Age: 4+
Mindfulness: about the age of nature and our place in it changing over time

Simple text allows children to watch the changing scenery and human interaction with a steadfast, unmovable hill.

Age: 4+
Activism: Disability and Autistic advocacy
Identity: Autistic

What an absolute joy this book is. Written by a neurodivergent mother of neurodivergent children, a mother and her masculine-presenting child go through a normal day attending church, waiting for the bus, and ending their day with a bath and snuggles. While the written words celebrate the unique worldview and sensory experiences of the child (addressed as "you," the mother speaking to him) the progression of this simple day really stood out to me as a beautiful, powerful embrace. Perhaps amplified by the author's note saying, "It still sometimes feels like a radical act to show up with my child in the larger world, allowing and encouraging him to take up space within his own community."

And what a perfect illustrator to capture this autistic child's movements, feelings, and experience with the world, especially his mental connection to the star shape as the shape repeats throughout the book.

A really, really wonderful addition to the spectrum of autistic voices in children's literature.

Age: Kindergarten through 5th grade
Media: Collage--torn paper, cut paper with pastel, applique, found art
Illustrator Style: The diverse collage pictures celebrate the diversity of themes presented by the poets and help capture the eye of a child throughout the longer poems (although they're all pretty short).

A collection of poetry about African American children and their fathers. With a few challenging words, these poems have rhythm and concrete situations that children can follow including a father’s embrace, walking to church, reassuring love, a father’s influence and inspiration, and many more. The accompanying collage pictures add depth and interest to each poem’s story.

Age: 4-6 (lots of white space, some challenging words)
Media: Charcoal, watercolor

A sweet love story of two dreamers whose parents and friends want them to do something more productive with their time. They meet under an apple tree but their friends try and convince them it was a dream. The best part about this book is the format of the parallel story lines reversed on each side of the book: one from Rosa's point of view and the other from Trufo's point of view.

Age: 6-9 years
Media: Beautiful, expansive watercolor

A boy passes by an old man fishing without any line or bait and curiously asks what his intentions are. The old man explains that fishing is about patience and imagining the right bait. They go on to discover the limitless bounds of using the right sized bait to catch even the biggest of all: a Bengal Tiger.

Age: 3rd-4th grade

Excellent for school projects/papers. Divided into sections by actual examples of different wetlands including: Saltwater Estuary in Coastal CA, New England Bog, Delta Marsh in Southern France, Tundra in the Yukon Territory, Mangrove Swamp on a FL Island, Prairie Pothole Marsh in North Dakota, Bayou in Atchafalya Basin LA, Freshwater Papyrus Swamp in Africa, Florida Everglades river marsh.

Perfect for papers that need specific examples of where a wetland exists. Writing style close to fiction in that it describes the images seen in each wetland.

Age: 3-6 years, preschool

Provides: Inside and outside activities, short preparation guide, several activities to accompany a theme, follows and describes Science Standards of Learning, learning descriptions in other curricular areas