My Dad Is a Tree by Jon Agee; illus. by the authorPreschool, Primary Rocky Pond/Penguin 40 pp.5/23 9780593531372 $18.99e-book ed. 9780593531389 $10.99While her father does yard work, Madeleine stands still, arms outstretched. She’s pretending to be a tree, “because a tree gets to stay outside all day long!” When Dad...
10 Cats by Emily Gravett; illus. by the authorPreschool Boxer/Union Square 32 pp.5/23 9781914912580 $16.99This playful tale about colors and numbers stars one adult cat and nine lively kittens. While they frolic on each spread, the text invites viewers to find the felines with certain markings: “3 cats with stripes”;...
The Umbrella by Beth Ferry; illus. by Tom LichtenheldPreschool Clarion/HarperCollins 48 pp.3/23 9780358447726 $19.99e-book ed. 9780358447900 $10.99In short, punchy sentences, many of them one or two words long, Ferry introduces readers to a persistent rainstorm: “Dreary. Weary. Dim. Grim. Drip. Drop. Nonstop.” Lichtenheld, alternating between full-bleed spreads and energetic vignettes...
The Red Tin Box by Matthew Burgess; illus. by Evan TurkPrimary Chronicle 64 pp.4/23 9781452179735 $17.99On her eighth birthday, Maude buries a red tin box under a dogwood tree (only she knows what’s inside), making a promise to herself. Decades pass. Maude, now an older woman, remembers the box but...
My Baba’s Garden by Jordan Scott; illus. by Sydney SmithPreschool Porter/Holiday 32 pp.3/23 9780823450831 $18.99e-book ed. 9780823455157 $11.99This tender story from the author-artist team behind I Talk like a River (rev. 11/20) pays tribute to Scott’s Polish grandmother, whom he visited daily as a child. An opening note explains that...
Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter; illus. by Daniel MiyaresPreschool, Primary Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 40 pp.1/23 9780062865779 $17.99Wynter (Everybody in the Red Brick Building, rev. 11/21) presents a loving brown-skinned family through the generations in a story that explores, by providing glimpses into the past, how long it takes...
Once upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner; illus. by Grace LinPreschool, Primary Little, Brown 40 pp.2/23 9780316541077 $18.99Cold sleet is falling, and the protagonist of this home-and-back-again adventure tale, Alice, is stuck inside, bored. Then she spots a book on the floor and starts to read: “Once...
Twenty Questions by Mac Barnett; illus. by Christian RobinsonPreschool Candlewick 40 pp.3/23 9781536215137 $17.99This conversation-starting picture book presents a series of questions and invites children to supply the answers. The first spread asks viewers to count the number of animals pictured, with Robinson depicting a creature-filled tree and a bear...
All by Myself by Stephanie Shaw; illus. by Emilie GillPreschool, Primary Peachtree 32 pp.4/23 9781682634875 $18.99Because Hen is determined to do things herself (“I’m not a baby chick anymore!”), she declines invitations from Cow, Horse, and Pig to help her carry a bag of flour to her home, where she...