Learn from this gorgeous and factual book about two very different butterflies, the monarch and the mourning cloak. Replete with information, poetry, and terrific illustrations.
I love true stories about people who do big things in unexpected ways. Right now, I think we all need to realize our actions, no matter how local, can cause big ripples.
This time of year, I like to recommend books that make ideal holiday gifts. As a kid, I especially liked books that could DO something, that would play with me.
If someone from the government came to your house and said, “You’ll have to abandon this house. We’re going to tear down your neighborhood and put a major highway through here.” How would you feel?
Barbara Carroll Roberts’ evident love of gardening and insects and not-sports and reading and kids and families and friends gives us a page-turning book that I spent happy hours reading.
What does it mean to be human? Not every middle grade novel tackles that question. The AI Incident doesn’t shy away from examining AI, robotics, learning, and being human. It does so with laughter, caring, and intrigue.
Celebrating a terrific book for young people that will get them excited about growing their own food. Hydroponics, yummy blueberries … you’ll want to share this one.
Our democracy asks that every citizen has the right to life. This picture-book tribute to George Floyd is eloquent and powerful in its simplicity. The words flow like a song.
Adela doesn't know who her father is. Now her stepfather would like to adopt her but state law requires the birth father to give up parental rights. With some research, Adela finds her father and a family she knew nothing about.
I am utterly mesmerized by this book! The author and illustrator express their love for the wonders of this vast and many-faceted country, which shines from each double-page spread, irresistibly inviting the reader to discover more for the sheer joy of learning.
I find this book so exciting! I love discovering a new artist and I confess that I’m not familiar with Ralph Fasanella’s paintings. It's such an apropos book for our time.
Take these books to heart: two books that will help adults and children find paths into discussions about this part of life, Sitting Shiva and Walking Grandma Home.
This book has everything going for it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wind up caring about the characters, and you'll want to eat at the Golden Palace in Last Chance, Minnesota.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, stretching for 150 miles along the Canadian border, is the setting for John Owens’ newest wordless picture book.
It works well to read poems here and there from The Voice of My Heart ... but I often find myself caught up in the expressions of love and longing, moving from one poem to the next, contemplating, learning, feeling.
With her usual positive and hopeful storytelling, Nikki Grimes reminds us that lives changed during the Covid pandemic, affecting many people in many different ways. Garvey's story will resonate deeply with readers of all ages.
I've seen many questions on social media, asking which books teachers will read aloud to their classroom during the first week of school. I don't teach in a classroom but I've thought about this question anyway.
Eugene Yelchin grew up in Stalinist Russia, the Cold War Soviet Union. We grow to love his parents, his grandmother, his brother Victor, but most especially Eugene. His memories are at once sad and humorous.
I don't think I've ever read a novel about surfing before Samira Surfs. I was fascinated by the setting, the sport, and the culture, different than my own.
The author unfolds the story in a way that young readers will find mesmerizing, imagining her characters in real life, turning the page again and again to learn what will happen next, both in mid-century Korea and in the United States today.
This book will make you feel, many different feelings. It is filled with poetry and a short essay about the poem on the facing page. There are two or three questions at the bottom of each essay that encourage digging deeper ... into your own experience.
Reading this book, I jumped up and down with excitement. I kept turning the pages until I had read every one of the true stories. My brain revved into high speed as I learned about girls and women, problem solving and innovating.
Leave it to Avi to find a way to help me look at the Revolutionary War from a new perspective. Make that two. Young Noah is the son of a Loyalist and minister, pledged to the King. When local revolutionaries tar and feather his father, the family flees to Boston.
Needing work, Noah finds a job as a British spy and a server in a tavern, where he can easily overhear plans and report on them.
When you grow up in Minnesota, snow is a part of your world. From playing in it until your feet are so cold and wet that your grandmother will scold while you drink hot cocoa to lifting your feet high as you trudge through knee-deep snow to a bus stop that’s farther away than it has ever been, snow is a fixture in your thoughts.
This book will lift you up in its arms and make you believe that “Love is Powerful”!
It’s the right choice to help us understand what a group of people can accomplish if they are united in their purpose and moving toward treating all people with love and kindness.
Written by Heather Dean Brewer from Michigan and illustrated by LeUyen Pham from California, both of whom marched in the 2017 Women’s Marches, this book is inspired by Mari, a real little girl who traveled with her mother from Harlem to Midtown New York to march with large crowds of people who were protesting inhumane actions and policies of a president who reviled many people.
My fascination with outer space is well-documented. I had star charts on my childhood bedroom walls. But this book would have enthralled me … in fact, it still does.
The illustrations by engraver and printmaker Chris Wormell are detailed in a way that aids understanding. Scale is a tough concept for our comprehension but this book tackles that with infographics that give a sense of how enormous our universe is.
I am delighted by the re-issue of The Range Eternal, a picture book that reaches back into history and connects with our senses, our families, our fears, and our reassurances. I have read all of Louise Erdrich’s books for adults and children. She never fails to bring me new ways of looking at the world. So it is with this book.
I remember my neighborhood friends standing on opposite sides of a driveway, angry, yelling loudly at each other. I don’t recall why, but I can still feel those emotions. That’s how strong feelings are. Our children deal with a multitude of emotions every day.
You were probably remembering similar instances from your childhood. And what happened afterward? Most likely you were all friends again, because you needed to be.
WOW!*!&! I want to carry a backpack with me wherever I go, handing out a copy of this book to every person I see. I loved every daredevil, detailed, astonishing minute of reading this book. I believe you will, too.
Mind, I grew up at a time where I heard two phrases constantly: “Sit still” and “Ladies don’t roughhouse.” Roughhouse meant any kind of running, climbing, jumping, or playing in the dirt.… more
I have had The Book Rescuer on my desk for several months. I immediately knew I wanted to write about it because I feel such a strong attraction to this story (a true story) but I had a hard time putting into words how deeply I am moved by the actions of this book hero.
The story begins this way:
“Kum aher. Sit down.… more
Once I finished reading Yasmin the Zookeeper, I was charmed. I wanted to find out more about this young Pakistani American girl who is curious about everything.
Our collection of cookbooks is vast. Some of them are in use more than others, and some of them are in rough shape from too much use. I’m always on the lookout for good cookbooks that will encourage young people to cook and to read about cooking, just as I did with the gift of my first, Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.… more
Who the next U.S.A. president will be is pre-occupying many minds around the world right now. This book takes a stance by telling us about the distinctive presidents of the past, a couple of sentences about every one of them, #1 through #45, and asks us to realize that the next ten presidents are probably alive right now.… more
Don't miss adding Girls Garage by Emily Pilloton to your bookshelves. It's a terrific book specifically written to help young women gain the confidence they need to build anything they want to build. Highly recommended.
Such a charming book! From Nikki Grimes, we hear the story of a young boy stalling his bedtime, all the while collecting a menagerie of imaginary creatures. This is a child who has well-practiced ploys for avoiding bedtime. His parents respond with playfulness and good humor. Mom and dad are patient but, finally, the child is too sleepy to stay awake.… more
Written by Deborah Diesen in readable-out-loud verse with a refrain that reflects the cumulative action in the preceding pages, this picture book traces the diligent efforts of those who worked for decades to make America’s voting rights more inclusive. There is history here for everyone to know.
The illustrations add passion and understanding to the text, helping us with more information.… more
This oversized book is unforgettable. Both the art and the text are strong testaments about animals that are "threatened with extinction: critically endangered (the most threatened), endangered, and vulnerable (the least threatened)."
A to Zåäö is an alphabet book, a museum exhibit catalog, an introduction to the Swedish language, and a picture book illustrated by a mother's watercolors and her son's pen-and-ink drawings.