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In the tradition of fun cumulative stories like The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this joyful story shows how helping someone in need can sometimes fulfill needs of our own.

When Spider meets Shrew, they are both down on their luck. Spider’s web has blown away, and Shrew’s home has just been paved over. What happens when they decide to help each other out? They meet Bat, who is lonely for friends. Then they meet Possum, who can’t find his mom; Dog, who misses her puppies; and Pony, who is out of a job. Everyone has problems, but this quirky new community is ready to lend a hand in creative and surprising ways.

This is a joyful story about an unlikely group of friends finding compassion and community in each other. Deborah Kerbel’s humorous, quippy dialogue is perfectly paired with Geneviève Côté’s endearing illustrations of the animal characters.

Key Text Features

illustrations

speech bubbles

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

In this book in the Stella and Sam series, Marie-Louise Gay has gone back in time to answer the questions often asked by the children who read and love the books.

Where does Stella get her wild ideas? How big is Stella's imagination? What did Stella look like when she was small? How did Stella come to be the big sister to Sam that we all know and love?

Although Marie-Louise Gay didn't know what she would find when she started to explore Stella's childhood, she soon realized that when Stella was very small, she saw the world in her own unique way -- with wonder, curiosity and the sense that everything is possible. And when Sam came along, what could be more natural than to pass this sense of wonder on to him?

A story of a lovely, tiny Stella, whose world is full of small adventures and slivers of magic.

In 1770, the slave Esperança Garcia bravely penned a letter to the governor of Piauí state, in Brazil, describing how she and her children were being mistreated and requesting permission to return to the farm where the rest of her family was living.

Before she wrote her letter, Esperança Garcia lived on a cotton farm run by Jesuit priests, where she learned to read and write — a rare opportunity for a woman, especially a slave. But one day she was separated from her husband and older children and taken with her two little ones to be a cook in the home of Captain Antonio Vieira de Couto, where she and the other slaves were beaten and denied even the freedom to attend church.

In despair, Esperança Garcia wrote to the governor about her terrible situation, asking if she and her young children could return to the farm. She waited each day for a reply, never giving up hope. And although she never received an answer, she is remembered today for being the courageous slave who wrote the first letter of appeal in Afro-Brazilian Brazil. Commemorating the date of the letter’s discovery, September 6th has become Black Consciousness Day in Piauí state.

Beautifully illustrated, this moving picture book provides a very personal look at the tragic history of slavery in the Americas.

This stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.

Agnes Martin was born on the Canadian prairies in the early twentieth century. In this imagining of her childhood from acclaimed author Tessa McWatt, Agnes spends her days surrounded by wheat fields, where her grandfather encourages her to draw what she sees and feels around her: the straight horizon, the feeling of the sun, the movement of birds’ wings and the shapes she sees in the wheat.

One day, Agnes’s family moves to a house in a big city. The straight horizon and wheat fields are gone, but Agnes continues to draw what she sees and feels around her. No one except her grandfather understands what she is trying to capture — not her mother, who asks, “Where are you, Agnes?” when she sees her daughter engrossed in her drawing; nor her siblings, who think her art is ugly. Still, Agnes keeps trying to capture what she sees inside her mind.

Agnes Martin grew up to become a famous abstract expressionist artist. Tessa McWatt has written a beautiful story of Agnes’s childhood and how it might have shaped her adult work. Zuzanna Celej’s watercolors adeptly capture Agnes’s world, including hints of the grid paintings that she was later known for, against the backdrop of prairie and city landscapes.

Includes an author’s note with more information about Agnes Martin’s life and the inspiration behind this story.

Key Text Features
author's note
art history

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Fans of Rainbow Rowell and Casey McQuiston will fall for this story of tabletop gaming, romance and epic campaigns — both in game and IRL.

IRL, Darcy has just moved to the small prairie town of Unity Creek with her two moms. It feels like she left everything good behind in the city. She misses her tabletop gaming friends and her boyfriend — and is horrified by the homophobia her family faces in their new home. Then she meets kind, quiet Art, who invites her to join his Dungeons & Dragons game.

Art is mostly happy fading into the background at school and only really coming alive during his friends’ weekly D&D game — until meeting Darcy pulls his life off-course in wonderful and alarming ways. Suddenly he has something worth fighting for. But what if that something puts him in conflict with his father, an influential and conservative figure in their town? Can Art stand up against his father’s efforts to prevent Darcy and her friends from starting a queer-straight alliance at school?

Meanwhile, in game, Darcy’s and Art’s D&D characters join forces to fight corruption as they grow closer in the homebrew world of Durgeon’s Keep — as fantasy and reality collide.

Key Text Features

chapters

dialogue

New York Times Best Children’s Books of 2024

Kirkus Best Books of 2024

Shelf Awareness 2024 Best Books of the Year

The Globe 100: The Best Books of 2024

Poppy’s mother hasn’t been the same since Gran passed away. She stays inside and watches TV, unable to leave the couch. So maybe that’s why Poppy has started spending more time outside, taking her dog Pepper for walks around the neighborhood. When Pepper leads Poppy through a hole in the fence, she finds a forgotten forest that’s been there all along, as well as a new friend named Rob.

Rob teaches Poppy that you can find magic in the wilderness – if you know where to look! Poppy looks, and then she looks closer … and sees flowers opening before her eyes, watches animals slip into their hidden homes, and listens to the sound of water droplets falling gently on puddles, leaves and feathers. She can barely wait to tell Mum about everything she’s seen, and asks her to come see, too – but her mother rarely has the energy to leave the couch. Will Poppy ever be able help her mother see the beauty in the woods – and in life?

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel is an exploration of grief, love, and finding magic in the wilderness – and in ourselves.

Key Text Features

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7

Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Winner of the IODE National Chapter Violet Downey Book Award

This sequel to Ticket to Curlew finds eleven-year-old Josie well settled in her new home, but she's never had a friend her own age. So when a girl named Margaret moves to the area from England, Josie is glad to have someone with whom she can ride to school, explore the mysterious, abandoned silver house and dream about the future.

But what does the future hold for a young girl in 1918? Could Josie fly airplanes like Katherine Stinson, her heroine? Will she be a teacher like Miss Barnett? What would it be like to be Margaret's sad mother, who can't bear to unpack her fine English china in the crude sod house that is her new prairie home?

Have you ever seen the rabbit-in-the-moon? Folktales from many cultures explain how the rabbit came to be there. When award-winning novelist Martha Brooks heard one such tale, she was inspired to write her own lovely story about a little rabbit who finds a special way to brighten the darkest month of the year.

A little rabbit asks his mother how the shape of a rabbit came to be on the moon. She tells him the story of Great Mother Creator Rabbit, who came down to earth to see how her creatures lived. Finding herself cold and hungry, she built a fire, placing a stewpot on top. Another rabbit, seeing her predicament, took it upon himself to save her and jumped into the pot. But before he could perish, Great Mother Rabbit tossed him up into the moon.

The little rabbit’s mother explains that this is why all the rabbits now gather to hear the choir sing “Winter Moon Song,” to bring light and a little magic at the darkest time of the year.

The next night all the rabbits gather to hear the ancient song, and the little rabbit takes his place in the choir. But at the end of the performance, he feels a little disappointed. It had been beautiful, but did not seem all that special, and certainly not magic.

In the wintry air outside the gathering place, the little rabbit looks up at the rabbit-in-the-moon and is suddenly inspired to sing the song once more, very tentatively at first, and then more courageously. Some of the other rabbits, even the old ones, join in; some are moved to tears. And in singing the song anew, they realize the joy in being one great rabbit family.

Leticia Ruifernandez has graced the story with her tender illustrations.

Includes an author’s note.

Words are powerful. Words spread truth. Words turn to action. Words matter in this lyrical account of the White Rose Resistance.

The White Rose Resistance was the German student movement that used the power of the written word to speak out against the Nazis during World War II. They worked in secret to distribute leaflets condemning the government’s actions at a time when doing so meant putting your life at risk.

The story follows siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, who were instrumental members of the resistance. Words Matter transports readers through the world the siblings inhabited, from their idyllic childhood to becoming leaders in the Hitler Youth groups; the Nuremberg Rally; witnessing the arrests and murders of innocent people; and finally emerging as leaders of the White Rose Resistance — while still believing in the goodness that lived in the hearts of the German people. The Scholl siblings were arrested and executed in 1943 but their legacy, and the words of the Resistance, live on.

Written in verse and strikingly illustrated for middle-grade readers, Words Matter brings to life an unforgettable true story of nonviolent resistance. Hans and Sophie’s story demonstrates the enduring power of words, especially in times of propaganda and fear.

Includes a historical note.

Key Text Features

author's note

further reading

historical context

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7

Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

An alphabetical tour through the coolest jobs you can imagine—and some you might never have heard of! With a sophisticated, minimalist design and visual jokes to interpret on every page, Work: An Occupational ABC introduces children both to the alphabet and to a range of alternative careers.

The ideal reader for this book is the child (or adult) who is interested in exploring all manner of professions through original and inspired illustrations. Must be open to adventure. Knowledge of the alphabet is desirable but not required, since successful applicants will receive training from A to Z.

Tom lives in the countryside in the mid 1800s and he’s curious — what is it like in the town, the city and the world beyond? It’s all “work and more work,” everyone tells him. Determined to find out for himself, Tom sets off with a bit of bread and cheese in a bundle…

He encounters crowded marketplaces, bustling wharves and storms on the high seas. In China he sees how tea is made; in India he watches men make deep blue dye from indigo; in Ceylon he marvels at the skill of cinnamon peelers. Eventually, he returns home with stories and gifts, showing his parents the riches to be found all over the world.

Includes an illustrated afterword about the different kinds of work mentioned in the story when, in the days before steam, nothing moved except through the power of wind, water and muscle.

A story about the heart-opening effect that taking care of a wounded creature has on a wounded boy, from acclaimed picture-book creators Jairo Buitrago and Rafael Yockteng.

Adrián is always in trouble, at school and at home, while Santiago gets along quite well. But they are friends. When Adrián finds a wounded bird in an abandoned lot in the midst of the city, things begin to change. Taking care of the bird, learning all about it, discovering that it is a falcon, loving it — and accepting what this love means — gives Adrián a chance to show others a glimpse of who he truly is. Santiago has always known that Adrián has a big heart, and his steadfast friendship is also the reason Adrián has a chance to heal.

Key Text Features

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6
With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Finalist for the Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration

In this delightful bedtime rhyme a young child bids good night to the moon, recalling all the familiar things surrounding her -- from her pillow, her book and her kitten to the swing outside, the robins in the trees and the starry night.

Written by award-winning novelist and poet Pamela Porter, the book is complemented by the swirling, joyful and whimsical illustrations of Matt James, an acclaimed visual artist. The words and music for "At the Gate of Heaven" ("A la puerta del cielo"), a New Mexican lullaby, are included.

Finalist for the Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration

In this delightful bedtime rhyme a young child bids good night to the moon, recalling all the familiar things surrounding her -- from her pillow, her book and her kitten to the swing outside, the robins in the trees and the starry night.

Written by award-winning novelist and poet Pamela Porter, the book is complemented by the swirling, joyful and whimsical illustrations of Matt James, an acclaimed visual artist. The words and music for "At the Gate of Heaven" ("A la puerta del cielo"), a New Mexican lullaby, are included.

When Ryan's dad runs away from home because of the change of life, Ryan is sent to spend the summer with his aunt in Peggy's Cove.

He goes fishing, almost gets into big trouble and learns a lot about tourist behavior, but most of all he misses his dad and hopes he'll come back soon.

This fanciful nautical adventure stars a winsome cat named Zoom, who stays indoors paddling in the sink or sailing in the bathtub all night when other self-respecting cats are out mousing and howling at the moon.

One day Zoom finds in his Uncle Roy's diary a map of the sea and how to get there, which leads him to the huge house of the beautiful Maria. When, with the turn of a large wheel, mysterious Maria launches him on a wonderful sea voyage, the first of Zoom's adventures begins.