The Book With No Pictures by B. J. Novak

5 stars This book has no pictures and it doesn’t need them. A humorous read aloud filled with silly noises, meta humor, and fun fonts sure to insight laughter and engagement. Novak forces adults to not take themselves so seriously and play up the text when reading to children. Some of my best memories as…

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The Sunflower Sword by Mark Sperring, Illustrated by Miriam Latimer

4 stars An adorable story about imagination, kindness, and unexpected friendships. This sweet tale follows a little knight who longs to swoosh and whoosh a sword like the bigger knights. His mother bestows him with a sunflower instead and he learns there’s more to life than fighting dragons. I’ve got a soft spot for stories…

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The Daughters of Ys by M. T. Anderson, Illustrated by Jo Rioux

4 stars A wonderful reimagining of the City of Ys, revamping the legend of King Gradlon and his daughter, Dahut. Anderson’s tale intermixes other Breton themes and stories such as Saint Corentin and his miraculous fish. The city of pleasure hides dark secrets, seeped in grief, greed, and sin. Filled with sea monsters, murder, seduction,…

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The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable by Aaron Blabey

3 stars Another hilarious adventure featuring Mr. Wolf and his fellow Good Guy Club members attempting to right wrongs and shake off their “bad guy” reputations. In the second episode, the team joins forces with another misunderstood critter to rescue the mistreated chickens from a Chicken Farm. They must come to terms with their own…

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The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey

3 stars An exciting adventure featuring a misunderstood wolf, his attempts to turn around the reputation of carnivores from land and sea, and the mayhem that ensues along the way. I enjoyed the twist on the gray area between “good” and “bad” and the theme of carnivores being misunderstood. Similar style to picture books like Misunderstood…

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Sing, Aretha, Sing! by Hanif Abdurraqib, Illustrated by Ashley Evans

3 stars A lovely picture book that goes beyond Aretha Franklin’s career as a singer and delves into her activism and faith. Abdurraqib’s text is lyrical with some lovely images created. He focuses not just on Franklin’s most well-known song, but how it inspired others to act and its continued effect in bringing people together…

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We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation by Eric Garcia

4 stars This book does an excellent job changing up the conversation around autism. This up-to-date look at ASDs gives a person-first exploration of the climate around autism, focusing of self-advocates and actual autistic people rather than solely on medical professionals and parents/families of autistic individuals. It also includes currents events such as the way…

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