Happy Tuesday, kidlit friends! Unfortunately, after only a few days of spring break, we all came down with Covid, so we’ve spent the last week at home sick. Thankfully, it seems to be milder than the first time we had it. And hey, no missed school days since she was already out this week!
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Today, I recommend children’s books about birds as well as two great new releases.
Bookish Goods
Bird Anatomy Art Print: Bones! by Rachelignotofsky
I love it when illustrators have Etsy stores. I review Rachel Ignotofsky’s newest nonfiction picture book below, so when I saw she had a print from the book on her Etsy shop, I had to include it! $22+
New Releases
Tricky Chopsticks by Sylvia Chen, illustrated by Fanny Liem
Jenny Chow is the only one in her family who struggles to use chopsticks when eating. Her cousin Victor’s birthday party is coming up soon, and he’s hosting the family’s annual chopstick challenge, where everyone competes to see who can stack cupcakes with chopsticks. She’s determined to win. Jenny comes up with an origami trick to help her use the chopsticks, and after a lot of practice picking up anything from puzzle pieces to pennies, Jenny finally gets the hang of it. But will she be good enough to ace the chopstick challenge? This is such a fun picture book. Back matter includes an author’s note and instructions to make the same DIY origami chopstick tongs that Jenny makes. We’re going to try it at home!
The Great Puptective by Alina Tysoe
My daughter adored this hilarious early reader graphic novel. Truffles the cat has the perfect quiet life until his owners bring home a puppy. Poppy the puppy is convinced she’s a detective and everything is a mystery, from spotting new paw prints to determining why she’s not allowed on the couch. After a series of mishaps, Truffles determines that Poppy needs to go and hatches a plan to trick Poppy into ingenious traps by becoming Poppy’s arch-villain. Poppy falls for the tricks every time, but the traps don’t work exactly how Truffles imagined. Be warned: this new series is going to inspire some home trap-making!
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I have always adored birds and remember going on many bird-watching hikes with my family growing up. This time of year is teeming with bird calls, so I thought it was a perfect time to round up four fantastic new and forthcoming children’s books about birds for young bird enthusiasts.
Songs of the Birds by Isabel Otter, illustrated by Clover Robin
This interactive board book is so cool! Each page has buttons to press to hear bird calls, from morning doves to blue jays and more. Otter includes more common birds, which is nice because my daughter and I were able to immediately go outside and hear some of the birds from the book. The illustrations are bright and realistic, and facts about each bird are included on each page as well as a poem about birds in each location. This book releases on April 2nd.
What’s Inside A Bird’s Nest? by Rachel Ignotofsky
I adore Ignotofsky’s intricate illustrations. Her newest picture book delves into birds, from the unique places they build nests to how birds find mates and so much more. My favorite pages are where she diagrams things, like an egg, a bird’s body, and feathers. This is a broad study into many different types of birds, and each page presents new birds with labels. Despite packing a lot of information in, it’s a very accessible nonfiction for picture book readers. Ignotofsky has published two other picture books in the What’s Inside series so far—What’s Inside a Caterpillar Cocoon? and What’s Inside A Flower? Both are fantastic as well.
You Are a Robin! by Laurie Ann Thompson, illustrated by Jay Fleck
We have so many robins in our backyard, so this is another picture book my daughter was super excited to read because we could immediately go outside and watch the robins. It opens with a robin chick pecking its way out of an eggshell. The robin is fed by its parents, grows, learns to fly, finds a home and a mate, and more. It’s written in the second person, and separate panels invite the reader to practice different movements with the robin, like pecking, turning, and pushing when the robin chick leaves the egg. This one is also part of a nonfiction picture book series — Meet Your World.
With Just One Wing by Brenda Woods
This is a lovely middle grade novel about adoption and protecting wildlife. Coop, who was adopted as an infant, is watching a bird’s nest at his G-Pop’s house when he decides to climb the tree to investigate. The mockingbird parents divebomb him, and he falls, breaking his arm. He still loves watching the birds, and when one is born with only one wing, he decides to keep it. However, after the bird is injured by a hawk, Coop learns that wild birds aren’t allowed by law to be kept as pets. He needs to find a pet sanctuary for the mockingbird. This releases May 14th.
I had a happy surprise when I finished up working the other day and came out to find my daughter happily entertaining herself by reading a Ramadan picture book — Aliya’s Secret — and creating Ramadan activities to go with the book. With help from her cat stuffed animals, of course. She may enjoy reading children’s books about birds, but she’s still a cat girl at heart.
If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom.bsky.social, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.
All the best,
Margaret Kingsbury