Book picks similar to
What Happens on Wednesdays by Emily Jenkins


picture-books
picture-book
children-s-books
family

The Last Peach


Gus Gordon - 2018
    From internationally award-winning picture book creator Gus Gordon comes this delightful story about friendship and sharing.One fine summer's day two bugs discover the most beautiful peach of the season and are faced with a dilemma...Who should eat it?

Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend!


Cori Doerrfeld - 2019
    . . and the wonder that new beginnings can bring.Change and transitions are hard, but Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! demonstrates how, when one experience ends, it opens the door for another to begin. It follows two best friends as they say goodbye to snowmen, and hello to stomping in puddles. They say goodbye to long walks, butterflies, and the sun...and hello to long evening talks, fireflies, and the stars. But the hardest goodbye of all comes when one of the friends has to move away. Feeling alone isn't easy, and sometimes new beginnings take time. But even the hardest days come to an end, and you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Your Name Is a Song


Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow - 2020
    In response, the girl's mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names.

Sophie's Squash


Pat Zietlow Miller - 2013
    From then on, Sophie brings Bernice everywhere, despite her parents' gentle warnings that Bernice will begin to rot. As winter nears, Sophie does start to notice changes.... What's a girl to do when the squash she loves is in trouble?

Our Favorite Day of the Year


A.E. Ali - 2020
    He’s not used to being away from home and he doesn’t know any of the other kids in his class. And when he meets classmates Moisés, Mo, and Kevin, Musa isn’t sure they’ll have much in common. But over the course of the year, the four boys learn more about each other, the holidays they celebrate, their favorite foods, and what they like about school. The more they share with each other, the closer they become, until Musa can’t imagine any better friends. In this charming story of friendship and celebrating differences, young readers can discover how entering a new friendship with an open mind and sharing parts of yourself brings people together. And the calendar of holidays at the end of the book will delight children as they identify special events they can celebrate with friends throughout the year.

Going Down Home with Daddy


Kelly Starling Lyons - 2019
    Daddy hums as he packs our car with suitcases and a cooler full of snacks. He says there’s nothing like going down home.” Down home is Granny’s house. Down home is where Lil Alan and his parents and sister will join great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Down home is where Lil Alan will hear stories of the ancestors and visit the land that has meant so much to all of them. And down home is where all of the children will find their special way to pay tribute to family history. All the kids have to decide on what tribute to share, but what will Lil Alan do?In this rich and moving celebration of history, culture, and ritual, Kelly Starling Lyons’ eloquent text explores the power of family traditions. Stunning illustrations by Coretta Scott King Honor-winner Daniel Minter reveal the motion and connections in a large, multi-generational family.

Green on Green


Dianne White - 2020
    All the while, there is another colorful change on the horizon—the birth of a new sibling.

Sidewalk Flowers


JonArno Lawson - 2015
    Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. "Written" by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people, and small gestures.

One Day, The End.: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories


Rebecca Kai Dotlich - 2015
    . . I went to school. I came home. The end, says our storytellera girl with a busy imagination and a thirst for adventure. The art tells a fuller tale of calamity on the way to school and an unpredictably happy ending. The genius of this picture book is that each illustration captures multiple, unexpected, and funny storylines as the narrator tells her shorter-than-ever stories, ending with One day. . . I wanted to write a book. An original and incredibly deep combination of text and art invites readers to make up stories of their own."

Out There


Tom Sullivan - 2019
    Yellow and I Used to Be a Fish.Do you ever look up at the night sky and wonder if there is anybody else out there?Are there evil robots or cool aliens?Do they fly in UFOs or live in futuristic cities?Or maybe . . . they are just like us.Out There is a wonder-filled, surprising journey of imagination and empathy, a book that will inspire readers of all ages to reflect on how much we all have in common, despite our differences.

Pete With No Pants


Rowboat Watkins - 2017
    He's round. And he's not wearing any pants.So Pete must be a boulder. Or is he a pigeon? Or a squirrel? Or a cloud?Join Pete in his quest to answer the world's oldest question: Why do I have to wear pants? Wait, that's the second oldest. Born from the one-of-a-kind imagination of Rowboat Watkins, this hilarious book (the asides just beg to be read aloud) about finding out who you are features a satisfying and touching ending that will encourage young readers to be true to themselves as it reminds the adults in their lives to support them no matter what.

Miss Rumphius


Barbara Cooney - 1982
    The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius received the American Book Award in the year of publication.To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of two-time Caldecott winner Barbara Cooney's best-loved book, the illustrations have been reoriginated, going back to the original art to ensure state-of-the-art reproduction of Cooney's exquisite artwork. The art for Miss Rumphius has a permanent home in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

The Library


Sarah Stewart - 1995
    Elizabeth Brown doesn't like to play with dolls and she doesn't like to skate. What she does like to do is read books. And now that she's grown up, her collection has gotten so big all the shelves are collapsing. Her front door has disappeared entirely. What in the world will she do? The reclusive Elizabeth Brown surprises everyone wit her splendid solution. In charming verse and elegant watercolors Sarah Stewart and David Small celebrate one of America's grandest institutions. The Library is a 1995 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year.

Virginia Wolf


Kyo Maclear - 2011
    It's a funk so fierce, the whole household feels topsy-turvy. Vanessa tries everything she can think of to cheer her up, but nothing seems to work. Then Virginia tells Vanessa about an imaginary, perfect place called Bloomsberry. Armed with an idea, Vanessa begins to paint Bloomsberry on the bedroom walls, transforming them into a beautiful garden complete with a ladder and swing ?so that what was down could climb up.? Before long, Virginia, too, has picked up a brush and undergoes a surprising transformation of her own. Loosely based on the relationship between author Virginia Woolf and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell, Virginia Wolf is an uplifting story for readers of all ages.

Our Great Big Backyard


Laura Bush - 2016
    Yet somewhere between the Everglades and Big Bend National Park, things begin to change.Jane starts paying attention to the magnificent sights and spends less time looking at her screen. The stunning views open up her imagination as she and her brother see everything that nature has to offer.And the more Jane discovers, the more she realizes how much there is to love about the outdoors—whether she’s in a national park across the country or right in her own backyard.