Home | All Board Books, Fiction Picture Books, and Nonfiction Picture Books

Air speaks directly to the reader in Our Air by G. Brian Karas. With this second-person perspective, Our Air introduces the ways we know air is around us, and explains the reasons why air is so important, including its role as a “perfect combination of nitrogen and oxygen”, which provides for us as well as …

Secrets of Air by Mi-ae Lee, illustrated by Hae-ryun Jeong, tells basics about air. It discusses how air wraps the earth, how air is thinner the higher we go, how air moves as wind, and even basics about air currents. Each page has a few easy to read sentences to make it feel like a …

As indicated by the subtitle, Up, Up High: The Secret Poetry of Earth’s Atmosphere by Lydia Lukidis, illustrated by Katie Rewse is a poetic collection with details about the various layers of the atmosphere, told with the perspective of a journey to space in a rocket ship, showing what might be seen and experienced outside …

As the title suggests, Up in the Blue Sky: Journey from the Earth’s Surface to Outer Space by Gianumberto Accinelli, illustrated by Guilian Zaffaroni, shows a progression meter by meter of the things that travel to various levels in the atmosphere, beginning with ants close to the ground, moving up toward Olympic pole jumpers, and …

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel (published 2016) was awarded a Caldecott-honor book for its excellent illustration. Each animal and creature sees the cat differently. The child sees the cat in child-like shapes. The mouse sees the cat as an angry, fierce predator. The fish sees the cat in a watery blur. Each …

Corn Is Maize: A Gift of the Indians by Aliki (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Level 2 book, 1976) is a surprisingly detailed exploration of corn. The text is accessible to a young reader, and many pages have an abundance of details, such as how corn is fertilized, how it must be helped to grow, and how it was …

Ava and her mother look forward to the one day of the week in the picture book Saturday by Oge Mora (published 2019). Every week they spend Saturday together doing fun things like visiting the library, having picnics, and getting their hair done. On one particular Saturday, everything seems to go wrong for the mother …

Outside In by Deborah Underwood (illustrated by Cindy Derby, 2020) is a lusciously illustrated picture book that captures the beauty of nature by observing how it comes into our modern lives. The illustrations stand out to me, as they are created with watercolor, graphite, and dried flower stems in ink. I love the combination of …

In the picture book Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña (illustrated by Christian Robinson; published 2015), a young boy travels across town with his Nana and learns to find joy and beauty in the ordinary as he travels. CJ begins by not wanting to be traveling on the bus, but by …

A Tale of Two Beasts by Fiona Roberton (published 2015) is an amusing tale about a girl who finds a strange beast in the woods and brings him home to take care of him. It is also the tale of a beast who is minding his own business when he is accosted by a terrible beast …

The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (published 1930) is a short illustrated children’s book about a painter who has been commissioned to paint a reverent painting of the death of Buddha and the gathering of the animals that attended him. Although I found little to like about the plot of the story, …

The nonfiction picture book Zero! The Number that Almost Wasn’t by Sarah Albee (illustrated by Chris Hsu; Charlesbridge, 2025) captures the interesting history of the concept of nothing in mathematics. Although it’s a nonfiction book about a real concept (or non-concept as the case was for a long time), it reads smoothly and clearly like …
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