Book Finder

Will JoJo ever be able to dance the national dance of the Philippines as easily as his grandmother? As he watches and practices, he begins to learn how to let the rhythm move through him and he dances the tininkling! Warm illustrations complement the lively text, evoking the sense of movement and joy.

A young scientist explains to a caterpillar what it will be when it grows out of this stage of its life. With clear illustrations, accessible language, and lots of humor, science comes to life in the hands of the creator who wrote the informative and equally engaging The Real Poop on Pigeons and Snails Are Just My Speed.

Dance along with the residents of an apartment building: reggaeton, salsa, tango, and more! Jaunty language and bright, naive-style illustrations make music of their own, but also can be heard or watched via video when linked to the accompanying website. 

Brief information is placed on open pages with lots of white space to highlight portraits of baby dinosaurs that are seriously cute and seriously funny. The baby T-rex — “tyrant lizard king“ — is placed in a bejeweled royal crown, with a partial view of a huge parent looking down at the fuzzy baby. Additional information and comparative size chart conclude this informative, amusing book. 

Folk art and crisp language introduce the human heart to readers (along with some interesting tidbits about other creatures’ hearts). Accessibly written by a pediatric cardiologist, this handsome book can be read from cover to cover or dipped in and out of.

Will the runaway pea become a snack for one of the animals it rolls by? Illustrations call to mind folk art in this rollicking translation from the French. The tale is likely to hold up to multiple readings and may inspire young gardeners!

Short, mostly familiar rhymes and lullabies are gently illustrated by textured embroidered images, just right to remind adults of the power of short rhymes meant to be shared with the youngest.

Marta is una niña, an ordinary girl, who is sometimes big when compared to a bug; sometimes small next to an elephant. The charming child is presented in a sturdy format with words in both English and Spanish.  

One side of the accordion folds out to show a range of human faces (plus one canine). Infants can see familiar toys and objects on the other side of the foldout.  Sturdy pages and bright, simple illustrations are just right for the youngest to examine again and again.

Young Leo and his dad enjoy a day exploring nature, observing small creatures, and looking at trees and animals. Realistic illustrations and simple language enhance the shared joy.

Parents welcome their new little one, examining the baby’s face and describing its features in Spanish. Cozy illustrations and the welcoming narration conclude with a glossary (just in case it’s not clear from the images!).

Around the world, grandparents and grandchildren share everyday activities but most important of all, they share lots of love. Warm families are depicted in each color photograph in the latest addition of the Global Babies series.

A small dog and tiny cat are best of friends, playing all day, until one day Tao is hurt. George misses Tao very much until the friends are reunited, one with a bandage and gentler play. Simple but evocative illustrations complement the effective, brief narrative.

Tired of the same Old MacDonald’s farm? Add donuts and a greedy crocodile alongside a take-charge rooster and it’s a new tune! Silliness is the word (and picture) on this farm as children will sing along with the rousing E-I-E-I-O!

Following each rhyming clues is the animal that inspired various inventions such as snowshoes and water fins. More familiar inventions are followed by lift-the-flaps to intrigue or confound more sophisticated readers.

From purple lupines in Olympia (Washington) to pink “bleeding tooth fungus” in Maine’s Acadia National Park there are other vivid colors from nature that can be found in ten of the nation’s most visited national parks.  

One toddler thinks she can get dressed all by herself but winds up needing her sister’s help. In Muy verde! / Too Green!, another child is reluctant to try a new green soup but once he does, he wants more! Both attractive board books capture familiar experiences through cheerful, expressive illustrations and short text. Both books are available in bilingual (Spanish/English) editions.

Alma, first introduced in Alma and How She Got Her Name, is back! She plays with her cousins, snuggles with her mother, and more as she names her relatives. In Alma Head to Toe / Alma de pies a cabeza, she introduces all of her from her head to her soft heart. Both engaging books are in Spanish and English, sure to charm even the youngest reader.

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them? But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. “Think of it as a garden,” she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst — and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. The main character in this adventurous middle grade fantasy has a limp that’s realistically present yet never overtakes the story.

Budding backyard scientists can start exploring their world with this stunning introduction to these flowery show-stoppers — from seeds to roots to blooms. Learning how flowers grow gives kids beautiful building blocks of science and inquiry.

Meet seeds that pop, hop, creep, and explode in this vividly illustrated introduction to the simplest concepts of botany. Learn about the many ways that seeds get from here to there, engaging children’s curiosity with strong action verbs. Clear photographs with fact-packed captions provide supporting details, explaining the role of seed features and functions in creating new generations of plants. Concludes with an illustrated glossary and back matter featuring more resources.

How many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it’s made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist? Kids will learn that chocolate comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn’t survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots — they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels.

In Manu National Park in Peru, an amazing fourteen different species of monkeys live together. That’s more than in any other rainforest in the world! How can they coexist so well? Find out in this lyrical, rhyming picture book that explores each monkey’s habits, diet, and home, illustrating how this delicate ecosystem and its creatures live together in harmony. From howler monkeys to spider monkeys to night monkeys, young readers will love getting to know these incredible primates and seeing the amazing ways they share their forest.