How to Find a Fox by Nilah Magruder

How to Find a Fox by Nilah Magruder (2016) #ownvoices

A plucky little adventurer sets out with backpack and camera in hand—determined to find a fox. The narrator explains the best way to go about finding a fox, while the illustrations show the girl stymied at every step and the sly fox always just out of her sight.  As soon as she gives up or turns away, there’s the fox doing just what she wanted it to. Highlights include the fox disguised as an owl and a raccoon. Frustrated, she wants to give up, but the narrator instructs her to take a deep breath and a mental break before going on. And, of course, the fox shows up in the end and the final spread is a bunch of snapshots of their time together. I love that the girl gets to explore nature on her own terms, and the way that the text provides a script for what to do when you’re frustrated and want to give up. Kids will love looking for the fox’s tricky antics.

Themes/topics: Adventure, persistence, nature, animals, searching, tricksters

Sample text from two spreads:

Tread slowly over the ground. Foxes have keen hearing. You don’t want to startle them. Be sure to look for fox tracks. They’re like dog tracks, but sneakier.

Take a picture of a family of raccoons. They have bushy tails kind of like foxes. Put out more bait. Wait longer this time. 

Mina’s White Canvas

Mina’s White Canvas by Heyeon-Ju Lee (2015) #ownvoices  

Mina feels gray and gloomy—just like the weather. Like her many literary predecessors, she begins to draw snowflakes, which quickly transform her world into a vast landscape to explore. She meets various animals, and solves their problems with her magic crayon, adding more and more color to her world. Mina sits comfortably next to Harold and his purple crayon, with a shorter story more suited to storytime that also has a focus on helping others.

Themes/topics: Helping, kindness, drawing, crayons, imagination, adventure

Sample text from two spreads:

The new friends walked through the forest. “Look!” Said Mina. “I see someone in that cave!”

It was Mr. Bear. He had grown so fat during the long winter that he was stuck in the cave opening. Mina and Grandfather Woodpecker pulled and tugged, but they could not get him out.

Mina took her crayon and drew a big blue door on the side of the cave. Hooray! It was just the right size for Mr. Bear!

Every Color

Every Color by Erin Eitter Kono (2016)

A polar bear longs for color in his snowy world, so his seagull friends enlist the help of a girl who mails bear a beautiful rainbow picture. While he loves the gift, it doesn’t quite solve his problem. So the girl spirits him away in her boat, and takes him adventuring all over the world. They paint pictures of all they see and send them home, so when bear returns he realizes that the whole world is reflected in his white home—and always had been. With a strong girl saving the day, bold colors, and a gorgeous painting of the Northern Lights, this is a great story for sophisticated storytime groups.

Themes/topics: colors, snow, arctic animals, boats, adventure

Sample text from two spreads:

It was the most amazing thing Bear had ever received. But the gift didn’t take away his discontent.

When Bear’s thank you note arrived—Seagull Express—the girl realized that she needed to go to him. She understood that he looked for color, but could not see it. She rigged her skiff and sailed across the ocean. “Come with me,” said the girl when she finally reached Bear. “I know where to find what you need.”

Max Speed

Max Speed by Stephen Shaskan (2016)

One of the cutest little daredevils you’ve ever seen, Max Speed gets his room clean just in time for adventure. Hopping into his zippy red roadsters, he zooms along facing various road blocks with ingenuity and aplomb. With tons of action words, and repeating phrases like, “Had Max met his match?” and “Just in time,” this one is a storytime win. Great fun-Highly recommended!

Themes/topics: Superheros, problem solving, adventure, sharks, imagination, mothers

Sample text from four spreads,

Max feel gently down into…/

SHARK-INFESTED WATERS!

[speech bubble] ‘GREAT GADZOOKS!’

Had Max met his match? /

Just in time, Max spoke his super-secret shark language, “Sharky-shark-shark. Shark, shark-shark, sharky-shark. Shark, shark?” /

The sharks showed Max the way to the super-secret underground cave.