A Kids Book A Day

Each day, I share a review of a book that has been released this year. I select books that I’ve loved, believe would benefit elementary classrooms, and, importantly, that I think kids will enjoy. I have a special theme for each day of the week: Story Time Sundays showcase fiction picture books; Middle Grade Mondays highlight middle grade novels; Third Grade Thursdays focus on early chapter books; and Factual Fridays are dedicated to nonfiction titles. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, I choose books freely.

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Animal humor

6 days ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

The Bear Out There by Jess Hannigan (Quill Tree Books, 48 pages, ages 4-8). A jumpy girl narrator tells readers why she was scared by their knock: there is a bear out there! She shares the three signs of how to tell when a bear is nearby: raised arm hair, a feeling of being watched, and super itchy feet.
Celebrating Black History

1 week ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

The History of We by Nikkolas Smith (Kokila, 40 pages, grades K-5). Through poetic text and rich acrylic illustrations, Nikkolas Smith traces the history of the earliest humans in Africa from more than 200,000 years ago. The people are shown making music and dancing, created languages, built homes, growing crops, wondering at the stars, and eventually discovering ways to travel on the oceans.
Classic novels to graphic novels

1 week ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus: the graphic novel by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Honie Beam (Random House Books for Young Readers, 160 pages, grades 1-3). Junie B. is excited about going to kindergarten after acing her orientation, but she’s less thrilled about riding on the stupid, smelly bus. The reality turns out to be even worse than she had imagined, and as she end of the day approaches, she decides she can’t face a return trip.
Immigrant kids

2 weeks ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Don’t Cause Trouble by Arree Chung (Henry Holt and Co., 256 pages, grades 4-7). Things don’t look good for Ming on his first day of middle school: his mom has given him his usual bowl haircut, and he’s dressed in the thrift store clothes she insists on buying. Ming’s accidentally placed in an ESL class, even though he only speaks English, but with his parents’ injunction, “Don’t make trouble” ringing in his ears, he goes along with it.
Celebrating books with Caldecott artists

3 weeks ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Here Is a Book by Elisha Cooper (Henry N. Abrams, 40 pages, ages 4-8). An artist is inspired by the nature around her and creates a book. She pedals her bicycle into town to deliver her work to her publisher. From there it goes to a printer, where it is turned into books. The books travel to the city, where one of them ends up in a school library. A child borrows the book and brings it home, where she is inspired by the illustrations to make a book of her own.
Women environmentalists

3 weeks ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

The Black Mambas: The World’s First All-Women Anti-Poaching Unit by Kelly Crull (Millbrook Press, 40 pages, grades 2-5). The Black Mambas are the first women park rangers in South Africa and the first women-led anti poaching unit in the world. They tell their story, explaining how they first got interested in protecting animals and describing some of the resistance they experienced from friends and family members who weren’t sure women could do this job traditionally held by men.
Graphic novels for budding scientists

4 weeks ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Barnacle Bay by Jana Curll (Greystone Kids, 76 pages, grades 1-4). When a slightly crabby crab meets a slightly lost larva, Crab reluctantly becomes Larva’s tour guide around the bay. As they travel and meet all kinds of different sea creatures, readers will effortlessly learn plenty of interesting facts about marine life. Packed with both information and clever marine-related wordplay that was appreciated and enjoyed by this reviewer, the story winds up with Larva transforming overnight.
Bridging the language barrier

4 weeks ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Tíos and Primos by Jacqueline Alcántara (Nancy Paulsen Books, 32 pages, ages 4-8). A girl is nervous about visiting her father’s relatives in Honduras, especially since she doesn’t speak much Spanish. As they go from one tío’s house to the next, she feels more and more shy as she sees things she wants to ask about but doesn’t know how. Finally, they get to the home of her abuela, who has invited all the relatives over for a party.
Horse Power

1 month ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

The Trouble With Sunshine by Yamile Saied Méndez (Scholastic Press, 272 pages, grades 4-7). Dorani has gotten in trouble (again), this time for reading a banned book at school. But when her mother suffers a fatal heart attack on the way to pick her up, Dori is wracked by guilt and grief. Forced to leave her beloved Miami friends and family to go live with her seemingly cold and uncaring aunt on a Montana ranch, Dori finds an unexpected bond with a traumatized horse named Sunshine.
Disabilities

1 month ago | kidsbookaday.com | Janet Dawson

Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen by James Robinson, illustrated by Brian Rea (Penguin Workshop, 304 pages, grades 6 and up). James Robinson was born with strabismus, or misaligned eyes.