books4yourkids

  Maps tell stories, so what could be better than a story that starts with a map? Most books that start with maps are some kind of fantasy, but not all are magical realms, the 100 Acre Wood and the pastoral setting of The Wind in the Willows to name two. Best of all, maps are inspirational and aspirational - maps can inspire you to dream up new realms and can lead you to aspire to explore world! The Wind in the Willows My Father's Dragon Lyra's Oxford The Magicians The Mapmakers Trilogy The Phantom Tollbooth Wildwood Chronicles Winnie-the-Pooh The Edge Chronicles How to Train Your Dragon Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist

  The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother) by David Levithan Review Copy from Knopf Books The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother)  is a read-in-one-sitting novel, and for Levithan, editorial director at Scholastic, author of many  YA novels  and a few adult, this is his first foray into middle grade novels. A story like nothing I have ever read before, with a a truly unique perspective I have yet to encounter, Levithan brings his gifts as a writer who understands human nature and can capture the emotional complexities and experiences of young people on the page to this stunning novel. Eleven-year-old Lucas has shared a room with his twelve-year-old brother Aidan his whole life - until Aidan disappears in the middle of the night. Lucas and his distraught parents, with the help of everyone in their small community, search for Aidan. Then, on the sixth night, Lucas hears a noise above him and heads to the attic, a refuge of Aidan's th

  MOG'S Birthday by Judith Kerr Review Copy from HarperCollins One of the few picture books from my childhood that left a decades long impression on me is Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr, originally published in 1970. You can read my slightly rambling, 2011 review of this book as well as my review of Kerr's semi-autobiographical novel for children chronicling her family's flight from Nazi Germany, When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit .  Mog the Cat   decided to take the long nap in the 2002 book, Goodbye Mog , with Kerr passing away at the age of ninety-five in 2019. Before she died, and in anticipation of Mog's 50th birthday in 2020, Kerr collaborated with HarperCollins to create this special. Using a selection of pictures from across fifty years of illustrating this famous cat, Mog's Birthday captures the essence of this phlegmatic, forgetful, sometimes fretful feline perfectly. When Debbie tells Mog that it's her birthday and they are going to have a pa

SOUND  Shhh . . . Bang . . . POP . . . BOOM!   by Romana Romanyshyn & Andriy Lesiv   translated by Vitaly Chernetsky Review Copy from Chronicle Books In a genre where there are not many picture books on this topic, Romanyshyn and Lesiv have created a lyrical book that is sure to inspire further investigation. Curiously, (or expectedly?) what is most striking in this book about sound are the pictures. More of a meditation than anything else, this picture book causes you to pause and consider sound and the place it has in our lives. From noise pollution to the sounds that our homes, our bodies and nature make to the sounds that we cannot hear, an how we understand each other in silence. Iconic illustrations and infographic presentations paired with bold neon colors draw your eye across the pages where poetic text sometimes reads like a song. SOUND truly is an example of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, ART and mathematics) bringing all these aspects together in one book. Bac

  A Night at the Farm: A Bedtime Party by C+C Mini Factory Review Copy from Hachette Books The secret life of farm animals is a story you might have seen before in picture books, but never like what Quinn Metal Corbin and Chelsea Cates, also known as C+C Mini Factory, bring to the page in A Night at the Farm: A Bedtime Party . They bring tiny toys to the page with clever, creative miniature installations that remind me of some of my favorite picture books from my childhood (yes... The Lonely Doll ) and sit quite nicely to the books of  Terry Border  ( Cupcake, Peanut ) on the shelves. Take your time reading this book because there are little details - in the words and pictures - to take in on every page, starting with the farmer - "she has toiled since dawn." There must be another picture book out there where the head farmer is a woman, but I can't think of it. Rhyming quatrains take readers from the cat, indoors and sitting in front of a typewriter, to the barnyard where

  Music Is . . .  by Stephen T. Johnson Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Music Is . . . is a unique non-fiction picture book that unfolds like an accordion to intrigue, engage and inspire readers to make musical explorations of their own. Covering ten different types of music, Johnson's lyrical text and vibrant, collage like illustrations celebrate and educate. On one side of this unfolding book, brief descriptions and musical text give readers a taste of classical, Latin, jazz, country, heavy metal, hip-hop, rock and roll, R&B, electronica and pop. Latin is, "a kaleidoscope of passion and emotions that can heat the floor under your feet and expand your mind with color." Electronica is, "liquid sound cascading over an endless sea of happy, neon-colored faces." Rhythm and Blues is, "a rainbow of emotions rising up after the rain clears, when tears turn to smiles." Reaching the end of the book (where Johnson asks, "What is your sound?) a fl

A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty illustrated by Wendy Leach Review Copy from Hachette Books A Small Kindness is a superbly simple, stunningly powerful picture book. "It was like a game of tag," are the first and penultimate words of this book that makes concrete the abstract, showing not just "a small kindness," as the titles suggests, but the way that this seemingly singular act can become like a game of tag, being passed from one child to the next. Paired with McAnulty's excellent linking of the sharing of kindnesses and a game of tag, Leach's illustrations so perfectly bring this concept to the page that you almost don't need the words to understand what is happening. The dedication page shows a shy student, peering around the corner, and is entirely in sepia tones. A page turn, and a with kindness from Ms. Jones, Alice is in color. Smiles, sharing, holding doors for others, compliments, helping and listening are among the small kindnesses that are

THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU (board book adaptation of 100 THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU ) by Amy Schwartz Review Copy from AbramsAppleseed In 2014 I reviewed Amy Schwartz's marvelous, unforgettable  100 Things that Make Me Happy . It was my first year as an elementary school librarian, and I read Schwartz's book out loud to every class, all grades. It is so mellifluous, so sublimely rhymed and beautiful in spirit - it was (and is) a delight to read out loud. In fact, Schwartz's book inspired me to have students and staff create a mural in my school library, drawing and writing over 500 things that made them happy. 100 THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU /  THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU continues the magic, bringing the simple, sweet moments of connection that come when you are with someone you love. Available in a picture book and now board book (which, due to formatting, has fewer rhyming couplets)  100 THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU  /  THINGS I LOVE to do with YOU  will excite an