Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Drop: An Adventure Through the Water Cycle by Emily Kate Moon (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021). Watercolor (specifically, India ink mixed with water) seems to be the perfect medium for illustrating the water cycle. In Drop, the author/illustrator emphasizes the eternal existence of Drop as she has cycled through Earth’s atmosphere and surface over
Did you know that there is a mammal that has scales? I didn’t until I read Operation Pangolin by Suzie Eszterhas (Millbrook, 2023). This book refers to one man’s mission to save the dwindling population of pangolins from human poachers. I hadn’t even heard of this small reptile-looking, ant-eating mammal. Surprisingly, it is more closely
Elephants Remember: A True Story by Jennifer O’Connell (Tilbury House, 2022) tells the true story of the “Elephant Whisperer,” Lawrence Anthony, who ran a wild animal reserve in Zululand, South Africa. Despite the wild nature of a herd of elephants, with Anthony’s care and civility, the herd is able to thrive in his reserve. When
The twin sisters Clara and Hailey in Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee (Simon & Schuster, 2016) are not your average 17-year-old twins. As conjoined twins, they are attached at the base of the spinal cord, and as such have never been apart. Their personalities could not be more different, though. And although their life has been
Fairy Tale Comics, edited by Chris Duffy (First Second, 2013) collects a variety of drawing styles and author’s voices into this anthology of 17 different favorite fairy tales. Most of the tales are retellings that young children will be familiar with. A few are more unfamiliar, coming from traditions other than the Brothers Grimm. This
Look Where We Live! by Scot Ritchie (Kids Can Press, 2015) is a great nonfiction book for learning about building up a community. Beginning with a map of town, Look Where We Live! shows all of the ways that workers, families, and children are connected within a community, and how they can all sustain one
One girl goes on a very unique trip to Grandma’s house in The Bus Ride by Marianne Dubac (Kids Can Press, 2015). At first, as she boards a bus with her mother’s watchful eye, the reader may believe she is just any kid traveling to Grandmother’s house. To the reader’s surprise, this girl enters a
The Line by Paula Bossio (Kids Can Press, 2013) is a wordless picture book that offers a unique look at how we can all be creative. In this book, a young girl notices a line and starts playing with it. She shakes it and watches it move; she forms it into a wild animal; she
Ava XOX by Carol Weston (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2016) continues 11-year-old Ava’s story over the course of her fifth-grade year. I was a bit nervous going into this book because the premise is that Ava begins to have a crush on a boy in her class, and I certainly don’t want my soon-to-be 11-year-old daughter to
In the Indian Ocean, fishermen discovered a wounded turtle, which they adopted and named her Yoshitaro. In Yoshi’s Big Swim by Mary Wagley Copp, illustrated by Kaja Kajfez (Capstone, December 2022), Yoshi’s story of healing, growing, and her final swim teach young readers not just about one loggerhead sea turtle but also about how we
Water is Water by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook Press, 2015). Although the subtitle is “A Book about the Water Cycle,” Water is Water provides a readable, poetic reminder about the various stages in which water accumulates on the Earth. The various forms water takes range from water to steam (technically, it
Breaking Through the Clouds: The Sometimes Turbulent Life of Meteorologist Joanne Simpson by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Helena Perez Garcia (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2022) teaches readers about an unknown young woman who went into a unique STEM field in the mid-1900s, this time the study of meteorology. Her interest in clouds began even
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