Treat kids as intelligent as you want them to be. I have that belief when I teach and it’s how we’ve raised our two children so far. You might’ve heard the tale about the baby who had a toy piano in their crib since they were born and they grew up to be a world-renowned concert pianist. I have no idea if that’s true, it sounds like the sort of information that lives in fables, but it could also breed familiarity with something that might psyche kids out as they get older. Was the child already a prodigy and the fact that they were given that toy just a happy coincidence? O is for Ossicone is a board book. Board books are meant for babies. I didn’t know most of the content in O is for Ossicone. I am not a baby. The proceeding four sentences are 100% true.
Don’t be alarmed if this board book is smarter than youI Did It! is an I Like To Read Comics that build confidence in pre-k
Kids of a certain age know the I Like to Read comics logo. It’s a red, anthropomorphic book that’s encircled in a black speech bubble with “I Like to Read” above it. Their books also have the slogan on the spine of the book, that way when they’re in classroom libraries kids can find them without looking at the cover. This is the logo that those sight word kids are looking for when they’re putting together the building blocks of confidence. I Did it! is by Michael Emberley and tells the very simple tale of a cat who is trying to do things.
For pre-k kids this is their confidence and enjoyment jamTangle-Knot, madcap silliness that gets kids laughing and self-discovering
Children are weird little beings that somehow grow up to become less-weird adult, in most cases. They put rainbow streaks in their hair, cut half of their hair to the scalp, let it grow to where it’s a mop-then shave it the next day for dramatic effect. Last year in middle school they referred to the latter one as “the flop”, because it would go from poofy to military within one school day. Tangle-Knot is an illustrated book all about picking your battles, and you parents and educators know what I mean by that. The book features a young girl whose hair resembles more of a Christmas tree laden with lights, ribbons, and leaves, but she’s holding a cat, because of the internet. It’s a silly, over-the-top illustrated book about being your own, unique self until you realize that you’re not that person anymore.
it’s not the bird’s fault10 Cats, a counting book that uses logic, simplicity, humor….and cats
10 Cats is such a logical counting book, that’s also utterly original that you’ll want to slap yourself for not thinking of it first. It’s a counting book that combines the seek-and-find aspect that young ages have seen in some books but adds kittens. Oh, it is a counting book where pre-k and kindergarten ages learn to count, but instead of counting up, 10 Cats asks readers to find kittens with certain color patterns or other distinguishing marks.
Learning to count is not the cat’s faultMen of the 65th, Borinqueneers, Korean War and mglit history
Uphill, both ways, that’s the cliché that parents will use when describing how challenging things were when they were younger as compared to today’s children. It’s usually preceded or followed by “back in my day” for full get-off-of-my-lawn effect. In that vein, Men of the 65th: The Borinqueneers of the Korean War has the very challenging goal of making readers care about a regiment that they probably haven’t heard of from a war that they most likely know nothing about. To make things even more problematic, the book is aimed at middle and high school students.

Dare to Question, an approachable, illustrated book look at suffrage
The question behind Dare to Question: Carrie Chapman Carr’s Voice for the Vote seems so simple in hindsight. However, in the late 1800s, the fact that women weren’t able to vote was a given, a fact of life whose era was coming to an end thanks to suffrage. Dare to Question is an illustrated book that takes a look at the end of that issue thanks to Carrie Chapman Carr. And depending on the adult who’s reading the book it’ll take off in just the right direction and get young readers thinking about things that they think might be out of their control.
non-fiction that early through mid-elementary will dig…and questionBatter Up, Charlie Brown!, a Peanuts graphic is new, nostalgic awesomeness
The graphic novel genre is huge. It’s a massive cross section of books that can span any interest and are for any age. As proof of this, Batter Up, Charlie Brown!, it’s in the Peanuts Graphic Novels series on Simon Spotlight, and joins Snoopy Soars to Space and Adventures with Linus and Friends. There’s a timeless, classic aura that permeates every panel on every page of Batter Up, Charlie Brown! It’s comprised of six new, original stores that are punctuated with classic Sunday comics that Charles Schultz created.
Timeless and classic, even when the stories are newly publishedOnce Upon Another Time: Happily Ever After sticks the finale
Trilogies are tricky business. Which came first, the trilogy or the story? That’s the question that sometimes vexes readers and reviewers. If you add too much backstory then it could water down the traction that readers would have with the characters, but if you don’t add enough then people won’t be emotionally invested in them. I completely understand the creative will to have more than one book, but am aware that it can be perceived as simply needing multiple entries to sell books. It’s a thin line, isn’t it? Once Upon Another Time: Happily Ever After (or Once Upon Another Time 3) deftly approaches that line, happily looks over it, and then dances back and forth over that line on repeated occasions.
Rounding out the series with fun to spare