New Books To Recommend 

The trend for manga books for all ages continues. I’m old school. I like stories and full page art work.  I like books to encourage kids. And as ever, the best books are the ones children like to read and reread and reread. Parents with rereading children are lucky because they know something about their child’s interest, sense of humor, desire to learn.

Very Good Hats by Emma Straub

Ooo Baby Baby by Sandra Boynton

Nose to Nose by Thyra Heder

How Do You Dance? by Thyra Heder

There Was A Shadow by Bruce Handy with illustrations my Lisk Feng

I wish this book about shadows had been available when I had very young children. I think all of us are fascinated by shadows. Congratulations to Bruce Handy who wrote it and Lisk Feng who illustrated it. 

A visit to the BPL Main Branch for me includes learning what Rachel Payne is up to. She’s in charge of the Under Fives Programs, and writes a column for The Horn Book about board books, typically the first actual B O O K a baby and toddler gets to read. Here are several that caught my eye. All of us know families with newborns or toddlers. These are good ones for them to share. I couldn’t see the pages of Number Train because it is safely wrapped until it is opened by the owners. But these are always fun, with flaps to lift, and probably tear. GREAT gifts from a grandparent! 

Song of the Birds by Isabel Otter with illustrations by Robin Clover

Say Hello by Rachel Isadora

A Day at the Farm by Alexandra Claire

My Hands Can by Ammi-Joan Paquette with illustrations by Sabrena Khadija

Number Train by Jonathan Emmett and Ingela P. Arrhenius

My Books by Javier Deneux

Leo at Lunch by Anna McQuinn with illustrations by Ruth Hearson

I Don’t Care by Julie Fogliano with illustrations by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal