Groundwood Books

A young child tells us about the different times when he feels peaceful, as well as how he copes when he needs to find a peaceful state again.

Acclaimed picture-book creators Sandra V. Feder and Rahele Jomepour Bell have teamed up once again to create a thoughtful and beautifully illustrated exploration of peacefulness.

“I like feeling peaceful,” the young narrator tells us, then describes the times when he is filled with this emotion. When he is playing with a friend, he feels “free peaceful”; when he is having family dinner, “yummy peaceful”; when he is outside gazing up at the sky, “fluffy clouds peaceful". But, of course, he doesn’t always feel peaceful, and we hear about his strategies for coping during those times, such as taking deep breaths, imagining his favorite things, and finding a quiet refuge or a hug.

Peaceful Me is the perfect companion to Angry Me — together, they encourage readers to let anger come and go, while inviting peace to come and stay.

Key Text Features

explanation

illustrations

vignettes

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.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

A shy young child talks about situations when shyness takes over and what helps them engage more fully.

In this compassionate exploration of shyness, a child describes feeling shy in a variety of home, social and school situations. These include meeting a new person, being in a crowded place and being on stage for a class performance. Sometimes the child feels shy with friends or when trying to make a new friend.  

When feeling shy, the child tries to be brave and identify what might help in each situation. Sometimes it helps to go slowly, find a quiet place or practice for a performance. And sometimes what helps is finding a buddy or noticing that other children feel shy too.

Sandra V. Feder’s nuanced text and Ashley Barron’s cut-paper collage illustrations together create an endearing character who finds a way to cope with shy feelings. Joining Angry Me and Peaceful Me in the Emotions and Me series, Shy Me is sure to strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt or still feels shy.

Key Text Features

explanation;illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

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.

A girl longs for her mother’s attention. But Mummy is always busy helping everyone else and their children!

Day by day, the narrator recalls what it was like growing up with her mother, who was a nanny, as well as a friend, baker, maker, teacher, cleaner and more. As the youngest in her family, the girl stayed home and helped amuse the children her mother looked after. She went along on trips to the Caribbean greengrocer in their Brooklyn neighborhood, where her mother would almost always forget to buy her favorite fruit. She eavesdropped on her mother’s conversations, waiting for her turn to talk, only to be shooed away. She even accompanied her mother on office-cleaning expeditions on Saturdays. Mummy seldom had a moment to spare. 

But looking back on a special surprise one Easter Sunday, the narrator realizes that her mother was always thinking about her own children, in spite of the demands of her domestic work and the central role she played in her community.

Based on Laura James’ childhood in Brooklyn, and accompanied by her gorgeous, vibrant illustrations, this simple story is a moving reflection of race, class and labor in North America, including the Caribbean.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

A young child tells us what makes her angry and how she tries to let the anger come and go. An artful starting point for conversations about strong feelings.

“I get angry,” says a little girl, looking fiercely in the mirror. Sometimes she gets angry when someone is mean and tries to take her toy away, when it feels unfair that there’s not enough time to go swimming, when she’s tired and just wants to go home, or when the kids at school leave her out, hurting her feelings.

When she’s angry, she tries to remember to use her words — even though that doesn’t always work. Sometimes she can’t find the right words, or the words don’t come out the way she intends. But sometimes words do help, and when her anger melts away a new feeling can blossom.

Sandra Feder’s cleverly constructed text presents different situations in which a child might feel angry, creating a nuanced look at anger and its many underlying emotions. Rahele Jomepour Bell’s illustrations show a loveable, angry little girl, brimming with personality, who learns how to express herself as she moves through her feelings.

Key Text Features

dialogue

explanation

illustrations

vignettes

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.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

A collection of poetry by one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas about the vanished world of his childhood — that of the Maya K’iche’.

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great Maya poet Humberto Ak’abal. They evoke his childhood in and around the Maya K’iche’ village of Momostenango, Guatemala, and also describe his own role as a poet of the place.

Ak’abal writes about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death.

The poetry was written for adults but can also be read and loved by young people, especially in this collection, beautifully illustrated by award-winning Guatemalan-American illustrator Amelia Lau Carling.

Ak’abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language, and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. Ak’abal first composed his poems in K’iche’ in his mind before writing them down in Spanish.

Key Text Features

foreword

biographical information

poems

translation

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize 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.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

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.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

A child worries that the home she now shares with her grandma can’t compare to the wonderous stories of Ah Ma’s childhood in China.

Back in Ah Ma’s village, they didn’t have snow. The river behind her home flowed from the sky and through the mountains. You’d never tasted anything so clear and so cold.

Back in Ah Ma’s village, they didn’t have geese. They had birds washed in rainbows. And if you fed them tofu from your hand, they would talk!

Back in Ah Ma’s village sparrows would lay eggs in the cracks of mud homes. Once Ah Ma tried to take an egg and was bitten by teeny tiny dragon!

Now Ah Ma lives in North America, a place that must seem dull by comparison. But her granddaughter is reassured that geese or no geese, snow or no snow, home is always a magical place when it’s shared with the people you love.

Gillian Sze’s tender story bridges countries, cultures and generations, serving as a mirror to the children of immigrants as well as a window into childhood in rural China. Illustrator Leah Hong illuminates the characters' conversation, alternating between a vibrant autumnal palette and nostalgic washes of gray, blue and green inspired by traditional Chinese paintings.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Two boats at sea, struck by a storm, are impacted very differently—a tale about economic inequality and climate change, patterned on a classic poem.

Four characters go to sea in two very different boats for two very different reasons—Boogy and Tee set off in a luxury yacht for a vacation, while Twinkle and Hew set out in a tiny fishing dory in search of their next meal. When a storm blows up, the fishing dory soon breaks apart, casting Twinkle and Hew into the sea. The yacht hits a large rock, and as water pours into the hold, Boogy can do nothing but wail about losing his precious possessions. Then Tee spots Twinkle and Hew clinging to the remains of their boat and insists they go to the rescue—a decision that saves them all.

Inspired by Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat,” Kathy Stinson’s story-poem with its rollicking, sea-faring rhythm and sprinkling of invented vocabulary combines with Mark Hoffmann’s quirky, playful art to create a funnay tale that speaks to urgent issues.

Includes as afterword a brief quotation adopted and retweeted by Greta Thunberg: “Stop saying that we’re all in the same boat. We’re all in the same storm. But we’re not all in the same boat.”

Key Text Features

afterword

dialogue

illustrations

literary references

poems

vignettes

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

When a Palestinian child asks their family why they have their given name, they discover how much meaning and empowerment it holds.

A child asks their mother, then their father why they have their given name. Their mother says the name speaks of sweetness and serenity; their father says it contains courage to care for and preserve their land. The child learns that their name holds memories of olive trees in bloom, the family gathering for the harvest, even the taste of olives, according to their grandfather! Their name says so much about their history, who they are, what they do. And that’s why the child and their friends write their names everywhere — even on their own hands and feet — so that they will never be forgotten.

In this moving story, author and illustrator Marilda Castanha takes what might be marks of victimhood — the names of children, written on their bodies — and transforms them into an act of empowerment and an insistence on being seen and remembered.

This beautifully illustrated story is an invitation to reflect on the impact of war on children's lives, the hope we harbor for world peace, and the importance of remaining true to our identities and origins.

Key Text Features

author’s note

dialogue

epigraph

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3

Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

The Scooter Twins are back! And this time, Melanie rallies the Wheelie Friends to band together to make their brand-new local bakery accessible.

The day that Bevington’s Bakery opens just down the street, Melanie and Melvin are first in line! But there’s one big problem — a small step in the doorway means that their mobility scooters can’t get in. When Mr. Bevington claims he can’t afford a ramp, Melanie decides his answer isn't good enough. She wants to choose her own cookies. She deserves to come and go like anyone else.

Melanie reaches out to other kids who use mobility devices — the Wheelie Friends! All summer long, they sit outside the bakery, working together to raise funds for a ramp. Will they get the respect they deserve? And will they finally get their cookies?

This follow-up to The Scooter Twins is written by disability advocate and mobility scooter user Dorothy Ellen Palmer and illustrated by Maria Sweeney. Melanie and the Wheelie Friends Save the Day emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy, and offers many kids who use mobility devices the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a 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.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

When rock-loving Marian stumbles upon a perfect, pointy stone in the park, she just knows it is a dinosaur fossil! But her geologist mom and her fossil-hunting hero remain unconvinced, so there’s only one thing to do — Marian has to find the rest of the dinosaur. One by one, she excavates more fossils in her backyard (though her parents keep mistaking them for gardening tools and household objects). Piecing them together is puzzling, but Marian’s dinosaur is shaping up to be her best discovery yet.

This playful story told through the eyes of imaginative Marian is accompanied by real facts about fossils, further reading, and details about real life fossil discoveries made by kids.

Key Text Features

illustrations

definitions

backmatter

facts

further reading

further information

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2

With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5

Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

A young child talks about the times when they feel lonely, and the ways they find to cope — now in the bestselling Emotions and Me series.

Lonely feelings surface frequently for the child in this story, including when they’re at home, in nature, in social settings, or facing big life events. They can feel lonely when their sibling isn’t paying any attention to them, when they feel very small as they stand before a vast ocean, when there seems to be no one to play with, and when their best friend, who lives next door, moves away.

The story takes a heartwarming turn when the child realizes that if they reach out, through actions or words, they can soothe their lonely feelings. They can ask their sibling to pay attention, find a way to feel as big as the ocean, seek out someone to play with, and share their feelings about their friend’s move.

This timely addition to the Emotions and Me series addresses the epidemic of loneliness in the lives of children, offering practical solutions to the different types of loneliness a child might feel. Once again, Sandra V. Feder’s thoughtful, child-centered text is perfectly complemented by Ashley Barron’s rich cut-paper collage illustrations.

Key Text Features

explanation

Illustrations

vignettes

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Mooz is just a cat … or is she?

I know a cat named Mooz, which means moose in Anishinaabemowin. But is she really a moose? Mooz races like a hare, sneaks through tall grass like a snake and caws like a jay. So which animal is she?

Full of fun animal comparisons that young readers will love to read aloud, Mooz is a lighthearted story about a beloved member of the family. This follow-up to the award-winning Boozhoo! / Hello! introduces children to animal vocabulary in both English and Anishinaabemowin. Includes an author’s note and a translator’s note.

Key Text Features

Illustrations

author’s note

translator’s note

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

What if changing the biggest mistake of your life would be the biggest mistake of your life?

Two teens in juvenile detention may have found a way to free themselves — not just from their cells, but from the mistakes that got them locked up in the first place.

Clem is a would-be poet who has been in “training school” ever since he caused the accident that maimed the nice lady who says she only wants him to do something fine with his life. But how, when even his parents have given up on him?

Then Clem meets Finn, whose history is even more traumatic. Clem tries to help Finn adjust to prison, but when the boys are placed in solitary confinement, euphemistically called “administrative segregation,” Finn deteriorates, both physically and mentally. He’s ranting, saying he’s found a portal in his cell and a way to change their lives — past, present and future.

And then he disappears.

Clem is interrogated by prison officials, a social worker, a doctor and a mysterious man in a suit, who ask him about the days leading up to Finn’s disappearance. As he tells them the story, he puzzles over what really happened to Finn, and the unexpected clues he's left Clem to find a better future.

Key Text Features

afterword

author’s note

biographical note

dialogue

epigraph

poems

scientific nomenclature

When you are full of fear, how do you stop being afraid? With the help of his Mishoomis, a boy undertakes a vision quest to help conquer his nightmares.

After waking from a nightmare, a boy asks his Mishoomis for help. His Mishoomis tells him that in order to face his fears, he must find the black stone.

With his Mishoomis’s voice to guide him, the boy embarks on a vision quest to search for the black stone among the tall trees of the jungle, in the depths of the ocean and through the barren desert. He encounters many dangers including a sudden storm and menacing animals. Through it all, the boy finds himself guided by the very creatures he’d once feared. Will he be able to find the black stone? Will he be able to find himself?

Inspired by an Ojibwe story and brought to life by Maya McKibbin’s comics-inspired illustrations, Black Stone is a journey of finding one’s own inner strength. Accompanied by an author’s note explaining Ojibwe vision quests and the author’s connection to the story.

Key Text Features

writing inspiration

author’s note

illustrations

comics

panels

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2

With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

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.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6

Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Kid reporter Scoop Jackson asks readers to consider what is fake news and what is fact, while looking for the gnus—pronounced nooz—that have escaped from their pen at the zoo.

The gnu pen is empty! So where are the gnus? There are many different clues to follow, and it’s up to Scoop to decide if the evidence he hears and sees is true … or not! Someone tells Scoop they saw the gnus eating ice cream in Central Park. But this news site says they’re climbing the Empire State Building. And here’s a photo showing the gnus at a dairy farm. Can all of these sources be real gnus? Or are they fake gnus? Scoop reminds us that a fact is something that can be proven to be true. With every new source, Scoop always checks the facts!

This tongue-in-cheek introduction to fake news asks kids to think critically about what they see and hear from media sources. The book includes a quiz and an author’s note that touches on AI and expands on the concept of reputable sources.

Key Text Features

illustrations

speech balloons

quiz

author's note

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

From Deborah Ellis, the bestselling author of Sit and Step, comes a new short story collection about the moments when the adult world disappoints, and it’s time to pick up … and Go.

Brodie’s parents and brother expect him to step up for Team Family, even when Team Family has no intention of returning the favor. Joanie is left to take a city bus for the first time with her impossibly cranky grandmother and learns to stand up for what she wants. Alone in a foreign country, without money, shelter or papers, Liberi steals an expensive purse from a tourist and then figures out what to do with his feelings of guilt. Bastien, the foster kid no one wants, discovers his own inner strength when a wildfire ravages the town. And Kelsey and his brother find themselves robbing graves in the middle of the night, but for the best possible reason.

When the grownups turn their backs, the kids in these stories find a way to go forward. Sometimes it takes a little magical thinking. Sometimes a small act of bravery. Sometimes extending a hand to someone else. But always a realization that there is somewhere to go, if you pay attention, take action and refuse to give into the dark.

Key Text Features

biographical information

epigraph

short stories

The Spanish-language edition of bestselling Angry Me, in which a child tells us what makes her angry and how she tries to let the anger come and go. An artful starting point for conversations about strong feelings.

“I get angry,” says a little girl, looking fiercely in the mirror. Sometimes she gets angry when someone is mean and tries to take her toy away, when it feels unfair that there’s not enough time to go swimming, when she’s tired and just wants to go home, or when the kids at school leave her out, hurting her feelings.

When she’s angry, she tries to remember to use her words — even though that doesn’t always work. Sometimes she can’t find the right words, or the words don’t come out the way she intends. But sometimes words do help, and when her anger melts away a new feeling can blossom.

Sandra Feder’s cleverly constructed text presents different situations in which a child might feel angry, creating a nuanced look at anger and its many underlying emotions. Rahele Jomepour Bell’s illustrations show a loveable, angry little girl, brimming with personality, who learns how to express herself as she moves through her feelings.

Key Text Features

dialogue

explanation

illustrations

vignettes

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

A collection of powerful poems, in Nahuat, Spanish and English, that celebrate Indigenous life and language despite efforts to eradicate them.

These poems are a moving and eloquent description of how great poet Jorge Argueta came to know the almost extinct language of his ancestors. The poems tell stories of Jorge’s life growing up in the Salvadoran village of Witzapan, where his own grandmother taught him his first words in Nahuat.

There are poems about the clay used to construct the village, the trees that grow in the countryside, the corn used to make tortillas and pupusas, and the Tepechapa River. Beautiful illustrations painted by Salvadoran artist El Aleph accompany each poem.

In the early 1930s, the government of El Salvador massacred many Nahuat people and banned them from speaking the language, attempting to eradicate their Indigenous identity. Despite the ban, village elders continued to keep the language and culture alive.

Today there are many efforts to reintroduce the Nahuat language in El Salvador. Nahuat readers can share in Jorge’s childhood world of Witzapan. So can we, whether in the original or through the Spanish and English translations of his poems.

Key Text Features

author’s note

poems

illustrations

glossary

table of contents

translations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

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.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).

It’s spring in Grasslands National Park and burrowing owls are returning from a winter away to lay their eggs in this rare and protected habitat.

Lush illustrations celebrate the magnificent wild prairie of Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan and feature the remarkable burrowing owls — the only owls in the world to live underground! Meet the owls as they prepare a burrow and lay their eggs. See tiny fuzzy owlets hatch and grow before flying to Mexico and Texas for the winter.

Sadly, these little owls who were once common in the grasslands of western and mid-western North America are now endangered. As the wild prairies were farmed and developed, far fewer places were left for the owls to nest and raise their young.

Today, biologists, Indigenous groups, landowners and conservationists are working hard to restore the vital grasslands and help this precarious species recover.

Includes an author’s note about successful burrowing owl recovery programs and other wild animals of Grasslands National Park.

WILD BY NATURE
A series for young readers that explores the unique links between ecologically sensitive species and their habitats, and encourages the preservation of the world’s wild places.

Key Text Features

illustrations

author’s note

further information

further reading

facts

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.7

Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.3

Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.6

Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.

Playful and poetic, Every Space Between highlights the little moments tucked between beginnings and endings, between actions and reactions, between you and me — and shows how special an ordinary day can become if you pay close enough attention.

You can find in-betweens everywhere! Some are as overlooked as the space between an itch and a scratch. Others are as thrilling as the pause between making a wish and blowing out your birthday candles. How you feel about an in-between really does depend on your perspective ... and each one is full of potential.

Once you spot the spaces in-between, everything changes. Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, you can pause to collect and reflect. Is this something you really want to do? How much longer can you wait? Maybe it's time to say ... sorry?

Sparkling with the signature wit of Naseem Hrab (author of How to Party Like a Snail) and the cracking comedic timing of John Martz (illustrator of How to Give Your Cat a Bath: In Five Easy Steps), Every Space Between is an unexpected invitation to a world of possibilities!

Key Text Features

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core States 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.2.5

Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Turtles have been tending the ocean for millions of years. Now it’s my turn to tend to the turtles.

One chilly morning in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a child and their parents wake up early to search the beach for cold-stunned turtles. When they find one, they keep it warm and safe until another rescuer can bring it to a rehabilitation center. There, a volunteer cleans the turtle before it goes to a biologist who glues its cracked shell back together. The turtle then moves to a tank room to recover. Finally, a volunteer pilot flies the turtle south to a warmer beach. At last, a parent and child place the turtle in the ocean and watch it swim away as a crowd of cheering volunteers look on.

Sea turtles have been an important part of ocean and shoreline ecosystems for millions of years. But the changing climate is shifting migration cues, trapping some turtles in frigid waters in late autumn and early winter. Luckily, many volunteers are working together with scientists to help them. In this story, follow a months-long journey and many human helpers working together to rescue a cold-stunned turtle.

Includes back matter with more information about cold-stunned turtles.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

author’s note

informational note

facts

further information

maps

further reading

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.5

Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.8

Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

A monster-mender works hard to heal all wounds, but struggles to help a sea serpent who just seems … sad.

Dot is a monster healer. She treats bruises and burns and sore throats and sniffles for all sorts of creatures – dragons, krakens and gryphons included. But when Sea Serpent comes to see her because he’s feeling sad, Dot is stumped! She goes looking for the rarest ingredients to make something to get rid of Sea Serpent’s sad, but the potions and salves don’t help, and Sea Serpent doesn't seem too keen on trying any more exotic teas.

Dot is worried that she’ll never be able to help Sea Serpent feel better. Lately, all she’s brought Sea Serpent has been her own company, and not-at-all-special tea. Does this mean she isn’t a very good monster mender, after all? When Sea Serpent comes to her with an unexpected revelation, Dot learns the healing power of being a true friend.

A gentle (and fantastical!) tale of what it means to support a friend struggling with their mental health, from the award-winning author of Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress and Violet Shrink.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

A child touchingly narrates the ups and downs of living with a parent who experiences mental illness.

Sometimes Mom soars like a kite. Other times the kite turns into a sail, and she’s like a boat, bobbing along the waves, until water spills over the sides and she starts to sink. “I try to bail the water out,” the child says, “but my bucket is too small or has a hole in it.”

On a better day, Mom introduces the child to a "new friend" named Grace, a therapist and a good listener. Grace explains that it’s not the child’s job to fix things. And Grace helps the child find coping strategies such as talking, playing games and, especially, drawing as a creative outlet for their complicated feelings.

Gradually, the child begins to feel better when they’re at home with Mom, where there are plenty of crayons, as well as the comfort of a beloved pet to cuddle.

But the child has one big question. At the end of the story, they ask their mom, and then Grace, if they will sink or soar when they grow up. And while no one knows for sure, the child believes Grace who suggests that they now have the tools to weather whatever storms might come.

Key Text Features

authors note

dialogue

illustrations

resources

vignettes

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

In this companion to best-selling titles A Family Is a Family Is a Family and A Kid Is a Kid Is a Kid, a child explores how to make a friend.

When a child arrives at summer camp, they see a lot of other kids. Will any of them want to be their friend?

One by one, the kids share their thoughts on friendship. One child makes friends by asking questions, while another says you can be friends even if you don’t speak the same language! Listening to each other’s stories, liking the same things and showing kindness are among the many ways of being a friend. And in the end — whoever you are — the best way to make a friend is to be one!

Author Sara O’Leary and illustrator Qin Leng have created a delightful, heartfelt, inclusive book about making and being a friend — the final title in the Who We Are trilogy.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

speech bubbles

vignettes

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Some families gather for big dinners, but in my house we feast at breakfast! As Grandma and I cook our favorite Jamaican dishes, I learn why that is.

The girl in this story and her grandmother are making breakfast for the whole family! Jamaican favorites like ackee and saltfish, fried dumplings and delicious cho cho are on the menu today. As they chop and stir, and the food simmers and sizzles, the girl has one big question for Grandma — why does their family eat such BIG breakfasts?

Through the process of cooking traditional foods, and through Grandma’s stories of life in Jamaica before their family emigrated to Canada, the girl learns more about the historical, economic and social reasons for their big breakfasts — and she explores her culture as someone not born in Jamaica, but still connected to the island.

Grandma, Cho Cho and Me is inspired by the author’s childhood experiences born to Jamaican migrant parents, and beautifully illustrated by Paulica Santos. Memories of tropical landscapes, garden-fresh greens and mouthwatering meals overflow in Paulica Santos’s lush, mixed-media illustrations.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

In the forests and fields, beside rivers and creeks, under the earth and hidden in trees, food is waiting to be found … if you know where to look!

Follow the footsteps of our ancestors as they head out on the quiet hunt, looking for roots and leaves, mushrooms and berries, fruits, flowers, nuts and seeds. But foraging is about more than just food – our ancestors also helped spread seeds and spores, took only what they needed, and gave thanks to the plants and animals that sustained them. Today, in our cities and towns, the quiet hunt looks a little different. But we can still gather our tools and follow the paths our ancestors took to find what grows in our own backyards.

This lyrical story-poem from award-winning author Jean E. Pendziwol is a celebration of foraging that inspires an appreciation of found food, encourages our connection with nature and sparks our awareness of responsible environmental stewardship.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Our team spirit and passion for soccer can inspire action for a more sustainable future on — and off — the pitch.

Publishing in advance of the 2026 World Cup, One Goal is a timely look at how soccer players, organizations, clubs and fans are taking action to do better for the planet.

A college pitch in Nigeria uses the kinetic energy of players running over special tiles to power the field’s floodlights. South Africa uses local soccer fields to collect, store and clean rainwater for drinking. China built a high-speed bullet train to run between cities during the Asian Games, side-stepping high-emission air travel. Thousands of Belgian fans cycle to games instead of driving. New regulations about water breaks and game cancellations have been put into play to protect players from extreme heat.

From “drag and drop” stadiums, to seats made from recycled fish nets, to plant-based game-day food, soccer has an opportunity to lead by example and convince the global community that, by working together, we can create a better future. Includes a game plan of how readers can help, too.

Key Text Features

illustrations

author’s note

bibliography

definitions

explanation

facts

further reading

glossary

introduction

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7

Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3

Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6

Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

Driven from her nest, Little Bird crosses paths with other migrating animals, including humans, looking for a safe place to call home.

Reading like a modern nursery rhyme, Fly Away Home begins with a family of birds launched into exile as “a troubling of hummingbirds / brings news of beyond” and “the deceit of lapwings drives its family to roam.”

Author Betty Quan gives animals thought-provoking collective nouns (a charm of goldfinches, a flamboyance of flamingoes) — some real, some invented — while Akin Duzakin’s simple yet suggestive illustrations spark curiosity about the characters Little Bird encounters.

On the wing, Little Bird witnesses the mass migrations of other animals: monarch butterflies, caribou, sea turtles — and human, too, including one little girl with a pink backpack. After her family finds asylum, Little Bird meets the little girl on a balcony in a new city — a safe nest for both at last.

With the world witnessing an unprecedented level of migration—for greater opportunities or because of conflicts and climate change — and over forty million international migrants under the age of twenty, Fly Away Home offers families and classrooms a hopeful entry to a complex topic.

Key Text Features

illustrations

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2011 and a finalist for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award

"It was time for Ferdie and Viola to go to school. But Ferdie had eleven cars to wash, the highest tower ever to build and a snake drawing that wasn't done…"

Ferdie doesn't want to go to school, but go to school he must, and fortunately his imaginative older sister Viola paves the way. She tells him to put on his superfast cape and his rocket blaster boots and then off they go! Time and again Viola uses her rich imagination to keep Ferdie on his way. But even big sisters get tired sometimes, and so Ferdie, following her example, draws on his own inner resources andimagination to keep them going.

Told through the eyes of a child, this ordinary event is transformed into a wonderful adventure. The children's fantasy world is beautifully illustrated with Cybele Young's intricate 3-D paper sculptures, created from paintings she made of contemporary street scenes.

Before Greta Thunberg there was Severn Cullis-Suzuki, whose 1992 Earth Summit speech made her known as “the girl who silenced the world for five minutes.”

Severn Cullis-Suzuki was only twelve years old when she addressed the whole world and asked: What are you doing to the Earth, our home? How far can human greed go? Young Severn looked at the world leaders in attendance and said, “I’m only a child, and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you!” She entreated those world leaders to make their actions reflect their words and to protect the Earth for generations to come.

Severn’s speech is even more urgent today than it was thirty years ago. Beautiful illustrations accompany her words in this first book in the Speak Out series, followed by an analysis written by Alex Nogués that gives readers more detail about Severn’s life and the context of her speech, while highlighting the most powerful and persuasive points of her address.

The Speak Out series publishes the most inspiring speeches of our times, then deconstructs them to give young readers a deeper understanding of global issues and the power of language to influence them.

Key Text Features

biographical information

definitions

explanation

facts

headings

historical context

illustrations

informational note

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.8
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3
Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

A timely new edition of a story about a wildfire from beloved children’s book creators Teddy Jam and Ian Wallace.

It’s maple syrup time and an old grandfather tells his granddaughter about the great fire of 1919, when the whole county caught fire and burned for a year. No one knew how it started, but every able-bodied man, woman and child tried to fight the fire. The grandfather and his brother — children at the time — helped fill buckets of water from the creek. Only the snow finally seemed able to smother it. But the next spring they were all amazed to discover that the fire had kept going all winter in the soil, destroying the roots of the trees as it burned.

Now a new forest has grown over the scar, but the grandfather can still see the traces of the fire and show them to his grandchild.

At a time when wildfires are causing increasing devastation, this new edition of a classic children’s book recounts an event that changed the lives of all who experienced it — and brings a perspective of hope in its portrayal of recovery after the fire. It’s a memory that becomes a story to share with future generations.

Key Text Features

illustrations

dialogue

chapters

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6

Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5

Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7

Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

A prize-winning, illustrated novel in verse about a young girl who dreams of being an artist, inspired by the life of Swedish artist Berta Hansson.

What do you do when it feels impossible to live up to everything expected of you? When the only person who understands you disappears? When you are young and long for something that seems out of reach?

Berta dreams of being an artist, but as a girl growing up in a small Swedish farming village in the 1920s, she has little hope. She finds solace in nature, and in drawing and shaping birds from clay for her mother, the only person who seems to truly understand her. When her mother succumbs to tuberculosis, Berta feels alone, in despair and even more burdened by all the work on the farm. Can she find the courage to defy her father and the social conventions of her time, and fly free?

This beautifully illustrated novel in verse, inspired by the paintings, letters and diaries of Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994), is a universal story of grief, longing and following your dreams.

Includes an afterword by journalist Alexandra Sundqvist.

Key Text Features
captions
photographs
biographical information

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).

The African-American football player Chuck Ealey grew up in a segregated neighborhood of Portsmouth, Ohio. Against all odds, he became an incredible quarterback. But despite his unbeaten record in high school and university, he would never play professional football in the United States.

Chuck Ealey grew up poor in a racially segregated community that was divided from the rest of town by a set of train tracks, but his mother assured him that he wouldn’t stay in Portsmouth forever. Education was the way out, and a football scholarship was the way to pay for that education. So despite the racist taunts he faced at all the games he played in high school, Chuck maintained a remarkable level of dedication and determination. And when discrimination followed him to university and beyond, Chuck Ealey remained undefeated.

This inspirational story is told by Chuck Ealey’s daughter, author and educator Jael Richardson, with striking and powerful illustrations by award-winning illustrator Matt James.

Can a long-forgotten song bring the snow back to Freya’s town? A lyrical fable from award-winning creators Jon-Erik Lappano and Byron Eggenschwiler.

Freya has always loved the snow and the way it covers everything like powdered sugar. But the snow hasn’t come to her town for two winters, and she’s starting to forget what it looks and feels like. When will it be cold? When will it snow again? 

One day Freya finds a snow globe at the market. It plays the melody of a song that the townspeople sang for generations to call the snow home. Freya’s own grandmother used to sing it to her mother on cold winter nights. Every morning, Freya takes the snow globe outside and sings the song, but still there is no snow … until she has the idea to share the song. Soon everyone in town is singing it, and then, early one morning, the winds change.

Jon-Erik Lappano and Byron Eggenschwiler have created an eloquent fable about remembering past traditions, our connection to nature and caring for a world threatened by climate change through shared effort and hope.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

“[About] accept[ing] the inevitability of change and the importance of supporting others’ success and growth.”—Publishers Weekly

When a florist puts two plants in the same rosy-colored pot, he tells the bigger, stronger plant to look after the smaller, weaker one. An artist buys the plants and takes them home, where they become part of the family, celebrating happy occasions and feeling sorrowful during hard times. But as time passes and the plants grow, the pot becomes too small, and the two must be separated. While this makes the larger plant sad, it still rejoices in the way the smaller one flourishes on its own, and looks forward to the day when they will be planted in the artist’s garden to grow into trees together.

Nahid Kazemi has created a charming, beautifully illustrated story about accepting growth and change in close relationships.

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.1.2
>Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
>dentify 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
>Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Winner, Quebec Writers' Federation Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children and Young Adult Literature
Finalist, Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature

In this sequel to the award-winning A Boy Is Not a Bird, a boy is exiled to Siberia during World War II. Based on a true story.

Torn from his home in Eastern Europe, with his father imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, twelve-year-old Natt finds himself stranded with other deportees in a schoolyard in Novosibirsk. And he is about to discover that life can indeed get worse than the horrific two months he and his mother have spent being transported on a bug-infested livestock train. He needs to write to his best friend, Max, but he knows the Soviet police reads everyone’s mail. So Natt decides to write in code, and his letters are a lifeline, even though he never knows whether Max will receive them. 

Every day becomes a question of survival, and where they might be shunted to next. When his mother is falsely arrested for stealing potatoes, Natt is truly on his own and must learn how to live the uncertain life of an exile. Practice being invisible as a ghost, change your name and identity if you have to, watch out for spies, and never draw the attention of the authorities. 

Even then, he will need luck on his side if he is ever going to be reunited with his family.

Key Text Features

author's note

Illustrations

map

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

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.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

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).

The internationally acclaimed author of the Stella and Sam series has created a collection of short, funny illustrated stories.

This hilarious collection of illustrated stories gives us a glimpse into the things children wonder about every day.

What do cats really see? What do trees talk about? Should you make funny faces on a windy day? Do worms rule the world? Do mothers always tell the truth? Do snails have nightmares?

These short stories are illustrated in vibrant watercolor and collage in cartoon style. They are rich in detail and tiny humorous subplots that will delight all little sharp-eyed monsters.

Key Text Features
humour
speech bubbles
panels

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.5
Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

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.1.7
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

Winner of the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration
Finalist for a Governor General’s Literary Award, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books
Finalist for a Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Books Award

When a young girl visits the site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the stories she’s heard from her family come to mind. She imagines what the community was once like —the brightly painted houses nestled into the hillside, the field where boys played football, the pond where all the kids went rafting, the bountiful fishing, the huge bonfires. Coming out of her reverie, she visits the present-day park and the sundial where her great- grandmother’s name is carved in stone, and celebrates a summer day at the annual Africville Reunion/Festival.

Africville was a vibrant Black community for more than 150 years. But even though its residents paid municipal taxes, they lived without running water, sewers, paved roads and police, fire-truck and ambulance services. Over time, the city located a slaughterhouse, a hospital for infectious disease, and even the city garbage dump nearby. In the 1960s, city officials decided to demolish the community, moving people out in city dump trucks and relocating them in public housing.

Today, Africville has been replaced by a park, where former residents and their families gather each summer to remember their community.

Key Text Features
historical context
references

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

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.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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Step into the majestic rainforest of the Pacific west coast and discover a unique community of creatures thriving in an interconnected web of life.

Towering over the sea, along the magnificent Pacific west coast, is an ancient and beautiful rainforest with a unique ecosystem that is linked in many ways. In this fourth book in the West Coast Wild series, you will find trees as tall as twenty-storey buildings, tiny seedlings sprouting on nursery logs and brightly colored salmon spawning in streams. The salmon, as a keystone species, connect the ocean to the forest and provide a rich source of food for the bears, wolves, eagles and other creatures that live in this pristine wilderness. The remains of the fish add vital nutrients to the forest, feeding the lush green plants and trees. In turn, the thick vegetation shades the streams and protects the baby salmon that hatch and swim to the sea.

Author Deborah Hodge provides a clear and engaging look at the interdependence of the forest species and the fascinating cycles of nature in this rare ecosystem, while Karen Reczuch’s lavish watercolors show the rainforest teeming with life in shades of green that can only come from receiving more than ten feet of rain a year.

Key Text Features

illustrations

author’s note

further information

further reading

facts

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.3

With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.4

Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

A little girl and her father have an opportunity to appreciate the wonders of the night sky.

Phoebe helps her dad set up telescopes on the sidewalk outside his store. It’s a special night — Saturn and Mars are going to appear together in the sky. But will Phoebe be able to see them with all the city lights?

Raindrops begin to fall, followed by lightning and thunder. Phoebe is filled with disappointment as she and her father hurry inside to wait out the storm.

But suddenly the power fails and then, amazingly, the rain and clouds disappear. Phoebe and her dad and all kinds of people spill into the street. And there, in the bright night sky, the splendor of the planets and a multitude of stars are revealed for all to see.

An illustrated afterword includes information about the solar system, planetary conjunctions and rings, moons, telescopes and light pollution. A glossary and recommended further reading are also included.

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

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

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.

Legalizing weed doesn’t mean that living on a secret, family-run grow-op is easy, especially when your new girlfriend turns out to be the daughter of a cop.

Isaac loves art class, drives an old pickup, argues with his father and hangs out with his best buddy, Hazel. But his life is anything but normal. His parents operate an illegal marijuana grow-op, Hazel is a bear that guards the property, and his family’s livelihood is a deep secret.

It’s no time to fall in love with the daughter of a cop.

Isaac’s girlfriend Sam is unpredictable, ambitious and needy. And as his final year of high school comes to an end, she makes him consider a new kind of life pursuing his interest in art, even if that means leaving behind his beloved home in the Rockies and severing all ties with his family.

For a while he hopes he can have it all, until a disastrous graduation night, when Sam’s desperate grab for her father’s attention suddenly puts his entire family at risk.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Even for an experienced traveler like Charlie, Cuba is a place unlike any he has visited before — an island full of surprises, secrets and puzzling contradictions.

When Charlie’s artist mother is invited to visit a school in Cuba, the whole family goes along on the trip. But the island they discover is a far cry from the all-inclusive resorts that Charlie has heard his friends talk about.

Charlie has never visited a country as strange and puzzling as Cuba — a country where he often feels like a time traveler. Where Havana’s grand Hotel Nacional sits next to buildings that seem to be crumbling before his very eyes. Where the streets are filled with empty storefronts and packs of wild dogs, but where flowers and sherbet-colored houses may lie around the next corner, and music is everywhere. Where there are many different kinds of walls — from Havana’s famous sea wall to the invisible ones that seem aimed at keeping tourists and locals apart.

Then the family heads “off the beaten track,” traveling by hot, dusty bus to Viñales, where Charlie makes friends with Lázaro, who often flies from Miami to visit his Cuban relatives. The boys ride a horse bareback, find a secret cache of rifles inside a little green mountain and go swimming with small albino fish in an underground cave. A rent-a-wreck takes the family into the countryside, where they find an abandoned hotel inhabited by goats, and a modern resort filled with tourists.

And as he goes from one strange and marvelous escapade to another, Charlie finds that his expectations about a place and its people are overturned again and again.

Key Text Features
illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

A stunning graphic novel from the award-winning creators of Jane, the Fox and Me.

In this powerful new graphic novel from Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault, we meet Louis, a young boy who shuttles between his alcoholic dad and his worried mom, and who, with the help of his best friend, tries to summon up the courage to speak to his true love, Billie.

Louis’s dad cries — Louis knows this because he spies on him. His dad misses the happy times when their family was together, just as Louis does. But as it is, he and his little brother, Truffle, have to travel back and forth between their dad’s country house and their mom’s city apartment, where she tries to hide her own tears.

Thankfully, Louis has Truffle for company. Truffle loves James Brown lyrics, and when he isn’t singing, he’s asking endless questions. Louis also has his friend Boris, with whom he spots ghost cop cars and spies on the “silent queen,” the love of his life, Billie.

When Louis and Truffle go to their dad’s for two weeks during the summer, their father seems to have stopped drinking. And when Truffle has a close call from a bee sting, their mother turns up and the reunited foursome spend several wonderful days in New York — until they reach the end of the road, again.

A beautifully illustrated, true-to-life portrayal of just how complex family relationships can be, seen through the eyes of a wise, sensitive boy who manages to find his own way forward.

Key Text Features
speech bubbles

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

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.

Award-winning creators Laurel Croza and Matt James have come together once again to tell the story of what happens when a bullying seagull and a rock meet on the beach. 

When a seagull mistakes a small rock for food, it angrily spits it out. “What do you think you are?” the seagull demands. “I am a rock,” the rock responds. But the seagull refuses to accept this, insisting that the rock is more like a pebble, or a stone. It predicts that the rock will be thrown into the water and sink, and even if it manages to be washed ashore, the same thing will happen again and again, until the rock is worn down to a mere speck. After all, the rock has no shine, color, crystals or speckles … In short, it is nothing special.

But a child enjoying a day at the beach sees the rock differently, and their creation in the sand affirms what the rock has known about itself all along.

A quirky, vibrant and very memorable picture book about staying true to yourself.

Key Text Features

dialogue;illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

For Hannah, moving to a new city feels bitter, but can she find the sweetness, too?

When Hannah’s family has to move, her grandmother tells her how she felt leaving the old country — it was both bitter and sweet. As Hannah leaves her friends behind and tries to get used to a new house, she only feels bitterness. Was her grandmother wrong about the sweetness?

Hannah starts to feel better about the move when she sees her new house in the soft light of the Shabbat candles. When a new friend reaches out with a special gift, Hannah realizes that sweetness can come from unexpected places and that she can even create some herself.

Featuring art by acclaimed illustrator Kyrsten Brooker, this story subtly conveys a universal message — while life can be full of challenging moments, sweeter ones can be found and created. An author’s note is included on the concept of bitter and sweet in Jewish culture.

Key Text Features
author’s note

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.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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

Faced with moving away from his beloved river in the country, Martin discovers it is possible to make a meaningful connection to nature in the city, too, and find ways to accept changes beyond his control.

Martin loves to play by the river near his house. He watches the great blue herons and looks for crayfish and otters. He builds forts and lies in the tall grass near the water. But one day Martin’s parents tell him they have to move away, to the city. 

The family spend a day in the city, exploring their future home. Martin rides the subway, visits the market, explores the museum and watches a street performer, but none of the city’s charms can compare with the river. Then his parents show him a small stream running through the park, and Martin senses something familiar in the air. 

When moving day arrives, Martin fills a small glass jar with river water as a keepsake. And when he returns to the stream, he discovers that his connection to nature can be just as wondrous in the city. 

This poetic story looks at the special relationship between an imaginative child and the natural world, and explores how that connection can be nurtured and recreated in a new place.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

vignettes

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.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

A lonely mouse gazes up at the cat in the palace tower next door. Determined to find out if he is a friend, he bravely makes his way into the palace …

"A lonely mouse lived in a small house beside a great palace. In the great palace lived a cat."

Each night the mouse gazes up at the cat in the palace tower. Is the cat my friend? he wonders. Determined to find out, he bravely makes his way into the palace through a tiny hole and climbs all the way up to the tower, where the cat sits on the windowsill.

"Hello, are you friend or foe?" he squeaks.

This simple story by John Sobol has a surprising outcome, giving young readers a chance to draw their own conclusions. It is perfectly complemented by Dasha Tolstikova’s subtle yet striking illustrations.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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.1.9
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

A simple but empowering poem about creating a world, told from a young child's perspective.

When a little girl moves her hand, she changes the world as she discovers it. As she moves her known world she discovers her own power and creates everything anew.

The poem, written by Argentine poet Jorge Luján, comes from a culture saturated with magic in which even the very young can make the world by reaching out and moving it. Mandana Sadat’s imaginative illustrations deepen and enrich the text. Movi la mano / I Moved My Hand is a special contribution to the world of children’s books for the very young (and the not so young).

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

I am a lion, and my big brother is one, too … until one day, he gets sick.

The narrator and his big brother have the best game in the world together. They are dangerous lions on the savannah! One day, big brother doesn’t want to run around anymore. His stomach hurts. He has to see the doctor and take medicine, and even has to stay at the hospital. 

Lions don’t want to be trapped by wires and tubes! The narrator instigates a hunt, and the brothers run around the hospital together, chasing gazelles and startling the wildebeest. But big brother is very sick and can't keep up. Lions can’t cry, his little brother insists. But they can miss the rest of their pride. With Mom and Dad, the narrator tries to comfort his sibling. Soon, he knows, the two lions will go hunting again.

A tender story, unexpectedly punctuated by moments of humor, about the illness of a sibling, the love between brothers and the healing power of imagination.

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.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

This beautifully written story, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Thumbelina,” was created in response to the gorgeous award-winning art of Nasrin Khosravi.

Author Uma Krishnaswami’s sensitive and poetic tale opens when Lina, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, is found in a flower by her mother. Because she is so tiny, adventure and mishap easily befall her — a giant frog leaves her stranded on a lily pad, she is freed by curious fish, then pestered by crazy bugs. Lina lives by herself in the depths of a forest until the cold of winter approaches and she begins to feel lonely. She encounters a mouse, who is happy to have someone to dust and sweep for him, but one day in the back room of his house Lina comes across the body of a swallow. The mouse is convinced the bird is dead but Lina, thinking she sees a wing tremble, brings it food and water. Amazingly, the swallow revives and the two of them fly together to the garden of wishes…

Iranian-born illustrator Nasrin Khosravi won the Grand Prize at the Noma Concours in Japan (2000) and was selected as best illustrator at the Tehran International Biennial of Illustration (1999) when these paintings were first published in a Farsi version of Andersen’s tale. They now grace this new Thumbelina story, giving young readers in North America an opportunity to delight in her work. Uma Krishnaswami’s text perfectly captures the spirit of the luminous illustrations, creating a book that is beautiful, magical and mysterious.

Seamus is short, and from where he is standing, the world appears to be made for tall people.

Seamus would give anything to be taller! One day, while playing dress-up in his mother’s closet, he finds a way to reach new heights.

With his mother’s high-heeled shoes on, Seamus can suddenly reach everything that was once too high: the top-floor elevator button, the chocolate milk in the fridge, the TV remote and that horrid picture of him as a baby. But when Seamus encounters problems that can’t be solved from a great height, he has to admit that sometimes being small just isn’t so bad.

Acclaimed picture book author Heather Hartt-Sussman brings a light touch to this nuanced story about acceptance, resourcefulness and love, complemented by the humor and beauty in Milan Pavlović’s colorful paintings of Seamus’s world — where there are times to be tall and times to be small.

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

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.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List

A young boy spots a baby tree growing in the middle of a dusty path in his village. He carefully places rocks around it as the local mango seller rushes past shouting, "Out of the way! Out of the way!" As the tree grows bigger, people and animals traverse the path until it becomes a lane, flowing like a river around the tree— getting out of its way. Over time, the lane becomes a road, and a young man crossing the road with his children remembers the baby tree from long ago. By the time he is an old man, the tree has become a giant. The city traffic continues to rattle past, noisier and busier than ever, but sometimes the great tree works its magic, and people just stop, and listen.

In this simple, lyrical story, a wide-spreading tree and a busy road grow simultaneously, even as time passes and the footsteps of people and animals give way to speeding cars, buses and trucks. The illustrations, in pen-and-ink with vibrant blocks of color, have a classic folk-art feel.

The author and illustrator, who really do share the same name (except for the last letter!), have always wanted to do a book together.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

A collection of poems that explore childhood experiences—from the whimsical to the poignant—by Shannon Bramer, with magical art by Irene Luxbacher.

Shannon Bramer’s follow-up to her much-loved poetry book Climbing Shadows is a collection of poems that explore a range of childhood experiences. Many poems reveal what it feels like to be a child—to pretend and dream and play with abandon, as well as to hurt and regret and feel sorrowful. The poems are varied in form, and while some are simple and direct, others invite children to see the potential for play and discovery in words and language.

In the opening poem a child welcomes their newborn sibling, while the last poem is a surreal lullaby. In between we find poems about a child who listens to a toad, who feels left out, who loves the beach, who must practice piano, who accidentally breaks their mother’s favorite plate, who doesn’t want to eat their lunch, whose pet budgies have died, who visits their father on weekends, and more.

Readers young and old will see themselves in these beautifully illustrated poems—a collection full of laughter, tears and wonder.

Key Text Features

author’s note

Illustrations

poems

table of contents

writing inspiration

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Music inspires friendship and a life full of dreams and adventure in this wordless picture book from Milan Pavlović.

When a fish hears the singing of a violin, it is drawn out of the water and into the world of a young musician sitting on a shady bench. Soon fish and boy are flying over the rooftops together, past lively street musicians, a flock of birds, then from planet to planet, before landing back on earth for an idyllic afternoon in the park. In a forest of giant dandelions they discover a little house where a band plays cheerily, then, swept up by the wind, they tumble past a familiar-looking tree and bench, where the violin lies waiting to be played once more.

Milan Pavlović’s wordless picture book celebrates the joy to be found in music, friendship, dreams and adventure.

Key Text Features
illustrations

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.

The northern lights shine, women gather to eat raw caribou meat and everyone could be family in this ode to small-town life in Nunavut, written in English and Inuktitut.

Sisters Angnakuluk Friesen and Ippiksaut Friesen collaborate on this story about what it’s like to grow up in an Inuit community in Nunavut. Every line about the hometown in this book will have readers thinking about what makes their own hometowns unique. With strong social studies curriculum connections, Kisimi Taimaippaktut Angirrarijarani / Only in My Hometown introduces young readers to life in the Canadian North, as well as the Inuit language and culture.

Angnakuluk’s simple text, translated into Inuktitut and written out in syllabics and transliterated roman characters, is complemented by Ippiksaut’s warm paintings of their shared hometown.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

“Masterful artwork and nuanced verse invite readers to hold their breath and dive deep.” Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

Sophia bravely dives down to discover the secrets under the sea. She encounters beautiful fish and floating forests. Farther down, the dark water is full of tentacles and treasures. Deep underwater, she is never alone. Do you dare dive down after her?

The ocean is full of endless possibilities in this dreamy, imagistic story from acclaimed author/illustrator Irene Luxbacher. Her otherworldly paintings show colorful fish, rippling seawater and the secrets to be found at the bottom of the ocean. Sophia’s journey will linger with readers long after the return to shore.

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.1.6
Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Let yourself be dazzled by creatures around the world in this brilliant nonfiction picture book about iridescence.

Have you ever noticed the rainbow-like shimmer on certain bird feathers, insect bodies and animal scales? This effect, called iridescence, changes depending on the angle from which its viewed, and animals across the globe use the effect to both blend in and stand out. 

In playful rhyming couplets, Time to Shine takes a closer look at these creatures and their sparkly “clothes,” from the mallard duck’s shining green flying “cap,” which allows the birds to coordinate flight movements, to the reed frog’s heat reflecting “vest,” to the hummingbird’s sequinned “costume,” which helps to attract a mate. A secondary level of prose text on each spread gives further context for each animal’s particular environment and adaptation.

Light seems to dance off of the book's vibrant pages, with illustrations that bring us up close and personal with animals both exotic and familiar to young readers. An author’s note provides additional information about the science of iridescence.

Key Text Features

author's note

bibliography

definitions

explanation

facts

further information

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

This extraordinary little book gives us a glimpse into the world of a young boy who has lost his mother and one of his legs in the Iran-Iraq war. We meet the boy in his room, where he recreates the conflict with an imaginary enemy and soldiers, trying to avenge his losses. The boy's father urges him to take off his artificial leg when he is at home, to join his uncles and aunties who have arrived for dinner. But when he does, he finds out that they are all about to go off to meet his new mother.

Back in his room he meets an enemy soldier who is also missing a limb. Identifying with this soldier, the boy offers him his artificial leg. And as he does, his mother smiles down on him from her picture on the wall, acknowledging his hurt and giving him comfort.

A wallet, a set of keys, a pair of glasses — these are some of the household objects that disappear and are fantastically reconstituted in Cybèle Young’s inventive new picture book. Minimal text conveys the magic of a world where even inanimate objects are constantly undergoing a process of growth, transformation and change.

An introduction describing the frustration we feel when we lose something is followed by a catalogue of misplaced objects. Each item is shown first in its original form and then, through a gatefold spread, is shown in the process of transforming into a marvelous and mysterious sea creature. At the very end of the book, we see these transformed objects in their new, watery habitat, a conclusion which will leave readers astonished by the distance they — like the lost objects themselves — have travelled.

Some Things I’ve Lost invites readers to consider the inevitability of change and the power of the imagination. On finishing the book, children and adults alike will look more closely at everything they have previously taken for granted.

An urgent and eloquent account of a boy traveling in a caravan from his beloved homeland of El Salvador to the US border.

This novel in verse is a powerful first-person account of Misael Martínez, a Salvadoran boy whose family joins the caravan heading north to the United States. We learn all the different reasons why people feel the need to leave — the hope that lies behind their decision, but also the terrible sadness of leaving home. We learn about how far and hard the trip is, but also about the kindness of those along the way.

Finally, once the caravan arrives in Tijuana, Misael and those around him are relieved. They think they have arrived at the goal of the trip — to enter the United States. But then tear gas, hateful demonstrations, force and fear descend on these vulnerable people. The border is closed. The book ends with Misael dreaming of El Salvador.

This beautiful and timely story is written in simple but poetic verse by Jorge Argueta, the award-winning author of Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds. Award-winning Mexican illustrator Manuel Monroy illuminates Misael’s journey. An author’s note is included, along with a map showing the caravan’s route.

Key Text Features
author’s note
map
illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Yellow is Ella’s favorite color — she loves the bright, sunny daytime. But every night, as darkness falls, she becomes afraid.

Yellow is Ella’s favorite color — she loves the bright, sunny daytime. But every night, as darkness falls, she becomes afraid. Her mother encourages her to look at the soft glow of the moon and fireflies dancing in the night. Ella listens to the chirping of crickets and the gentle rustling of the wind as she gradually realizes that nighttime can be something to look forward to rather than something to fear.

With sweet, luminous illustrations by Aimée Sicuro, this story will inspire parents and children to welcome the peaceful nature of nighttime into their homes and hearts.

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.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

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

In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the US border.

They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.

As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the US border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.

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.

Fern and Horn look like two peas in a pod, but they have very different ways of seeing the world, in this joyful picture book about creativity by renowned author and illustrator Marie-Louise Gay.

Fern loves to draw flowers and butterflies, birds and bees, caterpillars and orange trees. Horn wants to draw too, but he thinks his flowers look like purple pancakes and his caterpillars like striped socks.

“Draw whatever you want!” Fern tells him.

Horn draws an enormous elephant that tramples all over her pictures.

Fortunately, Fern’s imagination is as big as the universe. She loves gazing at the stars and cutting out star shapes. Again, Horn tries to follow suit, but he is frustrated with his creations and makes a ferocious paper polar bear that devours Fern’s stars.

Undeterred, Fern decides to build a castle that can withstand elephants and polar bears, but a fire-breathing dragon comes along. Luckily, Fern knows exactly what dragons like best …

Illustrations full of vibrant color and collage bring to life a story about the endless imagination and creative energy of young children. Marie-Louise Gay suggests that if children are given the time and space to explore the many paths to creativity, the results are brilliant and inspiring.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

The provocative fictional memoir of a boy actor in Shakespearian London.

In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to appear on stage, and so female parts were played by boy actors. In I Was Cleopatra, readers meet John Rice — perhaps the most beautiful and acclaimed boy actor of them all. It is believed by many that John Rice originated the roles of Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and Cordelia, and this fictional memoir explores his life both on and off the stage. With graceful prose and an encyclopedic knowledge of the period, Dennis Abrams invites readers to experience gender fluidity and sexuality through the fictional recollections of a fascinating historical figure as he reflects on his life in this “farewell” to his theatrical past.

The story follows John from the age of thirteen, when he leaves his family in Reading to join the King’s Men theater troupe in London as an apprentice boy actor. Over the course of the next few years, John eagerly hones the acting skills necessary to portray female roles. He memorizes lines, reads all the plays he can get his hands on, and works on imitating female gestures and mannerisms. He becomes a friend, and eventually a lover, of Alexander, a boy actor who is getting too old to play female roles. And he works closely with Shakespeare himself, who coaches him through the roles of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, among others.

But around the time he turns sixteen, John starts to worry about inevitably becoming too old to convincingly portray women onstage, which leads to some unsettling choices.

Key Text Features
literary references
author’s note

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

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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Winner of the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's Literature — Illustrated Books

Tokyo lives in a small house between giant buildings with his family and his cat, Kevin. For years, highways and skyscrapers have been built up around the family’s house where once there were hills and trees. Will they ever experience the natural world again?

One day, an old woman offers Tokyo seeds, telling him they will grow into whatever he wishes. Tokyo and his grandfather are astonished when the seeds grow into a forest so lush that it takes over the entire city overnight. Soon the whole city has gone wild, with animals roaming where cars once drove. But is this a problem to be surmounted, or a new way of living to be embraced?

With Tokyo Digs a Garden, Jon-Erik Lappano and Kellen Hatanaka have created a thoughtful and inspiring fable of environmentalism and imagination.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

The delightful adventures of a visually impaired barn cat and his annoying flea, as they set off to experience the world and find themselves participants in some of the most remarkable events of the early twentieth century.

Pudding Tat is born on the Willoughby Farm in 1901 — just another one of Mother Tat’s kittens. But it turns out that Pudding is anything but ordinary. He is pure white with pink eyes that, though beautiful, do not see well, and hearing that is unusually acute. He finds himself drawn to the sweet sounds of the world around him — the pattering heartbeat of a nearby mouse, the musical tinkling of a distant stream.

Soon the sounds of adventure call to Pudding, too. But before he can strike out into the wide world on his own, he hears a voice — coming from right inside his own ear. A flea has claimed Pudding as his host. The bossy parasite demands that Pudding take him away from the lowly barn and the drunken singing of his fellow fleas. He doesn’t want adventure but a finer life — one where he can enjoy a warm bed and blood flavored not with mice, but with beef tenderloin and cream.

Fortunately for this mismatched pair, the world is an extremely interesting place in 1901. Over the next decade and a half, Pudding and his flea find themselves helping to make history — a journey over Niagara Falls in a barrel, a visit to the Pan-American Exposition on the day President McKinley is shot, a luxurious stay in Manhattan with songwriter Vincent Bryan, a terrifying trip on the airship America, and a voyage on the ill-fated Titanic.

Through each narrow escape, the call to adventure for the cat, and luxury for his disgruntled flea, beckons them on, right to the devastation of a World War I battlefield. Then Pudding is filled with a new longing, one that brings him, with his flea’s help now, full circle and back home.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

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 Anskohk Aboriginal Children's Book of the Year Award. Finalist for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the Ruth Schwartz Award

In just four days young Shi-shi-etko will have to leave her family and all that she knows to attend residential school.

She spends her last days at home treasuring the beauty of her world -- the dancing sunlight, the tall grass, each shiny rock, the tadpoles in the creek, her grandfather's paddle song. Her mother, father and grandmother, each in turn, share valuable teachings that they want her to remember. And so Shi-shi-etko carefully gathers her memories for safekeeping.

Richly hued illustrations complement this gently moving and poetic account of a child who finds solace all around her, even though she is on the verge of great loss -- a loss that Indigenous Peoples have endured for generations because of the residential schools system.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

This springtime companion to Bear’s Winter Party combines fifteen kid-friendly recipes with a sweet story about friendship and food.

When Bear wakes up after a long, cold winter, he makes a special spring lunch and invites Fox to join him. The food is delicious, and Fox asks Bear to teach him how to cook.

They walk through the forest collecting honey, nuts and other wild ingredients, and they greet their friends along the way. With an armload of tasty foods, Bear and Fox return to Bear’s den and cook up a feast to share.

Afterwards, Bear writes down his recipes so that Fox (and you!) can enjoy many marvelous meals. His cookbook — Best of Bear — offers a selection of kid-friendly, forest-themed recipes, including nut burgers, wild greens pita pizza, hazelnut–chocolate chip cookies and a wild strawberry smoothie.

Readers can revisit the animal friends from Bear’s Winter Party and try out fifteen fun recipes in this playful story/cookbook from award-winning author Deborah Hodge, featuring exuberant art by Lisa Cinar.

Key Text Features
author’s note
recipes
index

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

American Library Association Notable Books List selection

In this lavish tribute to the art of children's book illustration thirty-three of the world's most noted illustrators have created original works of art based on a favorite childhood text. They have donated the use of their art exclusively for this book so that a royalty on all sales can be given to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

This organization, at the heart of whose mandate lies the promotion of books of the highest quality, has been honoring illustrators through the Hans Christian Andersen Awards for many decades. It is in honor of this work that many of the world's greatest illustrators for children, from Andersen winners to unknown but talented newcomers, have agreed to participate in this celebratory anthology.

Renowned children's book illustrator Ian Wallace brings his masterful ability to paint landscape and his cultural sensitivity to The Huron Carol, a beautiful and unusual song with a rich history.

In the early 1600s Father Jean de Brébeuf came to Canada from his native France as a Jesuit missionary. He settled among the Huron, or Ouendat, people in what is now Midland, Ontario. Despite his missionary zeal, Brébeuf was sensitive to the people with whom he lived. He learned their language and he wrote, in Huron, the original version of this famous Christmas carol. He and his fellow priests, called Black Robes, and many of their Huron parishioners were killed in an Iroquois raid in 1649.

But Brébeuf's carol continued to be sung by successive generations of Hurons. Then in 1926, Toronto writer Jesse Edgar Middleton, inspired by Brébeuf, wrote his own version of the carol in English. His are the familiar words we sing today, describing the Huron landscape, flora and fauna in telling the Christmas story.

Ian Wallace's luminous illustrations, set against the dramatic backdrop of Georgian Bay, make this a stunning Christmas gift book. Multilingual versions of the text, the music and a full description of how this carol has come down to us today are included.

Melanie and Melvin may be twins, but they couldn’t be more different.

Melanie is LOUD and Melvin is quiet. Melvin likes frogs and Melanie loves MOTORCYCLES! When the twins learn that they will get their very own mobility scooters, Melanie is excited to race to school, but Melvin is worried he’ll fall — and that people will stare. And there’s a problem: Grandma can’t afford the scooters without selling one of Mom’s treasured paintings, one of the only things the twins have left to remember their parents.

In the process of getting their scooters, Melanie and Melvin have to navigate challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis: rudeness from a store clerk and products that aren’t made with kids in mind. But in the end, Melanie and Melvin choose scooters that are just right for them and make moving through their neighborhood a new adventure.

Written by disability advocate and mobility scooter user Dorothy Ellen Palmer, and illustrated by Maria Sweeney, The Scooter Twins is an #ownvoices story that shares the joys and challenges of disabled childhood, and offers many kids who get new wheels the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3

Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

In this timeless bedtime story, the moon’s luminous, watchful presence inspires wishes of hope and love, with dreamy watercolour illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Milan Pavlović.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be the moon?

“I wish I were the moon,” says the speaker in this timeless bedtime story, “so that I could shine on you.” The moon shines to guide a journey home, glistens beautifully on icy snow, and wishes peace and safety for travelers, friends and troubled hearts.

Milan Pavlović’s dreamy watercolor illustrations complement this sweet story from Patricia and Guy Storms. Children and the adults who read to them will be delighted as moon wishes reach over icebergs, into towns, through forests and under the sea.

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

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.3.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

When the moon comes up over the mountains, all the animals in the rain forest go to sleep. But…what’s that noise? And how can the animals make it stop?

"Wuaaah, wuaaah, wuaaah." The noise goes on and on. Cuddled up inside an abandoned box, someone is sobbing, and one by one, the animals try to comfort the little one. But with each offering—of a blanket, some fresh water, mango, and so on—the small creature settles only briefly before wailing once again. Finally, Tiger disappears and returns with the little elephant’s mother. Peace is restored, until… "Wuu, wuu, wuuuuuu," cries a child in a nearby village. This time, it is the baby elephant who solves the problem by yelling out, "That child must have a kiss! Then we can all go back to sleep."

Written and illustrated with very young children in mind, this book is perfect for bedtime. Children will be intrigued by the mystery of who is crying in the abandoned box and what he could be crying about, and they will be reassured when the little elephant’s mother returns just in time to give him a good night kiss. They will also be delighted by the surprise twist at the end, when a human child begins to cry just when the animals think their troubles are over for the night—and like the little elephant, readers will know exactly what the human child needs.

A Haitian American girl finds connection to generations of family lore in this story of identity, heart and home.

Every winter, a young girl flies to Haiti to visit her Auntie Luce, a painter.

The moment she steps off the plane, she feels a wall of heat, and familiar sights soon follow — the boys selling water ice by the pink cathedral, the tap tap buses in the busy streets, the fog and steep winding road to her aunt’s home in the mountains.

The girl has always loved Auntie Luce’s paintings — the houses tucked into the hillside, colorful fishing boats by the water, heroes who fought for and won the country’s independence. Through Haiti’s colors, the girl comes to understand this place her family calls home. And when the moment finally comes to have her own portrait painted for the first time, she begins to see herself in a new way, tracing her own history and identity through her aunt’s brush.

Key Text Features
author’s note
glossary
translations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

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.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Amazonia is an extraordinary book of Brazilian folktales that combines the authentic voice of Daniel Munduruku, a noted indigenous author who grew up in the Amazon rainforest, with the imagined Amazon of Nikolai Popov, one of Russia's major artists and its foremost children's book illustrator.

Many years ago, Nikolai Popov, Russia's leading children's book illustrator, illustrated an extensive, academic collection of Brazilian folktales. The sources for his illustrations were the stories themselves and his own richly imagined Amazonia. Today the book is out of print and only a few copies survive -- a fate shared by many great books from the golden age of Russian children's books.

Groundwood in collaboration with a Brazilian publisher, Edicões SM Brasil, commissioned Daniel Munduruku, a noted indigenous Brazilian author, to select those stories he felt were most representative of the peoples of the Amazon and to retell them in his own voice.

Mermaids, jaguars, snakes, flying men, witches -- extraordinary creatures from the world's most important wild jungle live on in these tales. The stories are fascinating, and sometimes startling, as protagonists are killed off or transformed into animals or rise up precipitously into the heavens. But they offer a panorama of experience -- conflict and death, love and seduction, greed and gluttony, hunting and fishing, cooking and caring for plants -- and describe the origins of the natural world.

Munduruku's storytelling and Popov's imagination bring us the tales of the people of the Amazon in all their magic wonder.

An introduction describes the importance of myths, how the stories have survived and their relevance today. A glossary provides more information about animals and plants that may be unfamiliar to North American readers.

Do you ever wonder what could happen if we all hid away? If we stayed in, we just might see … the animals come out!

A delightful series of poems describes the many animals that emerge from the woods, the hills and the skies when we are not around. Peek out your window and watch the deer grazing under the streetlights, the rabbits hopping through our vegetable gardens, and the ducks quack quack quacking along the sidewalks. 

The Animals Come Out was inspired by the wildlife seen in quieted urban areas during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that young readers may well remember. But this book also encourages readers to be aware that, in fact, we share the outdoors with these animals all the time, and to consider the impact that we have upon them.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

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.2.4

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the US border.

They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.

As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the US border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.

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.

A young space traveler discovers art painted millennia before by a human being—just like him.

Our hero travels all alone on a spaceship, through the universe, past galaxies, comets and planets to go visit his grandmother on Earth for the summer holidays. She takes him to visit an ancient cave, where he discovers handprints and drawings of unknown animals made by human beings, just like him. To top off his wonderful holiday she gives him mysterious objects which once belonged to his grandfather — paper and crayons. On the way home he draws what he saw on his travels — to the amazement of his fellow passengers.

Jairo Buitrago’s thought-provoking story reminds us of what remains as everything changes. Rafael Yockteng’s fabulous art, a tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, presents us a wonderful, diverse future in which space travel is common, though knowledge of the past is still a secret treasure to be discovered.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

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.

Let’s go! Experience the magic of skating on wild ice.

Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing … or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow-covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter … and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again.

In her signature poetic style, Jean E. Pendziwol describes the exhilarating experience of skating on the wild ice of Lake Superior, including the haunting singing that occurs as the ice expands and contracts. Accompanied by Todd Stewart’s breathtaking illustrations, this book will make us all long to skate wild!

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

La niña al centro de esta historia vive entre dos mundos. De un lado está su casa, donde vive con su papá latinoamericano y su abuela norteamericana. Su mamá murió cuando ella nació. Allí hay muchas cosas bonitas, muchos libros y mucho dinero. En el otro lado esta la casa de su otra abuela, donde vive su prima con su propia madre y mucha gente más. Esta es una casa católica, donde las posesiones materiales no son especialmente importantes. Aquí la casa siempre está llena de gente, tanto los que viven en la casa como todos aquellos que vienen por una refacción generosa por la tarde y por un poco de buen chisme.

The amazing story of how the world’s greatest fossilist found her first huge find at the age of twelve.

Mary was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, England. Her father, a carpenter and part-time fossil hunter, taught his children to look for fossils.

When her father injured himself and was unable to work, Mary quit school and took up fossil hunting full-time to help support her family, a task that became even more important when her father died, leaving the Annings in debt.

At the age of twelve, Mary, with her older brother Joe, found what they believed to be the skeleton of a gigantic crocodile, the Great Croc of the legends. Between dodging her rival fossil hunter the Curiman, and the sheer work of carefully digging out the fossil, Mary took almost a year to excavate what would later be termed the Ichthyosaurus.

Mary Anning was uneducated, poor and a woman, but her life’s work of fossil hunting led her to make many discoveries that influenced our understanding of prehistoric creatures and the age of the Earth.

In this triumphant novel about scientific discovery, Monica Kulling brings Mary Anning and her world to life for young readers. 

Key Text Features
author's note
historical context
resources
facts
further reading

The amazing story of Emily Warren Roebling, the woman who stepped in to oversee the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was completed in 1883.

Emily was not an engineer, but she was educated in math and science. She married Washington Roebling, the chief engineer of the famous bridge. When Washington became ill from decompression sickness, Emily stepped in, doing everything from keeping the books, to carrying messages for her husband, to monitoring the construction of the bridge. She was the first person to cross the Brooklyn Bridge when it opened.

Emily, who went on to study law among many other accomplishments, is an inspiration to all, as demonstrated through Frieda Wishinsky’s informative and engaging text and Natalie Nelson’s distinctive collage illustrations. Speech bubbles revealing imagined dialogue add a playful note to this historical account, which includes fascinating facts about the Brooklyn Bridge and a further reading list.

Key Text Features
further reading
speech bubbles

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

A joyful celebration of our daily companion, the sun, as it shines around the world.

“If I were the sun, I would sing a gentle morning song to wake my slumbering friends.” So begins this fresh and colorful collaboration between author Patricia Storms and illustrator Milan Pavlović, the creative team behind 2019’s beloved bedtime story, Moon Wishes.

Join the sun in this gentle imagining of its travels across the sky, lighting up our gloomiest days, celebrating a bountiful harvest, and delighting in the diversity of life around the world. 

Milan Pavlović’s vibrant watercolor illustrations complement Patricia Storm’s jubilant text. Young readers will be warmed by the sun’s wishes as they spread through the story, inspiring curiosity, gratitude, and the irresistible urge to step outside!

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

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

Charlie and his family are about to embark on another trip, to another out-of-the-way place off the beaten path. This time they are heading to an island in Croatia, a country Charlie has never even heard of. An incredibly beautiful country that lives in the shadow of war and conflict.

Even for a seasoned traveler like Charlie, Croatia is a very different experience. To travel in a country where the language is completely unfamiliar and half the words have no vowels. To visit remote villages where the Internet is so slow, you might as well not have it at all. Where goats are a traffic-calming device, red cliffs loom like fortresses over an impossibly blue sea, and luggage porters are a line of women pushing wheelbarrows.

Still, Charlie and his little brother, Max, manage to find adventure wherever they go. There’s cliff diving, pigs on spits, hair-raising ferry crossings and snake juice for breakfast (“Breakfast in Croatia — at your own risk!”). And there’s a sober side to their adventures this time, too. A friend who was sentenced to Croatia’s version of Alcatraz, despite committing no crime. An unsettling encounter with the Hermit of Vrgada. The sight of a half-destroyed village divided by a war that nobody won.

Charlie finds out that this area of the world has a long and troubled history, that wars are complicated, and that long-time feuds can continue to divide neighbors generations later. But he also discovers that you don’t need to speak the same language to communicate with people. Not when you’re having a party in a field, surrounded by goats and dancing in the glow of car headlights with the radio blaring out Croatian music.

A warm, funny and thought-provoking book that celebrates a child’s love of adventure and boundless curiosity about the world.

In this gentle meditation on the cycle of life, author and illustrator Paloma Valdivia gives us an opportunity to reflect on those who have gone, those who will come, and those of us who are here in this world — for the time being.

The neighbor’s cat, a favorite aunt or the fish in yesterday’s soup have gone — and we may well miss them. At the same time, we celebrate the arrival of a new baby or a litter of playful kittens. It’s a mystery where we come from and where we are going, so why not enjoy ourselves while we can?

Paloma Valdivia’s charming illustrations bring a light touch to this candid contemplation of life and death.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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).

Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center and its tangerine dress.

Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. He dreams about having space adventures, paints beautiful pictures and sings the loudest during circle time. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center — he loves wearing the tangerine dress.

But the children in Morris’s class don’t understand. Dresses, they say, are for girls. And Morris certainly isn’t welcome in the spaceship some of his classmates are building. Astronauts, they say, don’t wear dresses.

One day when Morris feels all alone, and sick from the taunts of his classmates, his mother lets him stay home from school. Morris reads about elephants, and puts together a puzzle, and dreams of a fantastic space adventure with his cat, Moo.

Inspired by his dream, Morris paints the incredible scene he saw, and brings it with him to school. He builds his own spaceship, hangs his painting on the front of it and takes two of his classmates on an outer space adventure.

With warm, dreamy illustrations Isabelle Malenfant perfectly captures Morris’s vulnerability and the vibrancy of his imagination. This is a sweetly told story about the courage and creativity it takes to be different.

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

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.

A girl in India discovers an ancient step well in this companion book to the creators’ much-loved Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

When a girl discovers a slab of stone on a weedy patch of land, she calls to her friends, “Look! Look!” The children clear away the weeds and garbage and find more stones. They call their families to come and see and begin to dig around the stones. Word travels to villages nearby, and more and more people join in, until the digging reveals steps that lead down to an ancient well. At the bottom, there’s even a little water! When the rains come, they cause an underground spring to flow once again, filling the ancient well with fresh, clean water and greening the surrounding fields.

Lyrical writing and lively, richly colored art come together once again in this compelling story that embraces community, nature and the passage of time. Includes an author’s note about ancient step wells and their potential to help handle floods and provide water.

Key Text Features

illustrations

author’s note

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

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.

Jewel is on the run from an abusive home situation and furtively living at school. After Maya discovers her classmate’s secret, should she tell? Or can she help Jewel on her own?

Thirteen-year-old Jewel has been holding her life together ever since her older sister, Charmaine, suddenly left home with no forwarding address. She tried to find Charmaine once, but that only brought her family to the attention of the police. Now Jewel keeps her head down at school, looks after her special-needs brother as well as she can, and tries to steer clear of her parents and their shady friends.

When her father’s friend comes into her bedroom one night, Jewel finally understands why Charmaine had to leave home. Soon she is on the run herself. When her food runs out, Jewel chances upon a new place to live — the cupboard of the art room at school. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to live under the radar when you have perfected the art of being almost invisible.

That is, until Jewel’s classmates, Maya and Lily, discover her washing her hair in the girls’ washroom at school and making breakfast in the lunchroom. They take her on as their project, finding her places to sleep, fixing her hair and wardrobe — even as they can’t quite understand her terror, or why she is so afraid of seeking adult help. But the girls help keep Jewel and her secret safe — until they no longer can.

Told in the alternating voices of Maya and Jewel, this is a thought-provoking and moving story about loyalty, privilege, keeping secrets, and what it means to be a good friend.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Winner of CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal
Winner of the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award

A young boy wakes up to the sound of the sea, visits his grandfather’s grave after lunch and comes home to a simple family dinner with his family, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea. Stunning illustrations by Sydney Smith, the award-winning illustrator of Sidewalk Flowers, show the striking contrast between a sparkling seaside day and the darkness underground where the miners dig.

With curriculum connections to communities and the history of mining, this beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of Canadian history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a Cape Breton mining town will enthrall children and move adult readers.

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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Charlotte’s life is changed forever when her parents’ marriage breaks up, and Charlotte has to leave her beloved house and her old life behind. Then two very different boys cross her path, and a new emotion creeps into her sadness and anger — an emotion that is both confusing and sweet.

Charlotte falls in love with Carlo, tries to stay friends with tough-guy Sulzer and faces the jealousy of the cool-girl clique at school. As she watches her parents cope, sometimes haplessly, with changes in their own personal lives, and as she deals with a new baby brother, a potential stepfather and unexpected house moves, she realizes that love is a messy and risky business.

If grownups can make such a hash of it, how on earth can a fifteen-year-old cope?

But Charlotte does cope, magnificently, as she tries to figure out how to be a big sister, a daughter, a friend, a good person. And in the end she finds the courage to take responsibility for her own actions, and sets off to be with the boy she loves.

Set in a small town on the Austrian Danube, this is a familiar story that will touch a chord with every teenager, yet it is told with refreshing emotional honesty. Devoid of the judgment, sentimentality, sitcom snark or sexual precociousness that define so many North American young adult novels about first love, this story shows a strong, open, curious girl stumbling and prevailing as she figures out how to turn away from the noise of other people’s expectations, and listen to her own heart.

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.

Alice and Mrs. Nobody love getting up to no good. While giving each other fashionable haircuts, belting nighttime duets, or scribbling magic-marker wall murals, the two friends are inseparable. Until the day they disagree on what to play next. 

Mrs. Nobody wants Alice to play Puppy. But when Alice pushes back (she was Puppy last time!), she feels the wrath of Mrs. Nobody, who grows bigger and bigger and louder and louder before disappearing altogether. 

Although Alice suffers a long, lonely night without the company of Mrs. Nobody, she finds some solace in the sound of her own voice. When Mrs. Nobody reappears the next day, Alice knows what she must say.

This debut picture-book by award-winning novelist and poet Y. S. Lee puts a surprising spin on the concept of setting boundaries — particularly with those closest to us. Readers will find themselves immersed in the fanciful world of Alice and Mrs. Nobody — brilliantly rendered by internationally acclaimed illustrator Marie Lafrance — while delighting in the twists of an imaginary friendship gone awry.

Key Text Features

illustrations

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

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.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

When the “grownup virus” hits, kids who live in the same apartment building must cope with strange new rules and extended time at home with parents and siblings.

And they survive brilliantly, each in their own way. Twin boys throw themselves into an independent research assignment on prehistoric people and embrace their own devolution. A budding track star is encouraged to run laps on his balcony by a neighbor who has a secret crush on him. A classroom troublemaker reaches out to a teacher when his own father begins to exhibit signs of mental illness. A young entrepreneur saves himself and his hairdresser mother from financial collapse by renting out the family dog. And a girl finds a way to communicate with her hearing-impaired neighbor so that they can spy on the rest of the building. 

The stories follow the course of the pandemic, from the early measures through lockdown, as the kids in the building observe the stresses on the adults around them and use their own quirky kid ingenuity to come up with ways to make their lives better. Funny, poignant and wise, this book will long outlive even the pandemic.

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Every spring the little girl who lives next door to Rosario helps him plant vegetables. One spring, Rosario plants a fig tree, which soon bears sweet purple fruit. But when fall comes, he bends it over and buries it in the ground. What kind of magic is Rosario performing?

The next spring, on planting day, the little girl and Rosario make holes for tomato plants, push in stakes for beans and plant other vegetables. Then Rosario begins to unearth the buried fig tree. It looks dead, for sure. But one hot sunny day, a fresh green leaf appears.

Inspired by her next-door neighbor, Charis Wahl has written a sweet and simple story about a little girl’s first-hand experience with the magic of gardening. The story is complemented by Luc Melanson’s gently humorous illustrations.

“Schwartz dreamily captures the small wonders of childhood and the air of magic that can accompany season’s change.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

On a crisp fall day, Pinny decides to go for a walk. She packs a sweater, her rain hat, a book, a snack and her treasure pouch. Set for adventure, Pinny’s day includes a windy game of tag with her friends, an exciting call for help from the lighthouse keeper and a surprising encounter with the falling autumn leaves.

From Joanne Schwartz, author of the acclaimed picture book Town Is by the Sea, comes a story of friendship, resourcefulness and the beauty of fall, all cast in the gentle light of Isabelle Malenfant’s soft pastel palette. The four short chapters in this book, suited for newly independent readers, capture the exhilarating feeling of a perfect fall day.

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.1.5
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Honor, Sydney Taylor Book Award

In this wordless time-travel adventure, three children at a Passover seder visit ancient Egypt to help baby Moses find his way safely to Pharaoh’s daughter.

When a family settles at the table for Passover, their dog nabs the afikomen bag (containing matzah used for the seder) and dives under the tablecloth. The children follow him and find themselves transported to ancient Egypt. There, they see baby Moses’ mother and sister Miriam placing him in a reed basket. The baby’s journey down the Nile is hazardous — he encounters several obstacles along the way, including a wily crocodile. Thanks to the three children, he reaches his destination unharmed, with a piece of afikomen tucked into his basket. The children return to the seder table and, exhausted, fall asleep. But what are their parents to make of the grains of sand in the afikomen bag?

Includes an author’s note about the meaning of the Passover holiday and about different afikomen traditions.

Key Text Features

author’s note

explanation

illustrations

literary references

panels

sources

wordless

Correlates to the Common Core States 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.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Maya is excited to be in India visiting Grandma, but their time together isn’t quite what she expected … A companion book to When I Found Grandma.

It’s Maya’s first morning in India, but Grandma is already rushing her — it’s market day and they must make the most of Maya’s visit. When Maya comes out of her room wearing her favorite ripped jeans, Grandma wants to sew them! Maya finds the market too hot, too loud, and it’s full of Grandma’s nosy neighbors. Even back at home, Grandma’s friends keep dropping by. Maya just longs to be left alone. But the next morning the house is unusually quiet. Dad explains that Grandma has had to go to the hospital. And suddenly Maya begins to see things differently … 

Once again Saumiya Balasubramaniam explores the challenges of cross-cultural and intergenerational relationships in this sweet story with vivid illustrations by Kavita Ramchandran.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

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

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.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.