These eleven titles have varied themes and approaches to all kinds of questions.
Let’s start with early readers and the Chinese New Year, that starts this January 29th:
I Love Lunar New Year by Eva Wong Nava (Author) Xin Li (Illustrator)
Mai-Anne and her family love to celebrate Lunar New Year, and are very keen on tradition. From cleaning the house and receiving house guest to preparing and eating delicious food and wearing red dresses, they are happy to celebrate and bring prosperity and good luck to their loved ones.
Her Nai Nai will tell her about the famous Great Race where all the animals tried to be in first row, starting with the smart rat, followed by all the other eleven animals that are thought to share their characteristics with the people born in that year, as we enter the year of the Snake, we are reminded of her creativity and cunning.
I Love Lunar New Yearis on sale since November, 2024
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 24/ Paperback
EAN/UPC: 9781546144649
Up next, this book is about the same celebration:
Why We Eat Fried Peanuts: A Celebration of Family and Lunar New Year Traditions by Zed Zha (Author) Sian James (Illustrator)
Mèng is a Chinese American girl, who invites us to accompany her and her family to prepare for the Lunar New Year festivities.
This book also delves into a family story that sheds light on who she is and where she comes from, so the Mandarin language included in the book, the traditional foods eaten in the holidays, and the ancestor’s stories shared gather a new meaning (one that can only be properly understood with longer reads such as Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club).
Mèng’s father shares with her the family story of tà i nai nai, Mèng’s great-grandmother, her brave act of courage many years ago has inspired generations, and teaches valuable lessons about solidarity in dire situations.
And of course, there are fried peanuts, with a recipe at the end of the book.
Publisher: Becker & Mayer
Pages: 32/ Hardcover
ISBN: 9780760395523
Now let’s talk animals:
I Have Three Cats . . . by Michelle Sumovich (Author) Laura Park (Illustrator)
When you are a cat person, sometimes the number of cats in your household can tend to grow, especially if a lonely, scared, and hungry cat seems to recognize your place as a safe haven.
The girl in this story has three cats–Big, Little, and Middle–in charge of her backyard. Of course, a smelly and hungry cat is not to everyone’s taste, but this particular cat has a knack for getting herself known and cared for.
Soon she will be a part of the family!
I Have Three Cats . . . is on sale since January 28, 2025.
Published by Dial Books
Hardcover | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780593112717
Up next this lovely new book by consummate author Julia Donaldson:
Bert, the Bowerbird: The Small Bird with a Big Heart by Julia Donaldson (Author) Catherine Rayner (Illustrator)
Bowerbirds love to make elaborate nests to woo their mates, using all kinds of shiny scraps and colorful ornaments. Bert is one such bird, looking for love.
Donaldson really shines in her ability to make rhymes and tell a story with them, so everything that adorns his bower, complete with a pretty purple flower, is meant to be read aloud, again and again.
However, the first bird he meets is not impressed at all, Nanette is really hard to please! Is she the right mate for Bert?
Bert, the Bowerbird: The Small Bird with a Big Heart is on sale since December 03, 2024
Publisher: Boxer Books
Hardcover | Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781915801845
Now, this is a fantastic recently discovered book by a classic author, that is seeing the world for the first time:
The Scroobious Pip by Edward Lear (Author) Charles Santore (Illustrator) Nicholas Santore (Illustrator)
Classic poet Edward Lear left an unfinished nonsense verse poem in 1888, one about a mysterious and scroobious pip, not insect, not bird, not mammal nor fish, what is it then?
Illustrated initially by Charles Santore and finished by his son Nicholas Santore, this is an extraordinary and fun read, made by one of the best children’s poets of the last century.
“Chippetty tip! Chippetty tip! Its only name is the Scroobious Pip.”
Unfinished at the time of Edward Lear’s death, this beautiful book is a fantastical journey into the world of beasts, birds, fish, and insects, all curious about what exactly, the Scroobious Pip is, all ready to accept it as weird and marvelous as it is.
The Scroobious Pip is on sale since January 21, 2025.
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Hardcover | Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780762468607
Completely changing subject, we are now deep into different picture books with different views into our fascinating and diverse world:
Saturday Morning at the ‘Shop by Keenan Jones (Author) Ken Daley (Illustrator)
This kiddo loves spending Saturday mornings at the barbershop, a place that has lots of positive vibes and many things going on inside it that showcase a strong community.
It’s Saturday morning. We hop in the car. Mom’s heading to work, and I’m geeked to go spend the day at the ‘shop!
In this fully illustrated book, the barbershop can become all manners of things: a sound booth, an art gallery, a playground, a classroom, and a place to just relax and hang out.
Saturday Morning at the ‘Shop is on sale since January 7, 2025.
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Hardcover | Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781665940801
Close Up and Far Out by Mary Auld (Author) Adria Meserve (Illustrator)
The lives of two different men have had a lasting impact on what we see and how we think about the world. One was Galileo Galilei, a very famous man today, and the other was Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, who was famous and respected in his period and now barely anyone knows about him.
These two natural philosophers lived in the XVI and XVII centuries and wanted to see things that either were far out or very close up. To look far into the universe, Galileo started making his telescopes, polishing glass, and trying different angles to discover the stars, people thought that the Moon was smooth at the time!
And van Leeuwenhoek started looking at drops of water and fashioning crystals to see inside them, closer and closer, fashioning the very first microscopes known to science.
This is a lovely take on what scientists do and how their efforts can shape our understanding of all things both big and small.
Close Up and Far Out <\em> is available since August 14, 2024.
Publisher: Creative Editions
Hardcover | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9781568463537
The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi (Author) Monica Arnaldo (Illustrator)
This young girl has a tough job; most kids just get to be kids, but she is an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents in all kinds of situations, as she needs to help them navigate places and situations such as doctor’s appointments, to visits to the hair salon.
Cecilia wants to have time, to play soccer, and soon she will be so exhausted from her interpreter job that she will beg for a break. Can her family understand and organize better to navigate a bilingual home?
The Interpreter is available since January 21, 2025.
Publisher: Kokila
Hardcover | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780593620441
Motorcycle Queen by Janie Havemeyer (Author) Jean Claverie (Illustrator)
A girl loving her motorcycle, ready to take on the world. I just love the premise and illustrations in this book, as girls having autonomous means of transportation are relatively new, and “bike” means “freedom” to all who ride them.
“On her motorcycle, Bessie felt fierce”.
A black woman riding a motorcycle was shocking enough to Americans in the 1930s, but one who performed stunts and traveled cross-country, by herself was practically unheard of. She was known for her tall tales and some incredible real feats such as volunteering as a bike mail for the army during World War II.
“I never was like anybody else”.
Bessie Stringfield lived her unique life as she saw fit, and after wandering the world, “Motorcycle Queen”, settled in Miami, Florida, in the 1950s. She founded the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club. She owned 27 Harley-Davidsons in her lifetime. Bessie died in 1993 in her early 80s. All her life, she fought against the stereotypes of what girls should do. She was not shy about telling the world:
“If I don’t ride, I won’t live. And so, I never did quit”.
Motorcycle Queen is available since August 13, 2024.
Publisher: Creative Editions
Hardcover| Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781568463568
Prince Among Slaves: The Remarkable True Story of an African Prince Enslaved in Mississippi, and His Journey Home by N. H. Senzai (Author) Anna Rich (Illustrator)
This book pushes a bit and displays a story that will be hard to comprehend in the time of cell phones and flight travels. I liked the fact that it starts with a man that had a life, a prince in 1762 West Africa’s prosperous kingdom of Futa Jallon and that it looked and felt utterly elegant and different from what fate will have for him in the future.
His name meant “servant of God” and he was a devout Muslim who had traveled to Mecca and was fluent in Arabic and five African languages. Prince Abdulrahman Sori was born in a kingdom that had no idea about the white men’s world, and when he befriended a lost Irish surgeon they struck an unusual friendship.
Rival tribes used to enslave men and sell them to English traders. Forced aboard a ship, Abdulrahman was taken across the Atlantic to Natchez, Mississippi, and enslaved, for forty long years.
He became a father and had children and grandchildren, and along the way, by virtue of an incredible coincidence, Abdulrahman’s life changed once more, setting into motion a series of events that would not only free him but return him to African shores after forty years of enslavement.
It is by no means an easy story, nor it has a happy ending (maybe a bittersweet one) But it radically changes the story by focusing on what is known about this man’s previous life and how he never forgot about his African home.
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Hardcover | Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781984816986
Finally, a fascinating teenage ghost story:
After Life by Gayle Forman (Author)
A ghost that shows up in the flesh is something we seldom get to see in a story.
One spring afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. Her mom is in shock, her sister is seven years older, and nly his dad thinks it’s a miracle from God. Because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle, she’s inexplicably riding now.
The novel goes back and forth in time, and the changes brought by her return ripple farther and farther out: Amber’s friends, boyfriend, and even people she met only once have been deeply affected by her life and death.
The teacher who asked her in sophomore year to write her obituary, for example, was talking about a life well lived, the obituary an invitation to think about what kind of impact you’d want to make in the world. What if this is her second chance at having an impact?
The pace is fast and relentless and all the points of view about who Amber was and how they remember her have a lot to say about how life is, complex and porous, boring and joyous, always incredibly strange for all those living it.
After Life is available since January 07, 2025.
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Hardcover | Pages: 272
ISBN: 9780063346147
