Illustrated by David Roberts 3.5 stars Bright, colorful illustrations and a story that encourages empathy, kindness, and acceptance. The illustrations are wonderfully diverse, featuring characters with different skin colors, gender expressions, body types, disabilities, hair styles, and nationalities. I love how the pages mirror each other, showing the similarities among individuals, their likes and dislikes….
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Illustrated by Ziyue Chen 3.5 stars A sweet story of the strength of community and the power of individuals. It’s the day before the talent show and Aurora is nervous to perform. She manifests a butterfly using ASL, which travels the world, inspiring Deaf children to add to the flurry of butterflies. They make their…
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3.5 stars A humorous story about the power of banning together and the danger of only looking out for yourselves. The Little Guys are proud of how strong they are together. They can do anything. But that also means they can take things too far, picking fights, stealing from others, and being bullies. After a…
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Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler 3.5 stars A really sweet story about forgiveness and friendship. No one in Bonnyripple ever kept a grudge except Cornelius, the Grudge Keeper, a sort of archivist of the townspeople’s complaints about one another. When a storm hits the town, the people see just how much space all their grudges take…
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Illustrated by Bérengère Delaporte Translated by Karen Li 3.5 stars Told from the perspective of a child, this book is a touching story of grief, loss, and recovery. Everyone is excited about the new baby. They all prepare for the upcoming arrival. But when his parents come home from the hospital without his new sibling,…
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Illustrated by Tony Neal 3.5 stars An adorable picture book about inclusion, acceptance, and not making assumptions about others. When a flamboyance of flamingos moves into the neighborhood, the other birds are upset by their bright colors and bold appearances. Finally, they decide to confront them. But when they arrive, they see their new neighborhoods…
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Illustrated by Charlene Chua 3.5 stars Amy can’t wait for her friends to come over to have a dance party. She wants to share her love of ribbon dancing. But what can she use for dancing ribbons? A sweet book about creative thinking, problem solving, and doing what you love. Such a sweet book. Well…
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Illustrated by Gillian Reid 3.5 stars It’s her very first picture day and Molly is excited. But when Mom reveals the dress she wants Molly to wear, all that excitement is gone. The dress has a weird collar and puffy parts and no pockets. It doesn’t feel like Molly at all. Now Molly has to…
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by Yuto Tsukuda Illustrated by Shun Saeki Translated by Adrienne Beck 3.5 stars Another entertaining volume in the Food Wars series. In this one, we learn more about how Totsuki works, specifically the shokugeki and the Council of Ten. As always, the food looks amazing. I love when they go into detail on how a…
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Illustrated by Ted Hammond 3.5 stars An interesting look at the Winchester Mystery House and Sarah Winchester more specifically. I’ll admit, before reading this I’d only heard the supernatural versions of the story. I appreciate that Berne took a fact-based approach and highlighted some of the reasons for the unique architecture. The book covers quite…
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