The stomachache ploy can't get a little girl out of her Saturday morning swim lesson. Armed with her "strawberry bathing suit" and "too-small swim cap," she arrives at the pool, where swim teacher Mary offers little comfort. On the "slippery and cold" pool deck overrun...
One morning, Charlies pulls out the bright red purse from his grandmother and decides today is the day he's going to wear it out of his room and into the world. But before he's even down the stairs, his father has already warned Charlie that...
*STARRED REVIEW In Russell's new backyard stands a giant maple tree with "great big limbs and a trunk so wide, even Russell's dad could not wrap his arms around it." When Russell deems it ideal for a new fort, his dad initially hesitates: "'I don't know...
"Twirly-whirly,/ loop-dee-loop" takes Trampoline Boy up "into the blue, blue sky." Each "BOING" enables him to see something new, from his own backyard to far beyond the clouds. In the morning, after school, and "until the sky turn[s] pink," Trampoline Boy finds contentment in the...
*STARRED REVIEW From board books to scientific tomes, animal expressions have fascinated readers of all ages. In an ingenious twist on a familiar topic, Melissa Stewart – with more than 180 titles to her credit – cleverly disrupts the predictable cow/moo paradigm with the noises animals...
Happy Back-to-School across these wide United States of America with this timely reminder that we are a nation of immigrants with histories and stories from somewhere else. Given some of the hot topics looming this election year, all parents, teachers, schools, libraries would do well to order...
Welcome to Gong Gong and Mei Mei’s backyard where movement flows. The elderly Gong Gong “sends good energy through [his] body” with a martial art called tai chi. His feisty young granddaughter Mei Mei hears “martial art” and instantly thinks karate – “HI-YAH”s included –...
When the usual bedtime fare doesn’t induce slumber, why not try an after-bedtime tale? Every parent will instantly recognize the angelic-toddler-turned-truculent-terror for whom sleep is just not a priority. Tonight, adorable, tiara-wearing Nina can’t sleep, not when there’s a party going on in her own house....
The wife-and-husband team of Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant make a splash with their third gleeful collaboration. Meet Monty, a frog who has a secret to share with the reader: he is afraid of the water. Though he has managed to stay dry since his...
From the creator of the internationally bestselling Chi's Sweet Home series comes another frolicking feline with irresistible energy. As an elderly woman reminisces about the early days of her now overgrown (still adorable) cat, FukuFuku, her photos become a portal back to kittenhood: "You really were so very...
A little girl answers her bunny’s question of “What’s your favourite thing in the world?” in a sweetly revealing letter. She chronicles their day together, listing everything she likes to do with her furry buddy, from choosing socks to appreciating how her bunny cools her...
Ready for an adventure with big bad beasts in a battle to the death against the fiercest elements? What? Not tonight? How about something a bit more ...
Today is Lunar New Year ...
A dimple-cheeked girl, a flame-haired boy, and a black-and-white puppy share adventures, no matter the season. For each month, a specific shape suggests a unique detail associated with that month. “Circle round, / ready to roll. / Add two sticks, / a carrot, and coal” reads...
Mothers, you will relate. Meet your bluntly honest children. Ask your little one a question about yourself – all the while hoping for a smidge of uplifting compliment or encouraging understanding – and what you'll probably get is not exactly what you anticipated. You've been warned! These little wonders just aren't capable of...
The wife-and-husband team of Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant debuted the most ingenious use of (title) parentheses with You Are (Not) Small, and promptly won the 2015 (Theodore Seuss) Geisel Award, given annually to "the most distinguished American book for beginning readers." Lucky for their audiences, the screenwriter/New Yorker-cartoonist...
Although Bernard Waber passed away in 2013 (at 91!), he's left quite the literary legacy – most especially his beloved, readily recognized Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile! series with almost a dozen titles. This, his latest, pubbed posthumously, invoking his signature gentle, emotive style, starring a young girl and her...
