As I’ve mentioned (repeatedly) in writing about dog and cat picture books—kids love them. Adults love them. Whether they are funny, touching, clever, or as is often the case, a combination of all those qualities, reading books about our favorite companions is almost always extremely rewarding. Here are some wonderful choices to share with your picture book readers.
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Usually I prefer to review picture books as a group, but my grandson loved “Beaky Barnes and the Devious Duck” by Caldecott Honor winner David Ezra Stein so much that he insisted on taking it home with him after reading it. When I asked him specifically what he loved about it, he said that it’s just really excellent. But he (and his grandfather) loved the humor. They loved the sneaky acts and the deviousness. They loved the characters. And they loved the plot.
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In “Gather,” Kenneth M. Cardow introduces us to a teenager who has had to grow up much more quickly than anyone should have to. Ian is used to being abandoned; his father left Ian and his mother years before, and then his grandmother left them to move south to be with her sister. So now, it’s just Ian and his mother in the small, run-down family home, on land that has been in Ian’s family for many generations. His father’s family, that is.
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“Mixed Up” is a typical Gordon Korman novel; typical because it’s both very accessible and very brilliant. Korman’s books are legendary (among teachers and students) because they are almost unique in their ability to provide a plot that moves rapidly with plenty of action, yet at the same time offer us thoughtful issues to consider — in every story. His newest release accomplishes all that.
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While El Niño might promise a rather warm winter, those reading “Spy School: Goes North” by Stuart Gibbs will surely feel the icy chill of north winds fingering down necks and up sleeves. Because in this eleventh novel in the Spy Series, Ben and his cadre of fellow spy students and a few adults are in Alaska, where even in the summer you need parkas in addition to industrial strength mosquito repellant.
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“Dogtown” by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko is a middle grade fantasy that will be extremely appealing to kids because it’s filled with dogs—real dogs and robot dogs, or really just one special robot dog. There’s even a mouse. The story is told in first person by Chance, a dog residing in a shelter at the start of the story.
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The best way to educate young readers is to provide picture books that are so irresistible that kids feel a compulsion to pick them up and read them. Here are some educational picture books that appear to accomplish just that feat.
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Even if your child or student isn’t bilingual, getting books that come with a Spanish version is a wonderful way of sharing books in two languages. But if you or the children are lucky enough to speak Spanish as well as English, here are some wonderful choices for your home or school library.
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Books with high interest are really important for kids to read during the summer months when they aren’t reading in school. Teachers will tell you that the summer setback in reading ability is real for kids who may not read much because they are outside playing or at camp. And while want kids to be outside when the weather is nice, reading daily is important, too. And high interest books are the way to go. Here are many books about dogs, cats, and other animals that will not only intrigue kids, but that have important messages to share. Perfect for rainy days, bedtime stories, or just reading at breakfast to get a good start to the day.
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Three children’s books that would be fabulous additions to any school or home library are “I Am Temple Grandin” by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos, “The Outdoor Scientist: The Wonder of Observing the Natural World” by Temple Grandin, and “Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor” by Temple Grandin. The first book is engaging and explains how being different is not a bad thing, and actually can be very special. The other two books are for exploration and activities that kids might want to do. Not a bad choice with summer vacations coming up because they are filled with information and ideas for great projects!
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Nonfiction picture books for children are a great way to introduce information to kids about the world around them in a very digestible manner with vocabulary that’s just right for them to understand. This group of nonfiction picture books about animals and plants is for a range of ages. Two books are a part of the “Meet Your World” series. One is “You Are a Honey Bee!” and the other is “You Are a Raccoon!” for young readers who will enjoy the book’s physical suggestions to move like those animals. “Stinkbird Has a Superpower” is about a hoatzin, an Amazon bird that lives in the rain forest. This picture book is filled with information but also with lots of humor that will engage young readers and cause them to want to read and reread this adorably illustrated book. “A Home for Every Plant: Wonders of the Botanical World” is a large, information-filled book about plants from all over the world. “Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem,” begins with a sad event, the death of a seventy-year-old whale, but then we learn about how that death goes on to nourish other creatures for half a century. “Cicada Symphony” is all about the cicadas we see every summer, and this colorful book is chock-full of information. “We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration” is filled with stunning watercolor illustrations of the birds and the fantastic and beautiful shapes they make as they fly together, as the story is told in first person plural, the band of starlings to fly together so amazingly. And three books in the “Save the…” series are about blue whales, frogs, and giraffes, and would be great informational texts for a classroom.
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Perhaps the threat of certain books being banned makes it even more important that those books be shared and read. Two books that certainly fit the bill are “That Flag” by Tameka Fryer Brown and Nikkolas Smith and “Love is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement” by Sandra Neil Wallace and Bryan Collier. While the books are very different—one is a very touching story about the Confederate flag and its effect on the friendship of two girls, while the other is a nonfiction account of a valiant woman whom few have heard of. Both are books about topics that would certainly damage the fragile sensibilities of those who cringe at any reference to our racist past and our often-uncomfortable current racist reality.
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