Again!

 Again! by Britta Teckentrup

Again!

Again! by Britta Teckentrup is a playful and relatable picture book that celebrates repetition, curiosity, and the joy of shared moments. With bold, expressive illustrations and simple text, the story captures a young child’s love of asking for a favorite experience “again and again.” Teckentrup’s warm approach reflects everyday family life in a way that feels comforting and fun. It’s a delightful read that young children will easily connect with and enjoy returning to.

While We Wait

 

While We Wait

While We Wait by Bev Johnson

While We Wait by Bee Johnson is a thoughtful and reassuring picture book about patience, anticipation, and finding comfort in quiet moments. Through gentle text and expressive illustrations, the story shows how waiting—though sometimes difficult—can be filled with connection, curiosity, and calm. Johnson’s approach helps young readers understand their feelings and discover small joys along the way. It’s a soothing and reflective book that encourages mindfulness and appreciation of the present.

Snuggle Season

Snuggle Season

Snuggle Season by Jaimie MacGibbon 

Snuggle Season is a cozy and heartwarming picture book that celebrates togetherness during the colder months. With gentle, rhythmic text and soft, inviting illustrations, the story captures the comfort of snuggling with loved ones as the seasons change. It’s a soothing read that creates a sense of warmth and security, making it perfect for bedtime or shared reading. This book beautifully highlights the joy of closeness and simple moments spent together.

 

My Friend May

My Friend May

My Friend May

My Friend May by Julie Flett

A gentle and touching story about friendship, memory, and the changing seasons. Told with simple, thoughtful language and beautiful illustrations, the book explores how connections can continue even when someone is no longer physically present. Flett’s use of nature and quiet moments helps young readers understand feelings of loss in a calm and reassuring way. It is a heartfelt book that encourages reflection, empathy, and appreciation for the bonds we share.

Percy the Park Keeper: A Classic Treasury

Percy the Park Keeper: A Classic Treasury 

Percy the Park Keeper: A Classic Treasury by Nick Butterworth 

A warm and charming collection of stories that celebrates kindness, friendship, and helping others. Set in a peaceful park, the book follows Percy as he looks after both the park and the animals who live there, always finding clever and caring solutions to their problems. Butterworth’s gentle humor and detailed illustrations make the stories engaging and comforting, especially for younger readers. This treasury is a delightful read that encourages empathy and shows the joy of looking out for others.

Sitti's Bird

 

Sitti's Bird

Sitti's Bird: a Gaza Story by Malak Mattar

A recounting of her own lived experience growing up in occupied Palestine, the plot takes place during the 2014 airstrikes on Gaza when a little girl finds strength and hope through her painting. Malak goes to school, plays in the ocean, and visits her grandmother Sitti’s house on Fridays. Sitti keeps a white bird in a cage and the girl wonders if they, too, are in a cage. Her grandmother consoles her by encouraging her to fly in her dreams. One day bombings begin and Malak spends the next fifty days at home with her parents worrying and feeling scared, until one day she finds some paints and begins to create. Months later, an international art exhibit invites her to attend with her parents, but sadly she must decline, for Gaza is closed and she cannot leave. The focus of the book is the love and support of family throughout a heartbreaking ordeal, with themes of hope, freedom, and art expression. Art is shown as an escape and a strategy to keep dreams from completely dying. It’s a thoughtful, hopeful, age-appropriate introduction to events in Gaza for children aimed at grades 3-5. Even though children in Gaza suffer much worse, the author kept the story child-friendly.

The Day the Babies Crawled Away

The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathman

A boy follows fives babies who crawl away from a picnic and saves the day by bringing them back.

The Capybaras

The Capybaras

The Capybaras by Alfredo Soderguit

In this beautiful and simple book, hens and their chicks are living safe and secure in their coop, or at least it seems that way... until the day the capybaras appear! As time passes and days change, minds begin to open and new possibilities appear. Can the hens accept the capybaras after all?

Supposing

Supposing

Supposing... by Alastair Reid

Follow playful possibilities on fanciful and humorous journeys, powered by the limitlessness of the imagination. A child imagines many silly, impossible, and even naughty things and their possible consequences, from learning unusual languages to building a tiny boat and sailing around the world.

SUPPOSING I looked in the mirror one day and saw someone who wasn’t me at all…
SUPPOSING I sailed around the world and when I was a mile from my hometown, I just turned the boat and sailed round again the other way…
SUPPOSING ...

Corner

Corner

Corner by Zo-0

A quirky and relatable story about balancing creativity and connection

A crow finds itself in an empty corner and begins to make the space its own. First, it furnishes the corner with a bed, a bookshelf, a rug, even a potted plant. In the newly decorated space, the crow reads and eats, listens to music and waters the plant, but something’s missing. What is it?

The crow decides to decorate more, drawing geometric patterns on the walls in yellow. The corner is filled with color and shapes, but something is still missing. The crow adds a window, and finally discovers what it needed all along―a way to connect with the world outside and to make a new friend.

This highly original, almost-wordless picture book is the first title by award-winning Korean author and illustrator Zo-O to be published in English. Soft, detailed illustrations of the cozy corner will inspire kids to express themselves in their own spaces, and the crow’s problem-solving skills encourage readers to think about how they can comfortably step outside of their comfort zone.

 

The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn

The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn

The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn by Shawn Harris

Meet Teeny-Weeny! A pint-sized unicorn in this funny, modern fairy tale about perception and self-confidence from a Caldecott-Honor winning creator.

Once upon a time, in a land where horses were mythical beasts, there lived a unicorn—a Teeny-Weeny Unicorn. He lived with his family in a palace—one that was extra-large for him, full of extra-large rugs and extra-large food. And when his brother and sister played chess, they used him in place of a pawn.

When it’s just too much to take, Teeny-Weeny Unicorn runs away—and has a chance encounter with a salty gnome. It's then that he suddenly starts to wonder... IS he teeny weeny? Or is he just the right size?

Every kid will relate to Teeny-Weeny Unicorn, as he figures out how to live in a world not made for his stature. With wit and charm, as well as delightful illustrations, Shawn Harris creates a modern classic made for sharing—be it at bedtime or on a story time rug.

Our Fort

Our Fort

Our Fort by Marie Dorléans 

It’s spring! Warm and green, the great outdoors beckons, especially when you’ve built a fort to play in with your friends. Our Fort is the story of three friends who set out one day to visit their secret fort at the edge of the woods. The weather looks fine, but no sooner have they left home and walked into the hills than the sun disappears behind the clouds. Crows fly by, calling, and the wind begins to blow. Suddenly the day turns into night. It’s a storm! Will the friends make it to shelter? Will their fort survive the storm? Marie Dorléans’s illustrations capture the sensory pleasures of nature, as well as its capriciousness, while her story reminds us of the simple joy of being with friends and sharing a great adventure.

Buffalo Fluffalo

Buffalo Fluffalo

Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb

Introducing a sweet and silly buffalo who tries to bluff and fluff his way into being bigger than he really is. This laugh-out-loud story by an Emmy-nominated comedy writer shows it’s okay to be yourself.

I’m the Buffalo Fluffalo
I heave and I huffalo
Leave me alone because
I’ve had enuffalo.

Buffalo Fluffalo arrives on the scene puffed up with self-importance. Stomping around and raising billows of dust, Buffalo Fluffalo proclaims his superiority to the other creatures—the ram, the prairie dog, and the crow—who just want to be his friend. So Buffalo Fluffalo, who has had enuffalo , heads off to grumble to himself. Suddenly, a rain shower pours down from the clouds and—what’s this? All of his fluffalo is a soggy mess! There Fluffalo stands, a drenched pip-squeak without his disguise. The other animals, who could see through Fluffalo’s bravado from the start, circle around to comfort him. As prairie dog says with a smile in his eyes, You’re great how you are, no matter your size .

Readers will find Buffalo Fluffalo’s insecurity endearing and will be moved to reassure him. This humorous and delightful book encourages self-acceptance with a lighthearted touch.

Some Fairies Wear Hearing Aids

Some Fairies Wear Hearing Aids by Penny Gill

A magical story for children with hearing aids or cochlear implants, their friends, classmates, and families. Piper and Paige are best friends - you might even say they are two peas in a pod! These clever girls are both deaf, use listening technology, and are always ready for adventure. When they decide to build a fairy house, they are in for a big surprise!

This charming yet simple story explores friendships between people with hearing loss, the journey from birth to listening through sensory devices, and the fun of creative play in nature. There is even an adorable hearing dog!

Some Fairies Wear Hearing Aids is a delightful story that provides "mirrors and windows" for children with hearing loss and their typically hearing friends, classmates, and families. The book includes "participation pages" at the end, with suggested activities.

The Buddy Bench

 

The Buddy Bench

The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo

A group of empathetic students recognizes that the playground sometimes feels lonely. Their solution? A ‘Buddy Bench' to ensure everyone has a friend.

The Buddy Bench inspires discussions on kindness, building relationships and social skills, empathy, coping with loneliness, and easing into the new school year.

The Best Bed for Me

The Best Bed for Me

by Gaia Cornwall

"Bedtime delays abound in this book centering a young animal lover. While a child envisions snoozing as different creatures do, a parent patiently attempts to wind things down as another adult tends to an infant. “Maybe I could sleep upside down like... a bat! They hold on with their feet and hang down from branches,” says the brown-skinned, rosy-cheeked child, portrayed in red footie pj’s among a colony of bats. “My little bat, it’s time to calm our bodies down,” replies tan-skinned, short-haired Mama. Cycling through koalas, sea otters, piglets, puffins, whales, and emperor penguins, the story integrates notable facts about the featured critters’ nocturnal habits, while pencil and watercolor illustrations finished digitally show the child cozying up with friendly wildlife pals who seem similarly disinclined to settle. After a smooth segue by Mama that emphasizes a loving parent-child relationship, the book reaches a snuggly conclusion that sets the stage for sweet animal dreams.

Ivy Lost and Found

 

Ivy Lost and Found

by Cynthia Lord

Ivy was Anne the librarian's doll when she was a young girl. But now she has moved to Anne's library to be its newest Book Buddy--a toy that can be checked out just like a book. Ivy isn't sure she wants to be borrowed, though. She'd rather go back to just being Anne's favorite toy. Fern, a child who visits the library with her stepfamily, also wishes things could go back to the way they were, when Fern had her dad all to herself. When Fern takes Ivy home, an unexpected outdoor adventure helps both of them find confidence and belonging in their changing worlds. This heartwarming story by Cynthia Lord, with a classic feel and gentle illustrations by Stephanie Graegin, is the first in a chapter-book series that pairs friendly toys with child characters who need them.

When You Can Swim

 

When You Can Swim

by Jack Wong

A celebration of learning to swim among a diverse cast of children and families who each experience the mysterious joys of water in nature. In this exploration of what it truly means to swim, sandpipers, tannin-soaked lakes, and the feeling of a small waterfall on sun-soaked shoulders are all introduced. But what about those who are afraid of the water’s mysterious ways and resist learning to swim? Painting a compelling picture of the many joys and surprises that the water holds, artist and author Jack Wong has delivered an empowering, poetic journey that invites children to discover their confidence within to receive the warmth and wonder of the natural world.

Just in time for summer.

I Was Born a Baby

I Was Born a Baby

by Meg Fleming

This adorable read-aloud story introduces baby animals who share what they are called and what they grow up into, and shows ow some baby animals share their names with several other species.

In a Jar, Out of a Jar

In a Jar

Out of a Jar

While in Marcero’s In a Jar, little bunnies Llewellyn and Evelyn collected things they loved. When moving homes separates them, they remain connected through teir collections. In Out of a Jar, Llewellyn is trying to contain his huge emotions. When he is extremely frightened, exuberantly excited, or steaming mad, he shoves all his color-coded emotions into jars and locks them in a closet. Yet, it isn’t long before he discovers the dangers of his methods.