Category: family

animals, family, social-emotional

Book List: The Family Pets

Seth Harris

Pet Show! (Puffin Books)
Written & Illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats

For ages: 2-5
Ezra Jack Keats was a transformative force in children’s literature, choosing to make his protagonist Black children as he saw they had limited representation in the medium. Most people know A Very Snowy Day, but Pet Show! is also a great book. Archie wants to enter a pet show but can’t find his cat anywhere. He comes to the pet show with a seemingly empty jar and says it contains a germ, which is an animal. An older woman shows up with a cat she found in her neighborhood, which just happens to be Archie’s. This is a fantastic story about thinking outside the box and learning how to talk to people before you make assumptions. 

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asian-american, climate collapse, culture, family, food

Spotlight: The Planet in a Pickle Jar/Hundred Years of Happiness

Seth Harris

The Planet in a Pickle Jar (Flying Eye Books)
Written & Illustrated by Martin Stanev

For ages: 4-8
Two siblings visit Grandma’s house with not much expectation for fun. She’s a boring old lady to them. However, as they wander around her home, they discover a big secret. They learn that Grandma is worried that Earth is losing its life and stories. To remedy this, she’s amassed a collection of jars in her basement. Each jar is something of the planet she hopes to preserve, and each jar is also a story about a moment in her life and the planet’s. This inspires the children to want to preserve their stories, too, and they embark on a fun adventure with Grandma.

Continue reading “Spotlight: The Planet in a Pickle Jar/Hundred Years of Happiness” →
family, fantasy, science, social-emotional

Spotlight – Unicorns Are The Worst/The Great Whipplethorpe Bug Collection

Seth Harris

Unicorns Are The Worst (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Written & Illustrated by Alex Willan

For ages: 3-7
It’s easy to judge but harder to look at others with empathy. That’s a lesson the goblin narrator of this tale learns. He is sick of unicorns for many reasons, mainly because he feels that other magical creatures are ignored. The goblin also dislikes all the glitter the unicorns are sprinkling everywhere. He spends so much time talking to the reader about the unicorns he doesn’t spot the other magical creature stalking him. 

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biography, culture, disabilities, family, spotlight

Spotlight: The Electric Slide and Kai/All the Way to the Top

Seth Harris

The Electric Slide and Kai (Lee & Low Books)
Written by Kelly J. Baptist
Illustrated by Darnell Johnson

For ages: 5-8
Dancing is a fun part of any wedding, and you want to join the rest of the family and friends on the dance floor to celebrate. Kai hears Aunt Nina is getting married and wants to sharpen up his moves. Everyone in the family has a dancing nickname except for Kai, and he hopes this year it will change. He gets help from his family members, and they happily aid him. However, when the wedding day comes, Kai gets scared during the reception and slips away. Uncle Troy, Nina’s new husband, tells Kai he’s nervous about getting a dance nickname, too, and they hype each other up.

Continue reading “Spotlight: The Electric Slide and Kai/All the Way to the Top” →