Many of the books I will talk about here are nonfiction (a favorite genre), but a couple of picture books and graphic novels are in the mix.
Would You Dare Put a Diaper on a Bear? by Lillias Kinsman-Chauvet (Author)
Sometimes the best ideas are simple ones. I bet my hat that this conversation was real and sparked a talk with a toddler that was still in diapers.
Because, you know, or perhaps you’ve noticed, animals don’t wear diapers!
Seeing crocodiles, giraffes, and bears wearing these oversized clothes on their behinds is funny, and it can spark a potty-training conversation in a lighthearted way.
Would You Dare Put a Diaper on a Bear? is on sale since April 02, 2024
Publisher: Boxer books
Pages: 32 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781915801654
Up next, this is an impressive book about patterns:
Look by By Gabi Snyder Illustrated by Samantha Cotterill
This book is mesmerizing to watch: filled with vibrant collages that focus on the patterns that surround us, it depicts a child and her mother on a walk in their new town.
The mum helps him notice patterns everywhere: the dogs that walk form a pattern, the farmer’s market stall, the flowers, if you look closely, patterns surround us, and perhaps the saturation of form, color, and shape can be overwhelming. However, it can also have the opposite effect, the sensory input can feel less so by noticing and drawing the patterns, by fixing them into place on paper. The text is beautifully written and the dioramas are colorful and look tactile enough to reach and feel them.
The book includes a discussion of pattern types and pattern activities, so it’s also perfect for art classes!
Look is on sale since April 16, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Pages: 48 / Hardcover
ISBN 9781665905404
Up next, a couple of nonfiction books:
Shells… and What They Hide Inside: A Lift-The-Flap Adventure by Helen Scales (Author) / Sonia Pulido (Artist)
I love it when scientific accuracy meets up with beautiful imagery. Marine biologist Helen Scales introduces toddlers to the wonders of shells in this deceptively simple board book.
Each shell works as a lift-the-flap to reveal what they hide inside, and in 16 pages the book offers over 40 beautiful shells illustrated by Sonia Pulido. When you lift each shell you discover the creature or surprise hidden inside it.
Toddlers will learn where shells are found, who lives in them, what a shell looks and feel, and what all this data can reveal about its inhabitant and their environment.
Shells… and What They Hide Inside is on sale since March 5, 2024
Published by Phaidon Press
Board book | Pages: 16
ISBN: 9781838667887
Hello Bugs: A Little Guide to Nature by Nina Chakrabarti (Author)
I love a good book about bugs, filled with facts and made lovingly with nice illustrations. In this ongoing series, Nina Chakrabarti continues to inform kids about various aspects of nature (we reviewed Hello Trees last year) in a fun and engaging way.
Facts like that crickets have ears on their knees and that butterflies taste with their feet, how to tell a bee from a wasp; how ladybirds and beetles lay their eggs, and which bugs glow in the dark are presented colorfully.
There are some suggestions afterwards for outdoor activities like how to make a bug hotel and what to look for on a bug hunt.
Hello Bugs is on sale since April 16, 2024
Publisher: Laurence King
Hardcover | Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781510230507
Up next is an imagination-filled book with a scientific twist:
A Sundae with Everything on It by Kyle Scheele (Author) / Andy J. Pizza (Illustrator)
This is a fun and engaging piece that makes a simple leap from a quantum physics point of view: in an infinite universe, everything is possible.
So, when a young kid (whose mom is a quantum physicist who also happens to be the inventor of a space-time travel device) requests ice cream, he can embark on a dazzling adventure with his mom, a quest for a dessert that will be out-of-this-world.
There must be swirling ice cream galaxies out there, right?
The interdimensional quest embarks them to look for flavors, toppings, bowls, spoons in planets that only hold one type of thing, the text is open-ended and the drawings by Andy J. Pizza are colorful and imaginative.
A Sundae with Everything on It is on sale since April 16, 2024
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pages: 44 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781797221625
Up next, this is a fiction book based on a real event:
Free to Learn: How Alfredo Lopez Fought for the Right to Go to School by Cynthia Levinson (Author) / Mirelle Ortega (Illustrator)
This seemed like something that could happen at any moment in the now, even though it is based on a true case court in 1977.
Then, the school district of Tyler, Texas, informed parents that, unless they could provide proof of citizenship, they would have to pay for their children to attend public school. The story fictionalizes Alfredo, a kid who loves school and who finds himself suddenly staying at home, asking himself what happened, and seeing other kids go to school passing by his house.
One day he will go to court with his parents, risking deportation, because they were fighting to be able to access school even if they were undocumented.
Four undocumented families were fighting back, in a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Alfredo was one of the students involved in Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision which made a difference for children all over the country for years to come. This would be very resonant with so many immigrant kids today!
Free to Learn is on sale since April 2, 2024.
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pages: 48 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781665904278
This is a lovely Jewish tale:
Too Many Golems by Jane Yolen (Author) / Maya Shleifer (Illustrator)
I love Jane Yolen, and Golem stories as well. As an Arab Jew, I’ve come around a few, (my favorite written by a non-Jew is, of course, Feet of Clay) and feel that many kids will enjoy this one!
Young Abi is in trouble, he must study for his Bar Mitzvah but is distracted, so he forgets to pay at the store and he says a bad word to his Hebrew teacher, he is in trouble now!
He steals an ancient scroll from the synagogue (just to study Hebrew, mind) but the well-intentioned boy accidentally summons ten golems.
Rabbi Judah Loew, chief Rabbi of Prague is reputed for summoning the first Golem, a lump of clay with Hebrew words inside that gives him life and that can do fighting and hard tasks (like a robot, a bit)
Too Many Golems is on sale since April 23, 2024.
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pages: 40 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781797212142
This next book is also a leap into fun and imagination:
The Truth about the Couch by Adam Rubin (Author) / Liniers (Illustrator)
Liniers is getting (finally) known in the illustration circles in America. I am very glad because he is a creative genius. In collaboration with Adam Rubin, they have come out with a rambunctious idea about couches, presented by a very clever fox.
Pssst! Hey. I’m here to tell ya what the furniture police don’t want you to know… Listen close. I’ll explain everything.
Most people would think that couches are just for sitting, or napping, but, it turns out they are ferocious creatures! They live on a diet of coins, cell phones, and remote controls. Some are grown on a farm, others are found in the wild, and some are aliens in disguise.
It is a fun experiment with crazy humor and loving illustrations of apparently incongruous things, I would recommend it for 6 or 7 years and up.
The Truth About the Couch is on sale since April 23, 2024.
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Pages: 48 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593619131
This book is also based on a real person and it was one of my favorites from April:
Comet Chaser: The True Cinderella Story of Caroline Herschel, the First Professional Woman Astronomer by Pamela S Turner (Author) / Vivien Mildenberger (Illustrator)
The harsh life and incredible trail blazed by Caroline Herschel cannot be overstated. Her mother had decided to forbid her an education and to use her as her maid. Her life was tough, and she often had to clean the ashes from the fireplace instead of listening to the music, math, and astronomy classes his father gave to her male siblings.
Everything would have stayed the same if it not for her brother, he loved her and wanted for her a better life. He convinced their mother to let her go (in exchange for a paid maid) and took Caroline from Germany to England. They loved to sing together and to gaze at the stars, and they made the calculations necessary to build one of the first long-range telescopes.
Their many discoveries (stars and comets nobody else had ever seen) brought the great astronomers of the day to their doorstep, where they found that the Herschels had made the best telescopes of their time.
The best feature for me is the real letters she wrote in her autobiography, they truly give a sense of how harsh her life was and how wonderful it eventually came to be, through a combination of hard work, a love for astronomy and math, the love of her brother and sheer luck.
Caroline Herschel became the first woman to discover a comet, the first officially recognized in a scientific role, and the first to be given a Gold Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society.
Comet Chaser is on sale since March 05, 2024.
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pages: 60 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781452145433
This is a longer read but meant for young kids who are confident readers:
Puggleton Park #1 by Deanna Kizis (Author) / Hannah Peck (Illustrator)
This illustrated novel follows the darling pug Penelope, who is lost in the park.
Written in the style of Jane Austen and situated around that time, the cute pug is now in an odd place: she now lives in the park, has lost her Lady, and all she can do is chase dreadful Squirrel and survive on scraps.
The first nights at the park were quite scary, and, of course, she is moving around and sleeping rough, maybe her Lady will not recognize her once she finds her. Soon she will start a conversation with Lady Diggleton, who is searching for her previous owner.
The biggest problem for Penelope, though is Squirrel, should she continue with her chase, or maybe concentrate on finding her Lady and thus finally earn herself tea parties, elegant balls, and a forever home?
Puggleton Park #1 is on sale since April 30, 2024.
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Pages: 144 / Library Binding
EAN/UPC: 9780593661253
Now for a graphic novel:
Timid: A Graphic Novel by Jonathan Todd (Author)
I haven’t found that many autobiographies by Afro-American characters in this format. I think that the pencil line and style of Jonathan Todd is both sensitive and endearing.
Cecil Hall is an African American kid who loves to draw, ride his bike, and read comics. He is a bit shy, and when the family moves from from Florida to Massachusetts, near Boston, he is anxious about change, (and about being dubbed an “Oreo”).
He is twelve years old and anxious about making friends, he doesn’t know exactly how he’ll fit in. He receives mixed messages at home, his father doesn’t like him drawing and spending his time alone and feels he should learn how to fight and focus on other things to earn a living.
His sister Leah thinks he should befriend the other black kids at his new school, but it is not as easy as that.
Cecil really loves to draw and wants to be known for his talent. Maybe some of the kids will be duly impressed, and some others will not always be nice: it’s tough being in Middle School. Hopefully, he will find the right friends on time!
Timid is on sale since April 02, 2024.
Publisher: Graphix
Pages: 272 / Paperback
EAN/UPC: 9781338305708
Finally, here’s a very ambitious long-form poem:
We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America by Joanna Ho (Author) / Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (Illustrator)
I have to be honest and state that this was a difficult read for me. I don’t know if it was because the type is too small to be read against the backdrop of the stunning illustrations, or because it is high-level poetry, but it was a challenge.
This is a poem that advocates and celebrates Asian American communities and their history. There is so much cultural diversity inside this demographic (one that always makes me wonder, as Latinx does, because, there are countless countries and landscapes and cultures attached to it).
I do understand the celebratory drive behind it. Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s illustrations are meant to display these cultures as diverse and bold, some of the images were a bit hieratic to me, but all in all, any teen fans of Amanda Gorman’s style would like to take a look at this one.
We Who Produce Pearls is on sale since April 06, 2024.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Pages: 96 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781338846652
