This book is about remembering your elders by what they leave when they pass. Things like lockets or musical instruments. For our main character, they are left a tent that leads to a lifetime of adventures both with and without grandma. Overall, this is an interesting book but the story is a tad lacking. Is it the tent that leaves the umbrella and the rocket ship or were those the toys that were inside of the tent.? 

 

This book looks at common fears, people have, and why this makes them afraid. It starts with a power outage and a child learning that fears are important, but they can always be defeated. The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful and are a joy to look at when turning page to page. The story is well done and is a great example of why fear is OK. Overall, this book is lovely and there will be some who want to read it over and over again. 

 

This book was the perfect match up as a picture book versus comic book. It’s very reminiscent of the old Disney shorts where the narrator would be telling you about something and the characters would take over. The main character of the story is absolutely positive that they are not in the right story.  Their story is not a spaceship, it’s not a knight,  a dragon, etc. The author and the main character are trying to find the perfect name of the perfect story and what one is reading about. This is all done with a very clever mix of graphic novel and picture books style with interesting and impactful narration. This is a five-star read. The author has helps kids find what type of stories they like, through a glossary of story types at the end of the book. 

 

This book is about a child who wants to play astronaut but not everyone else does. When they finally find a good astronaut buddy, it turns out the buddy has their own version of play and the two don’t match. But together that you will learn that compromise is a great thing, and sometimes compromise is better than getting their own way. 

 

At first this book pissed me off. Maria wants to dance in the school talent show. Her teacher is just one of many trying to talk her out of entering the talent competition at school. That is what pisses me off. That even the teacher is trying to cover up a kids want to be noticed. Halfway through the book, we discovered that Mara is in a wheelchair and that there’s not even a way for her to get up on stage without being lifted up. And what saves this book for me is at the end when you meet the author. The author herself is a wheelchair user, and someone who speaks to children about being different is OK. Knowing that this book was written by somebody with these lived experiences, made me feel better as otherwise it felt like an author picking on a differently abled character. I would hate to think that people had doubted Mara just because of her alternate mode transportation. 

 

These books pose a question to a group of kids, and they research an answer. In this book the question is, how do you get a cupcake to school without it getting squashed. By observing nature and those around them, the kids come up with the perfect answer. Overall, this book works. It’s laid out partially as a picture book, but then partially as a graphic novel. it teaches a lesson and entertains so the lesson will be memorable. 

 

This book is about childhood depression. Our main character has a dark cloud that is with them most of the time, and that is OK. What is important, is that those around them know it exists and it’s part of who they are. This book doesn’t sugarcoat or try to turn that dark cloud into anything else but realizes that there are good days and bad days. Depression does happen in kids, and it needs to be acknowledged. 

 

This book is a love letter to home. A little girl loves the street on which she lives and when people grumble about it, she writes letters to the offending item. Letters that say I love you and this is why. When she has her dark days and wants to grumble, she herself finds a letter. This book comes from the authors own experiences, particularly when her she three-year-old child noticed different things about the street they live on. This book was wonderful and a fantastic idea. 

 

This was a fun book. Reminiscent of Press Here, but unique on its own. Proof is a cloud. They love interacting with children and following along with what Ploof and the kids are doing. This book would be really really fun. It’s story time or made into an interactive, puppet show or story board. It’s simple it’s easy and it just works. 

 

This is another book in the Elinor Wonders series. It’s part picture book and part graphic novel. This time the kids are looking at insects and what they want to come to school dressed as for insect day. These are fun and well done. They manage to keep a reader’s attention and teach something at the same time.