2026 book by Mychal Threets and Lorraine Nam, a celebration of the joy created by libraries!

 

This is a very fine celebration of libraries—the people who use them and the people who work in them to create the best possible learning experiences. ALL ARE WELCOME! The lovely Mychal Threets uses positive words that jump off the page, and the illustrator Lorraine Nam brings the words to life with charming illustrations. This is such a happy, colorful book. It is perfect for American Library Week or any day!  

A sweet introduction to "chapter books"

 

This is a sweet book in three chapters. Kids can say that they read a “chapter book.”

Each story involves the main character, Chick, and a secondary character, Old-Auntie who is a hen. Chick has questions and Old-Auntie has answers!

Chapter 1—The Carrot That Would Not Grow—Chick learns to be happy with the result of a small but beautiful carrot.

Chapter 2—The Kite That Would Not Fly—Chick learns the components for great kite flying—a windy day and a hill to run up. I thought the leaf as a kite was so clever.

Chapter 3—The Starry Night—Chick learns that it is better to leave a favorite star in the sky where it belongs.

A fun April Fools' book!

This book talks about April Fools’ Day and makes nods to other things that happen in the approach to spring. For example, the characters are groundhogs. The headline of the paper they are reading, Woodchuck Weekly, is “Shadows! Why do they scare us?” The running of the maple sap is mentioned. A freak blizzard happens. We are familiar with these things in Northeast WI! This was a fun story with additional content to be discussed. 

 

One of those WEIRD days but better when you can sort it with a friend!

 This book seemed like it was written for last week in Seymour, WI!  Bear (Jeff) and Hare (Anders) have power outages at their homes. When they each go outside to check out the world, their doors blow shut and they are locked out. They each have spare keys with each other but they are both locked out! They face a bunch more problems together (including HAIL which we also experienced last week) and end up having a terrific laugh together to break the tension! Another way they break the stress is to go spend time in the water. Yes! My personal favorite way... to wash it all off! At the end of the book they conclude, "Good friends are like inner tubes. They keep you afloat through life's twists and turns." Hooray! 

A winner for teaching about how a bill is passed in our state government

I found this amazing book in Infosoup. It is appropriate for middle school readers. In this book, Mr. Tiffin (the educator) gets his students interested in creating a bill for a state cookie. There are a lot of steps to deciding such an idea and those are explored in the story. Among them are the committee process, the debating process, and the voting process. It is hard to come to consensus! What a good lesson! Ideas can come from any citizen, no matter what their age. Crafting a good idea means getting input from a lot of people and being willing to compromise. The state cookie they came up with reflects that: Apple Cinnamon Maple Syrup Oatmeal Cookie

Overarching lesson: Our state governments represent who we are. It is important to be a knowledgeable and active citizen. 

Fact: In Alabama, the Trinity Presbyterian School's (fourth grade class) cookie bill passed into law in 2023! The official state cookie is called the Yellowhammer. It has oats, brown sugar, and lots of pecans. Oat and pecans are grown in Alabama. 

 

A little lesson about how books can share a title!

Lovely book about the farm animals having a barn dance with scarecrow as the fiddler. The language in this book is rich. The "skinny kid" who joins in the dance is so cute and the kiddos laughed that he was going to bed in the MORNING (after). 

Look at the cover and realize that pig, horse, and sheep are going to have some accidents during the barn dance. Hovering owl will have something funny to share at the end of the book. 

It was fun to show participants at story time that books can share a title! Two children's literature GIANTS were the creators: Bill Martin Jr. and Pat Hutchins. 

 

Perfect, we all have been there!

 That situation where you think you have a brilliant idea and many people are discouraging (including one who does not have enough time for you) but you triumph because your idea "clicks" with just the right person it was meant for!
Yes, that is basically the gist of this fabulous picture book. I love picture books written on two levels: one for the child readers and one for the (accompanying) adult readers!