Author: Margaret Kingsbury

This is such a fantastic picture book biography of politician and Civil Rights activist John Lewis. Lewis grew up in a loving and large family in Alabama. When he went to a nearby town with his father, he saw how the town was divided by race. When he heard Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak on the radio, he decided he wanted to become an activist. He left his home and came to Nashville for college, and joined the Nashville chapter of the NAACP. The picture book depicts how he and his fellow members of the NAACP practiced nonviolent protest, marched with the Freedom Fighters, and ends with the march he led in Selma, Alabama. It’s impossible not to tear up at the end.

This picture book biography releases Tuesday and tells the story of Eunice W. Johnson, the co-founder of EBONY magazine and the founder of the EBONY fashion show. Johnson grew up in Selma, Alabama, and loved to sew clothes for her dolls and her friends’ dolls. She studied social work in college, where she met and fell in love with John H. Johnson. After they married, the two conceived of the idea of an all-Black magazine celebrating Black achievements. EBONY was born, and Eunice’s eye for design and style helped the magazine’s growth. In 1958, she founded and directed the EBONY fair as part of a hospital fundraiser that went on to become a worldwide tour showcasing Black fashion with Black models. I read this with my kindergartner, and she so enjoyed it! It’s a great conversation starter about Civil Rights, fashion, and Black success.

This is a gorgeously illustrated picture book adaptation of Coretta Scott King’s memoir for adults. It opens with her childhood, also in Alabama, and her experiences in high school and college. She describes the racism she experienced and how she became vocal about discrimination in the university system. She was working at the New England Conservatory when she met and began dating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The picture book biography continues with their marriage, birth of children, acts of protest during the Civil Rights Movement, and her speaking after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Back matter includes the six principles of nonviolence and a Civil Rights timeline.

This is a different kind of Black history picture book, which recently won a Coretta Scott King Award. Originally a folksong written by Rhiannon Giddens for her album Freedom Highway (which is wonderful), this picture book illustrates the song. Giddens was inspired by Virginia Hamilton’s retelling of the folktale “The People Could Fly,” which she cherished as a child. The illustrations show a mother and daughter speaking about Granny Liza and how she could fly. It’s a lyrical and luminously illustrated picture book, great to read along with Hamilton’s classic folktale and to read while listening to the song.

In this adorable interactive board book, young readers can turn a wheel to hide a heart and then lift flaps to reveal where the heart is hidden. Each page shows different animals celebrating Valentine’s Day scenes. This would be a great read for toddlers, and I love the art.

This stunning picture book celebrates twelve Arabic expressions for different types of love. There’s the love of remembering one’s homeland, the love of welcoming new life into the world, the love of friendship, and more. The lovely, textured illustrations give the impression of a canvas and depict cherished moments in a Palestinian immigrant family’s life. The words for love are written in the Arabic script.

My daughter is a huge fan of the Flubby reader series. In this most recent addition to the series, the child main character wonders what to gift Flubby the cat for Valentine’s Day. Flubby doesn’t like any of the typical Valentine’s Day presents. This series uses repetition and humor to engage beginning readers.

This is the second book in the hilarious Teeny Houdini chapter book series, though they can be read in any order. Bessie Lee wants to be a magician, so when her teacher asks her to make an extra special Valentine for the class’s new student, she decides to make it into a magic trick. But how can she make the perfect magic Valentine?

This beautiful interactive board book has over 140 flaps and follows Yue and her family as they celebrate the Lunar New Year in China. Richly detailed illustrations show the family attending a Lunar New Year parade, having a feast with the family, exchanging red envelopes, and so much more. Each page has many small flaps for kids to explore. There are also more details about the Lunar New Year throughout, like flaps that reveal which years are which Zodiac animal, the legend of the Nian monster, and more.

This picture book also follows a Chinese family as they prepare for and celebrate the Lunar New Year. It opens with two sisters cleaning a statue of the Kitchen God, with the older sister explaining who the Kitchen God is. The family picks flowers, writes poems on red paper, flies kites in the shape of the Zodiac animals, and more. What I really enjoy about the Celebrations & Festivals series is the extensive back matter. In this picture book, the back matter includes instructions on how to make red envelopes, a dumpling recipe, riddles, a quiz, how the Lunar New Year is celebrated in other countries, and much more.

The Korean Lunar New Year is called Seollal, and this delightful picture book follows Sohee as she prepares for Seollal. She’s so excited to eat as many bowls of tteokguk as she can so she can be a big girl. Each bowl of soup is supposed to make you one year older. However, every time she tries to eat her soup, she’s interrupted with pleas for help. She sets the table, helps her younger sibling get dressed, and lets everyone know breakfast is ready. When she returns to eat her soup, she finds that her younger sister has stolen everyone’s tteokguk. Now, there’s no way for Sohee to become a big girl, or so she thinks.

This is a funny and sweet reader about the Chinese New Year. Alex is so excited to show her best friend Ethan her family’s Lunar New Year traditions. The two fold dumplings with Nai Nai, attend a pattern festival, share a family feast, and more. Back matter includes more information about the Chinese New Year and a dumpling recipe. Shum’s illustrations are just always so joyful and child-friendly.

This picture book is a delightful retelling of “Rapunzel,” set in historical China. Princess Ra Pu Zel loves cooking, though her family would rather she be working on her needlework and entertaining princes. To get away from their constant nagging, she and her dog move to the top of a very tall tower, where she can cook to her heart’s delight. However, once she’s gone, her parents miss her. They call on heroes to tempt her down, but the only thing that’s going to tempt Ra Pu Zel from her tower is something that smells delicious.

This is also a culinary fairytale retelling, this time of “The Princess and the Pea.” The writing follows the same story pattern as “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” and features a very hungry pea. As the pea eats everything it finds, it becomes bigger and bigger and bigger until it’s a really enormous pea. Then it takes a nap on the princess’s bed. This is a really funny retelling.

This is a lovely collection of three Indonesian fairytale retellings in graphic novel format for middle grade readers. I adore all three tales, which the author retells in a traditional way but with a feminist focus. The author bases the tales on stories from her childhood, retelling “Keong Mas,” “Bawang Merah Bawang Putih,” and “Timun Mas.” I could’ve read more! I’m not sure I know of any other books retelling Indonesian fairytales. If you know of any, let me know!

This magical Japanese retelling of “Cinderella” is set in the same universe as the Eva Evergreen series, but it can be read as a standalone. Alliana has grown up happily in her father’s inn on the edge of a magic preserve, but when her father dies, and then her grandmother, too, everything comes crashing down. Her stepmother demands she serve her and her two stepsisters, claiming Alliana owes them a debt. She despairs of ever being able to follow her dreams when a young dragon and witch befriend her.

This quirky, rhyming picture book is a blast. Katerina Cruickshanks is a bit of a troublemaker. They’re always making messes, inventing nonsense, and creating chaos where they go. When the neighborhood kids have had enough of Katerina’s antics, they tell Katerina to go home. But when they do, the kids find they miss Katerina’s antics and beg them to come back. This is a good read-aloud to replace a Dr. Seuss book.

This is the third book in the The Big, Big Series of picture books. Every book features a new child and is written in rhyming verse. This one is about a kid with big ideas who adults often dismiss. When they have a big idea that could help the community, their grandmother listens and helps them implement their idea. I love children’s books that encourage kids to participate in their communities and enact change for the better.

This early reader graphic novel is a blast, and I’ve read it many, many times to my six-year-old. Batcat happily lives alone in their treehouse, watching shows and playing video games, but then a ghost turns up and starts haunting their treehouse. The ghost even has the audacity to eat all their snacks! Batcat visits a witch to find out how to rid their treehouse of the ghost. After learning the ingredients for a potion, they set out on a quest to find the ingredients, and in doing so they question whether they’re bat or cat enough. By the end of the quest, their perspective on the ghost has shifted. Book two in this series releases in April, and I can’t wait to read it.

I love this middle grade novel about a nonbinary, genderfluid homeschooler, Shai, starting public school for the first time. Shai immediately makes two great friends, but they’re unsure about sharing their pronouns just yet. For a big project for English class, Shai decides to explore their Jewish heritage. While their grandparents are active in the Jewish community, their mother is not for unknown reasons, and they haven’t been raised Jewish. They hope to discover more about their heritage, but this seems to set their mother on edge. Meanwhile, they’re keeping a secret from everyone. When their mother lost her job and the two moved in with Indigenous friends, Shai began picking at their arms. They wear arm sleeves designed by their best friend to cover the marks, but they haven’t even told him the truth.

Lucía loves dressing up as a superhero on the playground and leaping and flying off the monkey bars, but the boys tell her girls can’t be superheroes. At home, she tells Abu what happened at the playground, and her grandmother shows her pictures of when she was a luchadora, and gives her her old costume. Now when Lucía goes to the playground, she dresses in her Abu’s costume and shows she can be a luchadora and a superhero. I also recommend the second book in this series, Lucía the Luchadora and the Million Masks.

Pizza and Taco is a hilarious early reader graphic novel series. Wrestling Mania! is the seventh and most recent book in the series. At school, Pizza and Taco have to sign up for a sport, but they don’t really feel inspired by any of the options. But then they notice wrestling is an option. That would be fun! Do the two really have what it takes to excel at wrestling, however? My six-year-old loved this.

This is a lovely contemporary middle grade about a young girl, Addie, who decides to connect with her biological father — whom she knows nothing about — when her stepfather proposes adopting her. It turns out her biological father and family are famous luchadors, and she wants to learn how to be one, too. Meanwhile, Addie is starring in her school’s annual production of The Nutcracker, and it’s the first time a Brown girl has been chosen as Maria, the lead role.

This middle grade novel follows two sixth-grade wrestlers. Both of Mykala (Mickey) Delgado’s older brothers are wrestlers, and she wants to be one, too. But when she tries to join the same team they were members of, she’s told girls can’t compete. So, instead, she joins another nearby wrestling team, where the coach welcomes her. She’s paired with Lev Sofer because they’re in similar weight categories. He loves poetry and frequently writes poems to process his emotions. He also sometimes struggles with wrestling meetups and competitions occurring during Shabbat and other religious obligations he has.

This is the graphic novel that inspired this list! I checked it out from the library after Eileen Gonzalez recommended it in Book Riot’s comic book newsletter, The Stack. I adored it! I could not stop smiling while I read. It’s about 12-year-old Cici, who has just moved from Taiwan to Seattle. She so misses her A-má (grandmother) and their time spent cooking together. She wants A-má to visit for her 70th birthday, but she can’t afford the plane ticket. To earn the money, Cici enters a kid’s cooking contest. LaMotte and Xu have another collaboration coming out in April of this year, Unhappy Camper. I can’t wait to read it!

This is a sweet and slim yet powerful graphic novel about a boy, Bình, who is being bullied at school because of his Vietnamese heritage. He fights back but then gets into trouble with the school. Immediately after, his parents take him and his sister on a silent Buddhist retreat that is supposed to help with meditation. Bình’s swirling thoughts and worries initially prevent him from meditating, but a nun’s stories about Siddhartha and Buddha’s past lives inspire him. I actually recommended this to my therapist recently, ha!

This is the first book I think of whenever anyone says the word “cozy.” It’s an absolutely adorable and quiet fantasy series about Greta, a blacksmith’s apprentice, learning more about tea dragons as she befriends the shy Minette. Kay O’Neill is a great read in general for cozy middle grade graphic novels.

I haven’t read the Garlic graphic novels yet (there are two), but they are number one on my TBR. When the hesitant Garlic hears about a vampire who has moved into the forest surrounding her vegetable village, she knows she needs to protect her veg friends. But can she find the courage? The illustrations look so cute and charming!

I know I am not alone when I say how much I cherished Virginia Hamilton’s books as a kid. This lovely picture book biography of her life is written in a series of poems. It opens with her birth, moves back in time to her great-grandmother’s decision to escape from enslavement, and then explores how Virginia became a writer. She began writing her stories in a notebook at age nine, despite people telling her there was no future in writing stories. Eventually, she would publish her first novel, Zeely. The poetry format works really well in this lovely biography.

This isn’t so much of a biography but rather a glorious celebration of Langston Hughes and his work. The prose practically sings off the page, and the illustrations by the Pumphrey brothers are so very clever and energetic, often embedding words into the art, showing how Hughes’s work was such an active part of the landscape. This is such a joyful read.

This gorgeous picture book biography of James Baldwin releases at the end of this month. It’s also written in verse and opens with a young Baldwin helping care for his siblings in the small apartment he shares with his family in Harlem. He finds writing mentorships from multiple teachers throughout his life, and as an adult, he searches out and finds a writing community. These experiences and more build to Baldwin’s history as a writer and activist. The warm, realistic illustrations are so beautiful.

This enchanting picture book biography follows the four Brontë siblings as children as they’re inspired to write books based on childhood toys. It opens with a young Charlotte making a small book for her even younger sister Anne, their window peaking out over the moors. O’Leary then broadens the story to show the family, home, and village where the Brontës grew up before depicting the father bringing the toy soldiers home that so captured their imagination. Back matter includes a timeline and instructions on how to make a small book. Smith’s illustrations, as always, are so lovely.

This picture book biography of famous Black activist Ida B. Wells opens with her birth in Mississippi. It follows Ida’s life as she becomes a teacher as a teenager to care for her younger siblings after the death of their parents, starts her own newspaper and writes against lynching, and becomes a suffragist for women’s right to vote. The sweeping biography then pauses at the Women’s March of 1913. At this famous march, racist white women suffragists, like Alice Paul, told Ida and other Black suffragists that they could not march in the parade. Ida ignored them. Connecting all these stories is the theme of Ida’s bravery and courage in always choosing to do the right thing. The painted illustrations are gorgeous.

This was one of my favorite picture books of 2023. It follows a child as she and her grandmother walk to a polling location. As they walk, they gather neighbors, and as a community, they take their most important walk of the year — to the polls. I love the inclusion of disabled and elderly community members, whose right to vote is often made much more difficult by lack of accessibility. I also adore the themes of community care and activism. When my daughter accompanied me on a walk to vote last year, I actually brought this book with me, and we read it together after I voted.

This chapter book is part of The Questioneers series, though each book can be read as a standalone. The famous questioning class is having a class election on what their class pet should be, and Sofia Valdez is chosen as election commissioner to make sure the election goes off without any hitches. When the votes are counted, one vote is missing, and it’s up to Sofia to figure out why and how. I adore this series. Also, check out the picture book Sofia Valdez, Future Prez.

This middle grade graphic novel is the third book in the Click series, though each book can be read as a standalone. Olive and her friends have started 6th grade. When she learns of unfair policies that prevent her friend from going on a school field trip, she decides to take action and run for the student council. She wants to change the rules to make things more fair, but she’s running against two of her other friends. This is an empowering read about how kids can make a difference at their schools.

This middle grade nonfiction inspired this list. Each month features 4 to 6 Black figures sharing about their life and work and giving an activity for readers to do. January, for example, has four sections. In the first, “The Joy of Choreography,” artistic director Davalois Fearon explains why she loves dancing and invites the reader to dance. The next section centers florist Hazel Gardiner and so on. Each page has colorful illustrations, and, as the title suggests, is a real joy and a great book to read over the course of the year.

This collection of activities for kids ages 6 through 12 is a great one for caregivers to have on hand. It would also be fun to work through with a child! There are all sorts of activities included — cooking, science experiments, arts and crafts, indoor and outdoor play ideas, and more. Some of the activities require supplies, some don’t, but even when they do, the supplies are pretty basic.

My child isn’t quite at poetry-writing age yet, but I can’t wait to go through this book together! Actually, I might just go ahead and do these prompts on my own this year. 🙂 Coelho provides 41 poetry prompts — from one-word poems to favorite food poems — and each prompt is accompanied by illustrations from several children’s book artists, like Viola Wang. It’s another really joyful collection and would be great for classrooms or home.

This is one I’d like to do with my daughter. We try to go on one hike a week, and I love the versatility of these 35 hiking projects, from scavenger hunts to water painting. If you have a goal of getting outside and hiking more this year, this might be a great way to entice reluctant young hikers to join you.