This laugh-out-loud ode to bears and bottoms and bare bottoms is sure to make kids giggle. But parents, don’t feel bum-med, you’ll get a chuckle or thirty out of it, too!
Are you ready for round four of the hilarious guessing game picture book? Discover fascinating facts about adorable animals while guessing if you’re looking at a butt or a face!
Are you ready for round five of the hilarious guessing game picture book? Discover fascinating facts about colorful animals while guessing if you’re looking at a butt or a face!
Make Way for Monarchs Author: Carolyn Armstrong
Published September 12th, 2025 by Climate Kid Adventure Books
Summary: Make Way For Monarchs, the third installment in the multi-award-winning Eco Warriors series, takes readers on a climate change–themed adventure with a girl who talks to animals.
Millionsof orange-and-black monarch butterflies, exhausted after their long migration from the USA and Canada, are resting in the oyamel trees in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico. As tween twin sisters Sydney and Sierra explore this unique high-elevation forest habitat, the butterflies, a trio of horses, and a cute little dog warn Sydney about the bad guys who are cutting down trees and endangering the monarchs.
Naturally Sydney seeks the advice of her science-savvy sister on how to assist the monarchs here in Mexico. However, Sierra wants to focus on projects that help the butterflies once they’ve migrated back into the USA. With mysterious drones and danger around every corner, the twins must figure out how to save the butterflies’ winter home and the migration route before it’s too late.
About the Author: Carolyn Armstrong is the author of Climate Kid Adventure Books. A former educator and now an imperfect environmentalist, she blends her love of travel and animal well-being into her middle grade stories. She encourages everyone to become advocates for Planet Earth. It’s as easy as refusing a plastic drinking straw (and telling others to do the same)! Head to www.ckabooks.com for free activities, monthly newsletters, and blogs about writing, books, and sustainability.
Educators’ Tools for Navigation: This title is not only written for reading; it is made for classroom/library/school use!
This yearlong study of monarchs is definitely cross discilinary.
The sties shares that the lesson covers so many standards including ELA Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening; Social Studies State Standards; Math; SEL Competencies; and, although not listed, I am sure fits science standards as well.
Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea Author: Patricia Newman
Published October 1st, 2024 by Lerner Publishing Group
Summary: Off the coast of Perú, gentle giants swim beneath the waves. Thanks to the work of Kerstin Forsberg, giant manta rays have become a symbol of hope for ocean conservation in the region. Mantas are a flagship species, and when they’re protected, the whole ocean ecosystem benefits.
Kerstin, who founded the organization Planeta Océano, has taken a new approach to ocean conservation. Previous conservation projects were often led by scientists from other places who didn’t work with the local people. When Kerstin decided to help manta rays, she sought the opinions of local fishers and educated them about the dangers of overfishing, bycatch, and poaching—things that affect both manta rays and fishers. She also involved local schools and teachers.
With the help of teachers, students, and fishers, Kerstin launched a project to identify and track manta rays and protect them, making the ocean a better place for all creatures. Dive in with author Patricia Newman and explore how taking care of the ocean can benefit everyone!
About the Author: Patricia Newman wants us all to know we are part of nature. As a Robert F. Sibert Honor recipient, she shows us how our actions ripple around the world, empowers us to find our own connections to nature, and encourages us to use our imaginations to act on behalf of our communities. Her nonfiction titles have received multiple starred reviews, Orbis Pictus Recommended Awards (NCTE), Green Earth Book Awards, and several Eureka! Awards. She is based in California.
Review:I love learning new things, and Patricia Newman always delves into topics in such interesting ways that will make any reader want to not only read the entire book but also want to investigate further to learn as much as possible about it.
In this book, I dove (pun intended) into the world of manta rays: their uncertain future, their truly phenomenal elegance and uniqueness, and lots of information about environmental factors. I also learned about how much difference one person can make. This book is a call to future activists, a call for all animal lovers, and a call for all humans to see more than what we normally see.
I am also impressed how Newman wrote an entire book about manta rays but by the end, the reader has thought about so much include flagship species, collaboration, negotiation, activism, the ocean in many different ways, cause and effect, and so much more.
Once again a truly fascinating and informative book has been gifted to us readers by Patricia Newman.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions:
In the standards-aligned guide provided by Lerner, educators can find lessons about manta ray anatomy, bycatch simulation, the challenge of overfishing, plotting manta sightings, civic role models, and exploring plankton.
The guide’s objectives are:
To help students understand our unbreakable connection to the ocean and we affect it.
To encourage and empower students to become a voice for the ocean in their homes, schools, and communities.
To help students become better science communicators
The guide focuses on Ocean Literacy Standards & Principles as well as United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals
The Secret of Honeycake Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco
Published January 21st, 2025 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Summary: Hurricane is quiet while her Aunt Clare is a force of nature with very particular ideas–and a host of Latin sayings to back them up. When Hurricane gets stuck living with her, she retreats into herself…until a series of unexpected friends, including a mangy cat, help her find her voice in a whole new way.
With a name like Hurricane, you’d think this girl would take the world by storm. But instead, she’s almost invisible. And when her sister gets tuberculosis, Hurricane is sent to live in the city with her Aunt Claire, an intimidating and disapproving presence surrounded by stodgy furniture and stodgier ideas. Like no dirty stray cats in the house. And certainly not as pets!
But Aunt Claire doesn’t know quite what she’s up against–Hurricane may be quiet, but she’s about to discover that she’s also strong. Before long a shy cat, a gentle chauffeur and a friendly boy (who may smell a little of fish) teach Hurricane to find her voice. And just maybe, Aunt Claire knows a thing or two she can teach Hurricane as well.
It turns out that that you don’t always have to be loud to be heard.
A recipe for The World’s Most Comforting, Twelve-Layer Honeycake:
1 quiet girl named Hurricane, who runs like the wind along the Mighty Atlantic with her old dog Brody-Bear.
1 imperious aunt, who steps up when Hurricane’s world turns upside down.
1 kind-hearted boy, who helps wounded animals (and may smell a little of fish)
1 lonely and flea-bitten cat with a ragged ear and a crooked tail.
1 gentle chauffeur, who knows exactly what to say…and when not to say a thing.
Mix them all together in big, fancy house in the city. What you get might surprise you.
About the Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco is the acclaimed author of four other books for young readers: Chasing Augustus, Beholding Bee, The Wonder of Charlie Anne, and Tending to Grace, all of which received starred reviews and many accolades, including the Schneider Family Book Award. As a child, Kim was shy and stuttered and wanted to be a writer more than anything, and now she is! She was a national-award-winning education journalist before becoming a novelist. The mother of four grown children, she lives with her family, a lolloping golden retriever, and a very old cat in a house in rural Rhode Island surrounded by woods and fields where her pet sheep, Huck and Finn, graze.
Review:This cast of characters are one of my favorites in any book that I have ever read:
Hurricane is such a fantastic narrator. She may be quiet, but she has so much to say. Through the book, she finds her spoken voice with the help of others who show her that they love her no matter what.
Aunt Claire needs Hurricane as much as Hurricane needs her. Aunt Claire has so much to say, but through the book, she learns to listen which truly makes for a forever better Claire.
Mr. Keats shows us the trauma of war and the power of a kind heart. Mr. Keats is the barrier between Aunt Claire and Hurricane when they need it, but also a catalyst of so much of the change in the book.
Theo. Sweet Theo. He is Hurricane’s first true friend and just a special kid.
And, of course, the pets. They were obviously part of the family and the story would not have been the same without them. They both give comfort to all that need them which is so special.
On top of the characters, the story is quiet but shows us the world during the Great Depression and as women’s place in society was changing. Oh, it also makes me even more fascinated in reading John Green’s upcoming book about TB.
Discussion Questions:
How did Aunt Claire help Hurricane throughout the book? Mr. Keats? Theo? Which character do you think helped her be her true self the most?
How did Hurricane help Aunt Claire throughout the book? Mr. Keats? Theo? Which character do you think helped her be her true self the most?
How has women’s place in society different now than during The Secret of Honeycake?
How did Miss Witherspoon emotionally scar Hurricane? How could she have acted differently and changed how Hurricane felt about herself and school?
How does baking play a role in the book?
Mr. Keats suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. How does Aunt Claire support him and his mental health?
How does MoonPie affect the trajectory of the story?
Flagged Passages: This book had some amazing lines that I highlighted while reading:
“We’re like pieces of a puzzle that fit together because we’re different.” (Kindle Locations 170-171)
“Chin up, Mr. Keats,” my aunt says softly as the fire snaps. “We must keep stepping forward into the future meant for us…” (Kindle Location 1560)
“No one looks at a quiet person and says, ‘Wow, I want to be just like her.’ They always want to change you.” (Kindle Location 2122)
“I realize: I’m the one in charge of my attributes. I get to decide.” (Kindle Locations 2656-2657)
“When someone really understands you, it makes you feel less lonely, like light is passing through, and you’re more filled up than you were before.” (Kindle Locations 3053-3054)
“There’s a pain around my heart seeing it, which is what happens when you lose somebody. The heartache finds you again.” (Kindle Locations 3079-3080)
“Life is so beautiful, Mr. Keats,” my aunt says after a while. “More and more each day.” “We must keep marching forward.” “That’s a fact, ma’am. That’s a fact.” “Omnia vincit amor. Love conquers all.” “No truer words were ever said, ma’am.” (Kindle Locations 3270-3273)
You can also view an excerpt and listen to part of the audio on the Penguin Random House page for The Secret of Honeycake.
Read This If You Love: Middle grade historical fiction with strong female protagonists
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Blue Sky Media for providing a copy for review!**
My Towering Tree Author: Janna Matthies
Illustrator: Ashley Wolff
Published August 27th, 2024 by Beach Lane Books
Summary: Discover all the joyful moments and adventures waiting right outside your door in this mindful rhyming picture book celebration of backyard nature.
In my yard’s a towering tree. It reaches high to cover me. I lie beneath the towering tree and think my thoughts, and breathe, and be. There is much to do and so much to see beneath the branches of a towering tree! Step inside a leafy backyard world where squirrels are zipping, bees are buzzing, the sun is shining, and a curious, creative child is noticing and absorbing it all. This tribute to the wonderful worlds that exist in a backyard invites readers to stop, take a breath, and appreciate the natural world around them.
“This book is sure to delight . . . beautifully written rhymes blend perfectly; the pacing is ideal for reading aloud. A strong addition to the shelves and an accessible title to add to nature lessons or even story hours about mindfulness, with its emphasis on simplicity and an appreciation of nature.” – School Library Journal
“A gentle appreciation of the nature around us, from the ground to the sky.” – Kirkus Reviews
About the Creators:
Janna Matthies is a picture book author and early elementary music teacher in Indianapolis. Her books include Here We Come!; God’s Always Loving You; Two Is Enough, which made the 2016 Bank Street list and New York Times Book Review; The Goodbye Cancer Garden; Peter, the Knight with Asthma; and Monster Trucks. Janna is a longtime volunteer with the Indiana SCBWI and provides editorial services to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for picture books supporting their Teddy Bear Concert Series. When she’s not writing or making music, Janna can be found digging in the garden, swimming laps, walking Juneau the howling Husky, or keeping up with her husband and three mostly-grown kids.
Ashley Wolff lives in Vermont and is the author and illustrator of more than sixty books for children, including the modern classic Miss Bindergarten series by Joseph Slate, and her own celebrated Only the Cat Saw; Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear?; Baby Bear Counts One; and Baby Bear Sees Blue. Visit her at AshleyWolff.com.
Review:In a world where everyone, even kids, are usually GO GO GO, it is important to remind how important stopping, relaxing, focusing on nature, breathing, and appreciating. Matthies’s lyrical, meditative words mixed with Wolff’s full page, colorful, and captivating illustrations lend to readers wanting to find the beauty in the world around them.
Tools for Navigation: Towering Tree is reminiscent of “The House that Jack Built,” so it would be a great way to talk about variations/retellings and allusions of nursery rhymes. It also has a great rhyming pattern that can be analyzed also.
The book also lends to taking kids outside then having them draw and journal about what they see in their backyard or a park.
Discussion Questions:
How is The Towering Tree like “The House that Jack Built”?
What type of rhyming pattern does this story have?
What do you see in your background/in a park when you sit under a tree?
Why is it important to remember the beauty of nature?
Why is it important to slow down sometimes, instead of go go going?
If you had a garden, what would you put in it?
What do you think the author’s purpose was for this book?
How does the backyard in the book compare/contrast to your backyard?
What word play can you find in the book? Figurative language?
What descriptive language did the author use that helped describe the scene?
How do the illustrations add to the story?
Flagged Spreads:
Read This If You Love: Nature, Rhyming picture books
Recommended For:
**Thank you to the author for providing a copy for review!**
When Beavers Flew: An Incredible True Story of Rescue and Relocation Author: Kristen Tracy
Illustrator: Luisa Uribe
Published July 23rd, 2024 by Random House Studio
Summary: This fascinating picture book tells the unique, quirky, and true story of how one man in Idaho saved 76 beavers from destroying a town by parachuting them into uninhabited wetlands.
In 1948, the town of McCall, Idaho was growing rapidly. World War II was over, and the little town tucked away in the mountains began to boom. There was only one problem. As the town expanded, they found beavers everywhere. A beaver here, a beaver there, and it didn’t take long to realize that humans and beavers weren’t great cohabitators. But one clever and resourceful Fish and Game Warden named Elmo Heter had an idea.
Heter knew that the beavers were integral to the wetlands, so keeping the well-being of the beavers in mind he set out to find a way to relocate them. After a few failed attempts, he finally landed on a wild idea… parachutes. Using a surplus of parachutes left over from WWII and creating a special box with air holes designed to pop open when it hit the ground, Heter devised a way to parachute the beavers into Idaho’s backcountry, an area that beavers hadn’t inhabited in decades.
Kirsten Tracy’s fascinating and playful nonfiction text pairs beautifully with Luisa Uribe’s detailed illustrations to bring this compelling true story to life.
“A celebration of an early environmental success.”—Kirkus Reviews
About the Creators:
Kristen Tracy grew up in a tiny town in Idaho near Yellowstone Park surrounded by untamed and fascinating animals. She is a poet and YA author and has recently started writing picture books. Her debut picture book A Cub Story was published in 2021. Kristen Tracy young adult novels include Lost It, Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, Hung Up, and Project Unpopular. She won the Emily Dickinson First Book Award from the Poetry Foundation for her collection Half-Hazard. To learn more, visit kristentracy.com.
Luisa Uribe is the illustrator of Areli is a Dreamer, which was named a best book of the year from Kirkus, NYPL and Booklist, and My Brother is Away that received three starred reviews and was a Charlotte Huck honor book and a Charlotte Zolotow honor book. She lives in Bogotá, Colombia, with her partner and two cats.
Instagram:
Kristen Tracy: N/A
Luisa Uribe: @lupencita
Random House Children’s Books: @randomhousekids Blue Slip Media: @blue_slip_media
Facebook:
Kristen Tracy: N/A
Luisa Uribe: N/A
Random House Children’s Books: Random House Children’s Books Blue Slip Media: @blue-slip-media
Review:This is such a fascinating story. Too often, animals “in the way” of humans are killed or relocated with no thought, so I was so happy to read this story about Elmo Heter and all the thoughtfulness he put into the beavers in Idaho and the success of his endeavor. I think this story allows for the reader to see that there can be successes in these incidences; however, it also shows how humans impact is negative on animals/the environment. It is going to be a great conversation book and a new aspect of history to most.
The full page illustrations are the cherry on the sundae of this book for me. Uribe’s additions bring the story to life and shows the reader important aspects that would be missed without their inclusion. I, personally, really liked that additions of the aspects of the scientific method that are shared in the illustrations. It makes it clear that Heter had a hypothesis, asked questions, did research, until he figured out a conclusion to be successful.
Tools for Navigation: This book will be a perfect read aloud to cross disciplines when discussion ecology and the environment or animals/humans impact.
Discussion Questions:
How did humans cause the situation that they and the beavers were in?
How does human expansion affect the animals and environment?
Why did the location where the beavers were relocated to work? What could have caused a relocation like this not to work?
How did relocating 75 beavers help with the success of the relocation?
How to beavers help out ecology and the environment?
We don’t learn much about Elmo Heter as a person but we see his actions. What do these actions tell you about him?
What type of questions did Heter ask when he was determining how to relocate the beavers?
How did Heter use the scientific method when planning his rescue and relocation?
How did the illustrator utilize illustrations to add to the narrative?
Flagged Spreads:
Read This If You Love: Beavers, the Environment, Ecology, National Parks
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Barbara at Blue Slip Media for providing a copy for review!**
Wagnificent: The Adventures of Thunder and Sage Author: Bethanie Murguia
Expected Published: July 23, 2024 by Roaring Brook Press
Summary: Discover a new young graphic novel series full of humor and heart about a lovable dog, her favorite human, and their pawsome pack in this unforgettable friendship story perfect for fans of PAWCASSO and ANIMAL RESCUE FRIENDS.
Thunder the dog likes to take naps by the sunny window, sniff around for hidden treats, play fetch, and get cuddles from her favorite human, Sage.
Though Thunder wants to be good for Sage, she’s having a ruff time stopping herself from doing things she knows are wrong – like barking, digging, and chasing suspicious furballs around the yard. She’s shocked when her inner Wolf appears one day and reveals the truth behind these irresistible impulses. It’s all because dogs are really wolves! (That is, they’re descended from them.) The big question Will Thunder choose to be a loyal pet to Sage, or embrace the wild animal within?
For fans of PAWS and KATIE THE CATSITTER, and anyone who has ever pondered the secret life of their cherished four-legged sidekick, meet Thunder and Sage ―and get ready to feel ALL THE WAGS!
Review: I absolutely adored this charming graphic novel and can’t wait to share it with kids! It’s tells the story of a girl Sage and her pup Thunder. They have an amazing relationship until an imaginary wolf starts trying to convince Thunder to be more wolflike (destroying things, howling, running away). Thunder isn’t so sure that he wants to be wolfy because he is happy being a dog in Sage’s family. There are great themes in this book, and it was fun to read as an adult, too! I loved the ways in which the author shared more about how dogs have evolved into wolves through an engaging story! I highly recommend this one!
Tools for Navigation: So many kids are huge dog lovers, and this book will surely captivate thousands of readers. Teachers might have students read this book alongside a history of the domestication of dogs.
Discussion Questions:
How does Thunder emulated wolves? How is Thunder different?
What internal conflict is Thunder experiencing?
What did you learn from this book?
Flagged Spread:
Read This If You Love: Books about dogs, graphic novels, humor
