Sparkle, Lucy’s unicorn, becomes a bit jealous when Cole comes over to play. Dance and a drum bring the three friends together in this gentle but illuminating story of friendship.
A New Friend for Sparkle
The race is on and Mama Lion and young Tigey are off! The Italian countryside provides the backdrop for this charming tale of friendship and monkey hijinks. Translucent watercolors illustrate the race with spiffy cars driven by toys come to life are worth reexamining.
Mama Lion Wins the Race
In this wordless fantasy, a girl loses her stuffed fox but finds it in a fantastic forest. This imaginative tale is told in sequential panels (rather like a graphic novel) in which no words are needed.
Little Fox in the Forest
Though well-meaning, the good deeds just don’t turn out quite right when Clifford the big red dog tries to help Mary Elizabeth and her neighbor Tim around town. This vintage edition uses limited color illustration in a humorous modern classic.
Clifford’s Good Deeds
After Nicky’s uncle gave her a dog. Barkus became a trusted member of the family, a classroom dog, and he even adopted a small kitten named Baby. Barkus and Nicky’s adventures are told in short chapters and colorful illustrations.
Barkus
“Giant Whale or Giant Hoax?” headlines read in the opening of this mostly wordless book. The adventure continues as two young people prepare to find and record the massive mammal through wordless, realistic, highly detailed monochromatic illustrations. Their breathtaking escapade continues until the final spread depicting another newspaper, announcing that the boys have solved the mystery of the spotted whale.
The Whale
The residents of Sprout Street welcome a new neighbor from Hawaii in A New Arrival. They travel to France in Bon Voyage. Each of these episodic, short, and easier to read novels are lighter reading for summer and beyond.
Sprout Street Neighbors: A New Arrival
Private I tries to assuage 6 who just knows that 7 is coming to get him! Why? Because 7 8 9, of course! Wordplay and over-the-top humor make this satire of old detective stories sophisticated. Told with tongue in cheek language and colorful illustrations, this is a very funny tale.
7 Ate 9: The Untold Story
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.
Jasmine Toguchi: Mochi Queen
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.
Independence Cake
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.
The Great Antonio
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.
Flowers for Sarajevo
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 20th 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.
Counting Sheep
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.
Colette’s Lost Pet
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.
The Capital Catch (Ballpark Mysteries)
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.
The Book of Mistakes
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.
Triangle
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.
The Toy Brother
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.
A Piece of Home
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.
On the Spot
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.
Go Sleep in Your Own Bed!
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.
The Fox Wish
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.
The Forever Garden
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.