Category: The Kids Are All Right

Delphine Denise and her friends usually ride their bikes with the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, but this year Delphine has a big idea: she wants to make a float and win the float contest! Her friends aren’t keen on the idea, though they do initially try to help. As Delphine tries to turn her big ideas into a reality, she realizes some things are more important than competing. Today is Mardi Gras, so it’s a perfect perfect read for the day!

Jabari wants to make a flying machine in the backyard, and insists he doesn’t need help from his father or little sister. But no matter what he does, his contraption is a failure. He just can’t get it to work! When he opens himself up to help from his father and little sister, however, he realizes he can build something even better than he imagined.

In this rhythmic picture book, Abby is so excited about inviting Phoebe Dupree — the coolest girl in class — to a tea party. But when Phoebe arrives, everything goes wrong! Pastries are spilled, wet dogs are let inside, clothes are ruined. Everything is a disaster! However, it turns out that Phoebe was never expecting perfection, and that maybe friendship can bloom when everyone relaxes and has a good laugh.

All of Bella’s family is good at something. One sibling has perfected somersaults, another is fantastic at piano. Bella has a tendency to give up on things after an initial failure, so when she falls after a somersault attempt and her piano playing causes a racket, she gives up. Yet she wants to find something she’s good at. She decides it’s going to be baking like her abuela. However, baking isn’t as easy as she thought it would be. This fun intergenerational picture book includes Spanish.

This powerful picture book is about two best friends who are so close they call themselves twins. But Bianca’s family hangs a Confederate flag outside her house, and neither family lets their daughter visit each other’s homes. When their class makes a field trip to the Southern Heritage Museum, Keira learns more about the meaning behind the Confederate flag. Can Keira and Bianca’s friendship survive as long as Bianca’s family flies that flag in front of their home?

The American flag represents so much to so many people, but it can also cause more complicated feelings among those who don’t experience the freedom and equality that the flag represents. Told through the perspective of a young Black boy talking with his grandfather, this story validates the right of every American to make a choice about how to relate to America and to the flag.

Not only is this a wonderful book, but it is also the 2023 Newbery Award winner! When two enslaved children escape Southerland Plantation, they find a secret community called Freewater, a society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children. The community is welcoming and warm, and Homer finds a true home for the first time in his life, until Freewater is threatened and Homer needs to keep his home safe.

Adapted from the bestselling book by Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be A (Young) Antiracist is specifically written for teens and is centered around the topics and concerns that pertain to young adults. With bestselling author Nic Stone, Kendi empowers this new generation to think critically about race and racism.

This picture book is told from the perspective of a paper crane a young boy makes with his grandmother. The crane and boy are inseparable, and the boy keeps the crane on his nightstand so its the first thing he sees every morning. But years pass and one day a picture of a girl covers the crane. When it comes time to propose to his girlfriend, the boy, now a man, borrows the crane, and the crane once more becomes an intricate part of the boy’s life, especially when a new little one arrives. This is a super sweet, heartwarming read.

Minh Lê and Dan Santat’s latest team-up features parents watching their baby grow up into an adult in a whirlwind of days. The child — whom they dub The Blur — is like a superhero, darting and zooming through days and milestones. It’s a poignant yet energetic read, and would also make a perfect graduation present.

This stunningly illustrated picture book (the same illustrator as My Friend Earth) opens with a grandmother teaching her grandson how to plant a tree on her land. The grandmother continues to teach her grandson about taking care of the land until she dies, and the grandson takes up her knowledge and teaches it to his daughter, and so on, until the grandmother’s property is covered in trees, with loving children climbing among the many branches. It’s a beautiful story and book with intergenerational and nature themes.

Joseph Bologne was the son of an enslaved woman, and from a young age he showed musical prowess and eventually became a champion swordsman, violin virtuoso, composer, and military commander in the French Revolution.

A beautiful story about legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma who used his gift of music to build bridges between two countries separated by a border. Yo-Yo Ma is one of the most celebrated classical musicians of our time, having won 19 Grammy Awards, performed for eight American presidents, and received the National Medal of the Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

This wonderful middle grade includes a musically gifted bird, a piano-playing boy, and a real-life mystery involving three artistic geniuses. Mirabelle, a music-loving goldfinch, and Michael, a young boy who is gifted at piano, work together to make music. Along the way, they make an important discovery that links the great composer Frederic Chopin, the trailblazing author George Sand, and the French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix.

This is a really neat children’s biography collection of 12 Black Americans where kids can press a button on every page to hear an excerpt from one of the subject’s speeches. The sound clips are from primary source audio files. The mini-biographies include profiles of James Baldwin, Stacey Abrams, John Lewis, Jay-Z, and more, and each biography is illustrated. It’s a great read for later elementary school and middle school readers.

This searing picture book biography of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, recently won a Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award for best illustrations. Mamie Till-Mobley left the South to live in Chicago, and after leaving her abusive husband, she taught her son Emmett how to whistle to help him when he stuttered. After her son’s brutal murder, she become an activist and spoke out against hate crimes.The paper collage illustrations are beautiful and powerful. This is a book to share with older kids.

This picture book biography tells the story of Mabel Fairbanks and her determination to learn how to figure skate in the 1930s, and how she eventually became the first Black figure skating star. A child orphan, Mabel struggled to find a place to live, eventually being taken in by handyman Uncle Wally (of no relation to her). She longed to skate, but most public places in New York City wouldn’t let Black folks skate, so Uncle Wally built her a mini ice rink at home, where she would practice on too-large skates. Eventually she mustered up the courage to skate in the whites-only Central Park rink, and while some tried to kick her out, the manager was so impressed by her skill he let her stay, ordering others to allow her in to skate. It’s a lovely biography of a little-known figure.

I adore Kim Taylor’s quilted illustrations in this celebratory picture book history of the first Juneteenth. It is Huldah’s 10th birthday when she wakes up on a plantation in Texas to the news that she is now free. She and her community celebrate their freedom and sew a quilt to commemorate the day. It’s a vibrant addition to the growing collection of Juneteenth picture books.

This is a perfect book for kids who have lots of questions, such as How big is the sun? How many stars are there in the sky? Is it cold in outer space? Is travel to Jupiter possible? The text is accompanied by charming illustrations.

Two friends, a bear and a rat, wonder whether they will always hold hands even when they are old and gray and wrinkly. This is a sweet bedtime book about sticking with each other through the best and worst times.

Sometimes a question you have when you’re young becomes a question that you spend your life trying to figure out. This was the case for Fred Urquhart, who had been fascinated by insects — particularly the monarch butterfly — since a child. When he got older, he decided to study the monarch butterfly’s migration patterns. With help from a community of people stretching from Canada to Mexico, he unlocks the mystery of the monarchs.

I remember when I was a child, I wondered a lot about water. This was probably because I grew up in a drought area of southern California, and our schools always taught us how to conserve water when brushing our teeth and showering. When the World Runs Dry is a very informative book that covers a lot of water-related topics, including lead and water infrastructure problems, pollution, fracking contamination, harmful algal blooms, water supply issues, rising sea levels, and potential solutions

This book releases in a week, and it’s one of my favorites of the year so far (how can I have so many favorites already!?). When a bored Alice picks up a book on a snowy day, the characters invite her to step into the book. Inside she discovers many landscapes and characters to get lost in. It’s beautifully illustrated.

Or are they? Leopold the goat is a bookseller and is proud of his ability to find the perfect book for every customer. That is until another goat shows up and gobbles up every book Leopold recommends. Can Leopold convince this hungry goat that books aren’t for eating?

Long before European colonizers arrived, Aztecs and other indigenous Mexican cultures were making books and recording their stories and histories. In this nonfiction picture book, a young Aztec girl tells her brother about how their parents make books, or codices, and what those books document. It’s a fascinating and important history.

Yep, there are two books about eating books on this list. In this imaginative picture book, Sheila and her twin cousins are hunting for yummy books to eat when the books instead eat them. The books send them on wild adventures but, in the end, are the books consuming the kids, or are the kids consuming the books?

Keyana wants to plan a backyard soiree…all by herself! But things keep going wrong no matter how hard she tries, and she realizes that getting help from others is a gift, especially when she has a family who loves her and wants to support her.

I love this cheerful, fun book about a hedgehog who comes across a letter. But it’s not just any letter, it’s a love letter! He goes about his business feeling oddly cheerful, and the letter somehow gets into the hands of Bunny, and then Squirrel finds it…you see where this is going? I adore these delightful illustrations and the humor.

Hayley loves giving hugs, and she is darn good at it, too. But the one person she can’t hug all she wants is her grandma, and that is why she has to send her hugs through the mail. This sweet book is right up my alley because it involves mail, and you all know how much I love mail…

Baking is a joy, especially when you’re always taught to add a pinch of love to the cookies you’re making. Giving out those cookies can brighten anyone’s day, and it can even be a powerful way to make change in your community.

This fantastic picture book biography doesn’t release until March 23rd, but I had to include it here. Judith Geller/Jacqueline Gauthier was a Jewish member of the French Resistance. For five years during WWII, she posed as a non-Jewish social worker and visited Jewish homes with identity papers smuggled inside a wooden toy duck. She was able to save more than 200 lives. It’s a beautifully written biography, but just as moving is the author’s note in the back about connecting with Judith as a Jewish journalist with family killed during the Holocaust and the research she conducted to write this book.

Jella Lepman was a Jewish woman who fled Germany prior to WWII and returned afterward both to help rebuild the country and to share international books in a children’s books museum in the hopes of building “bridges of understanding.” This fictional picture book tells the story of two poor siblings who stumble upon Lepman’s museum and become enchanted with reading. This is a good companion to more discussions about the Holocaust and WWII.

Reminiscent of E.T.A. Hoffmann and Hans Christian Andersen, this middle grade fantasy depicts the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of a doll, Karolina. Karolina’s doll world has been ravaged by rats, and when she escapes with a toy soldier named Fritz, a wind ferries them to our world and into the hands of two human magicians. Karolina’s magician is the dollmaker of Krakow, a kind-hearted and shy war veteran who makes toys. With Karolina’s help, he breaks out of his introverted shell and makes friends with a violinist and his daughter. Both are Jewish. When the Germans invade Krakow, a dark magic descends on their lives, reminding Karolina of when the rats invaded her homeland.

The illustrations in this beautiful book shine as they tell the story of the time-honored tradition of weaving. As a young girl learns how to weave, she reflects on the craftsmanship and how it’s been a part of her past and will be a part of her future.

This playful and fun book reimagines great artwork integrated with…cats? I enjoyed every page turn. Trust me, you haven’t experienced the fullness of life until you’ve seen Under The Wave Off Kanagawa with cats fishing in the roaring sea.

Creator of The Cardboard Kingdom, Chad Sell is back with the second installment of Doodleville. When her doodles start creating mayhem at the Art Institute of Chicago, Drew finds herself as Public Enemy #1. Can Drew and the Art Club make things right before priceless artwork is destroyed forever?

Torrey Maldonado is one of my favorite middle grade authors (check out the book Tight!). In Hands, Trev is stressed because his violent stepdad is coming back, and Trev knows he needs to protect his mom. He decides to learn how to box, but not everyone thinks this is a great idea. Trev is a gifted artist, and his hands are an important path to a better future. But what choice does Trev have?