Tag: library

Pumpkin Children’s Books–2023
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Pumpkin Children’s Books–2023

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Pumpkin Children’s Books recommendations–2023 are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

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

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

The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.

See a Pumpkin Grow (See It Grow!) 

by Kirsten Chang (Author)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bellwether Media
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 1-3
  • Children’s nonfiction paperback ‏ : ‎ 24 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8886872033

Brief summary: Young readers will learn the pumpkin’s life cycle and what uses there are with this fruit.

Comments: Words and photos are large, with many nonfiction text features. The back sections are Glossary, To Learn More, and Index.

This book also comes in library binding.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

This is part of the See It Grow! series.

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

Zoo animals sitting on a gigantic pumpkin

Pumpkin Day at the Zoo 

by Susan Meissner (Author), Pablo Pino (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tommy Nelson
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400243386

Brief summary: It’s Pumpkin Day at the zoo when the zoo animals receive yummy pumpkins to eat from families who donate their uncarved and unpainted pumpkins.

Comments: The illustrations are vivid and humorous. The text is a mix of fonts and sizes that are fun to say aloud with many descriptive adjectives, alliterations, and all in rhyming sentences.

The back page does have a word about pumpkin donations to zoos.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A little old lady is picking up a pumpkin with a black bird and black dog next to her.

There Was an Old Lady Who Picked a Pumpkin!

by Lucille Colandro (Author), Jared Lee (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cartwheel Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-1
  • Paperback picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1338882953

Brief summary: There was an old lady who went on the school bus to a farm looking for a pumpkin patch. She and the students follow the sign and see many farm items before finding the patch. Each child picks out a pumpkin and hops back onto the bus.

Comments: This is a fun fall early reader in rhyme. The book is not the usual cumulative “There was an old lady” who eats something book.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Molly is looking through the leafy vines at a large pumpkin. Bee is flying around

The Pie That Molly Grew 

by Sue Heavenrich (Author), Chamisa Kellogg (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sleeping Bear Press
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK -2
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534111840

Brief summary: Molly plants a pumpkin seed and transplants the sprout to watch it grow into a vine with yellow flowers. After all of the care she has given to produce the ripened pumpkin, Molly bakes a pie.

Comments: Cumulative story of the pumpkin’s life cycle.

The back pages have four additional informative sections: American Pie, How to Turn a Pumpkin Into Pie, When You’re Ready to Make the Pie…, and No Bees.No Pie.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

September Children’s Book Recommendations–2023
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

September Children’s Book Recommendations–2023

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

September Children’s Book Recommendations–2023 are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

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

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

The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.

A young girl waving as she looks out into the sea

On the Edge of the World (Stories from Latin America) 

by Anna Desnitskaya (Author), Lena Traer (Translator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-5
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802856128

Brief summary: Vera lives on the east coast of Russia. She longs to have a friend and often imagines one enjoying her interests and the places she goes. When it is dark, Vera goes to the beach with her mom and turns her flashlight off and on in Morse code for “hi.”

Lucas lives in Chile and longs to have a friend too. He imagines what it would be like to have someone to play soccer or read a book high up in a tree. In the evening, Lucas and his father go to the beach and turn his flashlight off and on, blinking four short flashes, pause, and two short flashes.

Will these two get a response?

Comments: Half of the book is Vera’s story, and then one flips the book over and reads about Luca’s story. I love upside-down books.

Teachers could share this in social studies. For example: “If we are standing on the eastern section of our school and shine a flashlight at night, what is the closest city, state, or country.

It could also supplement a science class on how far a flashlight’s beam can be seen or even have the students practice Morse Code.

Rating: 4/5📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.

A large cat with a grin that is holding a red rose

Carina Felina 

by Carmen Agra Deedy (Author), Henry Cole (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Press
  • Year : 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1338749161

Brief summary: Pepe the parrot loves Carina Felina, the cat. He invites her to his house for dinner, where he has made 100 Cuban crackers. Carina Felina ate them all and Pepe! The greedy and narcissistic cat goes through the town, eating and eating everyone she comes across. Will they ever get out of the cat’s belly?

Comments: This is a Caribbean retelling of “The Cat and the Parrot”. There are some Spanish words in the story with a pronunciation key in the back and the recipe for Pepe’s Cuban Crackers.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

An old man with a cane following a boy running with his dog along a river with kingfisher sitting on a branch in the middle of cat tails

Grandpa and the Kingfisher

by Anna Wilson (Author), Sarah Massini (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nosy Crow
  • Year ‏ : ‎ 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8887770178

Brief summary: A young boy and his grandpa visit the river in the spring and discover a kingfisher diving in the water to catch a fish. They come back in the summer to find two kingfishers building a nest.

The boy and his grandfather keep coming to the river over the seasons, watching the birds’ life cycle.

 The boy asks questions about the birds while the man answers, paralleling his life.

Comments: This story does talk about death and how nature continues but gently and matter-of-factly so that children can understand.

Wonderful watercolor illustrations.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A red pickup truck full of books and storytelling props with children jumping with excitement

Colorful Mondays: A Bookmobile Spreads Hope in Honduras (Stories from Latin America) 

by Nelson Rodríguez (Author), Leonardo Agustín Montes (Author), Rosana Faría (Illustrator), Carla Tabora (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 36 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802856160

Brief summary: Luis lives in Villa Nueva, Honduras, and prefers sharing happy stories with his friends and neighbors to take their minds off unhappiness. He is good at storytelling and likes to retell stories. Monday is when the bookmobile comes for the Hour of the Chochororochochochó, where the bookmobile comes to share stories and books. Luis repeats the stories he has heard with his family.

Comments: The back pages tell the factual story of JustWorld International. This would be a wonderful book for children to learn about how other cultures learn about storytelling and books.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.

A young girl wearing a tutu over a basketball uniform holding the basket while standing in a ballerina pose on a basketball court

Baller Ina 

by Liz Casal (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Books for Young Readers
  • Year : ‎ 2023
  • Grades: Prek-2
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593567099

Brief summary: Ina loves to practice her ballet steps. She changes into her high tops to play basketball, using the steps she has learned in ballet class.

Comments: This is an upbeat book on how athletes can use skills from one sport to another.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A girl with a blue polka dotted handkerchief hanging from a stick she has over her shoulder walking along a dirt path with a ghost, troll, witch and black cat watching her.

The Baddies 

by Julia Donaldson (Author), Axel Scheffler (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Press
  • Year ‏ : ‎ 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1339009064

Brief summary: A troll, ghost, and witch are baddies who enjoy being bad and bragging about it. A girl moves into a nearby cottage. The baddies devise different ways to scare her but are unsuccessful as she shows them kindness and understanding.

Comments: Young readers will enjoy the humorous story.

This is the author of the two books Room on the Broom and The Gruffalo.

This was originally printed in the UK in 2022.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

A mother and her toddler son are in the pool. She is holding him as he tries to swim

Together We Swim 

by Valerie Bolling (Author), Kaylani Juanita (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books
  • Year: ‎ 2023
  • Grades: Toddlers-K
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1797212494

Brief summary: A toddler learns to swim in the pool with the reassurance of his mother and father when he fails and the praise when he accomplishes the steps to swimming without help.

Comments: I recommend this book for preschool and kindergarten teachers looking for fun rhythmic and rhyming text that young readers will enjoy saying aloud.

Perseverance and reassurance after failing a task can lead to success.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

MIa is wearing tute while doing a headstand

Wepa 

by J de laVega (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lil’ Libros; Bilingual edition
  • Year : ‎ 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1948066548

Brief summary: Besides being intelligent, Mia likes to be creative and fashionable but has some things she does not do well. Her Mami says she has too much wepa. Mia tries ballet, hoping to get some of the wepa out, but it does not work. She finally finds an avenue where she releases her wepa.

Comments: According to dictionary.com, wepa means “a Spanish slang used to convey excitement, congratulations, and joy, similar to the English Oh yeah!, Wow!, or That’s awesome!“

The author shares that everyone in her family has ADHD.

This is a bilingual English-Spanish picture book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

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)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ little bee books (July 25, 2023)
  • Year ‏ : ‎ 2023
  • Grades: PreK-5
  • Hardcover narrative nonfiction biography picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1499813066

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.

A teacher is on the shore of the rainforest

The Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (Stories from Latin America) 

by Irene Vasco (Author), Juan Palomino (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
  • Year: ‎ 2023
  • Grades: PreK-5
  • Hardcover ‏ picture book: ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802856179

Brief summary: A young teacher is given her first teaching assignment in Las Delicias, in the middle of the jungle in the Amazon. She brings her many books on an eventful four-day journey to the new school, a straw roof with a blackboard against a tree trunk.

She begins teaching and sharing her books for the students to take home. One morning, the children ran by the school, urging her that a great serpent was coming. They must get to higher ground. The serpent does come, destroying everything, including her precious books.

A few days later, around a fire, the women began to share legends from the squares of white fabric they had been embroidering and making into cloth books. The students translated the words for the teacher. Over time, the teacher learned the language of Las Delicias and how to embroider. She decided to stay.

Comments: Young readers will stay interested in the curiosity of how this young teacher’s journey unfolds.

I kept wondering where I would have been sent to teach. I’m thankful I was able to choose myself.

Wouldn’t this be an excellent book to share on a teachers’ professional development day? 

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*I received a complimentary print copy of this children’s book from the publisher to give an honest review.

Children’s Book Recommendations 2023, So Far: H-R Titles
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Children’s Book Recommendations 2023, So Far: H-R Titles

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris reads before recommending are checked out from the public library, except for those much-appreciated complimentary copies sent to her for an honest review. Those are noted. The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.

H-R

A father and child on a tree swinging

I Hope You Will Know 

by Jaren Ahlmann (Author), Pete Olczyk (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Collective Book Studio
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1951412982

Brief summary: While a father and child snuggle, a father gives thirteen wisdoms wishes for his child for the future. 

Comments: Done in rhyming couplets.

A sweet bedtime story or a nice gift for a child attending school, college, or an important milestone. 

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Children's book cover of Josephine Cochrane juggling dishes

Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine: Josephine Cochrane’s Bright Invention Makes a Splash 

by Kate Hannigan (Author), Sarah Green (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Calkins Creek
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 1-5
  • Hardcover ‏ narrative nonfiction picture book: ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1635926211

Brief summary: Josephine Cochrane was tired of spending so much time washing dishes while wanting to do more exciting things in her household. Plus, her dishes were getting chipped. After several tries, she came up with the dishwasher and patented it.

Her invention was used in hotels, hospitals, restaurants, and other places with high quantities of dishwashing. Thankfully, she was also able to invent a small dishwasher to be used in homes.

Comments: The back sections are Author’s Note (with a photo of the dishwashing machine, patented on Dec. 28, 1886), Notable Women Inventors,  and Timeline of Fascinating Inventions.

This is an excellent addition to any library for learning about inventions.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A boy and and a girl Double Dutch jump roping

Jump In! 

by Shadra Strickland (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Children’s Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1619635801

Brief summary: Various members of the community join in and show their moves as they share the fun of Double Dutch jump roping on a spring day.

Comments: Fun and lively illustrations made me want to jump in and do Double Dutch skipping myself.

Several foldouts.

This book has many ways that it can be shared in a school. I can see this book being read by a PE teacher before a lesson on jump roping. Or a classroom teacher could share it with a short video demonstration before taking the students outside to try it. I can even see this book shared in music class to help students learn the rhythm and rhymes of Double Dutch chants. 

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

A llama and an alpaca sticking their tonges at one another

A Llama Is Not an Alpaca: And Other Mistaken Animal Identities 

by Karen Jameson (Author), Lorna Scobie (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Running Press Kids
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0762478780
  • Hardcover nonfiction picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

Brief summary: Readers are asked if they know the name of a pair of two animals that are similar in looks.

Comments: This book teaches how to look at specific traits to identify an animal.

I even learned the difference between crocodiles and alligators which I never knew before reading this book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

This book's cover has several different participants on the cover of the competitions such as a man with a large moustache, camel, and large watermelon

The Mind-Blowing World of Extraordinary Competitions: Meet the Incredible People Who Will Compete at ANYTHING 

by Anna Goldfield (Author), Neon Squid (Author), Hannah Riordan (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Neon Squid
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 3-6
  • Hardcover nonfiction children’s book ‏ : ‎ 80 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684492866

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the exciting stories of some of the most unusual competitions of humankind from ancient times to now.

Comments: I learned about competitions I never knew existed before reading this fascinating book. Ripley’s Believe it Or Not and Guinness World Record fans will love this children’s book.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

This children's book cover of My Elephant is Blue has a child being sat on by a blue elephant.

My Elephant is Blue 

by Melinda Szymanik (Author), Vasanti Unka (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flyaway Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1947888412

Brief summary: A young child has a blue elephant sitting on him and rides on his back wherever he goes. His family tries different things to make the elephant go away. The child and elephant decide to walk together to see if that will make them feel less of the weight of sadness that has been with them. Soon, the elephant changes colors and does not weigh as much.

Comments: This children’s book is about being sad and not really knowing what to do about it except acknowledging it and later figuring out what will work to make you feel happier in your own time. This is not a “heavy” book, thanks to the use of humor and empathy.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A young Rosa Bonheur at an easel painting horses

No Horses in the House!: The Audacious Life of Artist Rosa Bonheur

by Mireille Messier (Author), Anna Bron (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orca Book Publishers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 1-3
  • Hardcover narrative nonfiction biography picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 145983352X

Brief summary: Rosa Bonheur loved to draw animals. In France in 1829, Rosa would go around the city drawing animals all day even though her mother wanted her to learn to read. Her mother was finally able to teach her daughter how by having the girl make each letter into an animal.

Because Rosa was not good at the skills traditionally taught to young girls, like sewing, cooking, gardening, and so on, her father decided to teach his daughter about art like he did with his sons. Rosa loved to draw horses but was dragged out of the market several times as it was not considered ladylike.

She even dressed like a boy to sneak in and draw. She was finally given permission to go to the market and draw and paint horses. Her paintings were exhibited, and she became famous for being a realistic painter.

Comments: The back sections of this children’s book are Author’s Note and Rosa Bonheur Milestones.

I like stories like this that remind and teach what privileges and rights we have now and to understand what a person’s life was like about two hundred years ago without them.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Children's book cover of Ode to a Bad Day with a little girl wearing a yellow coat and pink tutu in three spotlights yelling and bent over with having a bad day

Ode to a Bad Day

by Chelsea Lin Wallace (Author), Hyewon Yum (Artist)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1797210807

Brief summary: A child’s day begins with mushy cereal, not finding comfortable clothing, and hurrying to get to school. The rest of the day has little mishaps all adding up. Hoping for a better day as hers falls apart, she continues making odes with each incident.

Comments: This children’s book would make an excellent choice to read to young readers to encourage perseverance and hope to get through a difficult day because tomorrow’s could be fantastic.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Children's book cover of One Chicken Nugget has a purple monster with horns holding a chicken nugget with a little Celeste looking at him

One Chicken Nugget 

by Tadgh Bentley (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Balzer + Bray
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062689827

Brief summary: Frank loves to eat chick nuggets from Celeste’s food truck but doesn’t pay for them and scares everyone away. Celeste went to the library and did a little research, coming up with a plan based on the Indian folktale of Sissa to solve her problem with the monster.

Comments: Young readers will enjoy the silliness of the monster and the hilarious illustrations while trying to guess just how many chicken nuggets Frank can eat.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Children’s Book Recommendations 2023, So Far: S-Z Titles
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Children’s Book Recommendations 2023, So Far: S-Z Titles

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

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

Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris reads before recommending are checked out from the public library, except for those much-appreciated complimentary copies sent to her for an honest review. Those are noted. The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, she may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.

S-Z

The children's book cover of The Seasons Within Me has a little girl standing under a large white umbrella with her dog nearby.

The Seasons Within Me 

by Bianca Pozzi (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rise x Penguin Workshop
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593522915

Brief summary: A young girl feels sad and alone as though it is raining on her and realizes no one is noticing. The child tells her mother and is consoled with the hope of feeling better soon. On her way home from school, she meets a dog that matches her rain. The girl cares for the dog, and they become friends, both feeling happier.

Comments: This children’s book is a lovely metaphor for feeling sad.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Dario is standing with his arms up with a joyous facial expression as is his imaginary tiger as they enjoy the monarch butterflies.

Sometimes, a Tiger 

by Z.B. Asterplume (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feiwel & Friends
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover ‏picture book : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250823447

Brief summary: Dario wakes to another morning without a good breakfast but uses his imagination to bring a tiger to school. Soon, other students use their imagination to create something exciting and different.

Dario walks home in the rain with his friends, parting ways when it is his home. They return later in the day with food for his family’s pantry.

Comments: This would be an excellent book to share before a school can/food drive.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Lintang is sitting at the table trying sambal with her Nenek to one side and the cat on the ohter noticing that her mouth is hot.

Spicy Spicy Hot! 

by Lenny Wen (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover ‏picture book : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316281026

Brief summary: Lintang ‘s grandma, Nenek, is flying in from Indonesia to meet her for the first time. Nenek teaches her granddaughter how to make sambal, which is too hot for her granddaughter to enjoy. After several different variants, Nenek creates one with mango that is just right.

Comments: Young readers will learn about different peppers and how to make sambal using the recipe in the back of this children’s book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

This children's book cover has the Crab Nebula and other plants on it.

A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054 

by James Gladstone (Author), Yaara Eshet (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Owlkids
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 1-4
  • Hardcover nonfiction picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 177147498X

Brief summary: A distant star exploded and was seen by earthlings in 1054. It was called a guest star(later called Supernova 1054). It faded. Over the centuries, astronomers have studied it through the eye of telescopes, realizing it had changed to a nebula, a large cloud of gas and dust. It is now called the Crab Nebula.

Comments: In this children’s book, there are three back sections called What is a Supernova?, Supernova 1054, and The Crab Nebula. 

I thought this would make a great beginning understanding of supernovas and how they change over time.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Yakov and Aicha are eating as they are looking at a store's display of space books and decorations.

The Stars (Aldana Libros) 

by Jacques Goldstyn (Author), Helen Mixter (Translator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Greystone Kids
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: 2-5
  • Hardcover ‏ graphic novel: ‎ 72 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1771649194

Brief summary: Yakov(Orthodox Jewish) meets a girl, Aicha(Muslim), in his neighborhood. Both are passionate about the stars and share their interest when meeting in a park. They watch the stars together one night when her hijab slips down, revealing her beautiful hair.

Her father sees this and bans them from seeing one another. The two parents argue about their children not seeing each other ever again. Many years later, the boy and girl encounter one another at an international astronomy conference. Will they talk to one another?

Comments: A Romeo and Juliet type of story. The illustrations are vignettes, comic frames, and regular text styles.

Some libraries have this in the picture book area, while others have it in the graphic novel section.

This is an English translation.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Tilly is standing with her suitcase at the bottom of two mountains that are connected with a bridge.

Stuck in the Middle: A Story About Separation (Difficult Conversations) 

by Tom Tinn-Disbury (Author, Illustator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK Children
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0744080282

Brief summary: Tilly lives in a beautiful area and enjoys playing in it, except that her Mommy lives on one Mountain and her Daddy lives on another. Each week, she must climb down one mountain with one of her parents and up another to be with the other parent. It was leaving her very tired, and she wanted to use the bridge in the middle that connects the two mountains but was told that the bridge was too dangerous with fog or too wobbly.

Tilly decides one night to go and fix the bridge. The parents come together and learn how to repair that bridge to make crossing easier for their daughter.

Comments: There is a Guide for Grown-Ups page in the back of the book. This is Tom Tin-Disbury’s second children’s book of the Difficult Conversations series.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Lost in the Clouds: A gentle story to help children understand death and grief (Difficult Conversations)  is the first book of the series.

Sunny and Oswaldo are sitting back to back not happy with the other one

Sunny and Oswaldo 

by Nicole Melleby (Author), Alexandra Colombo (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Young Readers (February 7, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 164375095X

Summary: Sunny does not like cats, especially the one her father brought home called Oswaldo. She tried to play with it and pet the cat, but they did not get along. She was glad that Oswaldo would leave for the day but always returned in the evening. The cat adored her father. The cat did not return one day, making her father very sad. Sunny tells her father that the cat is mean, and her father explains the cat’s history, helping the young girl understand the cat’s emotions and actions. The cat returns, and a new perspective allows Sunny to care for the cat too.

Comments: A story of understanding and empathy towards another. Social and emotional learning.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

There is a swing of two ontop of the grassy dune over looking the sea

The Swing 

by Britta Teckentrup (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prestel Junior
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-3
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3791375369

Brief summary: A swing sits by the sea and is shared by many people. Seasons come and go. The narrator shares the many reasons people visit the swing: to make big decisions, to just play, for reflection, and so on. These people grow older, and sometimes, some new people discover the swing. The swing was deserted for a while, and vegetation covered it until a group came and repainted and cut away the weeds so that others could enjoy it again.

Comments: Beautiful illustrations that calmly examine the passing of time. Some things change; some do not.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

Several pigeons are in an art museum looking at bird paintings

This Art Is for the Birds 

by Susan Bednarski (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kind World Publishing
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: Prek-3
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1638940185

Brief summary: Alex is not like the other birds in the neighborhood. He likes to collect things and combine them to create mobiles and accessories for his pals. He and his friends decide to take his creations to the art museum. Will the establishment accept art from a crow? Will they love and appreciate them as much as his four pigeon friends?

Comments: Whimsical text with puns. Some speech bubbles. Watercolor and ink illustrations.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A young girl holding a shabby yellow umbrella with her dog staring at it too.

The Umbrella 

by Beth Ferry (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0358447720

Brief summary: The walk to the school bus stop is soaking wet as they wait and does not let up after a day of school or when getting home. A girl and her dog need to walk despite the weather. They come across an antique store with a yellow umbrella for free. They run home with it, unaware that it is falling apart as they go.

It continues to rain and rain. The girl and the dog go on a walk and discover something magical has happened to make the sun come back out.

Comments: The illustrations are what I believe a picture book is all about in telling a story. The grays are the only color seen until the umbrella is bought.

The words rhyme and are ones that a young reader can read and relate to in their world.

The text and illustrations complement one another in portraying this humorous story of sharing and fun in the rain.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

The children's book cover to Welcome, Rain! is of wo girls are looking up as the rain falls onto their faces

Welcome, Rain! 

by Sheryl McFarlane (Author), Christine Wei (Illustrator

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Greystone Kids
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture books ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1771646950

Brief summary: A young girl talks to the rain as she walks through the spring, observing how it provides puddles, worms to come out of the ground, and helps the plants grow. Then, it rains a lot, so the little girl says they have enough. Summer comes, and it is hot with little rain. The autumn leaves fall, and the grass is brown. She is glad that it rains again and asks for snow.

Comments: Each season with rain in it(or not so much) is addressed in this children’s book. I’d pair this with seasons or the water cycle units of study.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Kayla is wearing a red bike helmet standing between two trees next two her blue bik. Her shadow is of a cowgril while the bike's shadow is a horse.

Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike

by Dashka Slater (Author), Laura Hughes (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover ‏ picture book: ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536215678

Brief summary: Kayla’s dad believes his daughter has outgrown her bike with training wheels(Pink Pony) and is ready to learn how to ride a bigger bike without the extra help(Wild Blue, horse). Kayla gets bucked off Wild Blue several times, and her father encourages her to get back in the saddle.

Comments: The metaphor of her bike as a horse using equine language is clever. Book of encouragement, grit, and perseverance.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Naliah is peaking out from behind a door where their is a yellow ao dai hung on the title's words

The Yellow Áo Dài 

by Hanh Bui (Author), Minnie Phan (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feiwel & Friends
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250842069

Brief summary: Naliah planned to perform the Fan Dance, the same one her mother learned from her grandmother in Vietnam, on International Day at school, but found that her ao dai was too tight. She went to her mother’s closet to see if any of her mother’s ao dais fit. As she practiced the fan dance, she tore it.

Naliah’s mother presented her with a unique yellow ao dai to wear. The young girl confesses to her mother that she tore the yellow one in the closet and learns about the history of it.

Comments: This children’s book is a lovely story of tradition and remembering our ancestors.

Rating 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Babies–Five Human and Animal Picture Books
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Babies–Five Human and Animal Picture Books

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Babies–human and animal picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

A baby tap dancing on a Broadway stage

Broadway Baby 

by Russell Miller (Author), Judith A. Proffer (Author)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Meteor 17 Books (April 4, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: Babies-2nd grade
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1957317043

Brief summary: An adorable tribute to Broadway with a baby dreaming of dancing and singing on stage. Baby shares about opening night, getting ready in the dressing room, and reviewing lines before going on stage.

The rhyming text is fun and exciting. The illustrations are bright and full of detail.

Comments: A cute bedtime story for babies and toddlers or the perfect gift for any music or drama teacher.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*It should be noted that this a complimentary book sent to me for an honest review.

A baby standing between a mother and father in a field of flowers reaching for an apple

All Your Tomorrows 

by Harriet Evans (Author), Heidi Griffiths (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tiger Tales (February 14, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Babies-2nd grade
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1664300139

Brief summary: A mother and father hold their baby and bestow upon the child all their hopes and dreams for the newborn’s future. Readers are taken upon the parents’ wishes as the child grows with bright, beautiful, and pleasant illustrations with many two-page spreads. Gentle, lyrical text.

Comments: What a lovely book for babies and toddlers at bedtime.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Wolf babies playing under the full moon with pine tree on either side of the pups

Full Moon Pups 

by Liz Garton Scanlon (Author), Chuck Groenink (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (April 25, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Toddler-2nd grade
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525514554

Brief summary: In rhyming text and gentle rhythm, a mother wolf gives birth to her pups in a cave under a full moon. The mom and pack care for the babies as they grow during the moon’s cycle.

Comments: Lovely illustrations include gouache, acrylics, pencils, oil pastels, and digital media. The back pages include Author’s Note and The Phases of the Moon.

I suggest sharing this with primary grades during a baby animal or moon cycle unit of study.

Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗

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

A cub with his Walrus mother

Little Walrus

by Julie Abery (Author), Suzie Mason (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amicus Ink (March 14, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-Toddler
  • Hardcover board book picture book‏ : ‎ 20 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1681528711

Brief summary: Little Walrus plays near his mom and the herd of walruses while exploring his world.

Comments: The rhyming of verbs in each line is one I don’t often see, and I found it refreshing. Couplet rhyming as well. Illustrations are large and with all two-page spreads.

This is one of the adorable cute series of baby animals called the Little Animal Friends.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A mother is holding a baby over her shoulder as we see the baby's face

One Day 

by Joanna Ho (Author), Faith Pray (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins (March 14, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby to 2nd grade
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063056925

Brief summary: A mother cradles her infant son and dreams and shares all the wonderful ways her boy will be as he grows up.

Beautiful two-paged spread illustrations.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Three Letter Writing Children’s Books
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Three Letter Writing Children’s Books

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Three Letter Writing children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

A young girl fern who has green fern hair receiving a letter written with RSVP on the back

The Invitation 

by Stacey May Fowles (Author), Marie Lafrance (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Groundwood Books
  • Date: 2023
  • Grade: K-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1773066617

Brief summary: Fern opens her mailbox and pulls out a yellow letter, too worried to open it until her friend, Fawn, encourages her to see what’s inside. It is an invitation to a surprise exhibition, but Fern does not want to go due to all of the things she imagines could go wrong. Fern goes to the museum’s special exhibition with the help of her friends who help tame her anxiety.

Comments: This could be a nice class discussion after reading this aloud. “How can we help someone who we see is afraid?” “What can you do if you have something you are afraid of, like Fern did?”

I would share this with the guidance counselor to read to those students experiencing anxiety.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A young girl looking out a city window to see if anyone has found her letter written to a stranger

Dear Street

by Lindsay Zier-Vogel (Author), Caroline Bonne-Muller (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kids Can Press (May 2, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Grade: K-3
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1525303104

Brief summary: Alice loves her street, but only some do, making her think of writing a letter about what she loves about it and placing that letter for someone to find. She continues her letter writing whenever she hears someone complaining. Soon, others are too.

Comments: The author created The Love Lettering Project, which encourages people to anonymously write love letters and leave them for strangers to find, spreading the love.

Rating: 3.5/5📗📗📗 1/2

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

A young girl holding a ltter writteng to her by her grandma

Close to You from Far Away 

by Erica Root (Author)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Running Press Kids (April 4, 2023)
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: K-3
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0762481137

Brief summary: Gigi had to move away from her grandmother and misses her terribly. Her grandma tells her, “I’m close to you from far away.” Over the school year, whenever Gigi spoke to her grandma over the phone or when she wrote letters or received letters and packages, she tried to understand this saying.

Comments: I can see this being a lovely read-aloud with the children saying the “I’m close to you from far away” sentence in red capital letters on several pages in the book.

Loved the facial expressions of the grandmother and daughter throughout the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

*(This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Alphabet Children’s Books: The ABCs in Different Ways
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Alphabet Children’s Books: The ABCs in Different Ways

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Alphabet children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

Alphabet Picture Books

Ref in the blue water with a shark swimming in the blue water. There are fish at the top of the pate

A Is for Australian Reefs 

by Frané Lessac (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-4
  • Hardcover nonfiction picture book ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536228303

Brief summary: Everything one would like to know about the Australian Reefs. This picture book has two-page illustrations for each letter that are bright and detailed.

Comments: This could be a group read-aloud sharing the large print, or it can be an individual reading of the more specific facts in small fonts that explain the many details of plants and marine life on each page.

4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A girl with her hand s on her hips at recess standing next to a large letter A with her friends running in the background

A Is for Ambitious (Ambitious Girl, 2) 

by Meena Harris (Author), Marissa Valdez (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 031635449X

Brief summary: ABCs of descriptive words of empowerment. Aimed towards girls. A “stand up and go for what you believe in” type of book. Inspirationally driven.

Sequel to Ambitious Girl, 2021.

Rating 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

A banana with a pencil that crossed out bedtime that stood for the B in the alphabet; a star, bear, and crescent book with faces watching the banana

B Is for Bananas 

by Carrie Tillotson (Author), Estrela Lourenço (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flamingo Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: Prek-1
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593528069

Brief summary: Banana does not want to go to bed and makes “B” for banana instead of bedtime. Banana gets tired after going through the alphabet and changing or adding words.

Comments: Cute, humorous bedtime story. 

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Portraits of different boys of various ethnic backgrounds with different names of the alphabet

B My Name Is Boy: A Song of Celebration from Australia to Zimbabwe 

by Dawn Masi (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday Books for Young Readers
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593487125

Brief summary: Twenty-six boys share their name, someone else they know, their country, and a verb, all in alliteration.

Comments: It would be a fun activity for students to copy the book’s style by developing the alliterations with their own names and then sharing them with others.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

If you enjoy this one, there is a companion book titled G My Name is Girl, 2021.

Pink pigs playing on large alphabet letters

Playful Pigs from A to Z 

by Anita Lobel (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK -1
  • Hardcover picture book‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534495037

Brief summary: Twenty-six pigs come across a field full of letters. Each pig finds the letter matching its name. In the evening, they all return to their pen.

Comments: Each letter is paired with a pig’s name and a verb. The pages have capital letters across the top, with small case letters on the bottom of each page.

Originally printed in 2015.

Rating 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

The letters in the alphabet are talking to one another. z, g, and a.

Alphabuddies: G Is First! 

by Beth Bacon (Author), Karen Kane (Author), Eric Barclay (Illustrator).

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins
  • Year: 2023
  • Grades: PreK-2
  • Hardcover picture book ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006305597X

Brief summary: “G” wants to be first in the alphabet song, but “A” argues it will mess up reading. The letters experiment to see if this statement is true or not.

Comments: Humorous. Speech bubbles. Individual frames or multi-panels like a graphic novel. Large letters and words.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Alphabet Board Books

A big bear and cub riding bikes with objects of the B in the alphabet

My First Brain Quest ABCs: A Question-and-Answer Book

by Workman Publishing (Author).

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Workman Publishing Company
  • Date: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-3
  • Board book ‏ : ‎ 26 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1523514124

Brief summary: Each letter has a noun and a matching alliteration with three questions at the bottom of the page about the page to encourage more conversation. Capital and small letters are featured. Bright colors. One letter per page.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

If you enjoy this book, there are other My First Brain Quest books in the series by Workman Publishing.

Two boys in a small boat on the water with a pirate's flag, monkey, parrot, and seagulls

P Is for Pirate 

by Greg Paprocki (Author, Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ BabyLit
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-3
  • Board book ‏ picture book: ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1423661532

Brief summary: This board book ABC book is all about pirates and sea jargon. Unique illustrations in the mid-1900s style.

Comments: I could tell immediately it was a Greg Paprocki ABC book. He has several others in this cool artistic style.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

Cartoons of various earth objects like the stars, cloud raining, and a sunflower

Mrs. Peanuckle’s Earth Alphabet (Mrs. Peanuckle’s Alphabet) 

by Mrs. Peanuckle (Author), Jessie Ford (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rodale Kids
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-3
  • Board book picture book ‏ : ‎ 28 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593486633

Brief summary:  Youngers will learn about earth-related topics with explanations.

Bright colors and large graphics. Capital letters.

Comment: This is one of the Mrs. Peanucle’s ABC series.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Six portraits of female musicians

A is for Aretha 

by Leslie Kwan (Author), Rachelle Baker (Illustrator)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kokila
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-3
  • Board book picture book ‏ : ‎ 26 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593406532

Brief summary: Twenty-six black female musicians with a brief explanation of their accomplishments.

Comments: I learned a few I was not aware of too. Illustrated with their portrait and colorful background. I’m unsure how much a baby or toddler could understand, but an excellent source for introducing female musicians and vocabulary.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Photographs of four baby animals

My First ABC Animal Book (Happy Fox Books)

by Editors of Happy Fox Books (Author)

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Happy Fox Books
  • Year: 2023
  • Ages: Baby-3
  • Board book picture book ‏ : ‎ 28 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1641242973

Brief summary: An animal alphabet book illustrated with photographs. Big and small letters. The back has all the animals, and the child is asked if they know them.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

There is another Happy Fox book that came out this year teaching colors called My First Colors: Learn About Our Colorful World. 

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

Various cars

C Is for Car: An ABC Car Primer 

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

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Familius
  • Year: Amazon says October 18, 2022, but the book says 2023
  • Ages: Baby to 3
  • Board book picture book ‏ : ‎ 20 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 164170725

Brief summary: A car for each letter.

Comments: I learned some new ones. Good visual introduction to specific cars.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

*(This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Children’s Books about Books
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Children’s Books about Books

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Children’s books about books book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

Cover of Palace of Books with author and illustrator, Patricia Polacco as a girl looking at the Willard Library

Palace of Books 

by Patricia Polacco (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. 2023. PreK-5. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534451315.

Brief summary: As a girl, Patricia Polacco’s family moves from Union City to Battle Creek, Michigan. It is hard for her to adjust from living in a rural area.

One day she walks home from school, taking a different route, and discovers a stately building with giant pillars along the front with many steps leading up to a porch. It is the Willard Library and full of books for people to borrow. Mrs. Creavy, a librarian, helps Patricia find bird books and even shares the notable books of John James Audubon, full of watercolors of birds.

Soon, Patricia paints birds and shares them with her class. This sparks an Audubon bird club at Fremont Elementary School for the next sixty years.

I will always recommend a book by Patricia Polacco, as she is one of the best storytellers and illustrators in the USA. I was honored to have her as a guest author for our elementary school. I will always cherish having lunch with this legendary author and illustrator that day in our little elementary library.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

Page from Palace of Books. Patricia Polacco as a girl pointing to birds in a tree while on her grandfather's tractor
Page form Palace of Books as a scene of Patricia Polacco packing up to leave.
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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Floris Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782507418.

Brief summary: Readers will learn about a library book’s adventures into several children’s homes.

In rhyming text. This book was first published in the UK.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yeehoo Press. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1953458602.

Brief summary: Mikayla and Drew take out books from the library and read about things that don’t make sense. Should they believe everything they read? The children suddenly understand when they return their books.

Cute story. It could be used to start a research project to demonstrate why it is essential to check the facts.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

An orange anglerfish with a little light at the end of its antennae is reading a book that has an oyster spine

Hooked on Books 

by Margaret Chiu Greanias (Author), Kristyna Litten (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peachtree. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1682633675.

Brief summary: Pearl, an anglerfish, reads her book in the depth of the sea but is constantly interrupted. Looking for personal space, she swims down into the abyssal zone, where it is tranquil, and she can finish her book. Lonely, she returns to the twilight zone.

The illustrations were in shades of blues with the various fish in other colors and often two-page spreads. Speech bubbles mixed with traditional text.

Rating: 4/4 📗📗📗📗

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

Cover of picture book, This is a Story, of a girl book hugging a book.

This Is a Story 

by John Schu (Author), Lauren Castillo (Illustrator). Publisher: ‎ Candlewick. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1536204520.

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

A little girl walks to the library with her father and younger sibling. She goes into the children’s section carrying a seahorse kite, where a librarian helps her narrow her search from many of the books to the perfect one–a sea horse library book. She begins to read. Other readers in the area are reading books we all know and love that are connected to our hearts and imagination.

The child has found her special library book and now helps her younger brother find his. She proudly uses her library card to check out.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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.

A page from This is a Story of the young girl inside the library. She has a seahorse kite in her hand, and the library is carrying a stack of books.
A page from This is a Story of various children scattered all over the library reading a book with the main character and her father and brother waiting in line to check out.
Cover of picture book, This Book is my Best Friend with two children in a library both pulling in opposite directions of a book

This Book Is My Best Friend 

by Robin Robinson (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1665906814.

Brief summary: Two best friends, Sunny and Aarush, want to check out the same library book, Factory Friends, but there is only one copy. They each try to persuade the other why the book is their best friend and needs it more. Having failed at trying to book talk each other into other books to check out instead, they realize how to share the library book.

I recommend this book to school librarians who have students fighting over a book, as I have had many times in my school libraries. (They did not always share, so I had a big die on my desk. The one who rolled the highest number could read it first).

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Picture book page from This Book Is My Best Friend with two children fighting over the same book and one running off with it.

The Library Fish Learns to Read (The Library Fish Books) 

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli  (Author), Gladys Jose  (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. PreK-2. 2023. Hardcover. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534477070.

Brief summary: Library Fish lives in a bowl on the librarian’s desk, Mr. Hughes, where she watches the students check books in and out of the public library. One day, she is listening to Mr. Hughes tell a story about a dog learning how to read and is inspired that she, too, would like to learn to read.

After the librarian says good night, Library Fish gets out of her bowl (with special accommodations) and begins to teach herself the ABCs. Each night she practices until she can read books.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Back-to-School Picture Books–2023
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Back-to-School Picture Books–2023

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Back to school picture book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

Kindergartners with all sorts of big heads stading around a large teacher's desk looking at a sandwich that has two olive pierce through a toothpick on top that look like eyes and bologna sticking out the side that sort of looks like a tongue

Mr. S: A First Day of School Book

by Monica Arnaldo (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Katherine Tegen Books. 2023. K-3. Hardcover picture books. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063003953.

Brief summary: The kindergartners of 2B arrive on the first day of school to find a missing teacher. Their first clue is the desk has a ruler, a steaming cup of coffee, and a giant sandwich. They notice “Mr. S” has been written on the chalkboard. They wonder if their teacher could be Mr. Sandwich. They immediately create an alphabet of different sandwiches. They continue their day doing school-related activities without the supervision of an adult. Suddenly, the door opens, and a man hurries inside the classroom. Is this their teacher?

This was one of my favorite back-to-school books. Great mystery. A subplot is also going on in the window frame throughout the story. Clever. Well done. I can’t wait to read more imaginative stories like this from Monica Arnaldo.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

First day of school and there is no teacher in the classroom with students standing around the room

9 Kilometers (Stories from Latin America)

by Claudio Aguilera (Author), Gariela Lyon (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eerdmans Books for Young. 2023. Grades 1-4. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802856004.

Brief summary: A young Chilean student begins his nine-kilometer walk to school in the darkness of dawn while counting his steps and animals he sees along the way.

Young readers will follow his journey as he goes under a barbed-wired fence, through a forest, across a river, etc., until he is FINALLY to school.

This book could spark some interesting classroom conversations. What was the longest you’ve ever walked? How much is a kilometer? Why did the boy walk so far? Why didn’t a yellow school bus take him? Was it essential for him to go to school? Dangerous?

The back of the book has brief stories of other children worldwide and how they walk to their schools. There is also a section on the birds seen during the boy’s walk.

The front pasted-down end pages have a map of the beginning of the walk, with it continuing onto the back end pages.

Rating: 4.5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Translated and printed to English in 2023.

Marker 

by Anna Kang (Author), Christopher Weyant (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Two Lions. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1542039614.

Brief summary: Red Pen welcomes the teacher supplies to getting ready for the first day of school. Pinking Shears is accepted as a new member and is placed in the superpower mug on the desk, displacing Permanent Marker to a canister. The supplies are creating back-to-school posters and lists when Marker, which is always used for the class rules poster, makes a mistake but cannot fix it, causing her anxiety as everyone will see it day after day. Will Red Pen come up with an idea to help everyone realize it’s okay to fail?

What a fun read for the beginning of the school year. Cute illustrations and a humorous storyline will help students with any first-day jitters. I’ll not be looking at the supplies on my desk ever the same.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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

If you like this book, you may also enjoy Anna Kang’s Eraser, published in 2018.

And Then Comes School 

by Tom Brenner (Author), Jen Hill (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick. 2023. PreK-1. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536209139.

Brief summary: Two young girls enjoy the last summer days with their friends. A list of school supplies is received. They sort through clothes that are too small, pick up back-to-school supplies, and play on the last day of summer vacation. They prepare for the first day of school by picking out an outfit, filling a backpack, and going to bed, imagining what the first day will bring.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

This is one of the series of And Then Comes by Tom Brenner. I like this series as they share little rituals before a holiday or event that young readers can understand. Nice, lyrical text.

Shy Robin and the First Day of School 

by Jaime Kim (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick. 2023. Hardcover picture book. PreK-1. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536209295

Brief summary: Robin is usually brave and energetic at home but not in public. Her mother gives her a purple headband on the first day of school to help her feel confident.

While at school, Robin notices another student who is also shy and withdrawn and is wearing purple bracelets. After temporarily losing her headband, Marco offers Robin one of his bracelets while they all look for the hair accessory.

This would be a nice back-to-school story to share with preschoolers and kindergartners to let them know that students may feel shy.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

We’re Going to School 

by Tammi Salzano (Author), Morena Forza (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tiger Tales. 2023. PreK-K. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 166430021X.

Brief summary: Young readers will wake up early with various kids returning to school. Once inside the school, the day begins with introductions, new routines, and friend-making.

This book would be suitable for preschool or kindergartners who have never been to school to get a general idea of what happens on the first day.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Giant-Sized Butterflies On My First Day of School 

by Justin Roberts (Author), Paola Escobar (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525516433.

Brief summary: A young girl has a nervous stomach going back to school and is reassured by her mother that everything will be okay. The mother shares a time when she had butterflies in her stomach and how she let them go.

Teachers and parents could share this book with students about the first day of school to let them know that sometimes we are nervous doing or going places for the first time.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Mina Belongs Here 

by Sandra Niebuhr-Siebert (Author), Lars Baus (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Floris Books. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782508112.

Brief summary: Mina attends kindergarten and needs help understanding what anyone is saying or asking. Mina hugs the teddy bear and is quiet all day until she returns to her home and tells her mother about her day.

The next day of school, Mina makes a friend with a girl named Ava even though they do not speak. She returns home to tell her mother all about her day at school.

Each day, Mina learns new words and becomes more relaxed. Her dreams parallel her feelings and become more vivid and bright.This German translation from 2020 was published in the USA in 2023.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A cartoon backpack hanging onto the closet door nervous about going back to school

Back to School, Backpack! 

by Simon Rich (Author), Tom Toro (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316628344.

Brief summary: A backpack going back to school has the first day jitters but soon fits in the new environment.

This would be a good book to read during the first day or week of school to help those with any nervousness. Cute and humorous.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

A Smart, Smart School 

by Sharon Creech (Author), Anait Semirdzhyan (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins. 2023. PreK-4. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063059614.

Brief summary: Mr. Keene, the principal of Fine Elementary School, loves his school as he strolls through the hallways watching the students drawing, painting, reading, and singing. He immediately has to leave for the hospital. Tillie, one of the students, worries about his recovery.

Mr. Tatters takes over as the principal and notices all of the get-well banners, cards, and artwork the students do for their beloved sick principal and does not like it. He insists that to be a smart, smart school, they must have tests every day that week, causing everyone to have stress and boredom. The students visit their principal at the hospital on Saturday, bringing all their get-well gifts.

Tillie talks to Mr. Keene upon his return on Monday about all the tests. He gathers everyone into an assembly and announces how they will be a smart, smart school again.

What a great book to anonymously leave on each principal’s, board member’s, and central office administrator’s desk. *wink*

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Companion book to A Fine, Fine School, written in 2001.

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Swimming Children’s Books
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Swimming Children’s Books

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Swimming children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

Kids swimming in a blue pool. Our Pool words are in the middle

Our Pool 

by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534499237.

Brief summary: We watch as many wake up and go to the city pool with other families. They change into a bathing suit, get covered with sunblock, and go into the cool blue water. Everyone plays above and below the water until it’s time to eat lunch on spread-out towels on concrete. They do more swimming before heading home with a treat from the ice cream truck.

The bright summer colors illustrations are showcased in many two page spreads with details and descriptive words that had me feeling like I was at the pool smelling the chlorine, hearing the shouting and laughter, and the coolness of the water.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

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

A young girl swimming in a pool who stopped and lifted her goggles up to stare at the reader

When You Can Swim 

by Jack Wong (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orchard Books. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1338830961.

Brief summary: A young child encourages those to learn how to swim and shares all the aquatic wonders they could experience while swimming in various types of waters.

The back pages include the author sharing his experience of learning how to swim and going back to some of his favorite swimming spots for inspiration to write and illustrate the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A girl is on the edge of a diving board looking into the water with plants and marine animals swimming in it

A Dive Into the Blue 

by Ellie Huynh (Author), Bao Luu (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beaming Books. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1506486347.

Brief summary: A young girl shares her fear of diving into the public pool while standing at the edge of the diving board and letting her imagination almost overcome her from swimming. Will she be able to dive into the blue water?

I would share this book with students to help them learn coping skills to navigate their fears.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Capstone Editions . 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684464803.

Brief summary: Sasha is excited to go swimming with her best friend, Mr. Sloth, but is losing her patience with his slowness every step of the way. They finally walk to the lake and have lunch before entering the water. Sasha’s friend is taking too long, and she goes into the lake without him, only to realize it’s not as much fun. Sasha returns to their picnic to find Mr. Sloth in a tree enjoying his surroundings. Will Sasha and Mr. Sloth go swimming together in the future? Will Sasha learn to be patience?

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

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

Child with nose plugs and goggle on swimming underneath the water

Facing Your Fear of Water (Facing Your Fears) 

by Heather E. Schwartz (Author). Nonfiction Hardcover. Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pebble Books. 2023. Grades K-3. Hardcover nonfiction. ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1666355542.

Brief summary: Young readers get advice on ways to be calm if they are afraid of the water and are encouraged to take small steps to learn to be able to go swimming.

The back sections are Sink or Float, Glossary, Read More, and Internet Sites.

This is one of the Facing Your Fears series.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Garden Picture Book Recommendations
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Garden Picture Book Recommendations

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

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

Children playing in a garden

Garden Walk 

by Virginia Brimhall Snow (Author). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gibbs Smith. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1423662525.

Brief summary: Grammy and her four grandchildren walk through the forest and to the garden, learning about plants, animals, and insects. They place a blanket on the ground and picnic while Grammy reads to them. Narrated by one of the children.

Blue ink illustrations with the plants, animals, or insects highlighted with full-colored words that match the subject.

Picnic recipes are in the back.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

If you enjoy this book, you may be interested in Virginia Brimhall Snow’s Seasonal Walks series. For more details or to buy, click here.

A grandfather giving his granddaughter a pot of peonies

Love Makes a Garden Grow 

by Taeeun Yoo (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534442863.

Brief summary: A young girl and her grandfather tend a garden together until he moves to an apartment where he brings some of his plants.

She grows up and lives far away, but her grandfather sends her a gift of peonies. When her daughter grows, the granddaughter visits the man showing her little one how to tend the house plants and flowers like he taught her.

An Author’s Note in the back explains how this story is based on her relationship with her grandfather.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peachtree. 2023. PreK-1. Hardcover picture book.

Brief summary: Lihn needs to find blueberries for their brunch and walk around the rooftop looking at all the fruits and vegetables. The girl describes what a blueberry looks like and compares those characteristics to each plant methodically until she finds them.

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

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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:

1
2
3
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).Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lantana Publishing. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1913747992

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

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

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗 1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Greenwillow Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063212565.

Brief summary: Worm begins its day crawling through the garden when two humans cause it to have self-doubt. The worm crawls through a garden talking with each insect and creature it comes across, asking what it can do. Will the worm realize its importance to a garden and regain self-confidence?

The back pages include Make Your Own Quilled Butterfly, Earthworm Facts, and a Glossary. Illustrated using quilling techniques to make the plants.

I recommend that this picture book be read to supplement a quilling unit.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Children’s Press. 2023. Grades 3-6. Hardcover narrative nonfiction hardcover. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1338864205.

I’ve only known George Washington Carver as the “peanut man” and updated my education when reading this narrative nonfiction about this knowledgeable and talented man nicknamed “Plant Doctor.”

Brief summary: This book begins with his life as a child who studied plants and painted them. It continues with his young adulthood of going to college, learning, and experimenting with plants. The book tells of his adulthood of going around in a Jesup wagon, educating farmers on improving their crops and livestock. Readers will learn about many of his inventions and personal life too. I enjoyed reading about this remarkable man.

This book is full of a variety of nonfiction text features. The back sections include Your Turn!, Glossary, Index, and Further Reading.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023.

Brief summary: This is an ecological/environmental story from the beginning of the earth to its present of how the land and its inhabitant have changed and how to live in balance.

I included this book under gardening(although it could be under ecology or environmental) as it highlights how to tend a little bit of land.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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).Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sleeping Bear Press. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534112698.

Brief summary: A young girl with her mother and grandfather plant seeds in the spring garden and tend them to grow, observing how the seed changes to develop. Birds and bugs visit the garden. Soon fall comes when the plants begin to produce seeds they gather for the next planting.

A plant’s cycle.

A story in rhyme.

Facts about seeds are in the back of the book, including a seed diagram.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

A little mouse inside of a red tulip

A Flower is a Friend 

by Frieda Wishinsky (Author), Karen Patkau (Illustrator).Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pajama Press; 1st edition. 2023. Prek-1. Hardcover nonfiction. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1772782806.

Brief summary: An animal/creature is paired with a flower in the garden, and readers are asked why they coexist so well. Answers are in the book of how they benefit each other.

Symbiosis.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK Children.2023. K-4. Hardcover nonfiction(80pages). ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0744070866.

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

This is for the primary children to learn by looking at the lovely illustrations or for older elementary students who want to start a gardening club.

I usually stick to picture book reviews, but this nonfiction book’s illustrations make a difference with the covered topics by clarifying the lesson.

For more details or to buy, click here.

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593427101.

Brief summary: A little girl has her hands Painted by her mother for a wedding the next day. Her mother tells her memories as she paints a garden of flowers and decorations. She sleeps with gloves on over the henna to wake and brush the flakes off to reveal her red garden of stories and the fragrance of henna.

Facts about henna are in the back of the book.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Children planting and tending a garden

G is for Gardening (A Gardening ABC Primer) 

by Ashley Marie Mireles (Author), Volha Kaliaha (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Familius. 2023. Baby-3. Hardcover board book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1641707503.

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

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.

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

How I Evaluate and Recommend Picture Books
Children's Book Recommendations

How I Evaluate and Recommend Picture Books

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

How I Evaluate and Recommend Picture Books is written by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.

Picture book recommendations first photo of children reading while sitting on giant books

I have many questions as I evaluate children’s books to make the best picture book recommendations. I’ve read and shared thousands of books as an elementary school librarian. Contrarily though, I may only chose one from a stack of thirty books I can recommend.

Enjoy the Book

I taught my students to read the book, feel the emotion, and hear the words. Above all, get the aesthetic experience. (I still do that when I first pick up a book). Undoubtedly, I never asked questions while reading a picture book aloud for the first time during story time. It was afterward that I examined the book more closely…or not. Sometimes, it’s enough to enjoy a picture book. With this in mind, my main goal was to teach the joy of reading.

Having a mock Caldecott Read-In with my students was one of the best ways I taught how to evaluate books and give picture book recommendations to others. I borrowed about a hundred picture books that were stand-outs. However, I also threw in(without telling them) those that were…(well)…not ones I would recommend.


I allowed the students to grade with a 😁😐☹️ face. They then voted for the one they thought would win the Caldecott Medal Award (a medal given annually to an American illustrator). Next, we had thoughtful conversations about how they evaluated picture books. Lastly, they would use persuasive thinking to get others to vote for the same book they nominated.

An important issue I emphasized was that when the award was announced and their book was not chosen, it did not mean it was unworthy. Subsequently, we would talk about famous books from the past everyone loved that have not won any medals.

The Questions

I still use these questions when I recommend a book, but ONLY AFTER I first read the book on its own. Undoubtedly, I love the beauty of picture books and want to feel their “soul. ” Analyzing them is secondary.

The Words

  • Are these words appropriate for an elementary-aged child? Are they using these words in a child’s everyday life?
  •  Do the words flow in a legato style when they should? Are they short and choppy when they are supposed to be?
  •  How do they sound when read aloud? Does it sound like a tongue twister but not supposed to sound like one?
  •  Are there patterns? Rhyming? Rhythms? How do the words sound to the ears? Do they sound awkward? Are they forced?
  •  Do the words convey the correct emotions and mood of the book? Do the word choices match the emotion? Is it supposed to be funny? Sad? Silly?
  •  Do the page turns of the book interrupt the idea?
  •  Is the story unique, or has it been done several times already?
  •  Is the font a good fit for the book? Is it large enough for a child to read?
  •  Where do the words appear on the page? Are they all over and difficult to follow?
  •  How is the story being told? Are there too many characters? Is it confusing to follow? Predictions? Surprises?
  •  Is the topic of the story something children can relate to currently in their lives? Is it too complicated? Should it be a board book instead? Babyish?
  •  Dialogic reading? Is this story something they talk about with others? Or is it more of a listening book that someone reads aloud? Or is this one better read alone?
  •  What is the perspective of the story? Who’s telling the story?
  •  Are the words talking down to a child? Are they morally heavy?

Illustrations

  • What is the medium(s)? Was it digitally rendered? Was it a hybrid?
  • What is the level of technique? Does it stand out? Is it unique? Is there a style?
  • What are the visual elements? Line, shape, color, value, form, texture, space. How is the white of the page being used?
  • What colors are being used? Are the colors symbolic? Is color therapy being used? Complimentary colors? Bright? Dark? Contrasting?
  • Do the text and illustrations go well with one another?
  • Are there details in the illustrations not told in the text?
  • Would I know the book’s story if I took the text away?

The Cover

  • Is the title prominent? Or is the author’s?
  • Are the colors matching with the tone/mood of the book?
  • Is the font style easy to read?
  • Is there a blurb on the back?
  • Do the front and back covers correlate?
  • Does the cover represent the story inside?
  • Does it grab your attention?

Flaps

  • Does the front flap give a summary of the book?
  • Does the back flap tell about the author/illustrator?

End Pages

  • Are the pasted-down end pages white? Are they illustrated? Does the story begin or end on them?

End of the Book

  • Is there an author’s note? An illustrator’s?
  • If a nonfiction–is there a timeline, biographical notes, bibliography, index, suggestion reading, or photos? More information?

Misc.

  • Who is the author? Is this their first book? If a nonfiction picture book, is this person an expert on the subject? Is this a celebrity? What country are they from? And does that matter?
  • Is this a well-known author? Is it just like the others they have already written? Is there a repeated formula?
  • Is this book being translated? Was something lost in the translation?
  • Who is the illustrator? Is this their first book? Are they an artist well-known in other mediums?
  • Is this book political? Have an agenda? Age appropriate for elementary students? Developmentally appropriate? Is this a topic a child would care about in elementary school?

Star Rating Explained

Another key point of my evaluations is that I do not share picture book recommendations that deserve a half to two and a half stars. I’m not going to be that person. As shown below, the lowest star I give is a three, while the highest is a five.

If I’m on a site that does not allow half stars, I round up.

Picture Book Recommendation star rating of three to five

In Conclusion

 While I read these books, I always remember that the person or persons creating this book in my very hands is someone’s dream, someone’s “baby,” that they worked really hard on and are willing to share with the world. This is why I don’t share bad reviews. I simply put it back in my tote bag to return to the library. In addition, it may be a child’s favorite book, and I don’t want them to read online that I did not recommend that piece of literature and with the reasons why it was not up to par.

Even after retiring, I still read children’s books, especially picture ones. I was lucky to have found my passion and was paid for sharing it. I still enjoy my love and can now share it online with a broader audience of book lovers and book worms. The picture book recommendations are ninety-nine percent ones I check out of the public library. I appreciate the Central Library Consortium and am thankful for being in an area in the USA with such outstanding library systems.

Father Picture Book Recommendations
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Father Picture Book Recommendations

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

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

Picture Books

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1536212396.

Brief summary: A boy with trouble falling asleep goes camping with his father. They pack up the pickup truck, Darlin’, and head for the desert. His father tells him about the plants and animal tracks. They build a fire and watch the sun set while sitting on the hood of the pickup until the stars come out. They get in the sleeping bag in the truck bed, enjoying the stars above them.

His father is able to teach his son how to connect with the universe and not feel so small. They drive home, where Mom has a surprise waiting for their boy.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

Picture book cover of Finding Papa with a little girl on her mother's back as they wade through a river. Mai is thinkin of the crocodiles her father told her about living in the river.

Finding Papa 

by Angela Pham Krans (Author), Thi Bui (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins, 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063060968.

Brief summary: Mai and her papa like to play crocodile chomp with their hands. Papa leaves Vietnam to go to America to make a better life for his wife and daughter. Mai does not understand where her father has gone and waits for him to return each day to play. Mama packs and bag and takes her little one on a long journey through the rice paddies, across a river, and onto a boat across the ocean to a refugee camp in Singapore until they are released when Mama travels in the city to find her husband.

This story is based on the author and her mother, who journeyed in 1983 from Vietnam to America. Both author and illustrator share their families’ journey of immigration.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Roaring Brook Press. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250810038.

Brief summary: Chris wants to become a basketball player and looks up to his granddad, Papa Chilly, for guidance as the man’s dreams have come true. He gets up early to practice. He learns how to be a good team player and to help others. Papa Chilly attends Chris’s games and cheers him on.

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

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316055864.

Brief summary: A father and son go camping together. As they hike and fish, the father shares how he did the same with his father, who recently died. It almost feels like Pop-Pop is there with them as they create new and share old memories of being together.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Capstone Editions. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684466214.

Brief summary: Athena misses her father when he is trucking and has to leave the family for days. She loves ANYTHING to do with eighteen-wheelers and is proud to be a Trucker Kid. She shares her joy and enthusiasm with the kids at school. Her classmates understand her passion once her father visits the school via his semi to share everything about his job.

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

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little Bigfoot. 2023. Grades 2-4. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1632173232.

Brief summary: Baba shares stories with his six daughters while they sit and play on the Persian carpet of his boyhood in Iran and his stories of immigrating to America.

This is based on the true story of Dr. Fariborz Amini. Authors’ Notes in the back have a photo of the lovely family.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Margaret Ferguson Books. 2023. PreK-1. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0823445103.

Brief summary: Kate was late to preschool this morning, but why? Was it because of her breakfast? Because she and her dad stopped to wave at friends?

Young readers will follow Kate and her father’s journey to go to preschool and ask to figure out and predict why Kate was late.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A girl and her Pop bearing into a box

Pop’s Perfect Present 

by Corey Finkle (Author), Lenny Wen (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250819444.

Brief summary: A young girl tries to think of the best gift to give her father because he is such a wonderful Pop. As they spend the day together, each attempt of creating the present is a failure. Will she be able to give her father the perfect present?

Humorous rhyming with a fun rhythm.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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).Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593117699.

Brief summary: Pablo and his father get on their bikes while their dog, Waffles, runs aside them. It’s Market Day, and Pablo wants a donut, but it is allowed once all the shopping is finished. As Pablo tries to help, he finds that everything he picks out is too big. He protests, “Not fair!” Will he realize with the help of his dad that not all things are fair?

This book could be a shared read-aloud with the father’s voice in black ink and the son’s in red.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

A father and his song djing together

My Dad Is a DJ 

by Kathryn Erskine (Author), Keith Henry Brown (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374307424.

Brief summary: Trevor’s parents separate, and his father moves out. They once shared time listening to music late in the night after his father returned from being DJ. They would shoot baskets after school. He would even hear his father dedicate songs to him over the radio.

Lately, though, they have yet to connect since he moved out. His food preferences are different. He has a new friend his father has yet to meet. The end-of-the-year dance is coming up that his father has DJed. Will combining the latest hip-hop that Trevor likes and the soul his father favors work out? Will DJing together bring them closer?

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Magination Press. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1433840388.

Brief summary: Harper packs a suitcase and drives to a huge family reunion in a park with her fathers, where she meets family members for the first time, like her cousins, second cousins, and first cousins once removed. She also meets family she already knows. Harper learns that she has some things the same and different from everyone, but they are all connected by their love for one another.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aladdin. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1665921954.

Brief summary: Ava’s father is good at making things but especially sewing her dresses for special occasions. She will recite a poem onstage during Move Up Day and is worried she will forget the words.

Her father tells the nervous girl that he will help her memorize the lines and would like to sew a unique dress to boost her confidence. Will both of their hard work pay off on the big day?

Based on a true story which can be found in the back–The Story Behind the Story. Loved to see the photos of the real father and daughter duo.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Katherine Tegen Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063114357.

Brief summary: Maribel must wait an entire year before her father, who is in the Philippines, can rejoin his daughter and wife in America. Each month the young girl tells about the memories of her father and the emotional thoughts she has that he is with them again.

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

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rocky Pond Books. 2023. Prek-2. Hardcover picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593531372.

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

This whimsical story continues throughout the day, with more creatures visiting the father and making themselves comfortable as though he were a real tree.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Father Bear holding his song

Papa’s Home 

by David Soman (Author). Publisher ‏ : ‎Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2023. PreK-2. Hardback picture book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316427838.

Brief summary: Papa is going away for a little while, and Aunt Jessie will come to take care of the little bear. Father and son spend the day doing activities together. At the same time, the child asks questions about what it will be like when the father is away. The father quietly answers his child’s many questions with reassurance that everything will be okay.

Lovely illustrations that capture the emotional expressions of the father and child.

The text in this book allows for a reader’s theater opportunity with the child’s voice in green ink; Papa’s in purple ink.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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

Board Books

Toddler being held by her father

Daddy’s Hugs and Snuggles 

by Linda Ashman (Author), Jane Massey (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cartwheel Books. 2023. Baby-3. Board book with thick cardstock(not cardboard). ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1338854046.

Brief summary: A child tells in rhyme what their father does with them in that part of the day while another child continues until young readers have learned the morning, noon, and evening routines.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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

Cover of Daddy and Me with children and fathers

Daddy and Me 

by Gary Urda (Author), Rosie Butcher (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ little bee books. 2023. Baby-3. Board book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1499813517.

Brief summary: Each child shares what activity they share with their father.

Diverse with different families, backgrounds, and what the child calls their father. Papa, Dada, Pops, Baba, and so forth.

The illustrations are full pages with happy and bright colors matching the happiness of each child and father relationship.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

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

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Jigsaw Puzzles for Book Lovers
Puzzles

Jigsaw Puzzles for Book Lovers

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

Literary jigsaw puzzle recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.*

The last time I put together jigsaw puzzles was when I was a little girl. My husband and I did one together during the beginning of the pandemic and found them to be entertaining. We are creating a literary jigsaw puzzle wall in my office by gluing the puzzle pieces onto a backing. I like to do them while watching(well, listening to) a British or American mystery on the TV. I’m hooked because, like my TBR book stack, I have a “to-be-connected” jigsaw puzzle collection.

Cat Jigsaw Puzzles

Beachcombers with cats and kittens sunning and reading on a beach

Beachcombers–300 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of children's cat books

This is an adorable 1,000 piece puzzle with a collection of various cat books.

For more details, click here.

Storytime Cats sitting on books

Storytime Cats–500 jigsaw puzzle pieces. I have this one but have not put it together yet.

For more details, click here.

I opened mine for you to see inside:

Frederick the Literate of a tabby cat sleeping on a bookshelf

If you are a cat and book lover, Frederick the Literate with 750 jigsaw puzzle pieces could be for you. I put together this one and have it hanging on my wall.

For more details, click here.

Dog Jigsaw Puzzles

Collection of dog book covers

Dog stories–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Dogs on a desk with a manual typewriter and vase of flowers

The Writer’s Dogs–750 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Children’s Books and Young Adult Jigsaw Puzzles

Collection of picture book covers

Storytime (Picture Books)–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces. I have this one on a wall in our house.

For more details, click here.

I have this one on my wall:

Collection of children's books' covers

One thousand piece jigsaw puzzle of children’s books.

For more details, click here.

Young adult book covers

Young Adult Books--1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Classic Novels Jigsaw Puzzles

covers of classic books

This 1,000 piece puzzle is a collection of 50 Best Classic Books with titles like The Catcher in The Rye, Catch-22, and Of Mice and Men.

For more details, click here.

covers of Jane Austen book covers

Jane Austen lovers look no more. 1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces with an assortment of book covers over the years.

For more details, click here.

collection of American novels

American novels–1,000 Jigsaw Puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

collection of British novels

British Classics–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces.

For more details, click here.

Mystery and Horror Jigsaw Puzzles

Collection of murder mystery book covers

Murder Mystery Books–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of mystery book covers

Mystery Books–1,000 jigsaw puzzle books

For more details, click here.

Collection of Stephen King book covers

Stephen King Books–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of Edgar Allan Poe book covers

Edgar Allan Poe’s Literary 1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of horror book covers

Horror Books–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Cookbook Jigsaw Puzzles

Collection of vintage cookbook covers

This is a cute one if you love to cook. Vintage Cookbooks–500 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of Betty Crocker cookbook covers

Betty Crocker Cookbooks–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Bookstore Jigsaw Puzzles

instide a bookstore

Bizarre Bookshop 2–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces. I own this own but have not put it together.

For more details, click here.

I opened mine for you to see inside:

Inside a book palace with a second floor of bookshelves and an orage cat sitting on a table

The Book Palace–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

outside of a bookstore with a black cat sitting outside

Black Cat Books–500 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Very detailed bookstore with many floors and different book sections

In the Bookstore–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Old fashion bookstore with an old register. boy with a dog on a leash; older titles displayer

Old Book Store–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Miscellaneous

Abstract world of humans and books

Book World–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Collection of older books

Vintage Book Covers–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

Person reading with a cup of coffee inside a cozy room

Cozy Retreat–500 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

First lines of literature all over the box

First Lines of Literature–1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces

For more details, click here.

*(This content contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you).

Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books-Spring 2023
2023 Children's Books · Children's Book Recommendations

Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books-Spring 2023

The Retired School LibrarianLeave a comment

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

Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book Cover of Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons with a fuzzy little duckling riding the back of a loon in the water

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons 

by Laura Purdie Salas (Author), Alexandria Neonakis (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Millbrook Press ™ . 2023. Grades PreK-2. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1728442990.

Brief summary: A mother and father loon raise a mallard duckling. The duckling learns the ways of the loons, like eating minnows and taking food from them.

This story in verse is based on a true story in 2019 in a Wisconsin Lake as part of the Loon Project, where researchers observed a loon pair taking care of a duckling. What makes this unique is that loons usually drive away mallard ducks.

The back pages include sections such as Is This Story True?, The Intruder, and Very Different Birds(with a Venn Diagram).

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Millbrook Press ™. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1728440873.

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

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.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick Press. 2023. K-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick Press.

Brief summary: A book is made and journeys in various forms of transportation across the city, sea, and through the country until it reaches Pip’s Bookshop, where it is bought and sent to a grandson.

The back has Special Delivery Numbers of interesting statistics about the book’s journey.

Full, detailed illustrations with bright colors. I stopped and looked at each page to get more details of the transportation story from them.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anne Schwartz Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593425688.

Brief summary: A Loggerhead hatchling finds her way across the Australian beach when the moon is full. She swims for the first time in the Indian Ocean, encountering many marine and land animals and fish on her journey.

The turtle is tangled in a net until a fisherman rescues her and helps her return to good health. Unable to keep the turtle, the fisherman gives her to an aquarium, where she is released into the sea with a tracking device. People can watch where she swims in the ocean. Will she make it back to her home?

This is a true story with more information in the Author’s Note.

I kept reading to find out more about Yoshi and if she was going to be okay or not.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Millbrook Press ™. 2023. Grades 1-4. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1728457963.

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about why some animals eat feces. One can read a simple narrative or include a more correlating detailed description as the story continues teaching readers everything they need to know, including the correct terminology of why animals eat poop.

Well, I learned a lot from reading this book and recommend it to children and adults who desire to learn more about this topic, which was done in a very tasteful manner (excuse the pun).

The back sections include The Scoop on Poop, Be a Book Detective, By Any Other Name, and Further Reading.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

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

by Jessica Lanan (Author, Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Roaring Brook Press . 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250810366.

Brief summary:  As soon as I open the book, I meet the main character as big as bean, Jumper, a jumping spider. Jumper is hungry and goes hunting for food in the family’s backyard. She jumps without worry as her silk is a safety line. Vibrations help the spider know if a predator or prey is nearby. Will Jumper ever find dinner, or will she become dinner?

Excellent back sections with more details about his spider, with close-ups illustrated by hand. A few other spiders are discussed, along with the life cycle of a jumping spider. There is a Glossary, Author’s Note, Finding and Identifying Spiders, and Resources sections.

This book begins and ends on the paste-down end pages. There is a fold-out demonstrating how a spider sees with eight eyes.

This book asks readers questions to pause and reflect upon the spider’s life. Dialogic reading.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 5/5 📗📗📗📗📗

The Forest Keeper– The True Story of Jadav Payeng 

by Rina Singh (Author), Ishita Jain (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ NorthSouth Books. 2023. PreK-3. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Biography Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0735845053.

Brief summary: Jadav Payeng, a tribal boy living in India, went to the elders in 1979 when the Brahmaputra River took large parts of the islands’ land mass away when it flooded. He wanted them to help him plant trees on an island called Majuli to help prevent the island from disappearing.

The forest department gave him bamboo seedlings and told him to plant the forest himself. So, he did. Has the past thirty years of his hard work helped the area and animals?

The front and end pages give more details about this passionate individual whose hard work and dedication completely changed Mujuli Island and the Molai Forest(named after him). It can take just one person to make a significant impact in a positive way.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

Nobody Likes Frogs: A Book of Toadally Fun Facts 

by Barbara Davis-Pyles (Author), Liz Wong (Illustrator). Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little Bigfoot. 2023. PreK-2. Hardcover Narrative Nonfiction Picture Book. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1632173355.

Brief summary: A turtle narrates how much it does not like frogs while learning all about them as the story progresses. Does the turtle have a change of heart? Will the reader?

The back sections are Frog Facts and Be Somebody Who Likes Frogs by Helping Them!. The pasted-down end pages are full of different types of frogs.

This is a general book about frogs. I learned that frogs can live as long as twenty years.

For more details or to buy, click here.

Rating: 3/5 📗📗📗

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