Children’s books about books book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.
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Palace of Books
by Patricia Polacco (Author, Illustrator).
Brief summary: As a girl, Patricia Polacco’s family moves from Union City to Battle Creek, Michigan. It is hard for her to adjust from living in a rural area.
One day she walks home from school, taking a different route, and discovers a stately building with giant pillars along the front with many steps leading up to a porch. It is the Willard Library and full of books for people to borrow. Mrs. Creavy, a librarian, helps Patricia find bird books and even shares the notable books of John James Audubon, full of watercolors of birds.
Soon, Patricia paints birds and shares them with her class. This sparks an Audubon bird club at Fremont Elementary School for the next sixty years.
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 đź“—đź“—đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
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: In rhyming text.
This book was first published in the UK.
Rating: 3/5 đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
The Liebrary
by Amanda Pearlstein (Author), Howard Pearlstein (Author), Maren Amini (Illustrator).
Brief summary: Mikayla and Drew take out books from the library and read about things that don’t make sense. Should they believe everything they read? The children suddenly understand when they return their books.
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 đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
Hooked on Books
by Margaret Chiu Greanias (Author), Kristyna Litten (Illustrator).
Brief summary: Pearl, an anglerfish, reads her book in the depth of the sea but is constantly interrupted. Looking for personal space, she swims down into the abyssal zone, where it is tranquil, and she can finish her book. Lonely, she returns to the twilight zone.
Comments: The illustrations were in shades of blues with the various fish in other colors and often two-page spreads. Speech bubbles mixed with traditional text.
Rating: 4/4 đź“—đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
This Is a Story
by John Schu (Author), Lauren Castillo (Illustrator).
Brief summary: The title page begins this story with a girl receiving a library card from her father.
A little girl walks to the library with her father and younger sibling. She goes into the children’s section carrying a seahorse kite, where a librarian helps her narrow her search from many of the books to the perfect one–a sea horse library book. She begins to read. Other readers in the area are reading books we all know and love that are connected to our hearts and imagination.
The child has found her special library book and now helps her younger brother find his. She proudly uses her library card to check out.
Rating: 4/5 đź“—đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
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).
Brief summary: Two best friends, Sunny and Aarush, want to check out the same library book, Factory Friends, but there is only one copy. They each try to persuade the other why the book is their best friend and needs it more. Having failed at trying to book talk each other into other books to check out instead, they realize how to share the library book.
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 đź“—đź“—đź“—1/2
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
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 librarian’s desk, Mr. Hughes, where she watches the students check books in and out of the public library. One day, she is listening to Mr. Hughes tell a story about a dog learning how to read and is inspired that she, too, would like to learn to read.
After the librarian says good night, Library Fish gets out of her bowl (with special accommodations) and begins to teach herself the ABCs. Each night she practices until she can read books.
Rating: 3/5 đź“—đź“—đź“—
Continue reading for more details and buying options on this book’s Amazon page.
Children’s book titles are carefully handpicked by a certified elementary school librarian who, although retired, still enjoys reading children’s books, especially picture books, and recommending them to busy teachers, school librarians, parents, grandparents, and other book lovers.
Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris reads before recommending are checked out from the public library, except for those much-appreciated complimentary copies sent to her for an honest review. Those are noted.
