Children love the ridiculous. The first picture book to be a runner-up (Honor) book for the Newbery Award, Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág (published 1928), certainly meets the “ridiculousness” standards for a young child to giggle at. With silly but adorable plot, quaint black-and-white illustrations, and hand-formed text, the book still has eye-rolling childhood

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Still riding the success of The One and Only Ivan, winner of the Newbery Medal in 2013, Katherine Applegate has added a fourth tale to the “Ivan and friends” series with The One and Only Family (Harper Collins, 2024). This book details Ivan’s experience in becoming a silverback and a father in the wildlife sanctuary.

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Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James (published 1926) is an animal book telling of one young horse from the day he was born until his old age retirement. Smoky learns in a free, mountainous home for his early years, is broken in as a cow horse by a loving cowboy, spends years rounding up cattle,

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Although I tend to prefer realistic fiction (historical or contemporary), the animal story The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers (Alfred A. Knopf, May 2023) was an amusing read with a unique narrator and clever situations. Johannes, a free dog in a large park, is just a dog, the author reminds us in the

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Hot Dog by Doug Salati (Random House, May 2022) contrasts the oppressive heat of a busy city in summer with the bright freedom and delight of an open beach. The nameless dog obviously swelters in the sun and then delights it in as he leaps across the sand and splashes in cool blue waves. It’s

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Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins series nicely captures the creative Henry through his upper elementary years, especially focusing on his innovation, his creativity as a kid, and the antics of his adopted stray dog, Ribsy. Although the series is dated, having been written beginning in the 1950s, Henry’s adventures show universal frustrations and difficulties that any

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Red, a red panda, mourns how all the books for pandas somehow omit red pandas! With the encouragement of his giant panda friend Gee, Red writes his own book about red pandas. The adorable picture book How This Book Got Red by Margaret Chiu Greanias and pictures by Melissa Iwai (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, October 2023) narrates

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Odder is a curious and spunky sea otter in the ocean, spritely enjoying water play with her more cautious older friend, when she is bitten by a shark. Now Odder is fighting for her life. Thankfully, in the middle grade novel Odder by Katherine Applegate (Feiwel & Friends, September 2022), this memorable otter is rescued

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With a wordless story frame illustrating a family going for a walk in the park with their dock, A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell (Holiday House, January 2018) explains the differences between mammals, birds, and other animals. In the picture book, the illustrated family explores the unique creatures around them and learn about

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