All the book/title/author information is also listed at the end. Enjoy!
Can One Balloon Make and Elephant Fly? by Dan Richards and Jeff
Newman (2016)
Visiting the zoo with his mother, Evan keeps asking if x
amount of balloons will make each animal fly. Mom, thinking he’s referring to
toys, confirms yes to each question—and doesn’t notice Evan handing balloons to
the animals in the cages as she ties balloons to the small plastic toys. As mom
releases the small plastic toys, Evan looks over her shoulder at the real life
animals serenely taking flight as well. Both agree that it’s amazing, although
mom is none the wiser.
Themes/topics: zoos, imagination, balloons,
miscommunication, fantasy, flying
Sample text:
“Can two balloons
make a hippopotamus fly?”
Look Up! By Jung Jin-Ho (2016 US
copyright) #ownvoices
A lonely young girl in a wheelchair looks down on the
tiny people in the street below, wishing for someone to look up. Eventually,
another child does look up, and after a shouted conversation he lays in the
street so she can see more than the top of his head. Others follow suit, and
the two new friends are shown in the end on street level, looking up with giant
smiles. While this mostly wordless book is best suited for very small groups,
it has so much potential for art programs, particularly when talking about perspective
and seeing things differently. I think it would pair well with Wenzel’s They All Saw a Cat.
Themes/topics: friendship, perspective, seeing
Sample text from three spreads:
Come down! You
can’t see well from up there.
You’re right! I can
only see the tops of people’s heads!
[wordless spread
with boy laying down]
[another person
walks up to the boy] Why are you lying on the sidewalk?
So the girl up
there can see me.
Marta! Big & Small by Jen Arena Illustrated by Angela Dominguez
(2016) #ownvoices
Marta just might be the cutest human character of 2016.
She’s open, delightful, and authentically childlike. The repetitive language
and simple storyline teaches opposites while still providing dramatic tension,
making this an excellent storytime choice. With her backpack and adventurous
spirit, she may remind readers of another Latina explorer, but Marta stands
tall on her own merits. Top notch!
Themes/topics: opposites, animals, snakes, exploring
Sample text from two spreads; the Spanish words are in a
different color and font.
To a bug, Marta is grande. Big, very big.
To an elephant,
Marta is pequeña. Small, very small.
A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen and Mike Lowery (2016)
This one might be hard to pull off in storytime, but it’s
SUCH a delightful exploration and visual representation of the process of marks
turning into letters turning into words turning into a story. There just has be
a program in this book! The story is mostly told through dialogue, which can be
difficult to pull off as a read aloud—but again, it’s just so clever,
delightful and inspiring!
Themes/topics: writing, stories, siblings, imagination,
reading
Sample text from one spread, which switches between text
and dialogue bubbles.
“What are you
doing?” I ask one day while we’re sitting at the kitchen table.
“I’m writing a
story.” [answers his sister]
“I wish I could
write a story”
“You CAN. It’s
easy.”
“How? I know my
letters but I don’t know man words.”
“Write what you
know. Every story starts with a single word, and every word starts with a
single letter. Why don’t you start there, with a letter?”
The Class by Boni Ashburn and Kimberly Gee (2016)
This rhyming text compares and contrasts the experiences of
a group of kids as they get ready for school. Fun, funny, and poignant, this is
a great fit for any “first day of school” storytime. The kids are both racially
and economically diverse, and the illustrations avoid stereotypes between the
two. Fun to read in a group, but extra rewarding to close readers who can track
individual children throughout the book and follow their individual stories,
this one is worth putting on your radar.
Themes/topics: school, getting dressed/getting ready,
growing up
Sample text:
Ten have bed head.
Nine use combs. One tries brushes…sprays…and foams…
Two put ribbons in
their hair
Four wear day-old
underwear. Five can’t find a matching sock.
One yells, “Don’t
you ever knock?!” [baby sis opens bathroom
door]
When Penny Met POTUS by Rachel Ruiz illustrated by Melissa Manwill
(2016) #ownvoices?
Penny’s mother works at the White House. Penny hears the
term “POTUS” a lot, and imagines that POTUS is a kind of monster—which leads to
much confusion when she comes face-to-face with the real POTUS—who turns out to
be a woman. Penny and her mother have dark hair and eyes, and may read as
“white” to most viewers, but close readers will note that while Penny and the
POTUS’ skin is a similar shade, Penny’s skin tone is more brown than the
President’s, and considerably darker than some of the other White House staff,
particularly the gardener.
Themes/topics: Presidents, The White House, voting,
elections, women, empowerment, monsters
Sample text from three spreads:
“Penny looks at the
woman. “You’re POTUS?”
The woman nods,
smiling. “POTUS is a nickname people use for me,” she says. “It stands for
President of the United States.”
“You’re the
president?” Penny asks. “But you’re a—“
[the president is
shown in a power pose with a word bubble that reads, “That’s right, I’m a—“]
“Human,” Penny
says.
She feels a little
disappointed.
Can One Balloon Make and Elephant Fly?
by Dan Richards and Jeff Newman (2016)
Look Up! By Jung Jin-Ho (2016 US
copyright) #ownvoices
Marta! Big & Small by Jen Arena
Illustrated by Angela Dominguez (2016) #ownvoices
A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen and
Mike Lowery (2016)
The Class by Boni Ashburn and Kimberly
Gee (2016)
When Penny Met POTUS by Rachel Ruiz
illustrated by Melissa Manwill (2016) #ownvoices?
