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Jasmine is only 8 years old but wants to do what the boys do. It’s her family Japanese tradition for the boys to pound the rice for mocha at her family’s New Year’s celebration. But can she really handle it? Readers of all backgrounds will empathize with Jasmine’s dilemma and see themselves in her. 

Since little is known about the real Amelia Simmons, the author invites readers to imagine what became of her after her father’s death. Amelia would become a “bound girl,” to work for others. She may have made an Independence Cake perhaps tasted by General George Washington! The colonial period is clearly imagined here in illustration and lively text, complete with a cake recipe.

Antonio Barichievich was a giant. He weighed as much as a horse and once dragged four busses filled with people! Most amazingly, he really lived in Montreal (Canada). Antonio’s story comes to life with verve and wit in graphic format with lighthearted illustrations and easier to read text.

Drasko is Milo’s son who carries on his father’s flower business even after things in Sarajevo change seemingly overnight. Milo is called to the battlefield. A blast kills people in line at the bakery. Only the power of beauty through music brings hope. Based on actual events, this moving story is one of faith in spite of hatred and violence.  A CD read by the author provides additional information about the event and includes the music played by cellist Vedrun Smailovic.

Visually stunning and informative, Ali’s early life, how it influenced him, as well as his many accomplishments are presented. Dramatic illustrations are enhanced by the presentation of text in different typefaces. A timeline concludes this brief biography.

Callie is interested in science and wants to be a veterinarian so she practices when the local vet is away. But it was tougher in the early 20^th century when girls couldn’t do everything that they do today. Callie, however, helps a prize sheep give birth and more in the latest, lively and engaging installment about Callie and her family. From the Calournia Tate, Girl Vet series.

Colette’s loses her imaginary parrot but finds friends in her neighborhood while the children help her search for it. Sequential art expressively tells the story in mostly blacks and grays punctuated with yellow. Limited text completes the appealing package. 

Mike and Kate are back to solve a new mystery. This one is in the Nation’s Capital, where the brother of the president plays baseball for the Nationals. And someone is snitching the team’s equipment. The popular series presents another temperate mystery especially for baseball fans.

Elementary school-age boys start at the beginning of the school year to study with Pamela at the National Dance Institute of New Mexico. By the end of the year, some will perform “Treasure Island,” others will perform Mexican folktales. All in all, over 20 dances lead up to the grand finale. Dancing is hard work but lots of fun, too, chronicled in this photoessay. 

A mistake: a splat of ink.  In fact, “it started with one mistake.” That mistake became a pattern, then a good idea, then ultimately into a remarkable work of imagination. Don’t let the format let you race through this book. Slow down; examine each double page spread to discover the hidden treasures in it — and maybe inspire your own book of mistakes.

Poetry comes in many forms; some rhymes, some doesn’t. Inspiration comes from many places, too. “Poems tall or short or wide — /All are infinite inside…” of each of us. Slightly abstract illustrations of children together or admiring the world around them completes this thoughtful look at language and poetry.

Triangle — a triangular shape with big eyes and stick legs — decides to leave his triangular house to play a trick on square. But turnabout is fair play in this whimsical but sardonic tale. The illustrator’s signature style are textured, deceivingly simple, and placed on open pages.  

When their parents go on a trip, Yorick decides to play around with his father’s alchemy. Accidentally inventing a shrinking potion, a very tiny Yorick must rely on his younger — now much larger brother — Charles to keep him safe until the spell can be reversed. Steig’s rich language and cartoon illustration set the tale in medieval times and remain as fresh today as when the book was first published. 

Spritely, translucent watercolors jaunt across the pages of a poem by romantic poet, John Keats. The nonsensical adventure begins: “There was a naughty Boy,/A naughty boy was he,/he would not stop at home,/He could not quiet b—“ and ends with the boy still a’wondering.  This poem was written by — and about — Keats in a letter to his sister as he traveled, now illustrated and presented for others to delight in its fancy.

A year in the life of Vixen, a red fox, reveals how these canine omnivores live, hunt, and reproduce. A muted palette allows Vixen to stand out as she moves throughout her territory. Additional information and resources conclude this attractive, evocative, and informative book.

When Hee Jun’s father accepts a position in West Virginia, everything changes for the boy and his family. His grandmother, a teacher in Korea, now stays at home; his little sister becomes a discipline problem at school; and Hee Jun does not understand English. With time, however, Hee Jun finds a friend whose yard contains a rose of Sharon, a “mugunghwa” in Korea.  It is a piece of home. Gentle illustrations convey the characters’ emotions to enhance the story.

The humble and sometimes abused copper penny tells its own story in this humorous combination of fact and fantasy. It begins, “I was born in Philadelphia, where the United States was born” and continues revealing its adventures small and historical. Cartoon illustrations in simple line and real pennies augment the combination of fiction and information. The penny’s history and additional resources conclude this entertaining book.

When a little girl wakes up one morning, she sees “a sweet little…____chirping at me.”  As her day progresses, there are more blank circles that readers can fill in with reusable stickers appended at the end. Almost like a visual mad lib, this participatory book covers everyday activities from morning till nighttime.

Margaret loved to solve all kinds of problems coming up with original ideas. She wondered why more girls didn’t grow up to be doctors or scientists. So, she studied hard and finally convinced NASA to use her software programs to get astronauts to the moon and back. Cartoon illustrations complement the conversational text. Additional information about Margaret, additional resources and photos of Margaret conclude this empowering sketch.

It’s nighttime on the farm and everyone is ready to snuggle in. But when Pig plops into his sty, he hears a MOOO!  It seems no one wants to sleep in their own place. One by one, however, each displaces the interloper until sleep can really happen. Comic illustrations accompany the vivacious tale to its satisfying, sleepy conclusion.

When a girl and her brother return to the park to retrieve the forgotten jump rope, they discover a group of foxes jumping rope. They watch from afar until soon, foxes and children are jumping rope together. Wishes do come true in this mellow fantasy of talking animals with illustrations bathed in soft color.

A young girl and an older woman, Honey, bond over Honey’s garden and her chickens. When Honey must move away, the narrator is devastated until new neighbors move in and the girl can show them how to maintain the garden. An author’s note reveals that her story is loosely based on a Talmudic story about the value of effort not simply the harvest.

Endpages show swimming tadpoles; turn the page and the progression from tadpole to frog appears within brief frog facts. There are over 5,000 kinds of frogs that live all over the world. Turn the page and some of them are introduced in lively but short text and dramatic, colorful illustrations. Alliterative, onomatopoeic frog sounds are effectively incorporated into page designs of this informative and engaging book

Look. See. How do things look different from up high or up close? From far away?  Bold, flat but textured, semi-abstract illustrations suggest how things look from different vantages points. Readers are asked to consider the tallest, smallest thing they’ve seen; what the inside of a seed might look like, and more in this effervescent glimpse at a child’s world from different perspectives.