Moneybunny books are terrific! By Cinders McLeod

 

Through a collaboration with UW-Extension Outagamie County Money Smart week activities happened across public libraries last week. Our volunteer from the committee was Mia Peterson who works at Fox Cities Credit Union. She disseminated resources to families during a regularly scheduled story time on April 7, 2025. It was cool for children to walk away with banks to save their money in! For years, with my strong background in children’s literature, I have studied books that make sense for teaching money skills to young children. Many of the books are just so-so. They teach the names and values of coins and currency, but they do not teach healthy habits of dealing with and taking actions with money.

       This year I hit the jackpot (ha-ha!) with a series of books that have positive messages about how to work with money AND have good stories. I highly recommend these! They are available to you through Infosoup. (The series is Moneybunny; the author & illustrator is Cinders McLeod) In each story carrots are the currency, and a bunny rabbit is the main character.

 In Earn it! Bun wants to be a rich and famous singer. How will she earn it with practical goals?

 In Give it! Chummy is an ordinary hero helping the bees.

 In Save it! Honey scales back her wish to what she can afford.

In Spend it! Sonny makes a careful choice about what to buy with what money he has.

 

A new addition published in 2024! How do you spend? This is on my reading list!

 

 

Precious

 Beautiful color book, I love the way that it is formatted. It won my heart with "red is for cordial"!!!

This board book is designed for our youngest readers! Introduce ANNE to the next generation!

Yay!

 

Yay! A great book for anyone who has a kindness rock garden and very happy for this book for COLOR YOUR WORLD, summer reading, 2025.

Historical fiction in the picture book format!

 I love that the picture book format is so well suited to telling a factual story.  There are so many great picture books that take an overlooked piece of history and spin a yarn around it. This is a case in point, a story about how a stray cat won two blue ribbons at a cat show in a fancy hotel. The author and illustrator are sisters! The final two paragraphs of the author's note are delightful:

"It is the job of adults to make and change laws, but I think it's young people who change the culture. Children, like my fictional Louise and real-life you, are often able to see the world not as it is but as it should be.

Furry friends help, too. The year after the contest that inspired this story, Mr. Silver entered again and won six awards, including two first prizes, at the 1948 Greater St. Louis Cat Club Show. Hope sometimes comes on little cat feet."

Intriguing premise

A great book to think about opposites and differing perspectives.

Sun knows only what happens during the day and Moon knows only what happens during the night. Cloud comes along and offers sage advice: “stay up a bit beyond your bedtime and see what it is like.” They each get to see the human activities which change based on the time of day.

This is a very clever book. The hard part for young kids is to think that both Sun and Moon could be correct simultaneously. This is too hard for kids’ black and white thinking at a young age. I loved when I used this for read aloud and kids were saying, “Moon is right” or “Sun is right”. And they were so definite, adorable!

I used props with this book the second time around. They helped with comprehension. 

 

The beauty of a simple day outdoors

 This book is precisely why I adore picture books so much. It is the perfect example of a well designed book---wonderful text and wonderful illustrations!

This is an "oh so sweet" story about Father Bear and his cub. They have a wonderful time together going fishing and napping together afterwards. I love how they are able to while away the day. They are gentle and kind together and they enjoy the small pleasures of life (including reading!). Just lovely. Erin Stead does an amazing job of conveying the positive mood through her watercolor pictures.

Great rendition of THE THREE LITTLE PIGS!

I am so glad we have this book in our collection since we have guinea pigs for library pets here!
This book is patterned after the Three Little Pigs. Instead of the big bad wolf, the predator is a fox. After fox has destroyed two houses, the pigs tempt fox by telling him that he should try eating their tails first. They substitute something for their tails (genius!) which frightens fox and he runs away. Then we (the readers) are reminded that guinea pigs do not have tails! The illustrations by Amy Young are adorable.
*There is a fabulous two page spread at the end of the book called FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT GUINEA PIGS.

 

Two books that work for grieving, understanding the course of nature.

 I am including an "adult" book. However, truly anyone can go hiking for healing! Hurray!

I was astounded by this gorgeous book that gives a wonderful explanation of decomposition. There is a beautiful page toward the end of the book which states: "Life is everywhere. Death is not just an end, but a beginning." I think this is a perfect book for anyone who respects the cyclical power of nature. It is also a good book for a person grieving. How the fox departs this world is rough but realistic.

I am constantly recommending this powerful book to people here in Wisconsin who are grieving!

Why so slow?

 For anyone who has ever wondered why the zamboni machine moves so slowly, this is the book for you! There are nine distinct steps with this machine...fascinating stuff and, of course, it does an amazing job. This book also offers the good lesson that important things need to be handled slowly.

MLK Jr. tie!

 MLK Jr. Day is nearing and this is a perfect book to celebrate that occasion. In this book we meet the African American actress who was featured on the original STAR TREK TV series, Nichelle Nichols. She did not realize how much of a difference she was making as a role model to other African Americans until Martin Luther King, Jr. told her so. From that moment forward, she took that responsibility seriously. The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the message about how one person can make a striking difference is clear! Very cool!

Happy New Year!

I love this gorgeous picture book about horses Tim and Tom who take people for sleigh rides through the snow. First they take the children and then they take the elders. This is a celebration of the new year. Love it! The collages created by illustrator Micha Archer accompany this beautiful story about simple pleasures/traditions.
 

Wishing customs

 

Happy New Year, 2025! Making wishes is a universal habit across cultures. This non-fiction book for children (& up) explains many of them. The text is accompanied by vibrant photographs. Which of these wishing techniques have you used? For me, coins in the water is a favorite!