Wild Ideas: Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking


Elin Kelsey - 2015
    Wild Ideas looks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it’s weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies.Like You Are Stardust, this book uses lyrical text grounded in current science alongside wonderfully detailed art to present problems as doorways to creative thinking. Wild Ideas encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions. An author’s note at the end delves deeper into the research behind the text.

8: An Animal Alphabet


Elisha Cooper - 2015
    Lion and lizard, whale and wombat. Learn one wild fact about each animal. (Did you know that gorillas yawn when they are nervous?) Look carefully, because for each letter of the alphabet, one animal is pictured eight times. Why 8? Come inside and find out.

Walter's Wonderful Web


Tim Hopgood - 2016
    The webs he makes at first are woven in special shapes--a triangle, a square, a circle--but they are still wibbly-wobbly. Can Walter make a web that is both wonderful and strong? This simple, vibrant adventure is a lively companion to our two previous Hopgood "first books" about colors and the senses.

Cars Galore


Peter Stein - 2011
    Near car, far car. Whoa! Bizarre car!Ready to hit the road? Gear up for a nonstop parade of shapes, sizes, sounds, and even smells in a wild array of cars packed with big personalities, awesome features, and eccentric passengers. Driven by Peter Stein’s bouncing verse, Bob Staake’s high-powered artwork merges vibrant color and crisp, dynamic design with humor, warmth, and whimsy. This rousing excursion is sure to thrill all fans of things that go, as well as aficionados of the illustrator’s signature style.

Ten on a Twig


Lo Cole - 2020
    One falls off, and then there are nine.Watch the birds fall as the pages turn! In this charming, deceptively simple counting book, ten birds sit on a twig. As each falls off, they take a piece of the twig with them, and in the end, they have a new home―just in time to say goodnight. This delightful, fun read is great for bedtime or playtime, and the clever die-cuts will charm young readers.Children learning how to count will be mesmerized by the actions that happen with the page turns. It encourages repetition and rereads, and is sure to help many kids remember their numbers as they laugh along the way.

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake


Michael B. Kaplan - 2011
      From author Michael B. Kaplan, creator of Disney’s T.V. show Dog with a Blog, comes the debut picture book of the Betty Bunny series. It's a story about patience—seen through the eyes of a precocious preschooler.   Betty Bunny is the youngest in her family of rabbits and she’s just discovering the important things in life, like chocolate cake. She declares, “I am going to marry chocolate cake” and takes a piece to school with her in her pocket. Mom values healthy eating and tells Betty Bunny she needs patience when it comes to dessert. But Betty Bunny doesn’t want patience, she wants chocolate cake! In this funny tribute to chocolate lovers (and picky eaters), Betty Bunny’s charming perspective on patience will be recognizable to anyone with a preschooler in their life.

Say Zoop! (Toddler Learning Book, Preschool Learning Book, Interactive Children’s Books)


Hervé Tullet - 2017
    Tullet's books define the genre of participatory bookmaking, encouraging readers to explore and interact with the physical book in all its dimensions. The reward is tremendous: a journey of whimsy and sheer fun that extends well beyond the book's pages. In this worthy and exhilarating companion to the bestselling trio launched with Press Here, Tullet's beloved dots will have readers literally "Ooh"-ing and "Ahh"-ing out loud in a happy collective encore.

Color Zoo


Lois Ehlert - 1989
    Immensely enjoyable." (CCBC Choices)Shapes and colors in your zoo, lots of things that you can do. Heads and ears, beaks and snouts, that's what animals are all about. I know animals and you do too; make some new ones for your zoo.

Wordy Birdy Meets Mr. Cougarpants


Tammi Sauer - 2019
    ("I brought pickles and bean burritos and more pickles and mashed potatoes and some pickles and . . .") But the friends soon find themselves in hot water when the dastardly Mr. Cougarpants stalks their campsite. Can Wordy Birdy talk them all out of this pickle? Grab your pack, grill up a s'more, and find out!Author Tammi Sauer (Chicken Dance, Nugget & Fang) will keep young readers and their parents giggling with this funny, chatty, boisterous adventure about the importance of listening AND the importance of speaking up for your friends!

1-2-3 Peas


Keith Baker - 2012
    These tiny green mathematicians will have young readers everywhere calling for more peas, please!

My Spring Robin


Anne Rockwell - 1989
    She sees a bee, a yellow forsythia bush, and a tiny toad, but no robin. Then she hears a cheerful song, and she knows the robin is back. Bold, simple paintings complement the briefly told story. Full color.

City Shapes


Diana Murray - 2016
    And Bryan Collier's beautiful illustrations add even more layers to the cityscapes, letting readers get immersed in the hustle and bustle, culminating in a thrilling twist when the girl looks through her kaleidoscope and sees the skyline in a completely new way. A celebration of finding magic in scenes both new and familiar, City Shapes has the potential to become a classic.

A Day for Skating


Sarah Sullivan - 2019
    It's time to bundle up, lace your skates, and give it a try -- then head inside for cocoa and snacks when your cheeks grow rosy and your toes are cold. Back at home, warm bedtime rituals make for the end of a perfect day. But when darkness falls at the pond, who will come out to skate?

Stack the Cats


Susie Ghahremani - 2017
    Two cats play. Three cats stack! Cats of all shapes and sizes scamper, stretch and yawn across the pages of this adorable counting book. And every now and then, they find themselves in the purrfect fluffy stack!

H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination


Christopher Myers - 2012
    Not when a layup        from the other side of the court                     standing on one foot                               with your eyes closed  is just the warm-up.Around the neighborhood, around the world, off Saturn’s rings, the pair goes back and forth. The game is as much about skill as it is about imagination. A slam dunk from multi-award-winning author/illustrator Christopher Myers, H.O.R.S.E. is a celebration of the sport of basketball, the art of trash-talking, and the idea that what’s possible is bounded only by what you can dream.