Abuelo, the Sea, and MeIsmée WilliamsAbuelo, the Sea, and Me is a picture book about connections across generations. It explores family history alongside the immigrant experience, bringing a grandparent relationship into a story about how families carry their past with them. The book centers on the ties between older and younger family members and the stories that connect them.Younger ReadersView book detailsALSC Notable Children's Books 2025
The 2025 edition contains 126 selections published by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALA). The source organizes the selections into Younger Readers, Middle Readers, Older Readers, and All Ages. It is the annual record of titles designated Notable by the ALSC committee.
2025 ALSC Notable Children's BooksSee the original list
Selections126
Published byAssociation for Library Service to Children (ALA)
Sections4 sections
Browse sections4 sections
Younger Readers
58 selections
Abuelo, the Sea, and MeIsmée WilliamsAbuelo, the Sea, and Me is a picture book about connections across generations. It explores family history alongside the immigrant experience, bringing a grandparent relationship into a story about how families carry their past with them. The book centers on the ties between older and younger family members and the stories that connect them.Younger ReadersView book details
Adela's Mariachi BandDenise VegaAdela loves her family’s mariachi band, yet she is not a member. Because everyone else in her family performs, she worries she lacks what it takes to join them. As she persists, Adela discovers her own voice and something distinctive to contribute. The story follows her determination to belong in the family band and connects music-making with family, confidence, and perseverance as she works toward taking part in performances.Younger ReadersView book details
Ahoy!Sophie BlackallA child takes the role of captain while a parent serves as first mate on a sea adventure. Although the voyage has the scale of a high-seas journey, it takes place entirely in their living room. The child and parent set out together without leaving home, turning the room into the setting for their seafaring adventure. Their shared expedition remains rooted in the living room even as it is framed as a wild voyage at sea.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD410LATOS Book Level 2.8View book details
Barnaby Unboxed!Terry FanBarnaby is a pet who is half mouse, half elephant, and has a little flamingo in him. After becoming separated from home, he travels through busy city streets, shadowy alleyways, and parkland. His route home is described as perilous, and the journey centers on friendship, unconditional love, belonging, and what home means. This standalone story takes place in the world of The Barnabus Project.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 3.9View book details
Be Careful, Xiao Xin!Alice PungXiao Xin imagines himself as a courageous Red Fire Warrior, while his family repeatedly warns him to be careful because they see the world as dangerous and think he is too small to be a warrior. He must demonstrate his courage to this doubtful family and persuade them to place more trust in him. The story sets his bold self-image against the concern of those who care for him.Younger ReadersView book details
Being HomeTraci SorellA young Cherokee girl leaves the city with her mother and travels toward her ancestral homelands. Before they go, she says goodbye to the house and backyard swing she has always known, then watches and draws the changing scenery from the car. At their destination, she finds a landscape, extended family, and community shaped by singing, shell shaking, storytelling, and stickball. The story follows her move toward a new sense of home and belonging.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD450LATOS Book Level 3.1View book details
The Book That Almost RhymedOmar AbedA boy sets out to tell a carefully planned rhyming fantasy adventure, but his sister repeatedly interrupts. Her ideas introduce unexpected details, including a fire-breathing armadillo, and disrupt the rhymes he has prepared. As the two continue telling the tale together, the brother begins to see that his sister may be making the story better. Their competing approaches turn into a shared adventure with surprising twists.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
The Boy and the ElephantFreya BlackwoodA lonely boy visits a lot beside his home, where the outlines of the trees become an elephant in his imagination. He regards the elephant as his friend. When the trees that make up its body are marked to be removed, he acts to protect it. Told without words and illustrated in pencil and oil paint, the story joins loneliness, imagined companionship, and concern for trees at its center.Younger ReadersView book details
Built to LastMinh LêTwo boys work together on construction projects that grow increasingly large, turning blocks into imagined worlds that include sea-creature attacks and castles falling into the ocean. When their creations collapse, they retrieve the pieces and begin again. A spectacular failure makes them stop laughing and tests their friendship, as collaboration brings both setbacks and successes. Colored-pencil and watercolor art blends their everyday building with fantasy.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Chooch HelpedAndrea L. RogersSissy is annoyed that her two-year-old brother, Chooch, is praised for helping even when he creates a mess. When he tries to assist with her clay pot, she yells at him and he cries. Their parents remind Sissy that she behaved much the same way when she was younger and that she can teach Chooch. She chooses to help him learn to make a clay pot, reshaping their relationship within their Cherokee family.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD440LView book details
Desert SongLaeken Zea KempAs sunset becomes night in the Texas desert, a family listens to coyotes, cicadas, and barn owls calling beneath the moon. From the porch, they join the nighttime sounds. One by one, relatives add drums, flute, maracas, strings, and voices to the music. Under the stars, their gathering uses song and instruments to honor their ancestors, connecting a desert evening with family tradition and memory.Younger ReadersView book details
Dive, Dive into the Night SeaThea LuDive, Dive into the Night Sea explores wonders found in the sea after dark. In its deepest darkness, bioluminescence appears in a swirling display compared with a star-filled sky. A poetic narrative and artwork using muted color and light guide the book’s exploration of nighttime ocean phenomena and discovery.Younger ReadersView book details
Dog vs. StrawberryNelly BuchetIn this picture book, Dog takes on a strawberry in a race billed as an epic showdown. Dog gives the contest everything he has while trying to finish ahead. The story frames the contest as a comic confrontation between a dog and an unlikely rival, leaving the race’s outcome in question.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Drawn OnwardDaniel NayeriPresented in palindrome form, Drawn Onward follows a young boy as he moves through personal grief after his mother’s death. He enters a fantastical adventure in which love remains present amid loss. The book’s structure mirrors its story of being drawn onward through sorrow, adventure, and enduring connection to a loved one who is gone.Younger ReadersView book details
The Dream CatcherMarcelo VerdadThe story follows a boy selling coconuts beneath the sun while he dreams of his family. He holds on to his largest dream and finds magic in each moment. Daily work outdoors accompanies his hopes for family, as he continues selling coconuts under the sun. Family remains at the center of what he imagines, and the boy’s dream persists alongside the work he is doing.Younger ReadersView book details
Exactly as PlannedTao NyeuMoose and Fox each set out for a tea visit, but unexpected mishaps interrupt their plans. They lose gifts without realizing that the other has found them. Their two storylines start at opposite ends of the book and converge at its middle, where their separate searches meet. The account follows friends as they turn unplanned problems into a shared day.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
The First Week of SchoolDrew BeckmeyerOn the opening school day, cars queue outside. Inside are a teacher, Pat the bearded dragon, the Sport Kings, the Artist, and the Inventor. Pat is the class pet. On Tuesday, a spaceship arrives and a new student called Nobody joins the class. Playful wording carries the events to an unexpected ending. Drew Beckmeyer wrote the 48-page book, published June 25, 2024.Younger ReadersView book details
A Flicker of HopeCynthia Harmony, illustrated by Devon HolzwarthLucía watches monarch butterflies migrate from her home in Mexico with her Papá. When he travels north to find work harvesting produce on distant farms, he promises to return when the weather turns cold and the monarchs come back. During the summer, Lucía searches the sky for signs of the butterflies and for her father’s return. The story links the monarchs’ seasonal movement with a family’s separation, homecoming, and work that follows the seasons.Younger ReadersView book details
Fox versus FoxCorey R. TaborFox meets another fox, overturning the idea that there is only one Fox. The two-fox encounter raises an open question: can Fox outsmart the newcomer, or will the pair become friends? The book follows Fox through this new encounter, placing rivalry and a possible friendship at the center of the book from its start. Both foxes, rather than just one, drive the action.Younger ReadersWord Count 84View book details
Go and Get with RexDavid LaRochelleJack, Jill, and Rex play Go and Get, a game in which they race to find something beginning with each letter the narrator calls. Jack and Jill bring expected objects, while Rex answers with more inventive associations: a duck can be a friend, two ducks can be sisters, and a group of ducks can be musicians. The alphabet game builds toward the question of what Rex will bring for D.Younger ReadersView book details
GrayLaura DockrillA child’s changing moods are explored through colors, including bright yellow and orange as well as gray and night-sky black. Gray describes times when the child does not feel like themself or feel that they belong. The book pairs these emotions with expressions of parental care: hugs and lullabies await whatever the child is feeling. Poetic text, mixed-media artwork, and die-cuts present sadness alongside love and acceptance of emotions.Younger ReadersView book details
HeatwaveLauren RednissOn a triple-digit day at the beach, a boy and his dog endure the oppressive heat. Games are canceled as the temperature reaches 100 degrees, even in the shade, and people seek relief from the sun. The boy waits through the slow, hot hours until wind and clouds arrive. A downpour follows, changing the day as the sun sets and the moon rises.Younger ReadersView book details
Hello DayCharlie MylieHello Day follows a child through a day filled with small and large wonders. The child offers joyful greetings to things in the world, including objects within reach, while a parent has more practical plans. Their contrasting perspectives create moments of tension as the child’s curiosity and delight meet the parent’s everyday concerns.Younger ReadersView book details
Hello Hello ColorsBrendan WenzelHello Hello Colors introduces colors alongside animals from the wild world of nature. A zebra, swordfish, sloth, and axolotl help lead its color-focused sequence. The animal parade includes vibrant endangered animals and moves through nature as it explores color. Its stated early-learning concepts include colors, presented through a group of animals rather than through abstract examples alone. It combines the color concept with animal examples.Younger ReadersView book details
Home in a LunchboxCherry MoAfter moving from Hong Kong to the United States, Jun arrives at school knowing only a few English words and feeling out of place among unfamiliar faces and a new language. The Chinese food packed in her lunchbox offers comfort and a connection to home. Sharing those familiar meals helps Jun form new friendships and begin to feel that she belongs in her new surroundings.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure GN160LATOS Book Level 1.5View book details
How to Pee Your PantsRachel Michelle WilsonThis humorous picture book takes on the embarrassing moment of peeing your pants after too much lemonade. It offers deliberately unusual responses, including traffic-cone pants, negotiations with extraterrestrials, and food fights. The story makes room for laughter during an awkward experience and emphasizes that a person going through it is not alone. Its comic approach turns a familiar mishap into a series of imaginative, impractical suggestions.Younger ReadersWord Count 258View book details
If You Run Out of WordsFelicita SalaA father responds to his daughter’s anxious “what if?” questions with reassurance. He promises that he will always have words for her, and the story’s fantasy adventure takes them to the Elves’ Word Factory when keeping that promise calls for an unusual solution. The book centers on the conversation between parent and child as they face worries through imagination and comforting words.Younger ReadersView book details
Joyful SongLesléa NewmanZachary’s baby sister is about to receive her name during a special Shabbat service. As Zachary and his two mothers travel to the synagogue, neighbors ask about the baby’s name. Rather than revealing it, the family shares affectionate nicknames and invites each neighbor to join the service. At the synagogue, after blessings from Zachary’s parents and the rabbi, Zachary announces his sister’s name and explains its meaning. The story follows a Jewish family, their neighbors, and a celebration welcoming a new baby.Younger ReadersView book details
Just What to DoKyle LukoffA young child considers how to support loved ones who are grieving. The story focuses on the impulse to cheer up someone who is sad and on the different ways comfort can be offered in difficult moments. As the child learns strategies for being there for others, the book keeps its attention on grief, care, and the practical question of how to respond when someone needs support.Younger ReadersView book details
The Last StandAntwan EadyOn Saturdays, a boy works alongside his grandfather, Papa, harvesting peppers, plums, pumpkins, and eggs for a farmers’ market stand. Papa’s is the remaining market stand in their Black community, where they serve regular customers and deliver fruit on the way home. When Papa becomes too tired to do the work, the boy tries to carry it on himself, first making bicycle deliveries and later pulling a wagon to town to open the stand. It is an intergenerational story set in the rural South.Younger ReadersView book details
Let's Go!Julie FlettA boy watches other children ride skateboards and hopes to join them. His mother gives him her old skateboard, and they practice together on sidewalks, at the park, and in Auntie’s yard. When he is ready to try the skatepark, the other skateboarders come down around him like a waterfall. The story follows his wish to skateboard, his shared practice with his mother, and his first experience at the skatepark.Younger ReadersView book details
Life Is BeautifulWinsome Bingham, illustrated by Molly MendozaA girl spends weekends with Granny Dee, who rides trains and buses across New York City to see her. When age and illness make the trip too hard for Granny Dee, the girl and her mother begin traveling to visit her. After Granny Dee dies, the child grieves while seeking a way to retain her grandmother’s conviction that beauty and joy belong in life.Younger ReadersView book details
Lone Wolf Goes to SchoolKiah ThomasLone Wolf prefers a quiet, independent life and wants no friends. Yet solitude proves hard to find: he encounters children at school, a tall moviegoer who blocks the screen, and seagulls that take his chips at the beach. Irritated by the crowds and interruptions, Wolf looks for a way to get the peace he wants. His search leads to a solution that gives him the quiet and space he has been seeking.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 381LATOS Book Level 2.7View book details
A Maleta Full of TreasuresNatalia SylvesterDulce eagerly awaits Abuela’s visit, three years after the last one. Abuela arrives with suitcases carrying candies and gifts from relatives, along with reminders of Peru. But the visit ends, and Abuela must pack to leave again. Dulce decides to gather things to send to cousins who have not met their relatives in the United States. Before departing, Abuela gives Dulce another surprise, a reminder that their bond reaches across the distance between their homes.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD760LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
Millie Fleur's Poison GardenChristy MandinGarden Glen is a remarkably uniform place, where the houses and gardens look much alike. That changes when Millie Fleur La Fae arrives in town. On a scruffy hill beside a ramshackle house, she plants a garden unlike anything around it. Her collection includes unusual creations such as Sneezing Stickyweed, Fanged Fairymoss, and Grumpy Gilliflower. The story brings a strange, imaginative garden into an orderly community and presents Millie Fleur’s distinctive vision through a series of wonderfully odd plants.Younger ReadersView book details
Monster HandsKaren KaneAt bedtime, Milo is convinced that a monster lives under his bed. His best friend Mel helps him face the fear by making monster hands as shadow puppets on the wall. Using rhyming American Sign Language, the two friends create hands that roar, chomp, and laugh, hoping to frighten the monster away. Their shared response transforms Milo’s nighttime worry into a playful attempt to confront what scares him.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD480LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
Mr. Lepron's Mystery SoupGiovanna ZoboliMr. Lepron, a rabbit patriarch, makes vegetable soup whose exceptional flavor is connected to the power of his dreams. His soup becomes widely known, but its success begins to move beyond his control. The story follows what happens as his celebrated soup-making grows unwieldy and he must find his way back to a lost source of joy. It is a cautionary tale centered on food, dreams, and the consequences of success.Younger ReadersView book details
My Daddy Is a CowboyStephanie SealesA young African American girl rides horseback with her father through the city at dawn. Sharing his love of horses, she discovers her own sense of being a cowboy during their time together. Their urban ride places horses and cowboy identity in the middle of a parent-child outing, celebrating the pleasure they find in the journey and in one another’s company.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 580LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
My Olive TreeHazar ElbayyaSet in a country affected by war, the story follows a young Palestinian girl who plants an olive tree with her grandfather and support from their community. When the tree is destroyed, her grandfather and neighbors work together to restore what has been lost. The book presents the olive tree as part of the girl’s life and foregrounds collective care and recovery amid conflict. Its illustrations are described as digital and muted.Younger ReadersView book details
The Noisy PuddleLinda Booth SweeneyTwo siblings observe a vernal pool, a temporary shallow wetland filled with plants and animals. The pool appears in spring, dries during summer, returns in fall, freezes in winter, and comes back again the following spring. As the seasons change, the children watch its wildlife and the shifts in this small habitat. The book also notes that vernal pools store rain and provide environmental benefits, presenting the changing ecosystem across a full year.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD400LATOS Book Level 2.8View book details
Noodles on a BicycleKyo MaclearIn a busy Japanese city, children watch noodle deliverymen cycle through the streets with stacks of soup bowls and soba boxes balanced on one shoulder. The children run alongside them and pretend to be delivery workers, but their own bowls of water tumble to the ground. At day’s end, the children eat noodles delivered by their father, who is one of the riders. The story follows the specialized work of bicycle noodle delivery and the family meal that follows.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 479LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
The One & Only GoogooshAzadeh WestergaardThis book follows Googoosh, a celebrated Iranian singer whose performing began in childhood. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, she is forced to stop performing. A young fan in Iran discovers her music and the hope it carries despite that prohibition. Told in the second person, the story brings together a musician’s history, the limits placed on artistic expression, and a child’s connection to a singer’s work.Younger ReadersView book details
One Day This Tree Will FallLeslie Barnard BoothThis book follows a tree’s life cycle, beginning with a seed carried on the wind and continuing until it becomes a mature tree. The tree provides a home for other organisms. It also asks what happens when a tree falls: whether its story is over or begins again. A glossary and bibliography appear in the back matter.Younger ReadersWord Count 357View book details
One Giant LeapThao LamThis wordless collage story follows a child whose school journey is reshaped by imagination. After putting on an orange snowsuit, boots, and a hat, the child becomes an astronaut; even pressing an elevator button becomes part of the journey. The child explores the moon in a space adventure created through play. By transforming an everyday trip into lunar exploration, the narrative focuses on make-believe, creativity, and imaginative play.Younger ReadersView book details
A Pinecone!Helen YoonDuring an autumn walk, a child becomes absorbed by pinecones while Daddy is occupied with a dog that loves mud. The child wants to gather not just one pinecone but a whole collection, imagining an extended family of them. This enthusiastic collecting continues through the small outdoor adventure and leads to a holiday-season finish. The story follows a parent and child outdoors, with a pinecone fascination at its center.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 170LATOS Book Level 1.6View book details
RisingSidura LudwigA young narrator helps Ima prepare challah for the family’s Shabbat meal. They divide the dough, shape it into strands, braid loaves, and wait as the dough rises. The account connects breadmaking with the movement from the week into Shabbat. After changing clothes and pouring grape juice, the family sits down to eat, blessing candles and saying kiddush and hamotzi. Mixed-media artwork uses soft hues with deep blue and bold red details.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure 381LATOS Book Level 2.7View book details
A Sleepless NightMicaela ChirifElisa spends a night crying for an unknown reason, and the adults around her try several responses: moving her bed to see the moon, changing her temperature, wrapping her warmly, and tying a red ribbon at her wrist. Her crying becomes extremely loud, causing flowers to wilt and birds to fly out a window. After the sleepless night, her grandmother’s touch and an explosive fart bring relief.Younger ReadersView book details
Spider in the WellJess HanniganIn Bad Göodsburg, the town’s wishing well has broken, and its residents are angry that their wishes no longer come true. The townspeople send a Newsboy they dismiss as no-good to investigate what happened. His inquiry unfolds amid fibs and cons, with the question of justice at its center.Younger ReadersView book details
Touch the SkyStephanie V. W LucianovicVern wants to swing as high as the other children at the park, but he cannot yet make his legs pump. Frustrated by repeated attempts and by children who say it is easy, he remains close to the ground. Gretchen offers a practical instruction and encouragement, and Vern gradually begins to improve. Once he can swing high, he helps another child learn to pump, drawing on his own recent experience of struggle.Younger ReadersView book details
Towed by ToadJashar AwanToad is a young tow-truck driver who likes assisting others with their vehicle troubles. Although he avoids accepting assistance himself, his own truck eventually breaks down and he must be helped. The story follows this reversal for a helper who needs rescuing, alongside a ride in Toad’s tow truck. Rhyming text accompanies lively illustrations that show several kinds of vehicle problems.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD300LATOS Book Level 2.3View book details
Two TogetherBrendan WenzelCat and Dog travel toward home together, following what appears to be a direct route. Their journey turns into a series of wild adventures, and each animal encounters the world from a different point of view. As Cat and Dog continue home, the story centers on their shared journey, differing ways of seeing, and discoveries along the route. The illustrations combine acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, and digital finishing.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD240LATOS Book Level 2View book details
Up HighMatt HuntA small child and Dad walk through crowded city streets. From ground level, the activity around them feels frightening to the child. Riding on Dad’s shoulders changes that perspective: the child is above the bustle, and the surroundings seem less alarming. The book centers on this city outing and on the reassurance the child finds through being physically close to Dad.Younger ReadersView book details
Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the MountainsAnita YasudaThis picture-book biography tells of Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. It also follows her later decision to protect the mountain area by cleaning it and planting trees. Her life in the mountains connects climbing with ongoing care for the environment, tracing her achievement and the conservation work that followed.Younger ReadersView book details
Ursula Upside DownCorey R. TaborUrsula is a cheerful catfish whose swimming style is questioned by another fish. She is upset to discover that she may have been swimming upside down, and the book asks readers to rotate it as she works through changing feelings about what she has learned. The story centers on a fish reconsidering her usual way of moving through the water and responding to an unexpected observation.Younger ReadersWord Count 334View book details
VacationAme DyckmanBat, Cat, and Rat share a home and try to settle on a vacation they can all enjoy. They need to earn enough money for a travel jar, but each roommate wants something different: Bat hopes for outer space, Cat prefers a spa, and Rat is interested in food. Across three and a half connected stories, their planning, work, disagreements, and efforts to compromise shape the trip’s outcome.Younger ReadersView book details
VolcanoesNell Cross BeckermanVolcanoes examines one of Earth’s explosive natural phenomena. Its illustrations and poetic language depict five kinds of eruptions. The book also conveys volcanoes’ power and mystery, presenting their activity as a subject for scientific exploration. The volume comes from the creators of Caves and focuses specifically on volcanoes rather than a broad survey of Earth science. Its material includes eruption types as well as the larger force of these landforms.Younger ReadersView book details
We Are Definitely HumanX. FangAfter a midnight disturbance, Mr. Li finds three unusual strangers in his yard. Although they insist that they are human and say their vehicle needs repair, their blue skin, bulbous eyes, and unfamiliar behavior suggest otherwise. Mr. Li gives them a place to stay until morning. At the general store, customers accept the visitors’ differences and join in repairing their hot-pink, spherical spaceship. Tools, food, and radio music turn the work into a gathering, while the visitors learn about everyday things such as dancing and eating hot dogs.Younger ReadersLexile Text Measure AD530LATOS Book Level 3.5View book details
The Yellow BusLoren LongA bright yellow school bus spends her days taking children where they need to go, and their daily rides make her happy. When she is retired, her life changes, but she is put to new uses more than once. In each role, the bus continues to find happiness, even after the schoolchildren she once carried are gone. The story follows her through change while keeping her connection to helping others at its center.Younger ReadersWord Count 417View book detailsMiddle Readers
26 selections
Beti and the Little Round HouseAtinukeBeti lives with Mam, Tad, baby Jac, and her tiny goat, Naughty, in a round house in green woods beneath the mountains. Four episodic chapters follow her family through a year in the forest. In spring, a troublesome young goat disrupts her birthday party and later disappears. During summer, Beti and her friends spill the household water urn and work out how to refill it. Autumn brings a storm and shelter in the barn, while winter brings escaped horses after Beti leaves a field gate open.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 549LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Bog MyrtleSid SharpBeatrice and Magnolia are sisters with sharply different dispositions who share a chilly old house with helpful spiders. Beatrice receives enchanted yarn from Bog Myrtle, a giant forest spider concerned with sustainability. With the spiders, she begins making a warm sweater, but the yarn soon leads to a sweater factory and conflict with the spiders. This darkly comic story brings together magic, sisterhood, spiders, and questions about sustainability.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
Buffalo DreamerViolet DuncanSummer visits her mother’s family on a reservation in Alberta, where her usual summer days include gathering sweetgrass, attending powwows, and horseback riding. This time, vivid dreams lead her toward a painful history connected to residential schools that removed Native children from their families and sought to erase their identities. She also learns about her grandfather’s experience at one of those schools. The novel connects family history, memory, and Indigenous identity.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 790LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
Call Me Roberto!Nathalie AlonsoThis picture-book biography follows Roberto Clemente from his childhood in Carolina, Puerto Rico, where he practiced baseball with tree branches and tin cans. At nineteen, he joined a major-league organization and first went to Montreal, where he waited for an opportunity to play. He later joined the Pittsburgh Pirates and made an immediate impact on the field. The book also presents Clemente’s legacy as a Puerto Rican Baseball Hall of Famer whose life included confronting prejudice and hardship.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 669LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
City of Leafcutter AntsAmy HevronBeneath a Central American rainforest, a colony of roughly eight million leafcutter ants functions like a city. The ants are sisters descended from one queen, yet their physical traits and specialties vary. Different ants tend the queen and larvae, break down waste, clean leaf pieces, make antibiotics, dig tunnels, defend the colony, and gather leaves. The leaves become paste for a fungus garden that supplies the colony’s food. A new queen carries fungus on her mating flight to establish a new colony.Middle ReadersView book details
Evidence!Deborah HopkinsonThis illustrated nonfiction account follows Dr. John Snow as he investigates why people in London are becoming ill during a cholera outbreak in the 1850s. He works to identify the source of the disease and traces the outbreak to one water pump. The book recounts how his research helped save lives during a public-health crisis. It presents Snow’s investigation as an example of how scientific discovery can reveal the cause of a serious problem and contribute to protecting people’s health.Middle ReadersView book details
The Fabulous Fannie FarmerEmma Bland SmithThis biography recounts Fannie Farmer’s life as a cook and food pioneer. After polio left her unable to use one leg as a teenager, cooking helped direct her future. She noticed that recipes often relied on vague amounts, which could produce inconsistent results. Farmer attended the Boston Cooking School, later became its principal, and promoted exact measurements and clear recipe instructions. She revised the school cookbook to demonstrate this approach and bring those methods to a wider public.Middle ReadersView book details
Golden GateElizabeth PartridgeThis picture book recounts the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge across a hazardous strait in San Francisco. Engineers and builders undertake the project during the Great Depression, despite widespread doubt that it can be done. Work begins in 1933, and the bridge opens on May 27, 1937. The account centers on the people and effort behind the landmark’s creation.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 780LATOS Book Level 5.7View book details
HomeMatt de la Peña, illustrated by Loren LongLyrical text and warm illustrations consider what makes a home. Rather than treating home only as a physical place, the book connects it with the people who create belonging. It recognizes that families and homes can take many forms, and also includes community, safety, and the natural world in its vision of home.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure AD910LFountas & Pinnell Text Level OView book details
The Hotel BalzaarKate DiCamilloMarta lives with her mother, who works as a maid, in the attic of the Hotel Balzaar. Her father has been away at war and has not contacted them for more than a year, yet Marta still hopes for his return. She quietly explores the hotel until a countess arrives with a parrot and promises to tell her seven stories. As the countess’s tales unfold, Marta notices connections and wonders what they reveal about her father and the strange events around her.Middle ReadersView book details
Island of WhispersFrances HardingeMilo’s father carries dead people’s ghosts to the Island of the Broken Tower, a place of rest that requires their shoes to accompany them. He refuses when a local Lord wants his dead daughter Gabrielle returned for magicians to revive. The Lord’s men kill the Ferryman and imprison Milo’s older brother. Inexperienced Milo must bring Gabrielle and four other ghosts to the island while the Lord’s men and magic-wielding pursuers chase his boat.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 888LATOS Book Level 5.7View book details
John the SkeletonTriinu LaanWritten by Triinu Laan and published by Restless Books, John the Skeleton features John, a classroom skeleton who retires. Grams and Gramps take him in and regard him as family. Pencil illustrations use black, white, and hot pink. It was named a 2025 Mildred L. Batchelder Award winner. Retirement is portrayed as a time when each person deserves quiet and rest.Middle ReadersView book details
Johnny, the Sea, and MeMelba EscobarPedro has long wanted to see the ocean. His mother brings him to a small Caribbean island, but troubles from home remain with him: classmates have bullied him, and his father is absent. Overwhelmed during the trip, Pedro runs away along the beach, hoping distance will leave those worries behind. There he meets Johnny, an island resident with pirate ancestry. The story also includes a mysterious dog connected to the sea.Middle ReadersView book details
Kareem BetweenShifa Saltagi SafadiKareem, a Syrian American Chicago Bears fan, hopes to become a middle-school quarterback but does not make the team. Austin, the coach’s son, offers to help him join later if Kareem completes Austin’s assignments. Kareem agrees, despite Austin’s bullying, and becomes friends with Fadi, another Syrian student. When Austin directs racist harassment at Fadi, Kareem stays silent. Meanwhile, his mother and grandparents are stranded in Syria after an executive order bars immigration from several countries with large Muslim populations.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 731LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
LolaKarla Arenas ValentiLola, a ten-year-old girl whose Mexico City home is magical, sets out to find a cure for her ill brother. Her search takes her into Floresta, a concealed realm where a powerful queen awaits. This fantasy story follows Lola’s journey through a hidden world as she tries to help her brother.Middle ReadersATOS Book Level 4.8AR Interest Level MG 4–8View book details
Magnolia Wu Unfolds It Alll, Chanel MillerTen-year-old Magnolia Wu calls herself a sock detective at her parents’ New York City laundromat. She wants to reunite every lone sock left there with the customer it belongs to. Magnolia pins the misplaced socks to a bulletin board so customers can find them again. Her efforts turn the laundromat’s unclaimed socks into the objects of an ongoing search for their owners.Middle ReadersView book details
Max in the House of SpiesAdam GidwitzMax leaves home and finds himself alone for the first time. As danger grows for Jewish families in Germany, he is determined to return to Berlin and reunite with his parents. His journey includes two unexpected companions: Berg, a kobold, and Stein, a dybbuk, who travel on his shoulders. To get back to his family, Max must become a spy in wartime Europe. The story combines his plan to reach home with supernatural companions and a perilous historical setting.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 680LATOS Book Level 4.8View book details
The Mistakes That Made UsIrene Latham, Charles WatersThis poetry anthology gathers accounts from twenty poets about mistakes they made when young and the lessons that followed. Its poems use a range of poetic forms and include situations such as scoring for the opposing team or being hurt after accepting a dare. Insets add the writers’ own reflections on what they learned. The collection pairs poems about embarrassment, poor choices, and consequences with colorful illustrations.Middle ReadersView book details
My AntarcticaG. NeriG. Neri recounts a seven-week journey in Antarctica in a first-person account illustrated with photographs, cartoonlike images, and other visuals. He describes the Antarctic environment, the places where people live, and the people he meets along with their work. Scientists and engineers he encounters conduct experiments on Earth’s past and present and on outer space. Lists cover subjects including things found in Antarctica, things absent there, Antarctic animals, and toilets. Neri also reflects on being Black amid Antarctica’s whiteness and unexpected colors.Middle ReadersView book details
One Big Open SkyLesa Cline-Ransome, map by Allira TreeTold in verse through the voices of Lettie, her mother Sylvia, and Philomena, this novel follows Black pioneers heading west in 1879. Lettie’s father, Thomas, wants to leave Mississippi, where racism and the legacy of slavery limit the family’s possibilities, for Nebraska, which welcomes homesteaders regardless of race. Sylvia is reluctant to leave extended family, but the group sets out with other Black homesteaders. Philomena joins them in Missouri, paying to travel with the family because a teaching job awaits her in Nebraska. The journey brings uncertainty, tension, and changing family bonds.Middle ReadersView book details
Onyx & BeyondAmber McBrideIn 1970, twelve-year-old Onyx dreams about space and astronauts while trying to protect his mother, who has dementia. He is also trying to stay safe and keep attention away from his home, fearing that Child Protective Services could place him in foster care. Set as the Civil Rights Movement is gaining momentum, the free-verse story follows Onyx as he manages responsibilities at home and learns to accept help from other people.Middle ReadersView book details
Poetry ComicsGrant SniderThis collection presents original poems in comic form, organized around the seasons. Short pieces consider familiar experiences including new shoes, falling leaves, swimming, returning to school, and snow. Other poems explore nature, ways of seeing the world, friendship, confidence, and being a young writer. Two children recur in the panel illustrations as the poems move through small pleasures, observations, questions, and reflection. The book also includes poems about writing poetry and revising a draft after returning to it later.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
PopcornRob HarrellAndrew is trying to get through school Picture Day, but the day turns into a series of problems and fears. As events spiral into chaos, he must cope with anxiety on what may be his worst day. The story uses greyscale comics and drawings, and includes an author’s note about OCD anxiety along with resources. It centers on Andrew’s difficult school day and the emotional pressure he experiences while things continue to go wrong.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 610LATOS Book Level 4View book details
UprootedAlbert MarrinThis historical account examines the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. It describes how the U.S. government detained more than 100,000 people, including its own citizens, because of their ancestry and doubts about their loyalty, keeping them in camps for much of four years. The book traces the history of racism in the United States and the route that led to this decision by a president widely admired by many Americans. It also addresses the consequences of a policy that uprooted Japanese American communities.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure 1050LATOS Book Level 8.2View book details
We Are Big TimeHena KhanAliya moves from Tampa to Milwaukee and joins the basketball team at her Islamic high school, hoping the sport will help her adjust. Coach Jess appoints Aliya and senior player Noura as co-captains, though Noura resists sharing the role. The team works through practice, leadership, and individual reasons for playing as its season changes. Local media attention brings another challenge: interviewers focus on the players’ hijabs instead of their basketball. The girls respond by relying on solidarity within the team.Middle ReadersLexile Text Measure GN320LATOS Book Level 2.4View book details
We Sing from the HeartMia WenjenThis account follows Simon Tam and his rock band, The Slants, as they fight to keep their chosen name. The band members had themselves been called the racial slur in the name, and their struggle over it reached the Supreme Court in a case about free speech. Along with the band’s story, the book includes short biographies of other Asian American activists, source material, song lyrics, and digital artwork. Music, identity, racial prejudice, and legal rights are central to the book’s subject.Middle ReadersView book detailsOlder Readers
25 selections
Across So Many SeasRuth BeharFour girls from successive generations of a Sephardic Jewish family live across five centuries. Their connected stories include exile from Spain, settlement in Istanbul, migration to Cuba, and a journey to the United States. In 1923, Reina is sent from Turkey to Cuba after defying her father; later, her daughter Alegra flees Cuba for Miami. Music and memory link the family’s long history of displacement and movement.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 830LATOS Book Level 5.3View book details
Black Girl You Are AtlasRenée WatsonThis poetry collection, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, explores Black girlhood through poems and art. Rooted in Renée Watson’s life, the poems draw on relationships with family and community members as well as memories of adolescence. They address a girl’s thoughts about beauty, crushes, music, and news of police violence against Rodney King. Other pieces depict community spaces, including Ms. Tiny’s Saturday kitchen. The collection uses specific personal experiences to consider relationships, identity, and what it means to grow up as a Black girl.Older ReadersView book details
The Bletchley RiddleRuta Sepetys, Steve SheinkinDuring World War II, Lizzie and her older brother Jakob are separated from their mother after she is caught in Poland while working for the American embassy. Though she is presumed dead, Lizzie refuses to accept it. She finds documents hidden in their London apartment and tries to show that their mother is alive. Jakob, a Cambridge mathematics student, works near Bletchley Park on secret efforts to break German Enigma messages. Alternating chapters follow Lizzie’s search and Jakob’s codebreaking work.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 631LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
Cruzita and the MariacherosAshley GranilloTwelve-year-old Cruzita spends her summer helping at her family’s struggling bakery. She hopes to become a pop star by winning a singing competition at a theme park she loves. Meanwhile, she is under pressure to take mariachi lessons. When she learns of a music contest, Cruzita sees a possible way to help the bakery. Her ambitions, the family business, and mariachi music all shape the challenge she faces during the summer.Older ReadersView book details
Deer Run HomeAnn Clare LeZotteEffie is Deaf and uses sign language, but no one in her family has learned it. After she and her older sister move in with their father, Effie begins fifth grade at a new school. Her sign-language interpreter, Miss Kathy, and English teacher, Mr. Bart, offer support; Mr. Bart values Effie’s writing, which reflects sign-language grammar. Effie also befriends Cait, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy. As concerns grow about neglect at home, Miss Kathy visits and later gains temporary custody of Effie while a hearing begins.Older ReadersView book details
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II (Scholastic Focus)Candace FlemingThis historical account follows young women who arrived at Station X, a run-down mansion surrounded by huts, without knowing what work awaited them. At Bletchley Park, they broke ciphers in secret during World War II. Their codebreaking work helped alter the course of the conflict. The book centers on the hidden wartime efforts of these young women and the need to keep their work confidential.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
The First State of BeingErin Entrada KellyIn August 1999, twelve-year-old Michael Rosario is anxious about the approaching Y2K moment. He meets a mysterious teenager who says he has arrived from the future. Their growing friendship changes the way Michael considers his family, trust, forgiveness, and what may come next. Set during the lead-up to Y2K, the novel brings Michael’s present into contact with questions about time and the future.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 681LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details
The Ghostkeeper: A Graphic NovelJohanna TaylorDorian Leith can see ghosts, hear their troubles, and try to help them reach the afterlife. This ability has made him an outcast in town. He works with his deceased grandmother to turn it into a living, while a local bookshop owner is the only living person who gives him a chance. Dorian sees this work as a larger purpose.Older ReadersView book details
The Girl Who SangEstelle NadelThis graphic memoir follows Estelle Nadel, then called Enia Feld, a young Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Poland. She is seven when the Nazis invade in 1939. Over the following five years, she survives the deaths of her parents, her oldest brother and sister, and many others. The account includes her brother’s love, help from strangers, and her struggle to hold onto hope amid persecution and loss.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 420LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
How It All EndsEmma HunsingerTara faces a difficult move into high school while still feeling unprepared to leave eighth grade behind. She is unsure about giving up pretend play, and a new attraction to a classmate adds to her uncertainty. As she enters an unfamiliar social world, Tara has to work out how her imagination, friendships, and sense of self might fit among older students.Older ReadersView book details
Impossible CreaturesKatherine RundellTwo children enter a magical realm where its remaining magical creatures face extinction. Their quest requires them to confront enemies and find allies while trying to preserve the land. The stakes extend beyond the children themselves: the world is fading, and its last fantastical inhabitants are threatened. Their journey brings danger, difficult truths, and a task that demands boldness. Ashley Mackenzie provides illustrations for this adventure about a threatened magical world and the children working to save it.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure HL650LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
Louder Than HungerJohn Schu, foreword by Kate DiCamilloJake is a middle school student receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa. The illness appears to him as a controlling Voice inside his head. Before treatment, he volunteers at a nursing home and enjoys skating, singing, bingo, music games, mysteries, and comics, while avoiding peers, mirrors, and food. The novel tells his difficult movement toward health in free-verse poetry. It follows Jake’s experience with an eating disorder and the inner voice that exerts control over him.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 549LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Mid-AirAlicia D. WilliamsAfter his friend dies, Isaiah is grieving and struggling with guilt and questions about identity. He also experiences an attack motivated by race. Isaiah is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, where he confronts his grief and considers what masculinity means to him. The story asks whether he can be true to himself as he works through these experiences. Danica Novgorodoff’s illustrations accompany this rhythmic novel told in verse.Older ReadersView book details
Murray Out of WaterTaylor TracyTwelve-year-old Murray faces the aftermath of a hurricane that destroys her beachfront home and breaks her magical connection to the ocean. Far from home, she tries to recover that connection while facing an emerging LGBTQ+ identity and conflict with her censorious, homophobic mother. The story is told in free verse.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 811LATOS Book Level 5.2View book details
Next StopDebbie FongPia joins a desert bus tour headed for Cessarine Lake, a place believed to grant miracles. She hopes the lake can undo the accidental drowning of her little brother Ben, an event she believes was her fault. During the trip, Pia meets Sam and other families at unusual roadside attractions. Flashbacks show her family living with her mother’s severe depression after Ben’s death, while Pia’s new friendships become part of her attempt to heal.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure GN400LATOS Book Level 2.8View book details
Pearl: A Graphic NovelSherri L. SmithIn 1941, thirteen-year-old Amy, a Japanese American girl from Hawaii, travels to Hiroshima to visit her ill great-grandmother. While she is with family in Japan, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor prevents her from returning home. Separated from the people she knows in Hawaii, Amy faces upheaval and loss during World War II. The graphic novel uses artwork in blue and gray tones.Older ReadersView book details
Red Bird DancedDawn QuigleyAriel and Tomah have grown up together in an intertribal apartment complex. When Ariel’s Auntie Bineshiin disappears, Ariel begins a school project about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Tomah, who loves observing birds and sharing traditional stories, hides that he cannot read until his teacher offers help. After Auntie Bineshiin is found dead, Ariel, Tomah, and their wider Native community mourn her loss and come together through a symbolic act.Older ReadersView book details
Shark TeethSherri WinstonAfter returning from foster care, twelve-year-old Sharkita fears being separated again from her younger sister, Lilli, and her developmentally disabled brother, Lamar. When their mother disappears for days, Kita takes on cooking, bills, cleaning, and childcare while also coping with her mother’s abuse. Her love of baton twirling and support from her coach offer a break from these pressures. One evening out with friends leads to a disastrous situation at home.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 669LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Sona and the Golden BeastsRajani LaRoccaIn a land where music is forbidden, thirteen-year-old Sona Kalpani begins uncovering truths about herself and her world. She learns that she was born from an illegal marriage between different groups. Accompanied by a friend and an orphaned wolf pup, Sona travels toward a sacred place. Her journey is undertaken to free her land, while secrets about the world around her continue to emerge.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 769LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
The Tenth Mistake of Hank HoopermanGennifer CholdenkoWhen eleven-year-old Hank’s mother disappears, he is left caring for his little sister while they face eviction and an uncertain future. Determined to keep their family together, Hank turns to an unfamiliar person listed on an emergency contact form and asks for help. The story follows his efforts to protect his sister and find support after their mother vanishes.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure HL560LATOS Book Level 3.7View book details
The Things We MissLeah StecherJ. P. Green feels out of step with others and dreads parts of seventh grade, including fitness tests, oral reports, and uncomfortable talks with her mother. In a neighbor’s treehouse, she finds a mysterious door that moves her three days ahead. J. P. uses it to miss the moments she most wants to avoid, while no one knows she has been gone.Older ReadersView book details
UltravioletAida SalazarThirteen-year-old Elio is navigating first love, powerful feelings, and questions about what it means to be a boy within his Mexican culture. His relationship with his grandfather, Pops, brings pressure to “man up” according to the Solis family’s expectations. When betrayal and heartbreak leave Elio reeling, he turns toward revenge and a fight meant to prove his manhood and protect Camelia’s honor. The story is told in free verse.Older ReadersView book details
WeirdoTony Weaver, Jr.Tony is a seventh grader facing relentless bullying at school. The abuse leads to a mental-health crisis, and he moves to another school. There, he finds a group of fellow “nerds” and begins to accept the parts of himself that others had treated as strange. The story follows an outcast after a life-changing event as he becomes his own hero. Tony’s move changes his school environment and gives him space to find companionship and embrace his own weirdness.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 491LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
What Is Color?Steven WeinbergThis nonfiction overview examines color through science, art, and history. It explains concepts including the electromagnetic spectrum and traces connections between color and artistic practice over time. The book also explores the messier side of pigments and paint, including a purple substance made from a crushed sea snail, and notes that the search for color can involve unpleasant or dangerous materials. Cartoon-style illustrations and back matter accompany the text.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 770LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
The Wrong Way HomeKate O’ShaughnessyFern and her mother flee the Ranch, an off-the-grid community where Dr. Ben has controlled every part of their lives. In California, they settle near a motel where Fern’s mother has found work, with help from Babs, an old friend of Fern’s grandmother. Having been taught to fear technology and the outside world, Fern struggles with how little she knows. Wanting to reconnect with Dr. Ben, she seeks a private investigator and tries to earn the money to hire one.Older ReadersLexile Text Measure 640LATOS Book Level 4.1View book detailsAll Ages
17 selections
Almost UnderwearJonathan RothThis nonfiction account follows a piece of muslin cloth connected to the Wright brothers’ Flyer. Although muslin was commonly used for underwear, this particular piece later traveled beyond Earth, reaching both the moon and Mars. Its journey links the early history of flight with later space exploration, showing how one ordinary material became part of several milestones in transportation and exploration.All AgesView book details
Aloha EverythingKaylin Melia GeorgeYoung Ano has been connected to her island home since birth, but she still has much to learn. As she begins to dance hula, a storytelling form that carries Hawaiian knowledge, history, and folklore, she comes to understand aloha. Her experience of home includes canoes on ocean waves, hawks in the sky, and lizards moving through forest trees. Told in verse and collage illustrations, the book follows Ano as she grows into a deeper love for her Hawaiian island home.All AgesLexile Text Measure AD940LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Before the Ships: The Birth of Black ExcellenceMaisha OsoBefore the Ships presents Black history as beginning well before the transatlantic slave trade. In poetic text and illustrations, it turns to Africa and the achievements found across the continent before that period. The book places slavery within African American history without treating it as the starting point, then connects this earlier history to the strength and resilience of Black people today. It foregrounds a long, rich past tied to Africa.All AgesView book details
Bounce!Sarah AlbeeThis nonfiction book investigates what makes rubber bounce and why the material has its distinctive properties. It traces rubber’s history, including early balls that did not bounce and rainforest communities making waterproof gear from rubber long before Europeans used it. The account also follows rising demand for rubber as sneakers, bicycles, and cars became widespread. Sidebars, graphics, and facts accompany the exploration of this everyday material and its many uses.All AgesLexile Text Measure 221LATOS Book Level 1.9View book details
Brave Baby HummingbirdSy MontgomeryBrave Baby Hummingbird follows orphaned hummingbirds from rescue and care at a sanctuary toward the skills they need to live in the wild. The book focuses on the birds’ vulnerable early period after they emerge from eggs and on their path into the world. It presents their development and survival through illustrations described as vivid and lifelike. Their early lives are framed as a journey shaped by care, learning, and the demands of wild survival.All AgesView book details
The Dictionary StoryOliver JeffersDictionary longs to have a story of her own, so she brings the words on her pages to life. Her new characters quickly become unruly, colliding and creating disorder until a huge tantrum erupts. Alphabet, Dictionary’s friend, responds with a song that restores calm and arrangement to the pages. This playful story turns words, a dictionary, and the alphabet into characters as a planned adventure becomes a jumble.All AgesWord Count 3798View book details
Fighting with LoveLesa Cline-RansomeFighting with Love traces John Lewis from childhood through the experiences and influences that shaped his commitment to activism and justice. It follows his work alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his belief in nonviolent action and voting rights. The narrative builds toward 1965, when Lewis and other voting-rights marchers stepped onto the Edmund Pettis Bridge and confronted police. An author’s note, timeline, and source notes extend the account.All AgesView book details
Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master StorytellerBreanna J. McDanielAugusta Baker’s grandmother fills her childhood with folktales, instilling in her a determination to find a way forward. While preparing to teach, Augusta discovers folklore and realizes that sharing stories is her calling. She becomes a children’s librarian in Harlem, challenging harmful portrayals of Black people by promoting authentic works by and about Black people. Her work later includes leadership at NYPL, teaching at Columbia University, and a storyteller residency in South Carolina.All AgesView book details
The Iguanodon's HornSean RubinThis account follows changing ideas about iguanodons, beginning with a fossil tooth found in 1822 and continuing through full skeletons discovered in 1878. It also covers the 1960s recognition of dinosaurs’ relationship to birds. Scientists and artists use evidence and imagination to reconsider how these animals looked and behaved. New discoveries have repeatedly altered, overturned, or expanded earlier theories, while many details of an iguanodon’s outward appearance remain unknown.All AgesView book details
I'm Sorry You Got MadKyle LukoffJack wants to apologize after hurting Zoe’s feelings, but he cannot settle on words that say what he means. With the patient help of his teacher, he writes a sequence of notes to his classmate and works through the challenge of making an apology. The story centers on the gap between wanting to repair a hurt and finding a way to communicate that intention as he tries again in writing.All AgesView book details
The Last ZookeeperAaron BeckerIn a flooded future where waterlogged buildings are the remaining signs of people, a construction robot named NOA tends a neglected zoo of rare and endangered animals. As another storm approaches, NOA builds an ark from wreckage and sets out to find land and a home for the animals. The wordless story follows the robot’s rescue mission through a post-apocalyptic landscape shaped by rising floodwaters.All AgesView book details
Life After WhaleLynn BrunelleAn aging blue whale dies and its body descends to the ocean floor. As the whale transforms, it supplies nourishment and shelter to organisms and other sea life over decades. Even after 150 years, parts of the skeleton still harbor life. The book follows this whale fall from the animal’s life through its death and gradual breakdown, showing how an enormous body becomes the foundation of a deep-sea ecosystem.All AgesView book details
NarwhalCandace FlemingThis nonfiction picture book follows a narwhal in the Arctic Ocean. During winter, when ice covers much of the water, the animal surfaces through an open patch, its long tusk pointing upward. The book describes the tusk as a six-foot tooth and follows the narwhal as it moves with its pod, jousts with another narwhal, and uses echolocation to locate prey. It presents narwhals as Arctic mammals sometimes called underwater unicorns.All AgesLexile Text Measure AD630LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
The ObservologistGiselle ClarksonThis illustrated field guide introduces observology, the practice of closely looking at the world nearby. Its small everyday expeditions focus on tiny creatures, plants, and fungi. Readers encounter details such as water snails moving upside down beneath the water’s surface, flies without wings, earthworms with bristles, and butterflies that taste using their feet. The book combines scientific observations with detailed digital illustrations and includes an index.All AgesView book details
We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian AmericaJoanna HoWritten in free verse, this book celebrates the many Asian American identities and the people who made lives, worked, and created in North America. It also acknowledges that these communities were ignored and faced discrimination. The text looks to self-worth, shared legacy, and a future shaped by Asian Americans, while digital illustrations accompany the poem. Back matter offers discussion questions and starting points for further conversation about heritage and possibility.All AgesView book details
Why We DanceDeidre HavrelockA young girl faces fear as the day of the Jingle Dress Dance arrives. At the dance, she draws on the tradition’s heritage, joy, and healing meaning to find strength. Created by Indigenous collaborators Deidre Havrelock and Aly McKnight, the story centers a child’s experience of a dance that connects courage with tradition.All AgesLexile Text Measure 479LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
Wings of an EagleBilly Mills, Donna Janell BowmanIn this first-person picture-book account, Billy Mills begins at the 10,000-meter starting line at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics before the narrative moves back across his life. An Oglala Lakota child raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation, he finds comfort in running after his mother’s death and amid racist bullying. He later attends Haskell Institute and the University of Kansas, enters the Marines, and receives a borderline-diabetes diagnosis.All AgesWord Count 1545View book details