Test book table

The Westing Game

A classic kid’s mystery/inheritance story. So satisfying. Excellent writing and plots twists in this chapter book, great for any age.

See You in the Cosmos

Amazing on audio, this chapter book is about a 12 yr old boy who sets off on an adventure to send a small rocket up in space at a convention in a neighboring state. Good for tweens and teens.

The Arrival

Magical, amazing Graphic Novel, without words, about the immigrant experience. Exquisite illustrations with depth and feeling, tell the story of someone without language who finds his place in a whole new world. Recommended for all ages.

Cricket in the Thicket

Short and sweet, fun to read poems, with Fantastic illustrations that pop right off the page. For curious or science loving kids there are notes in the back and inserts about insects and our environment.

How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?

Fascinating and thorough, this story about food follows bread, cheese, vegetables, fruit, and chocolate from creation to harvest, with fun graphic illustrations and easy to read descriptions.

Katie the Catsitter

In a city full of super heroes and super villians, Katie needs a summer job so she can go to camp with her trendy friends. The job she lands is not quite what she expects! A wild adventure for older kids and fun loving teens. 1st in a series.

FukuFuku. Kitten Tales, Vol. 01

Hot Graphic Novel title among the K-3 set! Heavy on drawings and light on words, a well-loved kitten gets into (and out of) the usual cat troubles. Told from the kittens point-of-view.

The Chicken Thief

Wordless picture books are for everyone! They require careful attention. This story is full of tension and humor, pursuit and escape, a delight from beginning to end. And there’s a sequel!

Savvy

A lively adventure chapter book with magical abilities and family drama, humorous and busy, a fun read.

All the Answers

A fun chapter book (it’s also a graphic novel!) about a magical pencil that knows all the answers to a 12 yr old girl’s questions. Super handy to have around! But it makes life complicated too. Good book for thinking about life.

The Turtle of Oman

A loving grandson makes a last adventure with his beloved grandfather into the desert to store up memories to take with him when he leaves for America. Sweet and poignant.

The Wild Robot

Wonderful narration that makes you feel you are this intrepid and curious robot. She’s a loyal friend, and a quick learner. An epic story of survival.

How We Got to Now

If you are curious about life, and love putting together puzzles, this read will connect inventions and social changes that have created the modern world. Terrific on audio!

Whistling in the Dark

WWII themed chapter book, about rationing and the struggles to live during wartime in England. I loved the characters and the way they try to live a normal life in very abnormal circumstances.

Flora & Ulysses

I love to hear books read to me as well as read them myself. This one is SO fun, and funny. A squirrel has a near-death experience and gets amazing superpowers! Flora rescues the squirrel and he rescues her in return.

The Big Dark

This kids adventure chapter book is fun for all ages! A solar storm shuts off all motors in the whole world. What could happen? Will people be kind or greedy? A young boy makes a life saving decision. Great read.

Mythologica

An explosion of rocking illustrations by UK musician Victoria Topping! This oversize book highlighting the characters in Greek myths is in the kids area, but is suitable for anyone. My favorite is the 100-eyed monster, yowza!

Swap!

Delightful picture book, using minimal words, showing how a pirate and his sidekick trade their way up to a like- new repaired ship! Fun illustrations of the town and it’s people.

The Silver Button

So much happens in just an instant. This picture book offers a distinct sensory experience of the broad depth of a single moment of life, expanding your mind outward to include almost the whole world, in just one instant. A great thinking book with delightful illustrations.

Where is the Green Sheep?

Such a fun read-aloud book for preschoolers! Full of contrasts with silly illustrations of happy-go-lucky sheep of every color and occupation, as you wander through the book searching for that elusive green sheep. Illustrations by famed cartoonist Judy Horacek, this is a great Australian collaboration; always a big hit.

The Obstinate Pen

A quirky, cartoon-illustrated story about a pen with a mind of its own, who tends to write only rude (but truthful) things. It makes all readers laugh at the unexpected antics and follies of humanity, in a whimsical way.

The End

Terrific fairytale mash-up picture book, great for narrative story skill development, this story starts at the end and goes backwards to the start. Funny, full of detailed illustrations, it’s a book to re-read from the back to the front as soon as you “finish”.

Voices in the Air

A teen/tween magical book of poems and short short writings. Each a treat to dip in and consume. Silky and smooth on the tongue, a mixture of light, deep, poignant, reflective and honoring poet’s who were.

Toads and Diamonds

A picture book, in case you need a refresher on the actual fairy-tale! Involves two sisters, a fairy, and the fruits of kindness.

Toads and Diamonds

A tween/teen novel. Three steps beyond a fairy tale re-telling, set in a sub-tropical world suffering from plague, with court politics, earth magics, light romance, and learning how to value one’s own self.

The 57 Bus

Two teens converge on a city bus in a moment of thoughtless violence, and both of their lives are changed forever. Reading and understanding this true story changed my life, too.

Where the Red Fern Grows

This is the book that turned me into a reader.

The Smell of Other People’s Houses

The lives of four very different Alaskan young people intersect in surprising and meaningful ways, resonating with profound emotion and everyday beauty.

The Lock-eater

Come for the intricate world-building and compelling adventure, stay for the personal evolution and sparkling prose.

King and the Dragonflies

King is struggling to hold his family together after his older brother’s unexpected death. How much does he have left to look after his missing, tortured friend?

The Hundred Dresses

Originally published in 1944, this story still has lots to tell us about kindness and respect and seeing people for who they are.

The Enigma Game

Three intersecting stories vibrate with intrigue, suspense, and complex human emotion in this historical thriller set in 1940’s Scotland.

Checked

A triumphant story about an elite hockey player and his love for his sick dog is elevated by Kadohata’s typically transparent and transportive prose.

27 Magic Words

I love this book SO MUCH. I hope you do, too.

Morning Girl

Siblings Morning Girl and Star Boy take turns weaving together tender pieces of their daily lives into a tapestry that depicts the sanctity of family.

Sadie and Ratz

This is the perfect evocation of the trials, confusions, and joys of siblinghood.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Remember when picture books had lots of words? I do. Those were some good picture books.

The Story of Ferdinand

This timeless classic touches on what it means to be exactly who you are with humor, spirit, and deep understanding.

Silli’s Sheep

Silli has lots of big ideas. They’re not always good ideas, but they’re a whole bunch of fun.

Over the Ocean

Originally published in Japan more than forty years ago, this visual spectacle is an ode to curiosity.

Olu and Greta

No matter how far apart you feel from the people you love, there are always opportunities for connection. Just ask Olu and Greta.

The Lost House

What can you find in the technicolor chaos of lost objects and maximalist abandon? I found a pile of fun.

Found

Look carefully at the illustrations to fully appreciate the emotional weight of this bittersweet story about a lost dog finding its home and a lost girl finding her way.

At Our House

When you count all of the different elements of a single family (how many fingers? how many freckles?) you learn that the most important number is one.

This One Summer

Raw, surly, electric, and still, this observant graphic novel exposes a particular place in childhood with unflinching insight.

Louis Undercover

Though his father’s drinking is pulling the family apart, Louis finds strength in his care for his little brother, a stray raccoon, and a bewitching girl on a bicycle.

The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales

Lovely War

The Greek Gods meddle in the lives and loves of humans entrenched in the chaos of war, only this time they’re wreaking their havoc and sowing their romance in WWI Europe.

Small in the City

It can be scary to be out on your own–small in the city–but never fear. Someone is looking out for you.

Waiting for Goliath

A lonely bear practices patience and trust as he awaits the return of his long-lost friend. And the happy resolution is worth the wait.

The Sea-ringed World

This collection of traditional indigenous stories from across the Americas spans thousands of years, thousands of miles, and the huge range of human emotion.

Out of the Shadows

A pioneer of stop motion animation brings her beloved folk tales to the screen, and now her story is available to us in this wonderful book inspired by, and styled after, early cinema.

The Killer’s Tears

What begins as a story of hardscrabble struggle and emotional trauma ends in love, peace, and extraordinary redemption.

Book of Questions

Epic, confounding, and deeply curious, these questions make your mind, and your world, extra big.

Tell Me A Picture

Explore the National Art Gallery in London with a group of art lovers who have fascinating thoughts and questions about what they see and how they see it.

The Complete Brambly Hedge

Who doesn’t like a story about an intentional community of mouse homesteaders spending their days in the most blissful and wholesome of ways?