The Together Tree, a message illustrated book that knows where it lives

There are certain illustrated books that hammer down into a select age range so efficiently that they’re the Zillow of suspect real estate areas. If you decide on a house that’s just one block down from another it could mean that your dream house has turned into a den of depreciation. The Together Tree is a very cute illustrated book that has its footprint firmly situated in the pre-k through first-grade market. Should any second graders enter the orbit of The Together Tree their “baby book” radar will immediately go off.

The Together Tree is an illustrated book with an anti-bullying message that does so softly for pre-k and kindergarten audiences.
A message book that doesn’t feel like a message book

The Forest Keeper, is non-fiction that’s tough to believe and inspiring to ponder

While his name might not be on the tip of your tongue, you know the story of Jadav Payeng. He’s the Indian teenager who in 1979, started planting seeds on an abandoned, arid, desolate riverbank where nothing had ever grown before. Every day he returned to the area to plant new seeds and water the existing ones. Over time his trees turned into a thicket and then a forest, which eventually attracted insects, then the birds that consume (or live symbiotically with) them. The Forest Keeper is an illustrated book that tells this story in a manner that makes this stranger-than-fiction story grounded and very much in a matter-of-fact.

The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, about how he saw a need, did repetitive, seemingly frustrating actions, and planted a new eco-system.
Non-fiction can’t be empowering? Hold my bamboo shoots

A Dollar’s Grand Dream, a fun money allegory that works on two levels

Kids love money. It’s not that they’re greedy Thurston Howell wannabe millionaires, rather, it’s more that they want to be lazy, do-nothing social media influencers who make dopey videos and get paid according to insane Markle-esque levels. A child’s curiosity about money and its power is natural. A Dollar’s Grand Dream felt familiar when I first looked at this illustrated book. Ah-this is similar to the book on pennies that I liked. While I disdain the fact that the penny, as a currency, is still a thing, the book itself was quite charming. This book follows that same template, but because it’s about a dollar, it has more weight, carries more interest, and is a better book because of it.

A Dollar’s Grand Dream is an illustrated book that brings the silly, but also cashes in on humor, a great story and our natural curiosity about money.
Money, puns, jokes and fun in an illustrated book on dollar bills

Super Small, Miniature Marvels of the Natural World is big poetic STEM     

STEM and poetry are two things that early elementary illustrated readers don’t see too much of. They see lots of illustrated books on cute topics that softly teach morals or lessons. In those books, there might be rhyming words or stanzas, but it’s not what educators would cast as poetry. The same can be said for the infrequency of non-fiction illustrated books in that there aren’t many of them. Super Small, Miniature Marvels of the Natural World seeks to bridge that gap, by doing so in an improbable combination.

Super Small is an illustrated book that threads the need of poetry, STEM and biology in a package that both entertains and educates at a high level.
A very smart book in a poetry, biology and STEM illustrated package

All Talk, a graphic novel on gang culture and a ‘good kid’ who dies young

All Talk is a mature graphic novel that you wish didn’t have to exist. It’s a graphic novel that’s laden with violence, occasional foul language and drug use that deftly illustrates the unspoken pressures that weigh down teens in urban areas that are prone to gangs. The story, in and of itself, is fascinating and a relatively simple one, albeit complex for those beings who are in its proximity. It’s the art in All Talk that takes this premise and magnifies it to something that makes readers think more about the story, even if they’re worlds away from where it might actually happen.

All Talk is a graphic novel for high school ages that unflinchingly looks at gangs, acting tough and the results that follow.
A mature graphic novel that serves as a modern allegory on gang culture

In the Tunnel, realistic fiction that breathes life into mglit

There is a reason that people read different types of genres. If you read stories that roughly revolve around the same characters or situations that you’re used to then your perspective will never expand or be challenged. Don’t misinterpret that sentence. By “challenge” I mean “to grow” or expand what you think that you know, and not to confront or bicker merely for the sake of argument. Granted, some books will certainly troll or bait folks into circular conflict, but literature like that is easy to spot. Into the Tunnel is realistic fiction that “challenges” mglit readers in just the right way.

In the Tunnel slow boils its way into your awareness with a realistic fiction story about family, war, oppression and the will to survive.
Branch on out and try mglit with a historical fiction, humanity vibe

The Witchling’s Wish will age well wherever it wants

There are some artists whose work just packs a punch or leaves a mark on you. It can be a telltale sign or a manner in which they communicate that makes the project that they’ve involved with a go-to event. Sarah Massini is an illustrator whose work does that for us, and we’ve only dealt with two of her books. The Girl and the Dinosaur was the first one that introduced us to her style and now The Witchling’s Wish cements her style as one that we need to keep an eye out for. To be clear, Massini has released many books which she has illustrated, and from their covers, they all seem to have that vibe for early elementary school readers.

The Witchling’s Wish is a lush illustrated book that paints a tale about friendships and how to get them started.
How did this release sneak past us……? It’s awesome.

Looking Up is an early chapter book laugh fest, with lots of heart

The laugh-per-page ratio to a Stephan Pastis book is incredibly high. His collections of Pearls Before Swine and the Trubble Town graphic novel series are hilarious, observational, intelligent and some of the best bang for the buck in a book that you can invest in. I say “invest in” because every Pastis book that we’ve received or purchased has never left our house and sticks like glue in our forever library. We had heard about the Timmy Failure book series but hadn’t read any of them. They are less cartoon-illustrated books and more in line with a chapter book for upper elementary through middle school. Looking Up is a book that falls into that category. It also produces multiple laughs per page, gets you thinking, grinning, trying to figure out some jokes, and in the end, tugs at the heartstrings more than you expect.

Looking Up has the absurd humor and fun that Stephan Pastis is known for, but combines more heart and feels than you’re expecting.
Another Pastis piece of perfection, but with more heart than you’re expecting
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