Little Blue Truck

by Alice Schertle, Illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Adorable!  I loved this little board book, told in rhyme.  Little Blue Truck travels from one place to the other, meeting animals along the way (toad croaks, sheep baaa, cow moos, pig oinks, Blue says Beep, plus plenty of other animals, too.)  A big-shot dump truck comes along ignoring everyone and ends up stuck in the mud.  Blue tries to help it out of the mud and gets stuck, too.  All the animals come to help Blue and they get out.  The dump truck admits, “Now I see a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends.”

What a great way to teach children about helping others.

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Once I Was a Pollywog

by Douglas Florian, illustrated by Barbara Bakos

Oh, cute.  A board book with names of  infant animals and adult animals:  piglet/hog, cub/bear, leveret/hare, gosling/goose, etc.





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Wendel's Workshop

by Chris Riddell 

Wendel is a little mouse who creates robots and leaves a mess behind.  The first robot cleans up but doesn’t work so well.  Wendell creates another robot who destroys everything as he cleans up.  Wendel goes back to work to create one more robot.  Cute.

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Martha Doesn't Share and Martha Doesn't Say Sorry

by Samantha Berger, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

Adorable!  It helps that the delightful illustrations so closely follow the story line.  (Of course, it helps that I love otters.) 

These two books are about a little otter who doesn't want to share or say she's sorry.

By the end of the books she learns that doing both will lead to a happier home.




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The Girl Who Thought in Pictures. The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin

by Julia Finley Mosca, illustrated by Daniel Rieley

I saw the excellent movie about Temple Grandin (trailer below) a few years before I came across this book at the library.  I knew that Temple was autistic, knew a little about her background and youth, her work and accomplishments with animals, so was interested to read this children's biography about her. 

This book is written in verse and I think it’s really well done.  I think it will be appealing to some children and is a treat introduction to who who Temple Grandin is and why she's different and special. 

I especially liked the point that being different is not being worse.  At the end there is a 2-page spread with fun facts and tidbits from the author’s chat with Temple; another 2-page spread with a time line; and a more detailed biography for adults.

This is the movie trailer for "Temple Grandin."  I watched a presentation by Dr. Grandin a few days ago and she seemed to be very supportive of this movie and its presentation of how she thinks visually.



Here's a brief interview with Dr. Grandin, from CBS News, discussing how to help and support children with autism.



Click here for a list ob Grandin's books.

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Home

by Isabelle Simler, translated by Vineet Lal

This is a beautiful picture book, one appropriate for both children and adults, with bright illustrations of homes of various animals, birds, and insects.  I was familiar with some of the animals but others were new to me:  the comet moth, European fan worm, hummingbird, satin bowerbird, case-making caddisfly, diving bell spider, elf owl, Eurasian harvest mouse, red ovenbirds, and many others. 

The illustrations for each animal fills two pages.  They are less illustrations and more drawings.  The colors are rich, deep, and brights, as appropriate for each animal.  Accompanying the drawings are brief poem-like descriptions of the animals and their homes.  At the end of the book is a paragraph about each animal, its locality, and its home. 

I can imagine this book being a good jumping off point for further research into the animals, especially for upper elementary students.

Truly, a beautiful book.

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Big

by Vashti Harrison

This won the 2023 Caldecott Award (given for illustrations), which was why I borrowed it from the library.

The illustrations are adorable!  The story is such a good one.  It’s about a little girl who is bigger than her peers.  She gets stuck in a swing and people begin to make fun of her and call her names, then suggest ways she could change (to, in their eyes, improve).  We see her cringe, wilt, withdraw, and collapse in tears. 

She decides she likes herself just the way she is—kind, creative, graceful, caring, considerate, compassionate, imaginative, free, fun, smart, graceful, nimble....

What a great book for little ones who are learning about themselves and that the physical body is much less important than being having good character traits.

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Orion and the Dark

by Emma Yarlett

This is a children's picture book, probably appropriate for children ages 3 or 4 and older.

Orion is afraid of everything—EVERYTHING—but most especially the dark.  One night the Dark comes to visit him and takes him on a tour of the scariest places.  Orion realizes that the Dark is his friend.  Fabulous!

I was prompted to read this after seeing the new movie based on the book.  The book is MUCH better (in my opinion)!

I think this could be an excellent book to read to a child who is afraid of the dark, but the parent should decide.

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