When Clementine Brown gets and a first-aid kit for her birthday, she takes her medical role quite seriously. Nothing is too small for Clementine to handle including helping her little brother. Open illustrations and simple text celebrate recognizable, imaginative play.
Nurse Clementine
Clean lines of both upper and lower case letters combine with colorful fruits and vegetables for a unique way to think about - and even eat through the alphabet.
Eating the Alphabet
Naughty lowercase letters climb the coconut tree but when little Z gets to the top, they all go BOOM to the bottom. After a rescue by grown-up letters (all uppercase), it all seems to start again. Humor, crisp illustration and rhythm make this alphabetic adventure a classic.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
A rubber duck is among the bathtub toys washed overboard and into the ocean. After a long journey, the duck narrator is found by a child. Inspired by actual events and vividly illustrated with textured paper cut images.
Ducky
A girl meets the talkative Mr. Rabbit and together they discuss what birthday present to give her mother. Evocative illustrations have rich hues and rounded shapes that suggest a fanciful setting but with an imaginative, real-world resolution.
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Over in the meadow live animals and their young – from one to 10. The predictable pattern is made memorable with intricate illustration and repetition in this ageless rendition of a familiar counting ditty.
Over in the Meadow
Journey around the globe to learn some of the affectionate names children are called. The terms appear in English and the native language (with pronunciation provided) accompanied by charming illustrations that suggest cultural diversity.
Little Treasures: Endearments from Around the World
Young readers will understand what Owl doesn’t in each of five short chapters. The episodic tales and lighthearted illustrations are sure to engage newly independent readers.
Owl at Home
Ten-year old Spoon is afraid that he will forget his grandmother without something tangible to hold on to. Can Spoon share his sense of loss and his selfish action with his grandfather? Sophisticated readers and adults will have rich discussions around this book.
Sun and Spoon
The child of hardworking immigrants, the narrator tells her tale of growing up and how the family vacations at New York City’s shores inspired her affinity for art. Handsomely hued illustrations evoke family life during an earlier period in this fond family story.
Hattie and the Wild Waves
The traditional tale of a poor boy who finds fame and fortune with the help of a cat is presented here in straightforward language. Limited color and boldly lined illustrations highlight the tale’s drama and satisfying conclusion.
Dick Whittington and His Cat
As Fadi’s family is preparing to flee to the U.S., Fadi’s little sister is lost. The family leaves her behind, but adjusting to life in the United States isn’t easy and as the events of September 11th unfold, the prospects of locating Mariam in a war-torn Afghanistan seem slim. When a photography competition with a grand prize trip to India is announced, Fadi sees his chance to return to Afghanistan and find his sister. Based in part on the Ms. Senzai’s husband’s own experience fleeing his home in Soviet controlled Afghanistan in the 1970s.
Shooting Kabul
“Born with a cleft lip, Zulaikha struggles to feel worth in a society that values women by their marriage prospects…Then, by chance, Zulaikha meets Meena, a former professor, who begins to teach her to read and write just as American soldiers arrive, bringing the chance for both more education and surgery to correct Zulaikha’s birth defect. Reedy based his debut on real people and places he encountered while serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan, and the extensive detail about Afghani customs gives the story the feel of a docu-novel while also creating a vivid sense of place and memorable characters.” — Booklist
Words In The Dust
“A forced pen-pal exchange turns into an opportunity for real communication between Illinois sixth-grader Abby Carson and Sadeed Bayat, the best English-language student in his Afghan village. When Abby’s first letter arrives in Bahar-Lan, 11-year-old Sadeed is asked by the elders to compose his sister Amira’s reply; it isn’t proper for a boy and girl to correspond with one another. But soon Sadeed can’t resist telling Abby that it is he who has been writing to her. The third-person narrative alternates points of view, allowing for inclusion of intriguing details of both lives.” — School Library Journal
Extra Credit
Maria looks to her grandmother to explain the rituals and traditions she observes at her first wedding. Their conversation, sprinkled with Spanish words, is carried by the evocative illustrations that depict this Zapotec Indian wedding celebration in Oaxaca, Mexico. A helpful Spanish glossary and an introduction to Zapotec culture and religion are included.
La Boda: A Mexican Wedding Celebration
The simple, plain text tells of the close relationship between Tommy and his namesake grandfather, Tom. They read the comics together, act out poems, make up stories, and play practical jokes.
Tom
This picture book is a small glimpse, from A to Z, of some of the sights and sounds of the Michif language and its speakers. The language of the Métis, Michif is a combination of French and Cree with a trace of other regional languages. Once spoken by thousands of people across the prairies of Canada and the northern United States, Michif is now so little spoken that it might disappear within a generation. This alphabet book is part of a resurgence to celebrate and preserve the traditions of the Métis people.
Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet / Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: L’Alfabet Di Michif
Malcolm the rat narrates his adventures in Mr. Binney’s fifth-grade class. At night, the school comes alive with the Midnight Academy, a secret society of classroom pets that protects the school. When the leader (an iguana named Aggy) goes missing, Malcolm sets out to find Aggy to ensure her safety and to clear his name.
Malcolm at Midnight
Dickens’s England comes to life from the perspective of an alley cat.
Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale
It’s hard to resist babies and baby toes which are “a hundred times sweeter than one could suppose.” A sweet, rhyming homage to babies, families, and a lifetime of affection is presented here with textured, softly colored illustrations.
Ten Tiny Toes
One snowboy all alone begins the count to 10 then reverses to count down to where it started. Computer-generated art is colorful with patterned, wintery icons and images. The sound of language and the interesting visuals make the counting — and the book — satisfying.
Snowboy 1, 2, 3
Colorful mice are shown skating when the outline of a cat appears on the ice. The cat with a hat winds up joining the skating party. Limited vocabulary is enhanced by vibrant illustrations that together create mild tension to move the tale to its sunny conclusion.
Mice on Ice
A collection of early Golden Books illustrated by an artist who (as stated in the introduction) influenced Disney films are presented in a new, larger format. Though retro in feel (and reality) the playful stories, poems and songs effectively capture the joy in simple things.
A Mary Blair Treasure of Golden Books
Just outside a baby’s window there is a world of activity and goings-on. Stylized illustrations in bold black and white line with text in green are just right to share with very young children, perhaps to encourage conversation and observation.