Dinos Do Dinner! Dino Thanksgiving by Lisa Wheeler

Nobody enjoys a big festive feed of a savory meal more than dinosaurs, and nobody can gobble the roasted gobbler at their family Thanksgiving better than a bunch of prehistoric feasters!

T REX WAKES AT THE CRACK OF DAWN.

IT'S TIME TO PUT THE TURKEY ON!

HE TAKES THE BIRD OUT OF THE BRINE,

SEASONS IT WITH SAGE AND THYME.

IT WON'T BE DONE TILL FIVE,

BUT AT NOON THE GUESTS BEGIN TO ARRIVE.

And into T Rex's house living room they crowd to find a seat, with Compy pleading, "When do we eat?"

The TV is on for the big parade, and then the big championship game is played. The kids head out for the flag football craze. The younger ones race through the neighborhood maze.

But Compy has that plea he can't forget!

"I'M HUNGRY! IS IT TIME TO EAT YET?"

In the kitchen there's shredding and chopping and a big saute'. There's turkey gravy and all the vegetable trimmings on the way. And at last there's a feast for the veggie-saurs and the carni-saurs! Dinner's a hit! T Rex roars...

"COME AND GET IT!"

Family and friends chow down im Lisa Wheeler's Dino-Thanksgiving (Dino-Holidays) (CarolRhoda Books, 2020). Lisa Wheeler is the perfect mistress of rhyming stories, and with the wild and bright illustrations of Barry Gott, this one is a jolly holiday companion to her other DINO tales, and just right to get kids in the mood for the winter holidays with Wheeler and Gott's Dino-Christmas (Dino-Holidays)

Says Publishers Weekly, "... this glimpse of prehistoric reptiles giving thanks should entertain young dinosaur fans."

Color My World! Red Is A Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong

Red is a dragon. Red is a drum.

Red are the firecrackers.

Here they come!

But that's not all that's red in this little girl's world. There are watermelons in summer, juicy and bright, and lychee nuts, a sweet treat.

But summer is also green, with growing kale, a gourd, and a toad. And on the sandy beach orange is the hue of a crab and a seashell or two, and her summer sneakers and the sparkly pools are blue.

With gentle and poetic rhyming quatrains, Roseanne Thong's Red Is a Dragon: A Book of Colors (Chronicle Books) takes young readers "over the rainbow" of colors around the year and around the color wheel, a book that is a pleasure to the eye and to the ear. The youngest children will want to point out the objects with the featured color on each page, ranging from as pink as a peony to as brown as Dad's hat when the girl tries on.

The story begins with a Chinese New Year holiday parade and introduction to some Chinese words, but is universal in it lovely illustrations by Grace Lin of children at play in familiar outdoor fun. Author Roseanne Thong includes a picture glossary of some of the possibly unfamiliar words such a "lychee" and "jade" for primary graders reading it solo.  This one is a unique sort of concept book for teaching color recognition along with an introduction to new vocabulary and customs, especially when used as an intro to Chinese New Year, recommended for school and public library children's collections.

Have Yourself A Merry, LITTLE Christmas! Merry Christmas, Mary Christmas! by Laurie Friedman

CHRISTMAS WAS A VERY MERRY TIME FOR THE CHRISTMAS FAMILY...

... Except for their daughter, Mary Christmas. It's enough of a burden to have a name that sounds like a holiday. But the real deal is that the Christmas family can't have a normal Christmas. Every year it has to be a bigger and better extravaganza.

Dad's Christmas tree has to be BIG, so Jack-in-the-Beanstalk big that they have to make a hole in the roof to put it up. Their outdoor lights are guilty of over-GLOW! Their pooch Rudy howls "Jingle Bells" when they go caroling. And Mary is borderline ashamed when they pile way too many presents in their cart when they shop. When the mall Santa take Mary on his knee, she makes a confession:

"I WANT TO LOVE CHRISTMAS," MARY TELLS SANTA, "BUT OUR TREE IS TOO TALL, OUR LIGHTS ARE TOO BRIGHT, AND EVERYTHING IS JUST TOO MUCH!"

Santa can't quite wrap his red-capped head around the idea of too much Christmas, but he gives Mary a wink and a nod.

"I HAVE A FEELING YOU CAN FIND A WAY TO LOVE IT!" HE WHISPERS.

But on Christmas Eve, Mary can't fall asleep. She tosses and turns until she comes to a conclusion.

And when the family gathers on Christmas morn, Mary makes a statement.

"WE DON'T NEED LOADS OF LIGHTS AND PILES OF PRESENTS!" SHE POINTS OUT.

And Mary Christmas shares her plan to give everyone a merry Christmas. They load up the Christmas van with their prodigious pile of gifts and the cookies and the lights and the enormous tree and take it all down to the town square, where they throw a proper Christmas Christmas party for the whole population--and for little Mary Christmas, it's just the right size at last.

Veteran picture book author Laurie Friedman's right-sized Christmas tale, Merry Christmas, Mary Christmas! (CarolRhoda Books) is a comic message about moderation in all things, including Christmas. Little Mary Christmas may be in the minority on the subject of moderate Christmases, but most will enjoy her jolly generosity with its quiet message of giving that suits the season.

Open! My Heart by Corinna Luyken

MY HEART IS A WINDOW.

Like a window, the human heart can be closed, looking out.

Sometimes it opens and takes everything in.

In her lyric poem, Corinna Luyken's My Heart (Dial Books, 2019), the heart is a metaphor for emotions, a window that can open to feeling or that can be closed as a result of what goes on outside. Dark, rainy days make the heart heavy. Accidents can spoil the day. Sometimes there seems to be a fence between the heart and the world.

BROKEN CAN MEND,

AND A HEART THAT IS CLOSED

CAN STILL OPEN AGAIN.

Feelings can change; mistakes can be forgiven, and sunshine can chase away the blues.

I GET TO DECIDE.

Talking about feelings with young children is not easy, and author-illustrator Luyken takes the heart, the universal metaphor for the seat of emotions, to explore some of the experiences of young people experiencing and dealing with all the the ebb and flow of daily life, with the aim of making youngsters aware of their feelings but able to control them. The author of The Book of Mistakes Luyken uses simple but evocative language and in her soft grayish illustrations represents the heart shape throughout the backgrounds of each page, accented with touches of blue and yellow and to show the flow of emotions in a child's day. Says School Library Journal, "...it begs to be read aloud, and it is a masterful blending of text and illustration."

Shove Off! Yellow Kayak by Nina Laden

Fish jump.

Loons float.

Seals watch.

Little boat.

Two adventurers go down to the sea in... well, not ships, but a little yellow kayak, waving goodbye to the watcher on the hill. Seagulls squawk as they soar across a cloudy gray sky, as the breezes become winds.

Maybe the two boatmen should have checked the weather forecast!

A sudden squall blows up, with howling winds, blowing rain, and roaring thunder!

But the little kayak rides out the storm as the sun begins to set in a pink sky.

Bail boat.

Good save!

And what's this? The denizens of the deep appear around them--seals rise, an octopus floats by, and hulking whales circle around to give them a gentle nudge toward their shore.

Lighthouse beams.

Welcome paddlers.

Sweet dreams.

It's certainly no jolly journey with the Beatles on their Yellow Submarine, but author Nina Laden and
artist Melissa Castrillon nevertheless create a magical mystery tour of the wonders of the ocean, in their Yellow Kayak (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon and Schuster, 2018, in the best nautical bedtime poem since Wynken, Blynken, and Nod sailed off in their wooden shoe! Castrillon's swirling colors and flowing line add a hypnotic aura of gorgeous fantasy to this imaginative sea story, told in soft, sybillant verse. Says Kirkus Reviews,"A gentle story of calm courage and of quiet, trusting perseverance that will comfort readers in their anxious times."

Shade and Hue: Blue by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

There are many a shade and hue of BLUE.

Baby blue.

The soft hue of a baby blue blanket where a puppy sleeps.

There is the blue of blueberries plunking into a bucket, the deep blue of a butterfly in high summer, and the many blues of a sea wave as it breaks on the shore.

In the boy's bed the boy and dog sleep through the deep blue of midnight. They slosh through the icy blue of a snowy twilight, fly a bright blue kite high against a soft blue sky, and run from the deep, angry blue of a summer storm cloud..

Old Blue as the dog, now aged, on his worn blue blanket, the True Blue of the boy as he cradles his old and sick dog, and the lonely blue, as his misses his dog, now gone.

And one bright day, there's a new dog to walk with him along the ocean's edge....

Laura Vaccaro Seeger's latest Caldecott Honor book, Blue (Roaring Brook, 2018), explores the range of feelings associated with the color blue, done beautifully in textured acrylic paintings, with die cuts on verso pages to lead the eye and mind to the following page, tracing the course of time itself--of the boy, growing up, and his dog, growing old, in the bit of time they share. A companion book to Seeger's Caldecott book, Green, this newest shows why the artist is a five-time award-winner. Her ability to meld image and color and word into meaning makes her one of the stars of the art of the picture book. "Though there is sorrow, it is followed by joy in this touching tribute to a heartwarming relationship that will engage readers of all ages," says School Library Journal's starred review.

Watch for It! Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood

KINDNESS IS SOMETIMES A LADDER, A TRUCK, AND A TREE.

How can that be?

To a cat stuck in a tree, a firetruck and ladder are a welcome sight to see!

To hungry birds in winter, seeds and a feeder are the best things that can be!

Kindness can be a ride to where you need to go.
It's a friend who visits when you're feeling low.

It's a wiggly puppy you get to cuddle.
It's a helping hand when you're in a muddle.

Kindness can even be a replacement dip of ice cream when one falls off the cone. It's a homeless kitty to adopt when she's left all alone.

Popular author Deborah Underwood's picture book, Finding Kindness (Henry Holt, 2919), celebrates the smallest of kindnesses, even helping a stranded lady bug fly out the window. Doing the kind thing, no matter how small, gets a charming and rhyming exposition in author Underwood's latest look at the lowly good deed. Underwood, author of books tailored to young children such as The Quiet Book, Here Comes Valentine Cat,  Here Comes the Easter Cat, and The Panda Problem. is paired with fine artwork created by illustrator Irene. "Chan's illustrations are featured on expansive spreads, with bright, bold colors that pop. Depicted is a tight-knit community with members of varying races, ages, ethnicities, and genders," says School Library Journal.

Getting By: With A Little Help from My Friends by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

DO YOU NEED ANYBODY?

A curly-haired girl sits alone on the double seat of a schoolbus.

Another girl sits alone on the other end of the bus.

Both of them clearly need a friend. But how to begin?

They find themselves eating alone at a table in the lunchroom.

DOES IT WORRY YOU TO BE ALONE?

Slowly the two move nearer to each other each day until they talk and  begin to share things together--skating, painting, climbing trees and flying kites together, roasting marshmallows together, and singing along together.

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS.

John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's famous song is beautifully set in a story of childhood friendship in With a Little Help from My Friends Little, Simon and Company, 2019), all with the help of notable children's artist Henry Cole in this gentle and sweet story of the need for friends. Cole uses soft water-colored illustrations of two girls who build a friendship together, one that endures and sustains them even after one moves away. This lovely book is a good way to introduce the music of the Beetles and can be shared with Lennon and McCartney's All You Need Is Love, John Lennon's Imagine, Ringo Starr's Octopus's Garden and Paul McCartney's recent grandfather tale, Hey Grandude!

What's in a Word? I Love You, Fred by Mick and Chloe Inkpen

Fred is a different dog these days.

He's been schooled and is now a doggy academy graduate. Fred wasn't the star pupil, but he wasn't the worst in his class either.

He knows all those important words his young master uses:

I "SIT." I "STAY"
I DON'T RUN AWAY.

"WALK" AND "BARK" AND "BED."
BUT WHAT IS..."FRED?"

His people say that word a lot. Fred wants to earn a "Good Boy!" but... he can't figure out how to "FRED!"

Fred puzzles. He watches other dogs in the park, but they never seem to FRED!

And then one day at the park Fred sees another dog just like him looking up at him from the pond. And he has Fred's ball!

Fred jumps into the pond!

PADDLE! STRUGGLE! KICK! SPLUTTER!

Suddenly his boy is shouting FRED!

"OH, FRED! FRED! FRED! FRED!"

And as Fred is pulled out of the water he suddenly gets it. He is Fred.

"I HAVE BEEN FREDDING ALL THE TIME."

Now Fred knows who he is and that he is loved, in Mick and Chloe Inkpen's I Love You, Fred (Aladdin Books, 2019), a funny story of a boy and his goofy but well-meaning pug who are learning to speak the same language--love--illustrated with charm and love by the author's daughter, Chloe Inkpen. Share this one with Inkpen's first book about Fred in his pre-obedience school days, I Will Love You Anyway and his hit stories of a pampered pooch, Naughty Mabel (read review here).

It's What We Do! People Share with People by Lisa Wheeler

It's good to share a window,
It's fun to share a ball.
It's best to share a cupcake
BEFORE you eat it all.

On the face of it, sharing what you have leaves you with less--right?

But the wisdom of the ages bends the other way--toward sharing--because humans, a long-lived species, have long since figured out that over time cooperation and sharing provide MORE for ALL. Sharing begins with parent and child, and families seem to have built-in belief that early sharing means more for all in the long run. Life in large societies requires that people share-- or suffer.

Of course, there are some things you shouldn't share... Keep your sneeze, PLEASE!

It's normal for youngsters to have trouble with the concept that sharing now means that someone in the future will do the same for you, and in noted author Lisa Wheeler's and Caldecott artist Molly Idle's People Share with People (The People Books) (Atheneum Books, 2019) the two creators share their considerable picture book skills to show young readers how it's done, especially in the case of playthings like balls that provide more fun when used by two, not one.

We DON'T live in a zoo!
I CHOOSE to share with you!

Of course, even most wild animals share, finding safety in numbers--family, pride, or herd--and although it's a hard lesson to teach toddlers, Wheeler and Idle's newest, with Wheeler's rhyming lines and Idle's engaging rotund tots, is a great way to understand the historical meaning of shared resources. Says Booklist, ..."this book demonstrates that learning social skills can be fun!"

I Am NOT Negative! The Knight Who Said "NO!" by Lucy Rowland

Once inside a castle lived
a little knight named Ned,
who always picked his toys up
and always made his bed.

Ned is the only kid in the town, and as kids go, he's pretty much perfect. No matter how unpleasant the task, Ned is Never Negative.

When asked to pick the cabbages,
Ned wouldn't whine or stress.

He always answered right away
and always answered,"YES!"

Life in the castle is never negative--except for the DRAGON who nightly swoops down low over town and terrifies the townspeople and the royal parents, too. But Ned can't help thinking that maybe the dragon needs someone to play with, too. What to do?

And one day Ned wakes up in a contrary mood. When The Queen asks him to bring in the milk, he opens his mouth and says "NO!" His royal parents are nonplussed. The townspeople are not pleased.

And when the dragon makes her daily pass over the castle, Ned walks out into the square and says--

"NO!"

The dragon has to confess that she only wants to stay and play with Ned. Ned is impressed with the Dragon's daring, and there's only one thing to say.

"YES!"

Ned the Super-Nice Knight discovers he has a mind of his own and a new playmate who even gives him the occasional night ride over the castle, in Lucy Rowland's The Knight Who Said "No!" (Candlewick/Nosy Crow Press, 2019). Sometimes even little knights have to make a statement, and artist Kate Hindley's agreeable but lonely little hero's change in mood will make perfect sense to kids. Hindley's charming geometric medieval scene, done mostly in blues and reds, and her goofy red dragon make this story almost irresistible. Says Kirkus Reviews, "This emotionally astute tale will strike chords of recognition."

Creative License: If I Built A School by Chris Van Dusen

Jack has some ideas for jazzing up his school.

For example, the foyer is dreadfully dull.

If I built a school, the first thing you'd meet
Are lots of cute puppies! They'd flock to your feet.

Heck! Jack would also add a few zoo animals to enliven the entryway! And getting to classrooms would be by pods shooting through pneumatic tubes!

Teachers in Jack's school would be spared the chores of cleaning chalky erasers or messy marker wipes:

Using a stylus, you write in the air.
No blackboard. No whiteboard. No, nothing is there.

And forget the chore of pushing your desks together for group sessions. Jack's got the best gismos to speed up those lessons.

These are my hover desks. See how they glide?
They even have bumpers in case they collide.

And Jack is thinkin' about a hologram of Lincoln--making a history lesson a 3-D session!. And to spice up gym sports, how's about trampoline-floored basketball courts? Or a cooling perimeter pool? And how about perks for the playground? Ziplines way up to the sky? And a twisty slide from three floors high?

And for sure, field trips should out-sizzle Ms. Frizzle in Jack's versatile vehicle which can morph-- from undersea to outer space--or any old place!

A guy can dream, can't he? In Chris Van Dusen's funny, fantasy picture book, If I Built a School (Dial Books, 2019), Jack's dream school has something for everyone, from critter-crazy kids to gismo geeks. Van Dusen's bouncy rhyming quatrains make this one a breeze to read, aloud or solo, and Van Dusen's brand of Seussian illustrations give Mulberry Street a run for the money in this new top-selling hit. Younger kids will laugh at the preposterous silliness, and older students will find the story line a great springboard for imaginative writers and young inventors, one that will fire up some creativity among the primary grade set.

Author-illustrator Chris Van Dusen also has two other popular book in this series, If I Built a House and If I Built a Car.

Gotta Go for the Bus!! Even Monsters Go To School by Lisa Wheeler

Frankenstein is clean and neat.
His jacket's new. His shoes are sweet.
He finds a chair and takes a seat.
Even Frankie goes to school.

Even little Vlad Dracula is envious of Frankie's Chuck Taylor kickZ, complete with rivets all around their elevator soles. But all the little monsters are stylin' on the first day of school!

Little Dragon's wearing pink bows, and Mummy's fresh wrappings are spotlessly white. Yeti's hair is neatly parted, and Vlad's fangs are well brushed. They can't wait!

Little aliens snack on their big box of crayons and squeeze School Glue on their heads so everything they learn will stick.
And one little three-eyed extra-terrestrial has THE  T-shirt that every kid envies this year:

MY PARENTS
WENT TO
AREA 51
AND ALL I GOT
WAS THIS
STUPID T-SHIRT

With both eager and reluctant scholars among her little monsters--Bigfoot, Giant, Yeti, and Troll as well--noted author Lisa Wheeler's latest, Even Monsters Go to School (Balzer and Bray, 2019), makes the case that youngsters can expect fun and friendly faces at school. This sequel to Wheeler's Even Monsters Need to Sleep helps young readers tackle the normal trepidations they all share about school, and along with the Wheeler's jolly quatrains, the comical acrylic illustrations of artist Chris Van Dusen, filled with plenty of humorous monster tropes, makes for a happy bit of bibliotherapy for those reluctant scholars out there. After all, as Mo Willem's new book for the school-bound season points out, even The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! (see review here).

Of Wheeler and Van Dusen's latest, Booklist's reviewer says, "Everything about this romp is cheerful and reassuring, and readers will be happy to know that school is for everybody including little monsters just like them."

Down to the Sea in Subs: Bitty Bot's Big Beach Getaway by Tim McCanna

AT THE BEACH AT BOTCO BAY,

ROBOTS LOVE TO SPLASH AND PLAY.

But Bitty Bot has qualms about the likelihood of rust in his grippers and sand in his gears. From their floats in the surf, his parents provide advice:

"YOU NEED RUSTPROOF ROBOT OIL.

COVER EVERY COG AND COIL."

Yurghh! Easy, Greasies! Bitty Bot opts for recruiting a couple of robot tots, rounding up some metal flotsam and jetsam, and building an under-the-bay submarine, and after the launch, captain and crew cruise beneath the sea and peruse the underwater beings.

CRABS AND SNAILS,
SHARKS AND WHALES!

A SUNKEN SHIP!
WHAT A TRIP"

It's Captain Bitty's kind of day at the beach until the sub springs a leak. YEEK!

But a bevy of beautiful mermaids help the hapless bots rise to the occasion, and soon Captain Bitty and his crew, Clank and Smitty, have their treads firmly back on the beach and are ready to roll! Bitty even begs his parental cyborgs for more fun in the sun and sand with his new surfside bot buddies, and in Tim McCanna's Bitty Bot's Big Beach Getaway (Simon and Schuster, 2018), his summery sequel to his first bot book, Bitty Bot, artist Tad Carpenter provides plenty of sunny yellow hues for his seaside scenes and contrasting watery shades for his charming little surfside robots' undersea explorations in a somewhat different "Come on in! The water's great!" story for young novice beach goers.

Always quick with a quip, Kirkus Reviews says “A delightful sea-quel.”

Cat in the Hat? Hats Are Not For Cats! by Jacqueline K. Raymer

Who says?

A cute little cat finds a little red fez. It fits. But then...

There's a supercilious voice from on high....

Excuse me, cat. I see you're wearing a hat,
but hats...
... are not for cats.

He insists that headgear is only for that superior group -- dogs! He shows off his spiffy top hat, that chapeau of choice for superior canines, preferably, one assumes, of the shaggy persuasion!

The little grey kitty tries to change his mind, modeling a pink cloche, and a long, stripey knitted cap with a pom-pom.  The dog promptly points to his poster, the "CORRECT WEARING OF HATS," in which the cat in the hat is simply X-ed out.

Not fine hats or flapper,

not dashing and dapper!

Also to be banned are party toppers or artsy berets. Not frilly or silly, not stripy or dotty.

But this little kitty is inventive. She tries sombreros and tam o'shanters. Nordic ear warmers. Tropical sunhats. Every size and every style. But hats modeled by cats cannot persuade this picky, cranky canine. As far as he is concerned, they are ALL his hats!

But the grey cat campaigns for her rights and raises a cadre of cats who wear hats. They liberate all the haberdashery, and the little grey cat pounces and takes possession of the dog's very own top hat.

Cats rule, in Jacqueline K. Raymer's first picture book, Hats Are Not for Cats! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019), as the victorious cat pack models all the headgear, from boater to bowler, from sunbonnet to stetson. But turnabout-is-fair turns into it's better-to-share, in Rayner's jolly rhymes and ebullient illustrations, Dog happily regains his high hat as his new friends live it up in their best-liked lids. It's an easy reading, funny, rhyming story that will please preschoolers to primary graders, and a fun picture book to read on HAT DAY!

Share this new one with John Klassen's classic hat tales, I Want My Hat Back, We Found a Hat, and This Is Not My Hat. (See reviews here.)