Illustrated by Angela Dominguez 5 stars A heartwarming story of a girl, her grandmother, and their pet parrot. This was such a sweet book. At first, when Mia’s grandmother moves in, they have a hard time understanding each other. Mia doesn’t know much Spanish and her grandmother doesn’t know much English. But together, they teach…
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by Tami Lewis Brown and Debbie Loren Dunn Illustrated by Frenci Sanna 4 stars A fascinating exploration of scientific experimentation, color, and history. Purple was once the color of royalty, a shade only the rich could afford. But through persistence and experimentation, William Henry Perkin found a way to bring purple to everyone. The book…
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Illustrated by Frenci Sanna 5 stars The most beautiful picture book I have ever read. A gentle intergenerational tale of a family’s gifts of kindness, love, an appreciation of nature, and time spent together. They grow and build a community as large as the forest they’ve planted. I checked this one out because I love…
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4 stars A fantastic story about a young girl making her way through life in Reconstruction-era Louisiana. Though slavery in America has ended, ten-year old orphan, Sugar, is still stuck on the River Road Plantation working the sugarcane fields. All she wants to do is have fun, but she’s the only kid left on the…
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by Gabrielle Charbonnet 3 stars A sweet collection of classic Disney stories featuring well-known princesses. Each story is paired with an introduction, a craft, and funny little asides between Mary-Kate and Ashley. The collection includes Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas. I’ve been on…
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by Suzanne Slade Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera 4 stars A wonderful children’s biography of Gwendolyn Brooks and her lifelong love of poetry. The story spans from Brooks’ childhood to winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950. The book focuses on Brooks’ love of writing and her publishing career, as well as touching on…
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Illustrated by Faith Ringgold 4 stars A nice collection of poetry focused on the lives of children in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. The book includes a variety of themes expressed with different rhythms and rhymes. It covers relatable topics of friendship, moving to a new place, making new friends, dealing with illness, death of…
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Illustrated by Sahar Haghgoo 2.5 stars Kind of conflicted about this one. Princess Minna always knows when something is wrong in the kingdom when the seagulls flip and flap around Castle Tall-Towers and scare off all the doves. She sets off to make things right before Lord and Lady Welling-Tunboot arrive to play freeze dance….
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3 stars A fun, nostalgic read. I remember having a few of these books growing up. I’m sure I watched the show as well, but I don’t really remember it. In the first book in the series, the twins get ready to go back to school, but their dad springs a big surprise on them,…
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by Leslie Schrock 4 stars A helpful beginner’s guide to the different stages of pregnancy. This book covers so much ground from fertility to birth plans, things to buy to life with a newborn. This is a completely new topic for me so I found this book very helpful as an overview of what to…
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