PPBF: Digestion the Musical

Digestion the MusicalWritten by Adam RexIllustrated by Laura ParkPublished 2022 by Chronicle BooksAges: 3-9Themes: Digestion, the human body, humor First page: Act 1Body! Body! Body! Body!Your bones hold up your muscles, and your muscles make you go.And your heart will have to hustleJust to get your blood to flowaround yourBody! Body! Body! Body! Review/Synopsis:Did you...

The Barn: PPBF

The BarnWriter: Leah H RogersIllustrator: Barry RootPublisher: Candlewick, 2021Ages: 3-7Themes: Memory, Farming, Animals First page: "I am a barn." Review/Synopsis: The Barn is a story of the life of a barn. Narrated from the barn's perspective, it reads with a gentle, lyrical voice. It describes the entrances and exits by the animals, the comfort and...

Amah Faraway

Amah FarawayWritten by Margaret Chiu GreaniasIllustrated by Tracy SubisakPublished 2022 Kylie and her mom fly across the Pacific to visit her Amah. She's nervous and feels a bit out of place at first, but with time the in-person connection grows and it becomes hard to think of leaving to go home. This book is a...

The Porridge Pot Goblin

The Porridge Pot GoblinWritten by: Jacqueline JulesIllustrated by: Hector BorlascaPublisher: Apples and Honey Press, 2022Ages: 4-7+Themes: siblings, Jewish heritage, problem solving While Rose and Benny help prepare for Shabbat, they have the misfortune to be visited by none other than a goblin. It's invisible, but still leaves tracks and a mess in its wake. The...

How Can We Be Kind

How Can We Be Kind, Wisdom from the Animal KingdomWritten by: Janet HalfmannIllustrated by: Darla OkadaPublisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books (Quarto) - 2022Ages: 3-6+Themes: Kindness, animals, non-fiction. Beginning: How can we be kind? We can look after each other, like European badgers do. Review: Kids can be kind, but did you know animals have their...

The Little House of Hope

The Little House of HopeWritten by: Terry Catasús JenningsIllustrated by: Raúl ColónPublisher: Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, 2022Ages: 3.5+Themes: Family, belonging, immigrationInformational fiction, semi-autobiographical First Page:It was a little house. Una Casita. Review:Esperanza and her family came to America from Cuba and find the perfect house for them. It smells a bit like wet socks,...

When Cloud Became a Cloud – PPBF

When Cloud Became a CloudWritten and illustrated: Rob HodgsonPublisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop, 2021Recommended ages: 3-8Themes: science, weather, STEM, water cycle, working togetherNon-fiction/informational fiction Synopsis: Cloud didn't use to be a cloud, she used to be part of the lake and then the evaporated droplets formed together into Cloud. She loves to travel and with...

Bake Infinite Pie With X+Y

Bake Infinite Pie with X+YWritten by Eugenia ChengIllustrated by Amber RenPublished 2022 X and Y are two kids who love pie and want lots of pie - infinite pie! How can one get infinite pie, and does it even exist? X and Y work together with their Aunt Z to explore math concepts. Books that...

No Nibbling

No NibblingWords by Beth FerryArt by A. N. KangPublished 2022 Derwood is a gardening goat, he loves to tend the tender little plants and keep them safe and growing. Safe being the important part, there are so many things to threaten his garden out there from leaf chewers to sapsuckers to... dandelions. Fortunately, that was...

A Dinosaur Named Ruth

A Dinosaur Named RuthHow Ruth Mason Discovered Fossils in Her Own BackyardWritten by Julia LyonIllustrated by Alexandra ByePublished 2021 Ruth Mason grew up in South Dakota and has a fascination with the odd "rocks" she finds strewn around her family's farm. She asks questions that no one can or will answer, but never stops looking...