Two’s a Crowd (Pug Pals #1) by Flora Ahn

3 stars A cute book about the difficulties of accepting a new member into the family including sharing toys, annoying questions, and constant interruptions, and learning to make adjustments. This is a nice, quick read, great for young readers. The chapters are short and there are pictures on nearly every page to break up the…

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The Night is Yours by Abdul-Razak Zachariah

3 stars A sweet story with lessons about confidence and perseverance. The illustrations are absolutely phenomenal, especially the colors and textures of the night sky and moon. Absolutely beautiful. This is a cute story, however I do feel that because it was written from the parent’s perspective, children may not be as interested in it….

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Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

4 stars A sweet book of poetry covering a wide range of topics. Overall, the tone of the book is a positive, uplifting, and inspiring one with messages of love, acceptance, cooperation, and making the world a better place. This is a great book for getting young children interested in poetry. It contains short, free…

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The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

5 stars For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle An absolutely fantastic, beautiful read. The book is quite wordy, so it is best for older children. In it, various situations are presented in which kids don’t feel they fit in. From having stayed home all summer to having lunches the others are unfamiliar with, there…

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I Am Enough by Grace Byers

3 stars A sweet, lyrical book with a heartfelt message. The illustrations are a nice balance of simplistic background with more detailed characters. It was fun to see the different situations play out in the pictures such as swinging, racing, reading, etc. The narration is also simple, going through poetic statements that follow the same…

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Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

5 stars A wonderfully written book that explores various aspects of race as well as family, religion, acceptance, differences and similarities, hope, and deafness/hard of hearing. The book maintains a great balance of simplicity and beauty, of childhood and moving into adulthood. The story is an interesting look at young people discovering their identities and…

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The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

3 stars An interesting combination of classic fairy tales. Overall, I enjoyed it. As with everything Gaiman writes, this is a very unique story. I loved the play on the original fairy tales and how creatively he combined them. I also liked how references were made to them instead of blatantly naming the characters. The…

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Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry

5 stars An absolutely adorable book, perfectly told and beautifully illustrated. This is a simple story with so much heart. A wonderful, upbeat tale of finding the perfect hair style. Great detail in the pictures as well to very humorous effect. I’d heard good things about this book, but was still blown away by how…

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