​Can I Be Your Dog?
​Written & Illustrated by Troy Cummings
Age Level: 3 – 7
Grade Level: P – 2

This book is brilliant - using letters to move the story along. Poor Arfy. He’s a mutt who just wants a home. He sends letter after letter to house after house, but each answer is no. For different reasons, but poor Arfy is still homeless. Will he ever find a home? Or people to love him? You’ll have to read to find out. 

​​Baby Loves Coding
Written by Ruth Spiro
Illustrated by Irene Chan
Age Level: 1 – 3 

​I love the way this board book takes something complicated and simplifies it for toddlers. They even make it fun! Baby has a problem – a red train car is missing. The pages show the steps Baby takes to find it. That’s a code. It’s also the beginning of logic, and the skills babies can learn as they grow. There are 17  books in this science series for babies and toddlers.

​Swashby and the Sea
Written by Beth Ferry
Illustrated by Juana Martinez Neal
Age Level: 4 – 7
Grade Level: P – 3

​If you like word play, you’ll love this book! I did! It’s so well written, AND, it’s fun! Life was good for Swashby . . . until he got next-door neighbors.  He tried writing notes in the sand to scare them  away, but the sea kept changing his words to make them feel welcome. Who’ll get their way – Swashby, his neighbors, or the sea? You’ll have to read to find out!

​Tea Rex
Written & Illustrated by Moly Idle
Age Level: 3 – 5
Grade Level: P – K

Imagine – sending out invitations for tea, and one of them is going to your dearest friend,  Tyrannosaurus Rex. The tea party pictures are as cute as the front cover, and they carry the story. It’s a perfect book for dinosaur-loving  Littles. Who wouldn’t love a tea party with your best friend, T Rex?

​Claws
Written by Mike and Rachel Grinti
Age Level: 10 and up
Grade Level: 5 – 9 

​This book was so clever I couldn’t put  it down. Emma’s sister is missing. It looks impossible . . . until a talking cat, Jack, tells Emma that her sister has been kidnapped by fairies. The kind who use human eyes to see. Follow Emma and Jack into a forest filled with harpies and hags, trolls and crags. Will Emma and Jack return with her sister, and their eyes intact? You’ll have to read to find out!
 
PS – My favorite part was the Crag fact that started each chapter. They led me deeper into the fantasy of this story. 

​Weekends with Max and His Dad
Written by Linda Urban
Illustrated by Katie Kath
Age Level: 7 – 9
Grade Level: P – 6  

​I loved this book! It’s a quiet chapter book for young readers, especially boys. It’s divided into 3 stories taking place over 3 weekends. Max is a 3rd grader whose parents aren’t together. When he visits his dad’s new apartment that 1st time, he becomes a detective so he can scope out the new neighborhood. The next weekend, Max has a bad case of the no-where to sit blues. They find the cure with a little furniture, and some good music. The final weekend Max needs to build a porcupine habitat, but he forgot his supplies at school, and dad is sick. Would you believe Max found 2 habitats, one for the porcupines? And one with his dad.
 
PS – I discovered Max has a 2nd book that I’d love to read – ROAD TRIP WITH MAX AND MOM.

​My Brother the Duck
Written by Pat Zietlow Miller
Illustrated by Daniel Wiseman
Age Level: 3  – 5
Grade Level: P – K

​I loved this story! It reminds me of Julius, the Baby of the World. Meet Stella Wells, the new big sister AND budding scientist. Her new theory – her  baby brother is a duck. Stella goes through the scientific process to figure out what he really is. This is a great story for older siblings who are expecting, or for little scientists who want to explore the scientific method. But most of all, it’s a fun read!

​I’m Trying to Love Math
Written & Illustrated by Bethany Barton
Age Level: 4 – 8
Grade Level: P – 3

​When I first glanced inside, I didn’t want to read it, but I loved Bethany’s book about spiders so I gave it a shot . . . I LOVED IT! It starts and ends with a quote. In the middle the main character’s talking to an alien about how hard math is. They wind up going through all the ways you use math everyday from  pie charts to fractions to time signatures in music. That’s just a few of the ideas in this book. Math is everywhere, and our main character discovers something new about it. Sorry! You’ll have to read and discover what it is for yourself.

​Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
Written by Kevin Noble Maillard
Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Age Level: 3 – 6
Grade Level: P – 1

​This story is full of heart and traditions. Fry Bread is a Native American story, and the best part –  learning all about it. I’d never heard of it before, and each page showed me what Fry Bread is.
 
Fry Bread is food, and the illustration showed you the ingredients you need to make some. Fry Bread is shape, and the illustration showed the shapes you make as you prepare it. That’s only 2 of the 12 spreads so there’s so much more to learn! I loved this story, and I hope you will too!
 
PS – Back matter includes the recipe for Fry Bread, plus notes about each category. This book is good to the last word!

​It’s a Muffuletta! It’s a Whata?
Written & Illustrated by Patricia Saunders
Age Level: 6 – 8
Grade Level: 1 – 3

Have you ever wondered how or why something was invented? This is one of those stories, about the muffuletta! They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that was true for Signor Salvatore Lupo,  the man who invented the muffuletta at the Central Grocery in New Orleans. Read the story to find out how and why he came up with it. The  muffuletta – it’s a sandwich! It’s brilliant, and so is this book! If you find yourself in New Orleans, stop in the Central Grocery, and try one.