Starred Reviews

From New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry comes a fantastical and unforgettable picture book about an unusual girl whose purple thumb helps her cultivate a truly macabre garden. When Prunella is born with a purple thumb instead of a...

Every spring, frogs and salamanders must travel from wooded uplands where they were born to vernal pools where they will mate. Unfortunately, roads constructed through their habitats have made the journey dangerous for these slow-moving animals. Many never reach their...

A full-color picture book from award-winning creator Sergio Ruzzier, The Real Story is a hilarious, imaginative whodunit in which Cat and Mouse debate the truth behind a broken cookie jar, which makes for a perfect read-aloud story. Cat has found...

As a kid, Wataru Misaka channeled his endless energy into playing sports. Every Sunday, he raced to the park where his Japanese American community came together to play basketball. Wat wasn't the tallest on the team, but he was fast...

A child of the Harlem Renaissance and an artistic collaborator of Langston Hughes, Roy DeCarava is an unsung hero of Black history. Convinced that the lives of ordinary Black people deserved to be immortalized and documented in photos, Roy celebrated...

What do you see from your window? This #OwnVoices picture book from Brazil offers a firsthand view of what children growing up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro see every day. A vibrant and diverse celebration of urban community...

With lyrical text by acclaimed author Shauntay Grant and vibrant illustrations by Jenin Mohammed, When I Wrap My Hair is both an act of joyful recognition and a demonstration of how knowledge is passed through generations.

You may never have heard of a lightship. Once, lightships anchored on waters across America, on the oceans and in the Great Lakes, floating where lighthouses could not be built. Smaller than most ships, but more steadfast, too, they held...

An empowering picture book from New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry (Stick and Stone) and Caldecott Honoree Brendan Wenzel (They All Saw a Cat) told with lyrical text and luminous illustrations. Journey with a solar bear who shines a...

Your dreams can change the world! Colorful mosaics, playful flowing forms, imaginative facades—Barcelona shines with the buildings of Antoni Gaudí. How did the son of a Catalan blacksmith become a world-famous architect? The first years of Gaudí’s life were challenging....

Have you ever imagined what you might be when you grow up? When he was very young, Juan Felipe Herrera picked chamomile flowers in windy fields and let tadpoles swim across his hands in a creek. He slept outside and...

Tricycles have three wheels and training bikes have four, but what this little boy wants most of all is a bike with two wheels! Dad has one for any occasion, and he knows just how to get his son ready....

With the Curiosities, a whole world of wonder awaits… One morning, at dawn, the Curiosities choose Miro to nest on. At first, he doesn’t notice. They blend in, perching on his shoulder and nuzzling into his hair. Over time, Miro...

After a storm devastates the farm his parents have been renting, Junior moves with his family to Roxboro, North Carolina. The year is 1959, and the nine-year-old boy has to navigate the realities of the segregated South while adjusting to...

A soccer story—for boys and girls alike! “Vini! Come! The field calls!” cries a girl as she and her younger brother rouse their community—family, friends, and the local fruit vendor—for a pickup soccer (futbol) game. Boys and girls, young and...

While Mina is growing up in Iran, the center of her world is her grandmother. Whether visiting friends next door, going to the mosque for midnight prayers during Ramadan, or taking an imaginary trip around the planets, Mina and her...