Remember your elementary Librarian? Hopefully you were fortunate to have one in your school building as they are vast vessels of knowledge and can find anything you might wish. Keeping in mind their value (Libraries are sisters to Bookstores, after all!), I asked an Elementary School Librarian, from my education days, to make us a list. And so she did—thank you dear friend!
Can You Whistle, Johanna? By Ulf Stark and Anna Huglund
There are plenty of old men who would do as a grandfather at the retirement home, Ulf suggests, when Berra wonders why he doesn’t have one. They go there together to find one – ideally one who eats pig’s trotters, invites you to tea & who can teach you to whistle. This is a sensitive book about a friendship between two boys & an old man.
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.
It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family–providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.
The Genius Under the Table by Eugene Yelchin
With a masterful mix of comic timing and disarming poignancy, Newbery Honoree Eugene Yelchin offers a memoir of growing up in Cold War Russia.
Drama, family secrets, and a KGB spy in his own kitchen! How will Yevgeny ever fulfill his parentsâ dream that he become a national hero when he doesnât even have his own room? Heâs not a star athlete or a legendary ballet dancer. In the tiny apartment he shares with his Baryshnikov-obsessed mother, poetry-loving father, continually outraged grandmother, and safely talented brother, all Yevgeny has is his little pencil, the underside of a massive table, and the doodles that could change everything. With equal amounts charm and solemnity, award-winning author and artist Eugene Yelchin recounts in hilarious detail his childhood in Cold War Russia as a young boy desperate to understand his place in his family.
The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas by Maria Garcia Esperon
Fifteen thousand years before Europeans stepped foot in the Americas, people had already spread from tip to tip and coast to coast. Like all humans, these Native Americans sought to understand their place in the universe, the nature of their relationship with the divine, and the origin of the world into which their ancestors had emerged.
Answers in the Pages by David Levithan
A bold, timely novel about speaking up and coming out as parents lobby to ban a beloved book from the school curriculum by New York Times-bestselling author David Levithan.
When Donovan left his copy of The Adventurers on the kitchen counter, he didnât think his mom would read itâmuch less have a problem with it. Itâs just an adventure novel about two characters trying to stop an evil geniusâŠright?
Weâre All in the Same Boat by Barney Saltzberg
Weâre all in the same boat, both literally and metaphorically, in this playful look at how we can work together for the common good. The animals in this boat discover that working together gets them much further and is more fun than trying to go their separate ways. Barney Saltzberg (Enough Is Enough) brings his trademark humor to a group of animals who learn theyâll sink or swim together. Teamwork matters when weâre all in the same boat!
Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
No one wants a skunk.
They are unwelcome on front stoops. They should not linger in Important Rock Rooms. Skunks should never, ever be allowed to move in. But Skunk is Badgerâs new roommate, and there is nothing Badger can do about it.
When Skunk plows into Badgerâs life, everything Badger knows is upended. Tails are flipped. The wrong animal is sprayed. And why-oh-why are there so many chickens?
It Fell From the Sky by The Fan Brothers
A picture book about community, art, the importance of giving backâand the wonder that fell from the sky.
It fell from the sky on a Thursday.
None of the insects know where it came from, or what it is. Some say itâs an egg. Others, a gumdrop. But whatever it is, it fell near Spiderâs house, so heâs convinced it belongs to him.
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
A universal, deeply moving exploration of grief and empathy
With its spare, poignant text and irresistibly sweet illustrations, The Rabbit Listened is a tender meditation on loss.
When something terrible happens, Taylor doesnât know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. The chicken wants to talk it out, but Taylor doesnât feel like chatting. The bear thinks Taylor should get angry, but thatâs not quite right either. One by one, the animals try to tell Taylor how to process this loss, and one by one they fail. Then the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen, which is just what Taylor needs.
A Computer Called Katherine by Suzanne Slade
The inspiring true story of mathematician Katherine Johnsonâmade famous by the award-winning film Hidden Figuresâwho counted and computed her way to NASA and helped put a man on the moon!
Katherine knew it was wrong that African Americans didnât have the same rights as othersâas wrong as 5+5=12. She knew it was wrong that people thought women could only be teachers or nursesâas wrong as 10-5=3. And she proved everyone wrong by zooming ahead of her classmates, starting college at fifteen, and eventually joining NASA, where her calculations helped pioneer Americaâs first manned flight into space, its first manned orbit of Earth, and the worldâs first trip to the moon!
Award-winning author Suzanne Slade and debut artist Veronica Miller Jamison tell the story of a NASA âcomputerâ in this smartly written, charmingly illustrated biography.
Shop More Books
Browse our children’s online book selection. Looking for something you don’t see on our site, give us a call or send us an email. We’re happy to let you know if we have it in the store. If we don’t have it- we’ll order it special for you. Happy shopping, happy reading!
