie Londonderry riding on a bicycle wearing bloomers with an American flag on the handlebars. There is a globe in the background with various people. Cover of the book

Pedal, Balance, Steer: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World

by Vivian Kirkfield (Author), Alison Jay (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Annie Londonderry saw an ad in 1894 promising $10,000 to the first woman to travel around the globe on a bike. She taught herself to ride a bike and set off, following the rules of speaking English, accepting no donations, and earning $5,000 while traveling.

Comments: This inspirational narrative nonfiction picture book shares the story of an incredibly brave woman who overcame obstacles and injuries, persevered to win a bet, and was motivated by providing a better life for her children.

The back sections include an Author’s Note, Brakes, Bloomers, and Other Bicycle Bits, a Timeline, and a Bibliography.

The illustrations are created with alkyd oil paint on paper with varnish.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Georgia O"Keeffe in the desert in her garden with a large table of her garden's bounty which are flowers, corn, vegetables. There is a crow and rabbit in the background along with flowers and trees. Book's cover

Gifts from Georgia’s Garden: How Georgia O’Keeffe Nourished Her Art

by Lisa Robinson (Author), Hadley Hooper (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Georgia O’Keeffe is known for her stunning paintings of flowers and wildlife in New Mexico. This narrative nonfiction picture book emphasizes and explores how she cultivated her own sustainable garden using water conservation, companion planting, and composting.

Comments: Reading a book about an artist’s life rather than their art was a refreshing change.

The back sections explain how Georgia O’Keefe gardened and includes two of her recipes.

The illustrations were created with pen, paint, and paper and assembled in Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

William J. Wilgus painting of him holding his chin thinking with a train and Grand Central Terminal in the background. Book's cover

A Grand Idea: How William J. Wilgus Created Grand Central Terminal

by Megan Hoyt (Author), David Szalay (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In 1902, Manhattan was full of people from all over the country visiting by train. A terrible train collision caused William J. Wilgus, a chief engineer, to devise a better plan to reduce and organize all of the train traffic to prevent any more accidents.

In this narrative nonfiction picture book, young readers will learn how he created this magnificent railroad station called Grand Central Terminal.

Comments: The back sections include information about William J. Wilgus and the Grand Central Terminal, fascinating facts about the terminal, a timeline, and sources.

The illustrations were created digitally with Adobe Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A man is holding a book. There are books on the bookshelves.

Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah

by Linda Leopold Strauss (Author), Tim Smart (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In the mid-14th century, a Jewish wedding took place in Spain where the couple received a hand-painted haggadah for their Passover celebrations. The book was adorned with decorations of copper and gold. Passed down through generations, it eventually ended up in the possession of relatives who sold it to The National Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1894. This historic artifact is now known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. It’s remarkable that the book has survived through numerous wars.

Comments: The back sections in this narrative nonfiction book are Author Note, About the Author, and About the Illustrator.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

For more information:

The cover of Life After Whale with a blue whale in the sea with smaller fish swimming around it.

Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall

by Lynn Brunelle (Author), Jason Chin (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This narrative nonfiction story begins with a blue whale eating krill and tells us how old she is, and her last day on earth. She dies and falls into the ocean but comes back up floating on the surface thanks to the gases in her body. Her body is now an ecosystem with many creatures benefiting.

Comments: The illustrations were created using watercolor and gouache on paper.

The back sections are A Bit About Blue Whales, What Are Ecosystems? It’s a Phase, A Little Pod of Whale Books, Whale Falls Online, and Selected Bibliography.

There are several nonfiction text features such as labels, maps, and diagrams.to help explain the whale’s cycle of life.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Cover of The Wolf Effect with a wolf howling while standing on a hill. There are other hills in the background with animals and a stream.

The Wolf Effect: A Wilderness Revival Story (A Voice of the Wilderness Picture Book)

by Rosanne Parry (Author), Jennifer Thermes (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about how the Yellowstone region became a national park and how it changed the humans and animals that inhabited the area. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone Park is told through rhyming verse and story panels, demonstrating the positive effect on the environment and surroundings.

Comments: The illustrations were created using watercolor and colored pencil on Arches hot-pressed paper. Nonfiction text features such as maps and labels had me stopping and looking at all of the details.

The back sections are Who is Who?, A Brief History of Wolves in the American West, Artist’s Note, Glossary, and Additional Resources.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

One Day This Tree Will Fall

by Leslie Barnard Booth (Author), Stephanie Fizer Coleman (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In this narrative nonfiction picture book, we learn the story of a tree’s beginning as a seed, its growth, providing food and shelter to animals, and its continued contribution after it dies.

Comments: The illustrations were created using gouache, colored pencil, and Photoshop.

The back sections are A Tree’s Story Never Ends, Trees and People, Glossary, and Selected Sources.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons

by Laura Purdie Salas (Author), Alexandria Neonakis (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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).

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Rise to the Sky cover of the narrative nonfiction book that tells about tall trees with tall trees with deer eating grass underneath

Rise to the Sky: How the World’s Tallest Trees Grow Up

by Rebecca E. Hirsch (Author), Mia Posada (Illustrator). .

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about a tree’s life cycle from a tiny sprout to a tall tree.

Comments: Back sections include How Does a Tall Tree Grow?, Where Do the Tallest Trees Live?, and two activities.

The illustrations are cut-paper collages with watercolor but have photographs of the tallest trees in the back of the book.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Special Delivery cover with sky blue background with various means of transportation all done in cartoon style

Special Delivery: A Book’s Journey Around the World

by Polly Faber (Author), Klas Fahlén (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Cover of Yoshi with a little green turtle swimming in the ocean with other fish and plants

Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: A True Story About an Amazing Swimmer

by Lynne Cox (Author), Richard Jones (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Cover of Poop for Breakfast with various animals around a kitchen table with pile of poop on a plate

Poop for Breakfast: Why Some Animals Eat It

by Sara Levine (Author), Florence Weiser (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Book cover of Jumper with a closeup of a jumping spider on the grass

Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider

by Jessica Lanan (Author, Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

The Forest Keeper– The True Story of Jadav Payeng

by Rina Singh (Author), Ishita Jain (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Nobody Likes Frogs: A Book of Toadally Fun Facts

by Barbara Davis-Pyles (Author), Liz Wong (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

The selected children’s books are chosen by a highly qualified retired elementary school librarian, who passionately reads and recommends picture books to teachers, school librarians, parents, grandparents, and other book enthusiasts.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Perseverance Picture Books

May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Perseverance picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Perseverance Picture Books– https://amzn.to/4uwhciS .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Mabel and the Mountain cover. Mabel, a fly, is standing on the top of a mountain with the sun shouting out rays.

Mabel and the Mountain: A Story About Believing in Yourself

by Kim Hillyard (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: Mabel is a small fly with big plans:

1. Climb a mountain.
2. Host a dinner party.
3. Make friends with a shark.

Although her friends do not support her at the beginning, Mabel believes in herself and learns to take small steps at a time to accomplish her goals. Mabel’s confidence rubs off on her fly friends who come up with their own goals.

Comments: A very cute story of perseverance, self-confidence, and grit. Young readers will root for little Mabel to not give up and climb her mountain.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Page from Mabel and the Mountain There is a hand next to Mabel to show how small she is. There is a yellow piece of paper with Mabel's Big Plans.

A young Judit is intentely looking across a chess board

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

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Music Picture Books

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Music picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

Pablo Casals playing the cello with birds of all colors flying out of his instrument. Sitting on a chair outside

Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals

by Christy Mihaly (Author), Mariona Cabassa (Illustrator)

Summary: This biography picture book follows the childhood of cellist Pablo Casals in Catalonia, Spain, from his early music education to becoming a renowned and respected musician. During the Spanish Civil War and World War II, he traveled to perform. However, in protest of dictator Francisco Franco, Casals made the decision to stop performing as an act of peaceful protest. Does he ever play the cello again?

Comments: The back matter gives additional insight into Casals’ life, including a helpful timeline.

This narrative nonfiction picture book would pair well with lessons on the Spanish Civil War in history classes. It could also be used in music class by sharing his performance of “The Song of the Birds,” or in civics/government lessons to introduce the concept of peaceful protest.

The illustrations are created using mixed media (acrylic, gouache, watercolor, and pencil), along with digital elements.

This picture book is best suited for intermediate and middle grade readers.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.

Patsy Cline on the cover with her red dress with white stars and fringe standing on clouds in the woods with her white dog on the crescent moon.

Patsy Cline’s Walkin’ After Midnight

by Judith A Proffer (Author), Julie Dick Fudge (Author), Yoko Matsuoka (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Patsy Cline dreams of becoming a famous country singer. She daydreams while doing her chores, but her favorite time is dream-walking after midnight as she sleeps in her bed. She meets her beloved departed dog, Pepe, under the willow tree, where she shares her life events with the little dog.

Comments: This is an inspirational book about daydreaming and nightdreaming one’s goals. It encourages using the imagination to see oneself in the desired role, such as being onstage at Carnegie Hall or at the Grand Ole Opry.

The book was inspired by Patsy Cline’s hit “Walkin’ After Midnight”(1957). This picture book is co-written by Judith A. Proffer and Julie Dick Fudge, Patsy Cline’s daughter.

The illustrations are all double-paged, with a combination of print and cursive text in frames.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I was sent a complimentary copy of this book.

The stage with red velvet curtains featuring the opera singers of The Magic Flute.

Welcome to the Opera: Discover the Enchanting World of Opera with Mozart’s The Magic Flute

by Carolyn Sloan (Author), Kaly Quarles (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This interactive book introduces Mozart’s The Magic Flute through the eyes of three dogs who guide young readers in the opera house, explaining the musical instruments, opera singers, story, and other musical features.

Comments: I had a fun time reading and exploring the audio feature on the side panel, which features music sections of The Magic Flute Opera. (You can turn the audio on or off to avoid draining the battery.)

The book contains traditional text along with speech bubbles between the dogs in the audience. The bold circle numbers correspond with the audio panel to the right which helps to understand the instruments and singers.

The author provides an informative Author’s Note on opera and The Magic Flute at the front of the book. Additionally, the back sections provide insights into Why Sing?, Meet Mozart!, characters, Musicians, and Opera Words Glossary.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

*I received a complimentary copy for an honest review.

A young girl on a city's balcony plays a triangle along with other people on balconies and open windows playing various instruments. Cover of One Sweet Song

One Sweet Song

by Jyoti Rajan Gopal (Author), Sonia Sánchez (Illustrator)

Brief summary: A girl in the city listens to the notes of a flutist playing on the balcony. The child goes on her balcony and plays the triangle, making two notes. Another person plays the violin, making three. Soon there are ten people playing instruments creating a song together. They slowly diminish until it is quiet again.

Comments: This is a rhyming counting book up to ten and back down with various instruments played by amateurs and professionals.

I think this would be an excellent book for a music teacher to share before students re-enact adding and subtracting instruments and creating their own sweet song.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Picture Book Biography cover with Sister Rosetta Tharpe playing a guitar

Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll

by Tonya Bolden (Author), R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator).

Brief summary: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll, was born in Arkansas in 1915 to two musical parents. Rosetta learns to sing and plays the guitar at an early age. Her family moves to Chicago, where her performance in church begins her career. She marries a preacher. He preaches, and she plays her guitar, where the Sunday service is broadcasted on the radio, thus reaching a broad audience.

Rosetta’s musical career takes off with her playing around the USA and Europe, performing gospel, blues, and rock and roll producing one hit after another.

The timeline at the back of the book lists her notable musical accomplishments and personal life events. Author’s Note and Sources included.

For more details or to buy, click on the book’s Amazon page.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Picture book biography cover of The Green Piano with Roberta Flack as a child playing a green piano

The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music

by Roberta Flack (Author), Tonya Bolden (Author), Hayden Goodman (Illustrator).

Brief summary: Roberta Flack grew up in a Blue Ridge Mountain town in North Carolina, living in a house with two musical parents. She longed to have a piano of her own. Her father found one in a junkyard and spruced it up by painting it green. Her love of music blossomed forth.

The Author’s Note and Career Highlights are in the back.

For more details or to buy, click on the book’s Amazon page.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

And There Was Music

by Marta Pantaleo (Author)

Brief summary: Music surrounds us as an art form that unites people. There are many types of musical instruments, genres, and purposes for which we use music, all explored in this diverse picture book.

Comments: The bright illustrations were created using acrylic paint, felt pens, and digital graphics.

The back pages provide additional explanations of each musical instrument and style depicted in the book’s illustrations.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a free copy of this book.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Patience Picture Books

May 20, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Patience picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Patience Picture Books– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/2ZJKP1Y3TCHDN?ref_=aipsflist .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Avocado Magic

by Taltal Levi (Author)

Summary: Ellie celebrates her birthday and is upset that her feet still do not reach the floor when she sits at the kitchen table. Her father shows her how to suspend an avocado seed with toothpicks into a glass of water.

He parallels Ellie’s slow growth to that of the seed, emphasizing that both need patience. Slowly the seed sprouts. It gradually develops into an avocado plant and grows alongside Ellie until it’s time both move out of the house.

When Ellie marries and has children, she brings the tree with her to plant in her own yard.

Comments: The metaphor for growth is absolutely beautiful!

The back section has instructions on how to sprout your own avocado.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A girl is ready to go swimming with a large life preserver that has a sleeping sloth on top of it

Waiting on Mr. Sloth

by Katy Hudson (Author, Illustrator)

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?

Comments: In the back of the book, there is a discussion of ways to calm oneself when waiting.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

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.

The Very Patient Gus Davis

by Laurie Trumble Davis (Author), Marjorie van Heerden (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Gus’s owner returns from the store with cookies. Gus really wants one right away. He begs and jumps up on her, but she tells him he must wait until after dinner. Gus does not want to wait and runs off with the bag of cookies. His owner manages to get the cookies back. To help pass the time, they go on a walk. When they return, they have dinner. Will Gus ever get a cookie?

Comments: This would be a great read aloud for when classroom patience wears thin. Teachers could have an anchor chart with how to be patience in school or at home.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Nonfiction Picture Books

May 20, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Nonfiction picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Nonfiction Picture Books– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/2FLQHF9FGQHDG?ref_=aipsflist .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

The book cover to Fly Like a Bird with various birds in the sky.

Fly Like a Bird (Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers (SSCR))

by Olga Ptashnik (Author)

Summary: This nonfiction picture book follows a baby chickadee as it prepares to fly, but is unsure how. Through a question-and-answer story, an adult chickadee explains all of the ways different birds fly, like penguins flying under the water, hummingbirds’ rapid wings buzzing, and starlings flying in murmuration.

Comments: The black ink is the voice of the young chickadee, while the blue ink is that of the adult chickadee, making a fun narrative text for readers to read aloud with one another.

The back has a “More About the Birds” section with brief information about the birds discussed in the story.

The illustrations were created digitally.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

*I received a free copy of this book.

Book cover for Fly with all sorts of birds with different colors flying or sitting in trees. The title is spelled with feathers.

Fly: A Family Guide to Birds and How to Spot Them (In Our Nature)

by David Lindo (Author), Sara Boccaccini Meadows (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This nonfiction picture book contains details and facts using text boxes and labels. The fonts and sizes are varied to emphasize bird facts and main ideas.

Comments: The book is superbly illustrated with watercolors and gouache paints. Each bird is portrayed in great detail, showcasing its vibrant colors and unique markings. I enjoyed examining the details and interesting facts about the birds. It is very well done and a must for any library.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click on this book’s page on Amazon.

The Monarch insect is on the milkweed. A field of bright flowers with the butterfly at different stages.

Milkweed for Monarchs

by Christine Van Zandt (Author), Alejandra Barajas (Illustrator)

Brief summary: There are two types of text teaching readers about monarch butterflies. There is a lyrical, rhyming text and informative text boxes on each page.

Monarchs migrate back north after it warms to lay eggs on milkweed plants. We learn the stages of the butterfly from egg to adult.

Comments: The back sections include the Author’s Note, Monarchs Need Our Help, How You Can Help, Fun Facts, The Senses, and Selected Bibliography.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants

by Philip Bunting (Author)

Brief summary: The ant’s life cycle and fun facts are explained in this nonfiction book for kids. Each ant has a role in the colony.

Comments: Nonfiction texts often include helpful features that aid in understanding the information presented. These features may include charts, diagrams, captions, and labels.

I really enjoyed the puns and humorous language used in the text.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

The Pumpkin Book

by Gail Gibbons (Author)

Summary: This nonfiction picture book explains the life cycle, history, and uses of pumpkins.

Comments: This book is excellent for science or seasonal lessons, providing children with factual knowledge through colorful visuals. The author creates all of the visuals for this nonfiction book using watercolors.

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Kingdoms of Life

by Carly Allen-Fletcher (Author)

Brief summary: This nonfiction picture book explores the six kingdoms of life(animals, plants, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria) and how they are classified. Each kingdom has two double-paged illustrations filled with descriptive text and numbered examples of that category which are listed in the back sections of the book both in English and Latin.

Comments: The illustrations were created digitally. The back sections are Scientific Names and Featured Life-Forms.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*Kingdoms of Life was sent to me as a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hike It: An Introduction to Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking through the U.S.A.

by Iron Tazz (Author), Martin Stanev (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This nonfiction picture book alternates with a brief description of a park with double-paged illustrations, and then the next double-paged illustrations will be survival tips or advice related to camping or hiking.

Comments: The illustrations were created digitally.

The back section is Further Reading with websites, books, and apps.

This book could be used in the classroom to have students learn about topographical mapping, create their own ten essential practical life skills and safety, or give students a budget and have them calculate the costs of a hiking trip including food, equipment and park entrance fees.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Clever Crow

by Chris Butterworth (Author), Olivia Lomenech Gill (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This nonfiction picture book teaches us about a crow’s intelligence, habitat, and how many different types there are of this amazing species.

Comments: This book is illustrated with mixed media and written in verse.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A bird with a chef's hat and spatula in hand is barbecuing hamburgers on a grill laughing. He has an apron on with #1 Dad on it.

Dad Jokes: The Cheesiest, Corniest Joke Book Ever!

by Highlights (Creator)

Summary: This nonfiction collection of 900+ Dad jokes includes a table of contents and funny illustrations.

Comments: This is a collection of riddles, jokes, and knock-knock jokes, especially for kids.

These jokes would work so well with students throughout the day to foster humor, homophones, and figurative language.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Jack-o-lantern with a candle inside, a black cat, spilt candy corn, and bats are spread on the cover of this Halloween book

Halloween (Holiday History)

by Spanier Kristine Mlis (Author)

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the origins of Halloween, the traditions, and how South Korea and Ireland celebrate.

Comments: Several “Did You Know?” squares give more information about the page’s topic. The back sections are Quick Facts & Tools: Halloween Place of Origin, Glossary, Index, and To Learn More.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

There are pumpkins and jack-o- lanterns with lit candles and a fake black spider on the steps of a house for the traditional Halloween house

Halloween (Traditions & Celebrations)

by Charles C Hofer (Author)

Brief summary: Young readers will learn how Halloween began, how we celebrate it today, and how other countries(Mexico, Germany, France, and Japan) celebrate holidays like it.

Comments: Words in bold are in the glossary. The back sections are Glossary, Read More, Internet Sites, Index, and About the Author.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Hanging lit lanterns are handing from the ceiling

Mid-Autumn Festival (Traditions & Celebrations)

by Ailynn Collins (Author)

Brief summary: Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon or Mooncake Festival, is globally celebrated by Asian people. Young readers will learn the origins of the holiday, the lunar calendar, and what traditions and foods people have to observe this holiday.

Comments: The back sections are Glossary, Read More, Internet Sites, Index, and About the Author. Bolded words are found in the glossary.

I wish we had these Traditions and Celebrations books when I was a child. I’m learning so much from reading them as an adult, which has broadened my understanding of other cultures.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Orchards (Trip to the Farm)

by Ursula Pang (Author)

Brief summary: There are many orchards (farms where trees grow)producing fruit, nuts, seeds, syrup, and Christmas trees. Young readers will learn about each type of orchard.

Comments: I placed this book in the fall section as when I think of orchards, I think of apple or fruit orchards because those are the ones in my area that are harvested in the fall. I also had those teachers book requests for fall units before they went and visited a nearby apple orchard.

I enjoyed reading and learning about the different types of orchards and when they were harvested.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Voting Day

by Samantha Bell (Author)

Brief summary: This intermediate nonfiction children’s books focuses on the day of voting. Readers will learn about polling places, volunteers, voting day, early voting, counting the votes, and declaring the winner.

Comments: The book is illustrated with photos.

The back sections included Fun Fact, Activity, Glossary, To Learn More, Index, and About the Author.

Rating: 3.5 /5 📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

How Voting and Elections Work

by Zelda Wagner (Author)

Brief summary: This intermediate nonfiction children’s book discusses topics such as election day, why we vote, the election, and how to get involved.

Comments: This book is illustrated with photos. There is a glossary, index, and a “Learn More” section in the back of the book.

Rating: 3.5 /5 📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Insect Picture Books

May 18, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Insect picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Insect Picture Books– https://amzn.to/3RfLIPc .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Cover for Log Life which has a fir tree growing from a nurse log. A mouse, snails, beetles, mushrooms are on the fallen log.

Log Life (Tiny Habitats)

by Amy Hevron (Author, Illustrator)

Brief summary: This book is a narrative nonfiction that educates young readers about the life cycle of a giant fir tree that falls to the ground and transforms into a nurse log. As the log slowly decays in the forest, it becomes a source of nourishment for fungi, plants, insects, animals, and birds throughout the first year until it completely decomposes many decades later.

Comments: I had never heard of the term “nurse log” before and found it fascinating to learn about what happens to a fallen tree.

The illustrations were created using acrylic, marker, and pencil on Bristol board and then digitally collaged.

The back sections are More About Nurse-Log Habitats, Selected Sources, and Additional Reading.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Milkweed for Monarchs

by Christine Van Zandt (Author), Alejandra Barajas (Illustrator)

Brief summary: There are two types of text teaching readers about monarch butterflies. There is a lyrical, rhyming text and informative text boxes on each page.

Monarchs migrate back north after it warms to lay eggs on milkweed plants. We learn the stages of the butterfly from egg to adult.

Comments: The back sections include the Author’s Note, Monarchs Need Our Help, How You Can Help, Fun Facts, The Senses, and Selected Bibliography.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants

by Philip Bunting (Author)

Brief summary: The ant’s life cycle and fun facts are explained in this nonfiction book for kids. Each ant has a role in the colony.

Comments: Nonfiction texts often include helpful features that aid in understanding the information presented. These features may include charts, diagrams, captions, and labels.

I really enjoyed the puns and humorous language used in the text.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Butterfly on the Wind

by Adam Pottle (Author), Ziyue Chen (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Aurora is feeling nervous the day before her talent show. Sitting in her family’s garden, she practices hand-signing for the play she wrote. While she’s rehearsing, a butterfly lands on a flower and Aurora signs “butterfly,” creating a small wind. This little wind continues to other children around the world, who all start signing “butterfly” too, and the wind grows stronger. Will this wind help Aurora on the day of her talent show?

Comments: An Author’s Note and an ASL chart are in the back.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A blond hair girl with glasses is looking at various insect species while outside in the garden.

The Girl Who Loves Bugs

by Lily Murray (Author), Jenny Løvlie (Illustrator)

Summary: Evie loves picking up insect species and other creepy crawlies. She enjoys looking at them with her magnifying glass and putting them in her pockets. Her family does not share her passion and tells her to leave them, as it’s time to go home.

Evie decides to take them inside and place them in her room.

Her extended family comes to visit the next day. What could possibly go wrong?

Comments: The illustrations are digital. The back pages share ideas for helping bugs and a brief biological sketch of Evelyn Cheesman, an entomologist who inspired the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

The Bumblebee Garden

by Dawn Casey (Author), Stella Lim (Illustrator)

Summary: Ben and his grandpa spot a bumblebee in the garden. Grandpa educates his grandson about the bumblebee’s life cycle, explaining its activities in each season as the book unfolds.

Comments: There is a back section titled The Life Cycle of a Queen Bumblebee.

The illustrations were handcrafted using watercolor and colored pencils, finishing with digital methods.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Immigration Picture Books

May 18, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Immigration picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Immigration Picture Books– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/1QY1XULXXMBVE?ref_=aipsflist.)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

A daughter, mother, and grandmother are talking with one another

My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages

by Uma Menon (Author), Rahele Jomepour Bell (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Sumi’s mother speaks two tongues–Malayalam and English. The little girl notices how her mother is able to go back and forth between the two languages but only has one tongue in her head. Sumi has learned both languages and uses them at different times in her daily routine and when her family go to visit relatives in Kerala, India.

She learns that some people have several tongues and can communicate with more people. This inspires her to learn more languages.

Comments: These lovely illustrations were created using mixed media.

This book would be a wonderful classroom share with students to teach how having multiple languages is an advantage.

It should be noted that this picture book was created by a sixteen-year-old who I hope to see more books from in the future.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Home Is a Wish

by Julia Kuo (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: A young girl, her mother, and Amah leave their home for a new one in a different country where everything feels unfamiliar. Over time, they work together to create a new home.

Comments: A gentle book about immigration that would be a wonderful read aloud.

The illustrations were created using Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet.

Rating: 4.5 📗📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Thread by Thread

by Alice Brière-Haquet (Author), Michela Eccli (Illustrator), Sarah Ardizzone (Translator)

Brief summary: A family of mice have their knitted home come apart when more and more yarn unravels. They run away from a fire breathing dragon and go across the water in a knitted red boat to a land where they slowly knit their house back together with the help of other animals using different colored threads until they make a new safe home.

Comments: A wonderful allegory to teach elementary students about refugees and escaping to a new land that is safe.

This story was originally published din France in 2023 and translated to English in 2025.

The illustrations were created with drawing, photography, and yarn.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a free copy of this book.

A Star Shines Through

by Anna Desnitskaya (Author)

Brief summary: At the beginning of a war, a young girl and her mother flee their country. They settle in a new land with an unfamiliar language and cuisine. Amidst their new surroundings, the girl constructs a cardboard lamp, which she places in the window. It is reminiscent of the one from their previous home, establishing a connection between her past and present.

Comments:

I think this book would comfort those ESL students who realize what they have like the star lamp in the story that makes their new home feel a little bit like their old home.

The Author’s Note recounts her family’s necessity to emigrate due to the war in their home country, Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine.

The illustrations were created with hand-drawn contours and Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I was sent a complimentary copy of this book.

Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States

by Rajani LaRocca (Author), Huy Voun Lee (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Some people are U.S. citizens by birth, while others arrive from different countries and choose to become naturalized citizens. This picture book offers a meaningful way to introduce the many paths to citizenship and the personal stories behind why people choose to become Americans.

Comments: The illustrations are created with paper samples and Procreate.

The author’s note in the back shares about the author’s own immigration from India and becoming a naturalized citizen.

On a personal note: My mother is an immigrant, and I still remember her carefully reading her workbook, studying for the citizenship test. I watched with pride as she raised her hand to take the Oath of Allegiance, standing alongside others in a naturalization ceremony at the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus.

This book could be shelved in the picture books or in the nonfiction section of 304.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a free copy of this book.

Home in a Lunchbox

by Cherry Mo (author and illustrator)

Brief summary: Jun moves from Hong Kong to America and only knows four English words on her first day of school: hello, thank you, I don’t know, and toilet. As the week progresses, she has many frustrations as she learns a new routine, language, and group of people, but lunchtime is when she feels the love of home that helps her to persist.

Comments: This book is a great resource for helping students understand the experiences of new students from other countries. It includes a heartwarming story about students bonding over their favorite foods at lunch, which helps them form deeper connections. This book is particularly valuable for ESL teachers and school counselors to share with new students at school. There are not many words and the story is mainly told with large, colorful illustrations.

I could not find anywhere on the book or her website saying how the illustrations were created for this picture book. The back sections explain Jun’s words on her hand and the food in her lunchbox.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Grandparent picture book of a grandson standing with his grandfather behind him

At the Drop of a Cat

by Élise Fontenaille (Author), Violeta Lópiz (Illustrator), Karin Snelson (Translator), Emilie Robert Wong (Translator).

Summary: A grandson visits his Grandpa Luis every Wednesday and Sunday. His grandpa is not only a talented artist but can make anything grow, creating the beautiful garden where they spend their days. The six-year-old is learning to read and write and tells us that his Grandpa does not know how as he was an immigrant from Spain to France who had to work in the fields as a child.

Comments: This is a French translation and captures the two kindred spirits. I like the mixed-up idioms and how the grandson narrates how he is getting to know Grandpa Luis.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

For more details or to buy, click here (in ENGLISH).

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Humorous Picture Books

May 18, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Humorous picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Humorous Picture Books–https://amzn.to/3PmGel7 .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

That’s Not Funny, David!

by David Shannon (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: David is a comedian who tries to make everyone laugh, but he discovers that not all of his antics are funny to everyone. Ultimately, he still has his mother’s unconditional love.

Comments: He’s back! I missed David. I’d recognize that giant head and triangular teeth anywhere. Children identify with the antics of this little boy and laugh out loud.

A must for every library.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Pepper and Me

by Beatrice Alemagna (Author)

Brief summary: A young girl falls on a cobblestone and ends up getting a bloody knee. Her father gives her first aid, telling her she will have a beautiful scab.

It is NOT beautiful.

She asks her mother when it will go away. The woman answers, “In a few days.”

But it does not.

Thinking it will never leave, she calls it “Pepper”.

Days pass until one day, the scab falls off.

What will she do with it? ??

Comments: This would make a hilarious read-aloud that all kids could relate to and share stories about their scabs.

The illustrations used are gouache, oil, collage, and wax pencils.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Dad Jokes: The Cheesiest, Corniest Joke Book Ever!

by Highlights (Creator)

Summary: This nonfiction collection of 900+ Dad jokes includes a table of contents and funny illustrations.

Comments: This is a collection of riddles, jokes, and knock-knock jokes, especially for kids.

These jokes would work so well with students throughout the day to foster humor, homophones, and figurative language.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A penguin standing in the snow with a toy on his backside; cover of Have You Ween Mikki Olsen?

Have You Seen Mikki Olsen?

by Alex Macdonald (Author)

Brief summary: Penguin loves his teddy, Mikki Olsen, and does everything together, including chores. After chopping wood, he goes straight to bed, only noticing that Mikki Olsen is missing the following day.

Penguin looks all through the house and outside in the snow, retracing his steps from yesterday. Will he ever find his beloved teddy?

Comments: This is a cute and humorous story that young readers can relate to when losing a precious plush or toy.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Grandparent Picture Books

May 12, 2026May 25, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Grandparent picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Grandparent Picture Books– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/3I3U0LA1IE7QV?ref_=aipsflist .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Do You Remember?

by Sydney Smith (Author)

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.

A young boy and his grandmother are walking in a flower garden

My Baba’s Garden

by Jordan Scott (Author), Sydney Smith (Illustrator)

Summary: Author, Jordan Scott, recalls visiting with his Baba at her home. His father would drop Jordan off to have breakfast with his Baba and afterwards, they would walk together to his school. If it was raining, Baba would look for worms and put them in a glass jar to take home for her garden.

His baba would retrieve him after school, and they would spend time in her garden learning about the plants. This is their usual routine until she moves in with the family when a new building is built over her home. Not able to have a full garden any longer, she keeps a little garden in her room.

Comments: Told through the first-person point of view by the boy.

Jordan Scott wrote one of the most lovely book dedications I’ve ever read.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click here.

Grandma’s Roof Garden

by Tang Wei (Author), Kelly Zhang (Translator)

Summary: An elderly granny collects discarded vegetables at the market to feed her animals and for compost. She has planted a rooftop garden, where she teaches neighborhood children how to care for plants. She shares her harvest with family and friends by having a meal together and giving extras for them to take home.

Comments: This book was initially printed in China in 2019.

The Author’s Note explains the author’s personal inspiration for this story.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar

by Mojdeh Hassani (Author), Samira Iravani (Author), Maya Fidawi (Illustrator).

Summary: Samira is a bit nervous about going to the bazaar with her grandmother for the first time to buy groceries. She repeatedly asks Mama Shamsi to hide in her chador, but the woman wisely resists using humor to soothe her granddaughter’s fear.

Comments: I think this is a good read-aloud for students experiencing doing something for the first time and having anxiety. Discussions could include how to find comfort when feeling overwhelmed and going from needing to hide to gaining confidence.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click here.

At the Drop of a Cat

by Élise Fontenaille (Author), Violeta Lópiz (Illustrator), Karin Snelson (Translator), Emilie Robert Wong (Translator).

Comments: This is a French translation and captures the two kindred spirits. I like the mixed-up idioms and how the grandson narrates how he is getting to know Grandpa Luis.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

For more details or to buy, click here (in ENGLISH).

Abuela’s Super Capa

by Ana Siqueira (Author), Elisa Chavarri (Illustrator).

Summary: Luis and his abuela have fun every Saturday going around the neighborhood being superheroes. One Saturday, she does not visit. Luis learns that his abuela is very sick in the hospital. She comes to stay with them as she recovers. Although Luis is saddened that his abuela is unable to be as active, he tries to come up with a way to have fun and realizes his sister, Isabel, can be his new sidekick and fight and do adventures together in their capes.

There is a glossary of the Spanish words used in the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

For more details or to buy, click here(in ENGLISH).

The sun's rays coming down through the trees onto the road a the child runds to a grandparent

In Every Life

by Marla Frazee (Author, Illustrator).

Summary: The text has seven lines with seven words each(except for the last line). Each line is across the top of a two-page spread with small illustrations below, and then the next two-page spread is an illustration matching that color scheme.

Comments: The words are calm and straightforward. The stunning illustrations are done with pencil and gouache and are detailed little scenes of family members with everyday interactions. I stopped and looked at the details of each one before continuing to the following line and was glad to see that grandparents were included.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click here.

Picture book cover of a grandmother and her grandchild walking in the rain

Together with You

by Patricia Toht (Author), Jarvis (Illustrator).

Summary: A grandmother and her grandchild put on rain gear to play in Spring’s rain. Summer arrives with them cooling off from the hot sun. Autumn brings the wind they need to fly a kite and enjoy the falling leaves. Winter comes with them getting cozy and watching the snow from inside. Each season is spent with one another.

Comments: The seasonal color schemes go in hand with this gentle and calming book that blends from one season to the next.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

For more details or to buy, click here.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Garden Picture Books

May 12, 2026May 24, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Garden picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Garden Picture Books– https://amzn.to/48NBD2O .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Avocado Magic

by Taltal Levi (Author)

When Ellie marries and has children, she brings the tree with her to plant in her own yard.

Comments: The metaphor for growth is absolutely beautiful!

The back section has instructions on how to sprout your own avocado.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Ayla swimming around the coral reef with fish following her in a circle. Cover of The Ocean Gardner.

The Ocean Gardener

by Clara Anganuzzi (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: Ayla and her mother live on an island surrounded by a coral reef. Her mother, who is a marine biologist, takes care of the reef and teaches Ayla about the marine life around it. Unfortunately, they notice that the fish are leaving because the reef is fading. To solve this problem, Ayla’s mother teaches her how to make a coral reef garden by planting tiny pieces of coral in their house and later moving them to the ocean. Will this effort bring the fish back?

Comments: Before reading The Ocean Gardener, I had no knowledge about the process of coral reef restoration. Now, I have an understanding.

The back section includes information from Chloe Pozas, a marine biologist who inspired the book. Additionally, there are some photos of coral gardens included in the back of the book and a section titled If You Want to Know More…

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

This Little Kitty in the Garden

by Karen Obuhanych (Author)

Summary: Spring has arrived, and five cats living on Sakura Way head towards the garden shed to collect their tools to work on creating a garden. However, they get distracted upon going there and start enjoying the presence of other creatures already in the garden. The owners of the cats come out to the garden and are delighted to see that everything has been planted.

Comments: The illustrations were created with colored pencils, charcoal, and cut paper.

Rating: 4/5📗📗📗📗

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

A young girl is looking at some potted plants with Sprouts coming out of them with a frosted window behind her.

Wintergarden

by Janet Fox (Author), Jasu Hu (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In the winter, a girl helps her mother grow a garden on the window sill in little pots. The child cares for and tends the plants, harvesting some for their Thanksgiving meal.

When the weather warms up, she looks forward to picking out seeds to grow more plants.

Comments: Directions for how to grow your own wintergarden are at the back of the book.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Garden Walk

by Virginia Brimhall Snow (Author)

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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

A grandfather giving his granddaughter a pot of peonies

Love Makes a Garden Grow

by Taeeun Yoo (Author, Illustrator)

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.

Comments: 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

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

A girl in a polka dot dress on the rooftop garden gathering fruit and fegetables for her basket while a cat is chasing butterflies

Linh’s Rooftop Garden (Where In the Garden?)

by JaNay Brown-Wood (Author), Samara Hardy (Illustrator)

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.

Comments: There is a blueberry and banana pancake recipe in the back.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

If you enjoy this book, you may be interested in the other three books of the Where in the Garden? series:

A child with flowers all around them wearing a necklace of daisies.

Watch Me Bloom: A Bouquet of Haiku Poems for Budding Naturalists

by Krina Patel-Sage (Author, Illustrator)

Brief summary: A collection of twenty-four haikus about different flower species, all illustrated with lovely bright colors, including the paste-down end pages.

Comments: There are Floral Fun Facts in the back of the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

A word on a rock with quilled plants growing beside it

Just a Worm

by Marie Boyd (Author, Illustrator)

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?

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

George Washington Carver as a young man with a moustache holding a large pot of white flowers

George Washington Carver: More Than “The Peanut Man” (Bright Minds): More Than “The Peanut Man”

by Janel Rodriguez (Author), Subi Bosa (Illustrator)

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.”

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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

A Place for Rain

by Michelle Schaub (Author), Blanca Gómez (Illustrator)

Summary: In this book of rhyming lyrics, young readers will learn where the rain goes during a flood. The students at school are taught how to place a barrel beneath a spout and how to create a path for overflow.

Comments: Learn how to create a rain barrel garden with native plants that thrive in excess water.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A child tending a garden with plants and animals. Geese are flying overhead.

Little Land

by Diana Sudyka (Author, Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

A young girl with a short orange ponytail and pink headband with white polka dots is holding a plant with her yellow dog placing its paw on the plant

Love Grows

by Ruth Spiro (Author), Lucy Ruth Cummins (Illustrator)

Summary: A young girl’s auntie sends her a plant per month with a tag of information about the plant. By the end of the year, the girl has a plant garden.

Comments: The front and back-pasted end pages outline the twelve plants with the Latin name, origins, and light preference.

This story is done in rhyme. The illustrations are gouache, colored pencil, and crayon.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A little girl in a red hoody looking at a flower with her black and white dog. She has a box of seeds.

Every Little Seed

by Cynthia Schumerth (Author), Elisa Paganelli (Illustrator)

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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

A Flower is a Friend

by Frieda Wishinsky (Author), Karen Patkau (Illustrator)

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.

Comments: This is an excellent resource for introducing the concept of symbiosis. The illustrations made it clear and concrete.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

garden and flowers in a circle with a white picket fence with a city scape background

My First Garden: For Little Gardeners Who Want to Grow

by Livi Gosling (Author)

Summary: This nonfiction book is a beginning guide to gardening with step-by-step instructions. Everything one needs to know is covered with illustrations.

Comments: 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.

Ratings:4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A young girl and her mother with henna on their hands.

A Garden in My Hands

by Meera Sriram (Author), Sandhya Prabhat (Illustrator)

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.

Comments: Facts about henna are in the back of the book.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

G is for Gardening (A Gardening ABC Primer)

by Ashley Marie Mireles (Author), Volha Kaliaha (Illustrator)

Summary: Readers will learn their ABCs of gardening, discovering tools, plants, and animals in a garden.

Comments: Large and colorful illustrations. A good builder of garden vocabulary.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

City Beet

by Tziporah Cohen (Author), Udayana Lugo (Illustrator).

Summary: Mrs. Kosta and Victoria plant and nurture a beet seed until it ripens. The woman begins to harvest the gigantic beet but cannot remove it from the ground, no matter how hard she tugs. Several neighbors stop by the garden to help pull, creating a line out to the sidewalk until the vegetable is uprooted with a big “SPROING!!”

Comments: There is an Author’s Note and Raw Beet & Garlic Salad Recipe in the back.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click here.

My Baba’s Garden

by Jordan Scott (Author), Sydney Smith (Illustrator)

Comments: Told through the first-person point of view by the boy.

Jordan Scott wrote one of the most lovely book dedications I’ve ever read.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

For more details or to buy, click here.

Inside the Compost Bin

by Melody Sumaoang Plan (Author), Vinh Nguyen (Illustrator), Rong Pham (Illustrator)

Brief summary: This narrative nonfiction picture book shares how a woman cares for a compost bin. She diligently adds organic material, mixes them, and waters the compost to create nutrient-rich soil for her plants.

Comments: This book covers the bugs and organisms in the bin and those underneath. The back pages have more information on how to start composing.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

The Bumblebee Garden

by Dawn Casey (Author), Stella Lim (Illustrator)

Summary: Ben and his grandpa spot a bumblebee in the garden. Grandpa educates his grandson about the bumblebee’s life cycle, explaining its activities in each season as the book unfolds.

Comments: There is a back section titled The Life Cycle of a Queen Bumblebee.

The illustrations were handcrafted using watercolor and colored pencils, finishing with digital methods.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Grandma’s Roof Garden

by Tang Wei (Author), Kelly Zhang (Translator)

Comments: This book was initially printed in China in 2019.

The Author’s Note explains the author’s personal inspiration for this story.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Friendship Picture Books

May 11, 2026May 24, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Friendship picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Friendship Picture Books– https://amzn.to/3PCSYnH .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Echo

by Adam Rex (Author)

Summary: Junior Junior grew up on the side of a mountain and made friends with the echo. He loved that they agreed on everything he said. One day, a girl on the mountain across from him told him to stop shouting. She did not agree with everything he said. Junior Junior decides to run away to the valley to meet the echo and decides he doesn’t like someone who agrees with everything he says. Will he be friends with the girl on the hill even when she points out that he can be wrong at times?

Comments: I loved the humor in this book!

Great read aloud to emphasize manners, emotions, and how to agree to disagree.

The illustrations were created digitally in Procreate and Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

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.

Like You, Like Me

by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw (Author)

Summary: Tulsi lives in America, and Vanessa lives in Tanzania. The girls become pen pals and learn about what is different and alike in their cultures.

They learn that even though they are continents apart there are things they both share. They have brothers, enjoy music, have pets, and like Nature.

The things that are different are also shared and help to bring on friendship across the globe.

Comments: The phrase “Like You, Like Me” is throughout the book to emphasis what they have alike even if sometimes it’s a bit different.

The illustrations were made with painted papers and oil sticks.

I would share this book before a pen pal project or for making a Venn Diagram of their likes and differences.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

The Quiet One

by Yiting Lee (Author)

Summary: Milly is an introvert and tends to be quiet in class. With Show and Tell approaching Friday, she is feeling anxious about it. At home, she has a special place where she enjoys tinkering and has created a robot named Arnold. Her new friend goes to school with Milly and helps her share her passion with the class.

Comments: This book is great for reading aloud. It could help kids learn about quiet individuals who enjoy sharing their interests. It also shows shy people that it’s okay to be themselves.

The illustrations were created using watercolors.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a free copy of this book.

Revony Rhinoceros is a baby rhino holding up a smiling and frowning signs. There is a lake with hills behind.

Revony Rhinoceros Starts to Smile: A Lesson in Body Language

by Patricia Bardina (Author), Joanne Burgess (Author), Paul Sharp (Illustrator)

Summary: Revony Rhinoceros is at Bixby Baboon’s birthday party. The little rhino sits sulking and frowning by a tree, unsure how to play with the other invited guests. After the party, Revony’s mother discusses body language with her child. She explains that understanding friendly and unfriendly body language can help make friends. They then walk around the park, observing the other animals and how their body language reflects their feelings.

Revony Rhinoceros feels confident and uses friendly body language to make new friends at the park.

Comments: This book could be an introduction for school counselors, PreK, or K teachers to read aloud to explain nonverbal communication skills/body language and how that could impact friend-making.

This book was published in 2018, but it remains relevant today.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

*I was sent a free copy of this book.

Three kangaroos dress in taekwondo uniforms have rescued a joey. They are standing with the sky above them and the field below. Cover of Rescue at Rattling Ridge

The Taekwonderoos: Rescue at Rattling Ridge

by Michael Panzner (Author), Lora Look (Illustrator)

Summary: Three gray Australian kangaroos were practicing taekwondo kicks in the desert when they heard a joey trapped on a cliff in the distance. They come together and cross the dangerous terrain to rescue the baby kangaroo.

Once they got to the top of the cliff, they had to figure out how to get back down using their skills and teamwork.

Comments: This picture book is illustrated with bright and bold colors of the desert.

The kangaroos did have on taekwondo uniforms–white shirts with black sashes.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Food Picture Books

May 10, 2026May 23, 2026 The Retired School Librarian1 Comment

Food picture picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook

by Emma Bland Smith (Author), Susan Reagan (Illustrator)

Summary: In the late 1800s, Fannie Farmer developed a passion for cooking. Despite contracting polio at the age of sixteen, she enrolled in the Boston Cooking School, where she excelled and eventually became the principal. Fannie’s teaching focused on precise measurements and exact cooking methods, ensuring success for home cooks.

She rewrote the school’s cookbook with precision, which became incredibly popular. Fannie also gave lectures nationwide and even taught at Harvard Medical School.

The back sections contain photos and additional information about Fannie and the Boston Cooking School and how Ms. Farmer really improved cooking through precise and detailed recipes.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

How Do You Eat Color?

by Mabi David (Author), Yas Doctor (Illustrator), Karen Llagas (Translator)

Summary: A boy and girl spend a day exploring and tasting various fruits and vegetables, grouped by color.

Comments: This is translated from Filipino.

The illustrations were created using oil on paper.

The back sections are A Rainbow of Colors(which highlights food from different colors, explaining how they benefit the body, and ways to eat them), Why Should We Eat A Rainbow of Fruits and Vegetables?, and How Families Can Eat More Colors Together.

This book could supplement an elementary-level food or color unit.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Cover of India on a Plate with a plate of food with various Indian food. One a table with a child peeking over it

India on a Plate!: Indian Food from A to Z

by Archana Sreenivasan (Author)

Summary: Young readers will enjoy seeing and learning foods of India in this brightly illustrated ABC board book.

Comments: Each letter has a fun rhyming three-lined verse describing the food.

There is a pronunciation guide after each food.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A and B foods with a grandmother and grandson sharing achaar and a father and daughter sharing a plate of biryani.

Jollof Day

by Bernard Mensah (Author), Annalise Barber-Opp (Illustrator)

Summary: A young boy and his dad wake up before the rest of the family on Jollof Day to prepare a special stew. They joyfully chop the ingredients and let the stew simmer. When the rest of the family wakes up, everyone sits down together for the special meal.

Comments: The recipe for the jollof rice dish is in the back of the book.

The bright and dynamic illustrations were created using watercolor paints, gouache, colored pencils, and digital edits in Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Flower Picture Books

May 7, 2026May 21, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Flower picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Flower Picture Books– https://amzn.to/49yyhQq .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

Book cover of A Dandelion with dandelion plants at various stages of the flower. A sun and moon are at the top of the cover with a blue background.

n are in the sky

A Dandelion (A Day in the Life Of)

by Ruth Owen (Author)

Summary: This narrative nonfiction picture book explains the life cycle of a dandelion from being a yellow flower to when it changes into seeds. The wind carries them to another location where they start over.

Comments: This is a smaller picture book about 8″ x 8.”

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

The Weedflower

by Elizabeth Davaze (Author), Marianne Ferrer (Illustrator)

Summary: Sam notices a dandelion during recess and through her care and appreciation of it, several other students notice it as well. They nuture it, but soon find out that not everyone sees it as a beautiful flower.

Comments: This would make a nice read-aloud and discussion of nature all around us in our everyday lives.

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Book cover to Doe's Dandelions with a doe carrying a basket full of dandelions while on the green grass full of dandelions and daffodils

Doe’s Dandelions (Woodland Friends)

by Laura Renauld (Author), Jennie Poh (Illustrator)

Summary: In this Woodland Friends series, Doe is growing daffodils for the Spring Pedal Parade but keeps coming across annoying dandelion “weeds.” She soon learns from her friends how much joy and use they are to them.

Comments: This is a wonderful tribute to the benefit of some of the plants that are called weeds. Students can learn that all plants have value.

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Don’t Touch that Flower!

by Alice Hemming (Author), Nicola Slater (Illustrator)

Summary: Squirrel wakes from spring to find a new flower growing. He decides to protect it by not allowing any water to get on it, from bees landing on the petals, and even, putting it under a bucket.

Bird educates Squirrel about his good intentions are harming the flower instead.

Comments: This is a humorous read-aloud that opens a discussion of what plants need to thrive.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A Flower is a Friend

by Frieda Wishinsky (Author), Karen Patkau (Illustrator)

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.

Comments: This is an excellent resource for introducing the concept of symbiosis. The illustrations made it clear and concrete.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Father Picture Books

May 7, 2026May 28, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Father picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. These titles may be found on my Amazon Storefront under Father Picture Books– https://amzn.to/48NBD2O .)

❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗

A father in a yellow raincoat driving a car while his daughter sits in the passenger side with a map.

Navigating Night

by Julie Leung (Author), Angie Kang (Illustrator)

Summary: A Chinese-American girl helps her father, who is a Chinese immigrant, deliver food from their restaurant each night. She reads the map and road signs, navigating to the correct destinations. She does not want to do this anymore and wants to be like the other kids she sees in homes. After hearing her father’s immigration journey, she realizes how hard they work so that she will have a better life in the USA.

Comments: I think this would be a story to share with intermediate students to discuss a realistic look at the immigration journey of working hard for a better life. It builds an understanding of classmates with similar responsibilities.

The backmatter tells us that the book is based on the author’s own life.

The illustrations are created in gouache, crayon, colored pencil and pastel to emphasize the colors of a rainy night.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A father and son sitting in matching capes in a barbershop.

Haircut Day with Dad

by Monica Mikai (Author)

Summary:
It’s Saturday morning, which means it’s time for a trip to the barbershop with Dad. A young boy shares this special bonding ritual of getting a haircut alongside his father while surrounded by other men enjoying fresh cuts, watching a basketball game, and chatting together. By the end of the visit, the boy proudly pays the barber with his own money, making the experience feel like a rite of passage.

Comments: The sensory details of the story had me in that barbershop. The story provides discussions about self-image and family rituals.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Sarabeth is wearing a stained blue jumpsuit with her dog beside her inside of a car garage that has many tools

Sarabeth’s Garage

by Melanie Florence (Author), Nadia Alam

Summary: Sarabeth loves everything about cars and especially Saturdays when she spends time with her father in his garage. Her grandmother does not approve and believes Sarabeth is not acting like little girls did in her day. It wasn’t until Grandmother’s car broke down that she began to appreciate her granddaughter’s passion.

Comments: This is a good text resource for breaking stereotypes and encouraging students to follow what they are good at doing. Students could also discuss what hobbies they share with their family.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A father carrying luggage with his daughter sitting on the luggage with wheels.

Just Try It! Someplace New! (A Phil & Lil Book)

by Phil Rosenthal (Author), Lily Rosenthal (Author), Luke Flowers (Illustrator)

Summary: Lil is nervous about the trip she and her father are going to take to grandma’s house. They are staying for three days and Lil discusses things that could irrationally and outlandishly happen while her father reassures her everything will be okay. They pack up and drive to grandma’s to find out that indeed everything is wonderful there.

Comments: This is the second book of the father and daughter duo. They humorously examine growth mindset and being flexible with change by just trying something that may be new. This is an excellent text for discussing anxiety and being nervous about new things regardless of age.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A father and daughter with raised hands shouting at the storm.

Thunderland

by Maggie Edkins Willis

Summary: A young girl hides under the sink during a loud thunderstorm. She is afraid of the noise it makes but her father is not. He encourages her to go to Thunderland with him where there is hot chocolate and cookies. The father successfully teaches his daughter ways to confront the storm and live through it.

Comments: Thunderland is a playful world where the father helps his daughter face the noise and find bravery. I found this to be a great read-aloud for students to realize that others may have fears just like them.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A boy closing his eyes with his hair pulled back

Brave

by Weshoyot Alvitre (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: A young Indigenous boy admires his father’s long hair and that of dancers at a powwow. Although he is teased at school, he wants to have long braids. His father tells him about the history of how his hair and that of other Indigenous people was cut as he combs his son’s hair. He explains how they had to be brave and strong. The boy decides he wants to be like his ancestors and grow his hair long, too.

Comments: This would be a wonderful classroom read-aloud for intermediate students. It gently explores the significance of having one’s hair cut against one’s will. It introduces the history of Indian Residential Schools. It could be a prompt for students to discuss how they can support fellow classmates with cultural traditions they may not be familiar with.

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Grumpy Monkey Father’s Day Fuss

by Suzanne Lang (Author), Max Lang (Illustrator)

Summary: Jim Panzee thinks of ways to celebrate Father’s Day with his father, Chip. Jim realizes that they should include Grandpanzee but finds out that not all dads like to celebrate the same way. Some like a big fuss while others like it to be simple and quiet.

Comments: I think this would make an excellent SEL mentor text for discussing how holidays and celebrations can look different for everyone. Some people enjoy large gatherings and noise, while others prefer quieter and simpler moments. The story encourages students to recognize their own feelings and comfort levels rather than feeling pressured to celebrate the same way as everyone else.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

The Best Daddy of All

by Peter Horn (Author), Jessica Meserve (Illustrator), Johanna McCalmont (Translator)

Summary: Sebastian spends the day with his father, walking through the meadow and around the pond, learning about what other dads do for their children. His father turns it into a game by describing what different daddy creatures do, and Sebastian has to guess which creature he describes.

Comments: This story is a cuddly, bedtime book.

The book was originally published in Switzerland. The book I looked at was in English and printed in Riga, Latvia.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Jollof Day

by Bernard Mensah (Author), Annalise Barber-Opp (Illustrator)

Comments: The recipe for the jollof rice dish is in the back of the book.

The bright and dynamic illustrations were created using watercolor paints, gouache, colored pencils, and digital edits in Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Little Big Man

by Varian Johnson (Author), Reggie Brown (Illustrator)

Summary: Elijah eagerly waits for his father’s return from work so they can fly his new kite together. However, his father has to work over the weekend. Instead, the two of them work together to clean the house and help his mother with the newborn baby. Following his father’s example, Elijah learns to do household chores.

Comments: I appreciate Elijah’s father’s patience and encouragement as his son learns to follow his lead and assist in the house and to also help others in the neighborhood.

The illustrations were created digitally using Adobe Photoshop.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Love, Dad: Inspiring Notes from Fathers to Kids

by Dr. Joel Warsh (Author), Andrew Gardner (Author), David Cooper (Illustrator)

Summary: This book is a collection of 18 short notes from various fathers, each beginning with “I hope you…” to support their children’s growth with themes of perseverance, hope, and self-discovery.

Comments: This is a superb mentor text for SEL. A writing activity would be for students to write letters to their future selves.

The illustrations were created using digital media.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

Book cover of a boy and his father riding bikes with birds and hills in the background

Riding Through Rice Fields: A Trip to the Philippines

by Michelle Sterling (Author), Bianca Austria (Illustrator)

Summary: Mateo and his father are struggling to connect until a family reunion in the Philippines helps strengthen their bond as they embark on an adventure together while bicycling across the country.

Comments: Mateo learns about bayanihan, the practice of people coming together to help those in need. I believe that reading this book aloud in the classroom and discussing bayanihan could be beneficial throughout the entire year.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.

A boy and his father with fishing rods over their shoulders walking along a river

With Dad

by Richard Jackson (Author), Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Summary: A son and father drive a red Jeep along the upper South Branch Stream of the Au Sable River in Michigan. The father allows his boy to sit in his lap and steer while he drives. They set up their campsite and go trout fishing, where they catch one. The boy is shown how to gut the fish and fry it.

They spend time around the campfire under the full moon talking and joking around.

They return from their trip when his father goes off to war. He and his mother read air-mail letters together, looking forward to his return.

Comments: This is an autobiographical story set in the early 1950s during the Korean War when the author’s father was called away for duty.

There is more of an explanation for the creation of the story on the copyright page.

The illustrations were beautifully crafted using pen and ink, watercolor, and gouache, giving the story a lovely summery feel.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

Sydney is sitting on her father's shoulders outside on the lawn with flowers. She is holding a snowglobe with a blue butterfly flying above her.

Sydney’s Big Speech

by Malcolm Newsome (Author), Jade Orlando (Illustrator)

Summary: Sydney feels shy on her first day of school and is worried about the speech she has to give to the class. Her father reminds her of all the role models who had to give speeches and practices with his daughter to help her build confidence.

Will Sydney be able to give her speech about what she wants to do when she grows up?

Comments: The back page has short biographical sketches of the female leaders the father shared.

The illustrations are created using watercolor and digital media.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Dad Jokes: The Cheesiest, Corniest Joke Book Ever!

by Highlights (Creator)

Summary: This nonfiction collection of 900+ Dad jokes includes a table of contents and funny illustrations.

Comments: This is a collection of riddles, jokes, and knock-knock jokes, especially for kids.

These jokes would work so well with students throughout the day to foster humor, homophones, and figurative language.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Like Father, Like Son

by Lesléa Newman (Author), AG Ford (Illustrator)

Summary: Each two-page illustration features a dad and son pair in rhyming text, from doing household tasks to playing sports.

Comments: The illustrations were created using watercolor and colored pencil to vividly depict a diverse and multicultural theme, showcasing the special bond between dads and sons.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A father in shorts is balancing three dishes of food from the fair while his little girl is cross armed turned away.

Just Try It!

by Phil Rosenthal(Author), Lily Rosenthal(Author), and Luke Flowers(Illustration)

Summary: Lil and her father are at a food festival with many different types of foods. Her father tries coaxing his daughter to try the foods, but she stubbornly refuses. He offers her a pretzel with mustard, to which she reacts with an angry scream and throws her arms in the air, causing the mustard to go on his shirt. She apologizes while her father washes off the stain.

While waiting, Lil takes a bite. Will she like this or any of the other food?

Comments: This was one patient father.
“Try it; you’ll like it” is a common request that many kids and parents will relate to in this humorous picture book.

The illustrations were rendered digitally.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Daddy, Tell Me a Story

by Kathleen Long Bostrom (Author), Ela Smietanka (Artist)

Summary: Sophie asks her father for a bedtime story–one he makes up instead of from a book. He begins to tell her one, but his daughter keeps requesting changes. The story becomes more and more imaginative with many creatures.

Comments: This is a cute bedtime story with a bit of humor and a lot of imagination.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Forever and Always

by Brittany J. Thurman (Author), Shamar Knight-Justice (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Olivia looks forward to seeing her father come home from work and greet her with a hug. They create dinner with Mom and have a nice evening together.

Olivia hugs her father in the morning before he leaves for work, worrying about his dangerous job as an emergency medical technician. While waiting, she makes him a bracelet to wear.

Will her father return?

Comments: The illustrations are created using mixed-media elements and Procreate.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A boy and his dad lying down in the back of a pickup truck looking up to the stars

A Bed of Stars

by Jessica Love (Author, Illustrator).

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 📗📗📗📗

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

Finding Papa

by Angela Pham Krans (Author), Thi Bui (Illustrator)

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 a 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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗📗

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

A young Chris Paul sitting on the shoulder of his granddad, Papa Chilly

Basketball Dreams

by Chris Paul (Author), Courtney Lovett (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: The back page has Chris Paul’s recollection of his grandfather and a photo of them.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A father and son holding fishing poles while walking down a path with trees around them

Daddy & Me, Side by Side

by Pierce Freelon (Author), Nadia Fisher (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: This would be a nice mentor text for discussing “then and now.” Students could talk to family members about the childhood places they went to together.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A proud little girl wearing a baseball hat and jean jacket standing in front of a large and red semi truck

Trucker Kid

by Carol Gordon Ekster (Author), Russ Cox (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: The back pages have sections Keep on Trucking and Author’s Note.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Baba sitting on the persian rug with his six daughters

Baba’s Gift: A Persian Father’s Love of Family

by Ariana Shaheen Amini (Author), Christina Maheen Amini (Author), Elaheh Taherian (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗

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

Kate is sitting on her father's shoulders with her backpack on

Hurry, Kate, or You’ll Be Late!

by Janice N. Harrington (Author), Tiffany Rose (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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

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

Pop’s Perfect Present

by Corey Finkle (Author), Lenny Wen (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: The girl’s repeated failures to create the perfect gift can lead to students talking about when they failed or when things didn’t quite go as planned. What did they do? What did they learn?

The book has humorous rhyming with a fun rhythm.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A boy on the shoulders of his father; both are eating a doughnut

No Fair!

by Jacob Grant (Author, Illustrator).

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?

Comments: 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

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

My Dad Is a DJ

by Kathryn Erskine (Author), Keith Henry Brown (Author, Illustrator).

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?

Comments: This is a mentor text for students dealing with parental separation. It realistically explores new routines and changes with relationships.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Different family members of various ethinic backgrounds in a selfie pose

Dad and Daddy’s Big Big Family

by Seamus Kirst (Author), Karen Bunting (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: This story is a tool for teaching the concept of an extended family tree such as second cousins and cousins once removed. It also demonstrated same and different traits among relatives.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A father making a pink dress for his daughter who is hugging him from behind

Daddy Dressed Me

by Michael Gardner (Author), Ava Gardner (Author), Nadia Fisher (Illustrator).

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?

Comments: This is based on a true story which can be found in the back–The Story Behind the Story. I loved seeing the photos of the real father and daughter duo.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Maribel touching the koi pond making circular ripples

Maribel’s Year

by Michelle Sterling (Author), Sarah Gonzales (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: Illustrations change with each month and capture the feelings and thoughts of Maribel.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Man with a robin sitting in its nest on top of his head

My Dad Is a Tree

by Jon Agee (Author).

Summary: A young girl asks her father to stand with his arms outstretched and become a tree.

Comments: 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 📗📗📗

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

Papa’s Home

by David Soman (Author).

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.

Comments: 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

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Library-Themed Picture Books

April 16, 2026May 23, 2026 The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Library-themed children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. The Retired School Librarian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. These titles can be found on my Amazon Storefront under Library-Themed Picture Books — https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/G8Z5QEBVNOJH?ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ons_mixed_d .)

‼️This list will continue to grow as new titles are added. ‼️

Michal Threets in cartoon form holding a stack of books while waving. Students with different backgrounds are on either side looking or holding books. There is even a dog.

I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy

by Mychal Threets (Author), Lorraine Nam (Illustrator)

Summary: The story follows a welcoming librarian as children and families enter the library exploring everything the public library has to offer.

Comments: The simple, upbeat text and bright, colorful illustrations emphasize that everyone belongs in the library. The positive, emotional tone is a calming welcome.

The author’s gentle and inviting words will inspire readers to create a lifetime friendship with the library.

This would make such a fun read-aloud for the first time students visited the school library.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Harry Houdini in a white strait jacket hanging upside down with a book tucked in his arms

Houdini’s Library: How Books Created the World’s Greatest Magician

by Barb Rosenstock (Author), Mar Delmar (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In this picture book biography, Erik Weisz, better known as Harry Houdini, first discovered reading through his father’s library. His father lost his job and could not find another one, causing his family to sell their possessions including the library. Throughout his career as an escape artist, he collects books wherever he goes, slowly building a new library.

Comments: This narrative nonfiction text can spark discussions of how libraries matter and can change people’s lives. Ask students how books and libraries influence them.

The illustrations were created using cut paper, acrylic gouache, and glue.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

A family sitting on the floor looking at a book with all sorts of books, toys, worms, plants around them.

A Family of Readers

by Rob Sanders (Author), Gabbie Benda (Illustrator)

Summary: A family visits the library and explore all of the sections of the library, first choosing books to read, next going to story time, classes, and an author visit. This proves more that libraries have something for everyone and are community hubs.

Comments: I love the modern take of this library having a large variety of media, programs, and classes for the whole community. The illustrations are inclusive featuring diversity. The library has a variety of ages all doing different activities. The story and illustrations move, are positive, and are full of details.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Lone wolf is sitting on the floor reading a book with two children peering over the bookcase looking at him.

Lone Wolf Goes to the Library

by Kiah Thomas (Author), K-Fai Steele (Illustrator)

Summary: Wolf is reading his library book in the back yard each time the careless postman throws his mail over the fence unknown to Wolf. They were in regards to his late library book. The wolf tries to avoid contact with others on his journey to return his book.

Comments: This picture book with short chapters emphasizes the lone wolf’s desire to be by himself in peace and avoiding others so that he can just read a book in quietness. I think this would be a fun read-louds that would help students learn about those who prefer independent study.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Orson peeking over a library shelf looking at us.

Orson and the World’s Loudest Library

by Laura Gehl (Author), Stephanie Roth Sisson (Illustrator)

Summary: Orson visits a library and finds it overwhelming with noisy children all around him. He tries shushing everyone but Ms. Lana shows him a quiet place–a reading room. After awhile, Orson decides that it really wasn’t what he was looking for after all.

Comments: This book that is a debate between and quiet and loud environment would be relatable to those who are sensitive to noise. Teachers could discuss how different environment affect our ability to learn.

The illustrations were created in pencil and colored digitally.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Boyd reading outside the log cabin library with two dogs sitting beside him while sitting on a stump.

The Library in the Woods

by Calvin Alexander Ramsey (Author), R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Summary: There is a storm that destroyed the family farm in 1959. Boyd, a boy of nine, discovers a library in the woods of North Carolina located in their new area where they moved. It is a log cabin especially for Black neighbors. He walks through the door and is stunned to see so many books in one location. He starts a lifelong relationship with libraries.

Comments: This story is based on the author’s life. The back pages give more details of his experience.

This could lead to discussions of how it is a privilege to have a public library and how history changed to include all.

The illustrations were created using acrylic on illustration board.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Roshan and his owner with children looking at the books the camel has on its back.

The Camel Library: A True Story from Pakistan

by Marzieh Abbas (Author), Anain Shaikh (Illustrator)

Summary: This narrative nonfiction picture book is based on the real-life “Camel Library” project in Pakistan where Roshan the Camel now carries books instead of wood to the children in the area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comments: This is a wonderful story to read-aloud that could lead to many discussions such as the pandemic, problem solving, and the importance of books.

The back pages tell more details and a photo of the camel.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Fanny wearing glasses and a purple dress holding a book. There are book shelves behind her.

Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born

by Richard Michelson (Author), Alyssa Russell (Illustrator)

Summary: In the 1920s, Fanny, an immigrant from Russia, noticed that books in the library rarely reflected her Jewish heritage. She began attending the Saturday Evening Girls Club that helped her learn about the world around her. She began to work as a librarian’s assistant, eventually becoming the director. She helped immigrants to learn about American customs but not forgetting their own.

Comments: She helped create the first Jewish Book Week, which is annually in late February to early March.

More about her life can be found in the back matter.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

various babies climbing on a pile of books

Never Give a Baby a Library Card

by Erin Sandberg (Author), Tom Booth (Illustrator)

Summary: Grandmother, Mom, and the baby go to the library to get a library card for the child. A man comes running to the desk shouting, “STOP!” This humorous and fast-paced story tells all of the things the baby will learn from books from cooking, driving, and learning about rocket science. A little girl points out all of the positive things changing everyone’s mind.

Comments: The book is a humorous read-aloud that promotes reading at an early age and its benefits.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Book cover of Book Comes Home. Three children are holding books in their hands

Book Comes Home: A Banned Book’s Journey

by Rob Sanders (Author), Micah Player (Illustrator)

Summary: Book loves being in the library, going home with patrons, returning to its home in the library until one day Book is picked up and placed in a dark room in the back of the library. Book is now in the Banned Book Closet with other books who were confused about why no one loved them anymore. Will a protest from readers bring out those books in the Banned Book Closet or will more join?

Comments: This is a gentle anamorphic story of a book’s viewpoint. The story explains the concept of censorship and the role of advocacy to protect books.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

The Keeper of Stories

by Caroline Kusin Pritchard (Author), Selina Alko (Illustrator)

Summary: This narrative nonfiction book tells about the 1966 fire at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library in the Upper West Side of New York City. A group of people made a long chain and removed the water-damaged books out from the library to dry elsewhere.

Comments: This is a wonderful story of how a community worked together to figure out a way to dry out the books before they were all lost. Paper towels were sent from all over the city saving about 170,000 books.

The illustrations were created with acrylics, colored pencil, collage, and found objects. They show the tragedy but also the spirit of the people.

The back matter includes more information, including photographs.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Ruthie Rose with two of her classmates looking up in the sky with arms outstretched.

Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea: A Poetry Story, 2025

by John Schu (Author), Holly Hatam (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Ruthie Rose wakes up with a big, bright, beautiful idea that she shares throughout her school with her enthusiasm and positivity. Soon, with the help of many classmates and a few teachers, her idea becomes concrete, resulting in a special space.

Comments: This is a celebration of how ideas grow and can change into something concrete that a community can share.

The digitally-created illustrations have bits of classic poems.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A bunny sitting on a stack of books with a book opened. Another bunny is looking up at the other bunny. In a meadow of wildflowers

Just One More Story

by Perry Emerson (Author), Sean Julian (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Pip and Bun, bunny siblings, have different views about reading. Pip loves to read while Bun does not. With the help of Pip, she finds an action-packed adventure book in a Little Free Library and gets Bun hooked.

Comments: The illustrations are gentle and colorful, perfect for a bedtime read or classroom read-aloud. I liked the theme of anyone can enjoy reading once they find the right story.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A woman with gray hair is reading with a little boy, Abuela and Alfonzo. There is a large oak tree behind them.

Abuela’s Library

by Lissette Norman (Author), Jayri Gómez (Illustrator)

Brief summary: Alfonso and his Abuela visit the library every Saturday and read under their favorite oak tree until it has to be cut down. Alfonso comes up with an idea of turning the stump into a library for the neighborhood and the community. How will this happen?

Comments: This is a true lemons into lemonade story emphasizing the importance of children having access to books.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Clarisse is looking into the clear glass doors of a library seeing people and books.

No Cats in the Library

by Lauren Emmons (Author, Illustrator)

Brief summary: Clarisse, who doesn’t understand the squiggly lines in books but loved the pictures, came across a building full of books. She keeps trying to sneak inside and succeeds, exploring all over until she comes across a little girl who reads to the cat. The librarian comes across the cat. Will she put Clarisse outside?

Comments: The warm and soft colors used to illustrate the story are cozy and calm. This would be a lovely story to introduce the concept of reading to pets. I often practiced reading aloud the books I was going to share with my students that week with my ginger cat, Leo, who sat and listened, just like a student.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A girl with very bright orange hair is holding books.

A Love Letter to My Library

by Lisa Katzenberger (Author), Rob Sayegh Jr. (Illustrator)

Brief summary: A young girl gives thanks for all of the various services her library provides such as providing books, story time, and the fish tank.

Comments: I love how this book emphasizes that a library is more than just a building but a community center.

I think this book could be read first and then have the students write love letters to their school or public library about what they find enjoyable.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Book cover of Go Forth and Tell with Augusta Bakers as a woman holding books with city buildings behind her.

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller

by Breanna J. McDaniel (Author), April Harrison (Illustrator)

Summary: Augusta Braxton Baker used to listen to her grandmother’s storytelling, which influenced her so much that she became a storyteller. Augusta attended a teacher’s college in New York and then worked at the New York Public Library in Harlem.

Her legacy continues even today, through the “Baker’s Dozen: A Celebration of Stories” annual storytelling festival which is sponsored by the University of South Carolina College of Information and Communications and the Richland County Public Library.

Baker was a librarian remembered for her advocacy of creating and encouraging positive and uplifting stories with African-American characters.

Comments: The back sections include Timeline, Citations, and an Author’s Note.

The illustrations were created using mixed media, acrylics, and artist pens.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A man is sitting on a green striped chair with his children on either side of them reading a book together with a rhino behind them. Books are strewn all over the ground with the car's trunk door open

The Liebrary

by Amanda Pearlstein (Author), Howard Pearlstein (Author), Maren Amini (Illustrator).

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.

Comments: 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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an orange cat sitting on the floor of the library with books around him

Jack the Library Cat

by Marietta Apollonio (Author, Illustrator)

Summary: Jack loves being in the library, but the librarian, Ms. Fisher, keeps throwing him out. Pascal, a new friend, sneaks the orange cat into the library so they can read together. When they are discovered and Jack is about to be removed again, Pascal convinces the librarian to allow Jack to stay as an official library cat.

Comments: This is an excellent book to read aloud and to ask if any students also read to their pets. Finding out if there are any shelters nearby that have programs with children reading to cats or dogs could be suggested for those without pets.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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This Is a Story

by John Schu (Author), Lauren Castillo (Illustrator)

Summary: The title page begins this story with a girl receiving a library card from her father.

One word on a page of a book from a shelf waits in a library. 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 down to the perfect one–a sea horse library book. She begins to read.

The little girl has found her special library book and now helps her younger brother find his. She uses her library card to check it out.

Comments: This is a lovely story of the magic of finding the right book and an introduction that the role of a librarian as someone who helps match a reader’s personal interest to the many, many books on the shelves.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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If you enjoy this book, you may like John Schu’s This is a School.

This Book Is My Best Friend

by Robin Robinson (Author, Illustrator)

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 to book talk each other into other books to check out instead, they discover how to share the library book.

Comments: 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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Palace of Books

by Patricia Polacco (Author, Illustrator)

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.

Comments: 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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The Library Fish Learns to Read (The Library Fish Books)

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Author), Gladys Jose (Illustrator).

Brief summary: Library Fish lives in a bowl on the desk of the librarian, 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 wants 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: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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A man and woman holding books are between two shelves of books in a library.

Love in the Library

by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Author), Yas Imamura (Illustrator)

Brief summary: In the Minidoka incarceration camp in Idaho during World War II, a young woman named Tama works at the camp’s library. Every day, George visits her returning books. Although they are in a camp, they find comfort in the stories and one another.

Comments: This is actually based on the author’s maternal grandparents. There is not so much emphasis about camp life but more on how they found joy and hope in the library.

The illustrations were created with gouache and watercolor. The author’s note in the back matter includes a photo of her grandparents which shows students that history is made of real people.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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Children of various backgrounds are either reading or dancing around the book's title

Our Incredible Library Book (and the wonderful journeys it took)

by Caroline Crowe (Author), John Joseph (Illustrator).

Brief summary: Readers will learn about a library book’s adventures into several children’s homes.

Comments: This books is in rhyme and would make a fun read-aloud. It gives a behind-the-scenes look of a library book as it visits different family.

I think this would pair well with book care to help keep books safe for the next student. This would demonstrate how NOT to treat a book.

This book was first published in the UK.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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A Library

by Nikki Giovanni (Author), Erin K. Robinson (Illustrator)

Brief summary: After Monday’s breakfast, a young girl returns her library books and shares all of the possibilities she can be using her imagination. It isn’t just a building, but a place of freedom to dream.

Comments: This is a lovely ode to libraries and would be a great read- aloud. For a writing exercise, have students finish the sentence: “A library is…” using figurative language.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Behind My Doors: The Story of the World’s Oldest Library

by Hena Khan (Author), Nabila Adani (Illustrator)

Comments: This narrative nonfiction book is told from the perspective of the library, from its very beginning until Dr. Chaouni, an architect who was hired to restore the building, renovates it.

The illustrations were created digitally.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A large white dog is listening to Madeline Finn read her book.

Madeline Finn and the Library Dog

by Lisa Papp (Author)

Summary: Madeline Finn struggles with reading, especially out loud. She gets upset when she makes a mistake, but she really wants a gold star instead of the ones she keeps getting that say “Keep trying.”

Madeline goes to the library with her mother and finds a room full of children reading to dogs. She is paired with Bonnie who doesn’t mind if she makes mistakes. Will Madeline ever get a gold star?

Comments: This is a wonderful story to teach about a growth mindset, showing how Madeline hasn’t mastered reading yet, but improves with practice.

This is an ideal mentor text for Book Buddy programs, whether students are reading to older peers or to library dogs and cats..

This is also a social-emotional learning story noting how Madeline Finn’s body language changes from the beginning of the book to the end when she gains confidence.

The illustrations were created with pencil, watercolor, and digital coloring.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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A hamster, Stanley, is driving a book mobile full of books

Stanley’s Library

by William Bee (Author)

Summary: Stanley the hamster fills his colorful bookmobile with books before heading to the park. He helps his friends find their favorite topics and returns just in time to help Charlie set up for a special author visit

Comments: This is a fun, vibrant book for toddlers and preschoolers. The bold text and simple illustrations make it a great choice for early readers.

For teachers, this is a wonderful mentor text for a social studies unit on community helpers, as it introduces the concept of a bookmobile and how libraries reach out to serve their neighborhoods

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Children of various backgrounds are around a little library either getting books, holding, or reading them.

The Little Library (Mr. Tiffin’s Classroom Series)

by Margaret McNamara (Author), G. Brian Karas (Illustrator)

Summary: Jake and friends visit the new school library looking for books to check out. Librarian Beck helps Jake find a book that is right for him. Jake begins to really enjoy woodworking- themed books, and he creates something special for his school during the summer months when their library is closed.

Comments: I love how the librarian was able to find a book that interested Jake, a reluctant reader who just needed a little help finding his niche.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Bats pulling down a book with a computer cables. One bat is holding a book.

Bats at the Library

by Brian Lies (Author)

Summary: A colony of bats notice that there is a window open at the library and decide to go inside and explore. They make copies of themselves with the copier, splash in the water fountain, and enjoy storytime all before the sun rises.

Comments: This rhyming text makes a fun read-aloud. It emphasizes that libraries are exciting places where stories come to life. Ask students what they would do if they were in a library overnight.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A small orange kitten is sitting on top of a stack of books.

Dewey: There’s a Cat in the Library!

by Vicki Myron (Author), Bret Witter (Author), Steve James (Illustrator)

Summary: A kitten was left in a library book drop in Spencer, Iowa, on a cold night. The next morning, librarian Vicki Myron found him, gave him a warm bath, and named him Dewey Readmore Books. He became the town’s beloved library cat.

Comments: I love how this story emphasizes that a library is a sanctuary for everyone–even an abandoned kitten.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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A lion is looking over the shoulder of a little girl sitting on the floor reading a book while a boy is leaning against the feline.

Library Lion

by Michelle Knudsen (Author), Kevin Hawkes (Illustrator)

Summary: A lion wanders into the library. Since there were no rules saying a lion could not be in the library and he wasn’t breaking any rules, Mrs. Merriweather, the head librarian and a strict rule follower, allows him to stay. He becomes a very helpful lion and obeys all of the rules, until one day he has to break one to get help.

The cat believes he is no longer welcome and leaves. Mr. McBee goes to look for him to explain that sometimes we need to break the rules for very good reasons.

Comments: This a superb beginning-of-the-year read-aloud to discuss library etiquette and rules. It can demonstrate that safety comes first and some rules may need to be temporarily overlooked in the case of an emergency.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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A toddler is looking through books on a shelf in the library. She has a green backpack beside her.

Lola at the Library (Lola Reads)

by Anna McQuinn (Author), Rosalind Beardshaw (Illustrator)

Summary: Lola puts her library books in her backpack ready to go to the library with her mother, a tradition they do every Tuesday. They walk to the library, return the books, and pick out new ones after story time.

Comments: This is a gentle book about a book checking-out routine of a toddler. I think it would be an excellent read-aloud for kindergarteners first visiting their school library. It could also be used for teaching first, next, then, and last.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.

Behind My Doors: The Story of the World’s Oldest Library

The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook

Pedal, Balance, Steer: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World

Gifts from Georgia’s Garden: How Georgia O’Keeffe Nourished Her Art

A Grand Idea: How William J. Wilgus Created Grand Central Terminal

Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah

Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall

The Wolf Effect: A Wilderness Revival Story (A Voice of the Wilderness Picture Book)

One Day This Tree Will Fall

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons

Rise to the Sky: How the World’s Tallest Trees Grow Up

Special Delivery: A Book’s Journey Around the World

Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: A True Story About an Amazing Swimmer

Poop for Breakfast: Why Some Animals Eat It

Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider

The Forest Keeper– The True Story of Jadav Payeng

Nobody Likes Frogs: A Book of Toadally Fun Facts

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Mabel and the Mountain: A Story About Believing in Yourself

The Queen of Chess: How Judit Polgár Changed the Game

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

Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals

Patsy Cline’s Walkin’ After Midnight

Welcome to the Opera: Discover the Enchanting World of Opera with Mozart’s The Magic Flute

One Sweet Song

Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll

The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music

And There Was Music

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Avocado Magic

Waiting on Mr. Sloth

When You Have to Wait

The Very Patient Gus Davis

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Fly Like a Bird (Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers (SSCR))

Fly: A Family Guide to Birds and How to Spot Them (In Our Nature)

Milkweed for Monarchs

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants

The Pumpkin Book

Kingdoms of Life

Hike It: An Introduction to Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking through the U.S.A.

Clever Crow

Dad Jokes: The Cheesiest, Corniest Joke Book Ever!

Halloween (Holiday History)

Halloween (Traditions & Celebrations)

Mid-Autumn Festival (Traditions & Celebrations)

Orchards (Trip to the Farm)

Voting Day

How Voting and Elections Work

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Log Life (Tiny Habitats)

Milkweed for Monarchs

The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants

Butterfly on the Wind

The Girl Who Loves Bugs

The Bumblebee Garden

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My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages

Home Is a Wish

Thread by Thread

A Star Shines Through