Rain Before Rainbows


Smriti Prasadam-Halls - 2020
    Along the way they find friends to guide and support them, and when the new day dawns, it is full of promise. With gorgeous, richly realized illustrations and immense hope at its heart, Rain Before Rainbows holds out a ray of sunshine for anyone looking for light.

The Wonky Donkey


Craig Smith - 2009
    In this very funny, cumulative song, each page tells us something new about the donkey until we end up with a spunky, hanky-panky cranky stinky dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey, which will have children in fits of laughter! There is much fun to be had by listening to the song and trying to predict the new word for each clue given!

Cinnamon


Neil Gaiman - 1995
    Cinnamon had pearls for eyes. Cinnamon did not talk.Her father and mother offered many riches to anyone who could get Cinnamon to speak. One day a tiger came to the palace, armed with knowledge of the world, and everything changed.

Duncan, the Story Dragon


Amanda Driscoll - 2015
    When he reads a story, his imagination catches fire! Unfortunately…so does his book.Fire breath is great for roasting marshmallows, but it’s not so great for reading. Duncan just wants to get to those two wonderful words, like the last sip of a chocolate milk shake: The End. Will he ever find out how the story ends?This bright, warm tale champions determination, friendship, and a love for books. And milk shakes!

The Very Fluffy Kitty, Papillon


A.N. Kang - 2016
    So fluffy that he's lighter than air! His owner tries to weigh him down, but Papillon just wants to fly. One particularly sunny day, he floats right out the window! Exploring the wide world is exhilarating, but it's also a little scary. Will his new friend, a bird, be able to help him find his way home?Whimsical art and airy text come together seamlessly in this delightful debut by A. N. Kang.

Thelma the Unicorn


Aaron Blabey - 2015
    even if you don't have sparkles.Thelma dreams of being a glamorous unicorn. Then in a rare pink and glitter-filled moment of fate, Thelma's wish comes true.She rises to instant international stardom, but at an unexpected cost. After a while, Thelma realizes that she was happier as her ordinary, sparkle-free self. So she ditches her horn, scrubs off her sparkles, and returns home, where her best friend is waiting for her with a hug.From award-winning author Aaron Blabey comes this joyful book about learning to love who you are...even if you don't have sparkles

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig


Eugene Trivizas - 1993
    But the little wolves' increasingly sturdy dwellings are no match for the persistent porker, who has more up his sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying solution to the little wolves' housing crisis. Eugene Trivizas's hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury's enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary classic.

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine


Mark Twain - 2017
    In a hotel in Paris one evening in 1879, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. After the girls chose a picture from a magazine to get started, Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds. Later, Twain would jot down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished . . . until now. Plucked from the Mark Twain archive at the University of California at Berkeley, Twain’s notes now form the foundation of a fairy tale picked up over a century later. With only Twain’s fragmentary script and a story that stops partway as his guide, author Philip Stead has written a tale that imagines what might have been if Twain had fully realized this work: Johnny, forlorn and alone except for his pet chicken, meets a kind woman who gives him seeds that change his fortune, allowing him to speak with animals and sending him on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. In the face of a bullying tyrant king, Johnny and his animal friends come to understand that generosity, empathy, and quiet courage are gifts more precious in this world than power and gold. Illuminated by Erin Stead’s graceful, humorous, and achingly poignant artwork, this is a story that reaches through time and brings us a new book from America’s most legendary writer, envisioned by two of today’s most important names in children’s literature.

The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra


Marc Tyler Nobleman - 2017
    (It's common knowledge that goats are a chupacabra's favorite food!) One night, tired of living in fear, the impetuous goats whip out their trusty candelabra and head off to find the beast and scare it away before it can find them. Little do they know that candelabras are the chupacabra's third-favorite food . . . and he isn't about to stop there. This chupacabra has quite the appetite, and the goats are in for a big surprise!

Jampires


Sarah McIntyre - 2014
    A delightful, whimsical, JAM-tastic adventure!The jam has been sucked out of Sam's doughnuts! Who are the culprits? Sam sets a trap to catch the jam thieves and gets a surprise! It's the JAMPIRES: friendly little creatures whose love of jam and sweet things gets them into trouble! They fly off with Sam to their magical land sitting in the clouds, where doughnuts grow on trees, jam tarts sprout like flowers, and castles are made of jammy sponge cake.

Lovabye Dragon


Barbara M. Joosse - 2012
    In his nest in his cave in his mountain, a dragon dreams of a girl.When a lonely dragon follows a trail of princess tears, a beautiful friendship is born. They march and sing, roar and whisper, hide and seek, then settle into snug companionship at bedtime. Barbara Joosse’s fiercely protective and gently loving dragon cavorts across the pages, endearingly illustrated by Randy Cecil. At the end of the day, who can resist curling up in the embrace of a lovabye dragon?

Skippyjon Jones


Judy Schachner - 2003
    He would rather be El Skippito, the great sword fighter, who can do anything. Like saving a roving band of Mexican Chihuahuas from a humongous bumblebeeto that is tormenting them.Join Skippyjon Jones on his first great adventure. He's fearless, he's fun, he gets the job done - yes, indeed-o.

Love Is Powerful


Heather Dean Brewer - 2020
    Mari is getting ready to make a sign with crayon as the streets below her fill up with people. "What are we making, Mama?" she asks. "A message for the world," Mama says. "How will the whole world hear?" Mari wonders. "They'll hear," says Mama, "because love is powerful." Inspired by a girl who participated in the January 2017 Women's March in New York City, Heather Dean Brewer's simple and uplifting story, delightfully illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is a reminder of what young people can do to promote change and equality at a time when our country is divided by politics, race, gender, and religion.

Flossie and the Fox


Patricia C. McKissack - 1986
    A wily fox, notorious for stealing eggs, meets his match when he encounters a bold little girl in the woods who insists upon proof that he is a fox before she will be frightened.

Charlotte the Scientist Is Squished


Camille Andros - 2017
    She solves important problems by following the scientific method. She has all the right equipment: protective glasses, a lab coat, a clipboard, and a magnifying glass. What she doesn’t have is space. She has so many brothers and sisters (she is a rabbit, after all) that she is too squished to work on her experiments! Can she use science to solve her problem? This funny, satisfying story is a playful introduction to the scientific method and perfect for sparking an interest in STEM subjects.