​Find the Tooth Fairy
Written by Jean Reagan
Illustrated by Lee Wildish
Age Level: 4 – 6
Grade Level: PS – 1

If you’re a fan of Jean Reagan and her How to books, like babysitting grandpa, you’ll love this one too. It’s all about what happens when a loose tooth comes out at Grandpa’s. This is KEY . . . no kid wants to miss  the tooth fairy or cash under the pillow. An added plus – it’s a Step 2 reader with short sentences that will help your child build vocabulary and learn to sound out new words. 

​Wombats Are Pretty Weird
Written & Illustrated by Abi Cushman
Age Level: 4 – 8
Grade Level: PS – 3

This is the kind of book I love – it’s fun AND clever! I can tell from the front cover. It’s the kind of book an illustrator could imagine and write. Check out the story with its illustrations, the side comments from the characters, and the sidebars of information. My favorite part – the snake – he’s comic relief. Don’t forget to check out the back matter with facts about the three kinds of wombats, a glossary, further reading, and a hunt for Australian animals hidden in the illustrations. Here’s hoping you find time to hunt down this book!

​Palace of Books
Written & Illustrated by Patricia Polacco
Age Level: 4 - 8
Grade Level: PS - 3

This is a beautiful book, with a story full of hope and heart. How do you cope when you have to leave the place you love? A city will never feel like home to Patricia. She misses the farm, and that makes school even harder. Until she finds Ms Creavy and her library. She introduces Patricia to art books, and eventually the Audubon Room. It changes her life, and Patricia becomes the first member of the new Audobon Society at school.

The Bake Shop Ghost
Written by Jacqueline K. Ogburn
Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
Age Level: 4 - 7
Grade Level: PS - 3

What do you do if you’ve saved up to buy a bakery and it’s haunted? That’s the problem Annie Washington discovers after she buys her dream business. Cora Lee is a ghost, and she can’t let anyone else bake in her shop. Then Annie comes along and refuses to leave. When she asks how to stop the haunting, her ghost answers, bake a cake that’s so good she tears up. Can Annie do it? You’ll have to read to find out, but this ghost story is like a yummy slice of cake!

​The Red Umbrella
Written by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Age Level: 10 - 13
Grade Level: 5 - 7

When I saw the red umbrella, I thought Mary Poppins, but this story is so different, yet so relevant for kids today. Lucia and her little brother live in Cuba. Their story begins as Fidel Castro and the Communists come to power. The changes Castro made were not positive, especially for children. I was horrified by them. They were so terrible that Cuban parents sent their children out of the country, alone, without a chaperone. I can’t imagine as a parent of three, and now a grandparent, how hard that choice must have been. The program’s name, Operation Pedro Pan.

This story starts in Cuba, but as conditions worsen, Lucia’s parents find a way to send them to America. Most of the story takes place here, in Florida where the kids go first. Then in Nebraska, where they’re ‘adopted,’ until their parents can finally get out of Cuba. I won’t tell you how it ends, but I can tell you there’s a happy ending, my favorite kind!

​The Joneses & The Princess’s Seneb
Written by Malayna Evans
Age Level: 8 - 14
Grade Level: 4 - 7

I’ve been waiting for this book since 2020 and I found it by accident this summer. It was worth the wait! If you liked the author’s two  earlier books with Jagger Jones and then Aria, you’ll like this one too!
 
When Paramessu, AKA P-Soup from Book 2, notices kids are disappearing, he knows it’s the Aten, the sun god at work. No one believes him, except for the God Horus who sends him a clue, “There is a third. The third will open the gate for the three. In three.

I had no idea about any of those 3s, and neither did P-Soup. But he summoned Jagger, Aria, and Tatia from the southside of Chicago. Can they rescue the missing children or their friend Babi? Defeat the Aten? Read the final book about the Joneses' series and find out!

​The Official Harry Potter Baking Book
Written by Joanna Farrow
Age Level: 10 and up
Grade Level: 5 and up

​This book is as beautiful as the cover, and I hope it tastes as good too. I’m not a baker, but I was tempted. Especially by Wand Breadsticks, Sorting Hat Cupcakes, and Salazar Slytherin’s Sourdough Snake. If you’re a big Harry Potter fan AND a baker, this is the perfect book for you and your family.

​The Monstore
Written by Tara Lazar
Illustrated by James Burke
Age Level: 2 - 7
Grade Level: PS - 2

​This book is so much fun! I read it once, and then I read it again. It’s that good! What do you do when you need to keep your little sister out of your room? Go to the Monstore . . . Then find a scary good monster. Sounds like a great plan – until you find out she loves monsters. Really! Then it gets WORSE! You can’t return it and get your money back. If you need to find out how this one ends, you’ll have to read it for yourself, but . . .  make sure you have enough time to read it again!

​Guts & Glory: The American Revolution
Written by Ben Thompson
Age Level: 10 - 12
Grade Level: 3 - 7

​Imagine reading a book that takes you from the sparks that started the Revolution to the end at Yorktown. Best of all, it’s not boring! I felt like I was on a time travel tour with a great guide who knows how to tell a story. When he talked about taxes on stamps and tea, he compared them to sales tax on video games and burgers. Then he said Sam Adams was pretty righteously mad about them. Would you believe I found those two examples on the same page?!
 
The book also breaks down big concepts like patriots and loyalists. It did a show and tell about American and  British soldiers in a way kids, especially boys would love. At the end of each chapter, there was a quick bio. My favorite part – the bonus fact. Did you know John Hancock’s dad was a minister, or that his parents died when he was seven? John was adopted and raised by his aunt and uncle.

​The William Hoy Story
Written by Nancy Churnin
Illustrated by Jez Tuya
Age Level: 6 - 10
Grade Level: PS - 3

This book gave me a new hero, William Hoy. All he wants to do is play baseball, but he has a really big problem – he’s deaf. People think he can’t play if he can’t hear. But William persists. When he doesn’t make the deaf team, he keeps practicing. Eventually he earns a spot on a professional team. Even then, he still has another problem to solve. When he can’t hear the calls, he asked the umpire to use sign language. It changes the game forever, and it’s a bonus for fans too. They can see the calls they can’t hear.
 
This is a great book for kids to learn how to deal with difficulties and discrimination. The back matter includes more information about William, plus a timeline of his life.