In Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel (illustrated by Alexandra Colombo; IDW Publishing, 2008), the goofy illustrations and the rhyming text make for an amusing read aloud. The picture book gives the reader helpful information on how to recycle when a superhero (the titular “Michael Recycle”) comes to town to help the town learn what it

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Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (Scholastic, 1993) is a middle grade novel about two very opposite and different friends in middle school. Told from Max’s point of view, Freak the Mighty deals with concepts of a bullying for both Max, who is very large and struggles with learning difficulties, and for Kevin, nicknamed “the

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Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller (Philomel Books, April 2024) is a somewhat ridiculous but delightful short chapter book about finding not just entertainment during a boring summer but also building friendships with unexpected people. Magnolia and her new friend from California, Iris, undertake a project: find the owners of all the unmatched

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In Still Sal by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books, October 2024), we read about Sal Miller’s difficulties in coming to terms with her own challenging start to the first grade. The Year of Billy Miller captured her brother Billy’s perspective in first grade, and here we have Sal’s own set of circumstances in dealing with a

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Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon (published 1928) is one of the early Newbery books that just by its title alone seems questionable and suggests irrelevance for young readers today. The book itself actually was better than the title suggests. Although the title first reminds a modern reader of the racist connotations connected to the perjorative

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Rather than being a straight-forward biography, the sweet graphic novel Wildflower Emily: A Story About Young Emily Dickinson by Linda Corry (Godwin Books, October 2024) captures her uniqueness, her passion for botany and nature, and her different way of looking at the world. Teenage Emily learns botany at her school desk, but with her dog

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The historical fiction Newbery Honor book Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs (published 1928) tells of a financially destroyed town during the 1780s, the years after the Revolutionary War and before the establishment of the United States Republic. Because of the war, Branscomb’s elderly ship-builder, Thomas Drury, no longer has the means to continue building, especially

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Author-illustrator Sophie Blackall captures an imagined large farm family’s journey through the years in Farmhouse (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022). Her text tells about the things the family does in the house and her detailed collage illustrations go from room to room illustrating the large and loving family growing up in the house.

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The picture book My Book and Me by Linda Sue Park (illustrated by Chris Raschka; Red Comet Press, 2024) is a poem championing a child’s favorite book. It’s told with a first person child’s voice and, with Raschka’s distinct and unique, almost childlike, illustrations, it becomes universal with many children sharing their thoughts about their

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Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume (Bradbury Press, 1970) is the classic puberty book, which talks frankly about a girl’s concerns with menstruation, a changing body, and wearing bras, among other things. But, it is even more about a young girl’s changing perspective on herself, on learning to accept herself as

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