★★★★ I wasn't expecting a lot out of Lindsay Leslie's (Amazon affiliate link) So You Want to Build a Library. Honestly, I was expecting a so-so book and maybe a mention of Little Libraries. I was pleasantly surprised. This book isn't just about building a physical library but about everything the library represents. The main... Continue Reading →

★★★★ Read below for a different rating for game hobbyists. Jesse Terrance Daniels has put together visually appealing book in (Amazon affiliate link) Make Your Own Board Game, available February 2022. Don't let the cover dissuade you. The inside has cute illustrations and a layout which adds to the book, throwing in decipherable pictures of... Continue Reading →

★★★ Xenia Mesot's new book is a sweet story about Olive, a green toad, and Ginger, an orange cat. Throughout the book, the two creatures learn about one another, including difference and similarities. The wording in the book doesn't always flow well, although that may be a language barrier. The illustrations in (Amazon affiliate link)... Continue Reading →

★★★ Vincent Kelly's new book, (Amazon affiliate link) All People Are Beautiful, has lovely bright illustrations with a racially diverse group of characters. The idea behind the book is a good one. Showing kids the beauty of diversity in a global world is important. However, in my opinion the book falls short of the intended... Continue Reading →

★★★★ History is actually fascinating and important to learn, but traditional history books manage it turn it in to a boring pile of pages. Adam and Lisa Murphy have taken a novel approach to history for kids, seamlessly weaving a graphic novel style, gross facts, and a corpse talk show in (Amazon affiliate link) Corpse... Continue Reading →

★★★ We all know the story of Cinderella, and if you start reading this book and think it is the same old retelling with new illustrations, you wouldn't be alone. I thought the same thing when I started reading it with my kids, suppressing my internal groaning. Samantha Newman's Cinder-Elephant starts out very much like... Continue Reading →

★★★★ I have reservations when it comes to books about marginalized groups told from the perspective of someone who is not-marginalized. Very few authors can pull this off without othering the character in question. So I was pleasantly surprised with how well Adria Karlsson did with her newest book (Amazon affiliate link) My Sister, Daisy.... Continue Reading →

★★★★ When we first began reading Mary Ann Fraser's newest book, it had a familiar feeling to other books. Of course you are going to let the seed grow. The book is titled (Amazon affiliate link) Let It Grow!, afterall. I could feel my kids disengage a bit. How many times do books have the... Continue Reading →

★★★★ There are some strange, to us, looking creatures in the sea, but what is the strangest? Rachel Poliquin takes us on an undersea adventure as we look at some of the strange creatures who live there. With initial comparisons to items which children may be familiar with, Poliquin then provides animal facts in a... Continue Reading →

★★★★ Pugtato has this babysitting things down. How difficulty could it be? The snouts have him on his toes, though, with their wild explorations and insistence that they are not babies. Sophie Corrigan's (Amazon affiliate link) Pugtato Babysits the Snouts is a fantastic picture book for toddlers through early elementary, with mashups of pets and... Continue Reading →