Beato is a charming character, who’s endlessly optimistic and positive about everything he sees – even the size of tomatoes! He’s open to every experience, and loves to learn. Rawal smartly couches the more-factual detail about the country into an entertaining story, […]
★★★★★ 
Littles by Tate Thomson is a charming children’s book for very young kids (3-5) about all of the bugs around us. Using just a few words a page, and enormously expressive illustrations, this is a book that is full of energy that kids will want to come back to again and again. It would also work very well as a starting point for new readers.
Each page is a feast with visual puns that mesh perfectly with the text. Thomson shows how the littlest ones around us survive and thrive in a sometimes challenging world (a bug evading a […]
This is definitely a book for parents to read to their children, as the prose is advanced – lyrical and well-written, to be sure, but complex for a new reader. Its lyricism really makes the book a stand-out. This isn’t a cookie-cutter Christmas story. […]
Danloria: The Secret Forest of Germania by Gloria D. Gonsalves is a book for 4 to 7-year-olds about Stan who goes venturing into the forest and meets a magical collection of plants, mushrooms, and other fauna. In each meeting with the different plant-creatures, we learn about different plant’s properties (such as fern, moss, blackberry, and many others). When Stan falls ill, we then learn the medicinal properties of all these different plants. Gonsalves deftly integrates real facts about plants without seeming too encyclopedic – kids will learn and appreciate the different forms of plant life without even realizing they’re learning![…]
★★★★ 
A MouseKeeper Christmas: The Beginning by Jenny Deason Copeland is a highly original Christmas story about Sara, who solves a very big problem for Santa and the North Pole. Mice are running rampant in Santa’s workshop, slowing down production, so Santa and the elves hold a contest for children to find a solution. Sara has the best idea: every child on the “Nice” list will adopt a mouse during the Christmas season so Santa can get his work done. Sara’s plan goes off without a hitch, and the “Nice” list even grows, as all the children want to take […]
★★★★★ 
In Doggy Drama, the earlier book in this series, it followed a dog named Riley, who has to deal with the pitfalls of a new baby in the house. It’s an endearing, and instructive look at how to adapt to a new member of the family. Now the tables have turned in Puppy Drama and Riley’s the older sibling, while a new puppy, Lucy, is introduced, who has to contend with Riley’s antics.
Just as in Doggy Drama, we get a not-so-subtle message about adapting to a growing family in amusing and effective ways. Here Lucy is […]
★★★½ 
Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms by Gloria D. Gonsalves is a whimsical and yet a rather unusual book following a society of mushrooms and its fungal king called Polipoli. They’re an advanced society with warring factions who are all based on actual mushroom species that grow in the world today.
One day while venturing off in the forest, a group of Lamellians discover a human baby all by herself. They decide to adopt the baby and use their mushroom abilities to care for her – such as milk from the Indigo mushroom and a soft bed for her to […]