Reading Ahead

Humanimal 

This book is a page-turn­er in all of the right ways. It’s an immense­ly read­able non­fic­tion book that deliv­ers mem­o­rable infor­ma­tion. Best of all, I believe it will change hearts and minds about our rela­tion­ship to ani­mals, a nec­es­sary step in our evo­lu­tion if we’re engaged in sav­ing our planet.

I’m Gonna Push Through! 

Have you felt like you couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t attempt some­thing you real­ly want to do? Maybe you’ve done a good job of con­vinc­ing your­self you’re not up to mak­ing your goal. This is the book for you, your class­room, your book club, your dance troupe, your fam­i­ly … lit­er­al­ly every­one who needs pos­i­tive encour­age­ment. As the author

Big Book Adventure

The Big Book Adventure 

You’ll nev­er guess Where I have been Or who I met Or what I’ve seen. Shall I tell you? A pig and a striped-tail fox each begin with that refrain, lead­ing the oth­er one through an excit­ing rev­e­la­tion of the books they’ve just read. They become a part of the sto­ry they’re telling, just as one does when one falls in love

McDuff Moves In 

When I was young, my moth­er and I lived in a suc­ces­sion of apart­ments, none of which allowed pets. I had a fer­vent hope for a dog or a cat, an ani­mal friend to love. Every year for Christ­mas, I received a new stuffed ani­mal, usu­al­ly a dog because my moth­er didn’t care for cats. I still have those stuffed ani­mals, but I’ve nev­er had a pet.

A Cat's Guide to the Night Sky

A Cat’s Guide to the Night Sky 

A dear­ly drawn cat named Felic­i­ty — hon­or­ing Félicette, a stray cat in Paris who became the first cat in space on Octo­ber 18, 1963 — takes us on an explo­ration of stargaz­ing. As a book on obser­va­tion­al astron­o­my, it’s an  excit­ing book for kids and adults alike. Short para­graphs cov­er what to wear when stargaz­ing, where to go for maximum

Riding a Donkey Backwards

Riding a Donkey Backwards 

The wise fool or the fool­ish wise man? As the authors explain, “Nas­rud­din is the wis­est man in the vil­lage and also the biggest fool. … If he does­n’t make you laugh, he will cer­tain­ly make you think — and per­haps think side­ways instead of straight ahead.” Mul­la Nas­rud­din is an ancient Per­sian folk char­ac­ter, dis­cussed in Sufi stud­ies, famil­iar through­out India, Syr­ia, Turkey, Iran, and the Mid­dle East.

The Night the Forest Came to Town

The Night the Forest Came to Town 

A city can be all hard sur­faces, con­crete, brick, pave­ment, and glass. Adults can be pre­oc­cu­pied with their devices. Bill­boards, street lights, every kind of dis­trac­tion. There’s a dis­tinct sep­a­ra­tion from nature, a disconnect.

My Grandma and Me

My Grandma and Me 

My Grand­ma and Me Mina Java­herbin illus­trat­ed by Lind­sey Yankey Can­dlewick Press, 2019 ISBN 978−1−4263−3304−0 If you were for­tu­nate to have one or two or three lov­ing grand­moth­ers, this book will touch your heart. Grand­mas can be the most lov­ing peo­ple in our long lives, teach­ing us about life, pass­ing along tra­di­tions, shar­ing sto­ries, help­ing us

Trudi Trueit

Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather 

Explor­er Acad­e­my: The Fal­con’s Feath­er Tru­di Trueit illus­trat­ed by Scott Plumbe (with a blend of pho­tos) Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Part­ners, 2019 ISBN 978−1−4263−3304−0 I’ve writ­ten a pri­or Read­ing Ahead essay about my love for The Neb­u­la Secret, the first book in the Explor­er Acad­e­my series. Now book two, The Fal­con’s Feath­er, con­tin­ues the sto­ry and I think it’s even more

Make This!

Make This! 

Make This! Build­ing, Think­ing, and Tin­ker­ing Projects for the Amaz­ing Mak­er in You  Ella Schwartz, pho­tographs by Matthew Rako­la Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Kids, 2019 When pre­sent­ed with this book, wheels start turn­ing, ideas begin pop­ping, and your tem­per­a­ture ris­es! This is going to be fun. And a care­ful­ly thought-through learn­ing expe­ri­ence … but who needs to know that? By the book’s

Books Books Books

Books Books Books 

Books Books Books  Mick Man­ning and Bri­ta Granström Can­dlewick Press, 2017 Book lovers appre­ci­ate the beau­ty, rar­i­ty, inven­tive design, and con­tent of all types of books. Those in the vast col­lec­tion of the British Library (more than 150 mil­lion lit­er­ary arti­facts on 15 floors and 400 miles of shelv­ing) will help to make book lovers of

LOVE 

Love writ­ten by Sta­cy McAn­ul­ty illus­trat­ed by Joanne Lew-Vri­ethoff Run­ning Press Kids, Decem­ber 2018 Here is a book to give to those peo­ple who imme­di­ate­ly jump to your mind when you think of love. Love isn’t about objects or com­mer­cial hol­i­days or com­pe­ti­tion. It’s about time spent togeth­er, mak­ing mem­o­ries, being thought­ful, notic­ing the details (I saw that

The Poetry of US

The Poetry of US 

If you’re still look­ing for hol­i­day gifts or start-the-year-with-a-treat gifts for your home, class­room, a host present, some­thing last­ing … con­sid­er this book.  The Poet­ry of US  edit­ed by J. Patrick Lewis Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Part­ners, 2018, 192 pages Not every­one can trav­el to all the dots on our country’s map, but this book trans­ports us through­out Amer­i­ca with the

Fly With Me 

This book is pure gold. Your entire fam­i­ly will want this on your book­shelves so you can dip into it fre­quent­ly. Your library patrons will be grate­ful when you hand them this gem. And in a class­room, this is a gor­geous, STEAM-empow­er­ing, wide­­­ly-encom­­­pass­ing book. Read the poet­ry out loud, read the non­fic­tion nar­ra­tives out loud because they’re

Girls Think of Everything

Outstanding Short Biography Collections 

You know the young read­ers, and striv­ing read­ers, who will love all three of these books. They’re a col­lec­tion of biogra­phies, two of the books focused on women, and one of the books choos­ing among chil­dren across the cen­turies and around the world. Whether you’re look­ing for your home book­shelves or your library’s these three books

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