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A family leaves their city for an overnight camping trip. Up the mountain they travel, make camp, hike, and enjoy each other and the beautiful scenery. The straightforward story highlights prepositions in natural language, made meaningful in verdant, textured illustration.

A young boy digs a garden, plants seeds, waters and waits but forgets — until sprouts and ultimately plants emerge! Simple staccato, rhythmic language combines with realistic illustrations in a small format just right for introducing gardens to young children.

The ever popular dinos are back, this time making and eating cookies always using their best manners. Rhyming text and outrageous illustrations are humorous. Two recipes and “scratch & sniff” are extras presented in this brief board book.

Stunning, textured illustrations and simple, patterned language present a fish with a wish to be other animals with different abilities. When a bug is eaten, the fish decides “It is good to be a fish.” Not only will the book be enjoyed by listeners as well as emerging readers.

Letters and words are all around as even the youngest child will see as they travel in a car (or on a bus). There are signs for every letter of the alphabet, from Airport to Z-z-z-z, shown in arresting, high contrast graphic art and crisp letters.

Lots of animals and insects sport spots, others have stripes. In rich colors on sturdy pages, a flap folds out to reveal one or the other. Rich, patterned language and appealing illustration are used in this and in Animal 1 2 3, a clever counting book also sure to surprise and engage.

While on a visit to her aunt and uncle in Illinois, the narrator and her family unexpectedly find a field of growing soybeans which begins a 40-year tradition. Based on the author’s experiences, text and child-like illustrations reveal a caring, surprisingly modern family story from times past.

Cora wants to learn how to cook, but she’s too young to do the jobs her older siblings do. One day, however, after the older kids have all gone out together, Cora asks her mother what they can cook together. To her surprise, Cora’s mother asks her what she would like to make, and Cora chooses her favorite Filipino noodle dish, pancit. This family story about the importance of sharing tradition is brought to life by Kristi Valiant’s charming illustrations and includes a bilingual glossary of Tagalog words.

Marisa gets to help make dumplings this year to celebrate the New Year, but she worries that no one will eat her funny-looking dumplings. Set in the Hawaiian islands, this story celebrates the joyful mix of food, customs, and languages from many cultures.

Where on earth did Yum Yung get the urge to have a bagel? He has no idea, but desperate for one, he sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. While he waits, he asks the farmer, the fisherman, and the honeybee keeper for help, but none of them have ever heard of a bagel. Charming gouache illustrations evoke the intricate and colorful patterns found in Korean fabrics.

Mike’s Korean grandmother is still adjusting to her move to the U.S. While Mike helps her learn English, she helps the family, which owns a food cart, beat stiff competition. The family once did a good business serving pizza, bagels, and hot dogs on a busy corner, but now two other carts serving similar fare have moved in. Mike’s idea — to serve delicious Korean specialties that only Grandma knows how to make — saves the business and also helps Grandma feel at home. — Booklist

In this short book for beginning readers, a young Korean boy and girl share all of the different ways they like to eat rice, which are presented in colorful illustrations done by Grace Lin. A teacher’s guide with early reading activities is available from the Lee and Low website (opens in a new window). Also available in Spanish.

Eleven-year-old Dini loves everything about movies — especially Bollywood movies. So she would have been really excited about her family’s move to India…if they were moving anywhere near Bombay, the center of the Bollywood universe and home to Dini’s all-time most favorite favorite star, Dolly Singh. But no. Dini’s now stuck in a teeny, tiny village that she can’t even find on a map. But small villages can have surprises! Uma Krishnaswami’s joyful, lively, tale is full of preening peacocks, mischievous monkeys, delicious confections, and the wondrous, magical powers of coincidence.

In this simple, lyrical story, a wide-spreading tree and a busy road grow simultaneously, even as time passes and the footsteps of people and animals give way to speeding cars, buses and trucks. The illustrations, in pen-and-ink with vibrant blocks of color, have a classic folk-art feel — and yes, the author and illustrator do really share the same name (except for the last letter!).

Moving to a new place is hard enough without finding a bunch of mean, nasty ghosts in the closet. This looks like a job for Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god who can change shape in the blink of an eye and chase goblins, and demons away with his thundering voice. When Hanuman answers Anu’s plea for help, she rejoices — until she realizes those pesky ghosts don’t seem to be going anywhere. Uma Krishnaswami effortlessly weaves motifs from Indian mythology into this lively story.

Product Description: Meena is excited about the class play, a new and improved version of Red Riding Hood, until she learns that she must play one of the trees in the forest. She is just too clumsy to be a quiet, steady tree. One day at the Indian grocery store, Meena sees a yoga class in progress, and the store owner convinces her to try the children’s class. Little does Meena know she is about to find a way to grow from the inside out, just like a tree, and move beyond her feelings of clumsiness and frustration.

Product Description: Although Maya has done her best to avoid it, she is spending part of her summer in Chennai, India, with her mother, who is trying to sell her grandfather’s old house. Soon Maya is drawn into a complicated friendship with the eccentric housekeeper, Kamala Mami, and she is forced to examine the history of her parents’ divorce — all the more painful because she believes the trouble began with the choosing of her name. It is only with the help of Kamala Mami and her cousin that Maya is able to see what really happened to her parents and let go of painful memories.

In this anthology, Krishnaswami has collected and retold 18 traditional tales which originated in the Indian subcontinent, all with female protagonists. Many of these simply told stories feature a heroine who must stand up for her beliefs…(E)very story is followed by a helpful note that provides context and cites sources. — Kirkus Reviews

Zebra lines up participants to begin this very funny alphabet book. As A bounds up stairs to take the stage, Zebra peeks out. All goes smoothly until Moose says D is for Moose, bouncing Duck; Moose continues to irritate other letters until Z. Children who know the alphabet will delight in the slapstick humor and satisfying conclusion.

What happens when you plant a kiss? After “Doubt./Pout./Sprout!/SHOUT! SHOUT!” comes the sharing — and ultimately “endless bliss!” Simple, lined cartoon illustrations highlighted by sparkly kisses on open pages combine with brief rhythmic language to create a joy-filled book just right to share.

Henkes’ first easy reader introduces Penny and her mouse family in two appealing chapters. Penny must wait to share her original song until after dinner. When she does, not only do her parents join in, the babies respond in a surprising way. Henkes’ signature illustrations expressively complement the well-paced narrative.

Pigeon (of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (opens in a new window) fame) is back. Here, he’s irritated that a very polite duckling gets a cookie by simply asking! Could good manners really matter? Understated humor abounds in both minimal text and characteristic illustration.