On this roundup list, we celebrate my usual favorites: board books, books in translation, migrant stories, and even an early reader graphic novel that I enjoyed a bit too much.
Let’s start with picture books:
Cristina Plays by Micaela Chirif (Author), Paula Ortiz (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
Micaela Chirif is an award-winning Peruvian author of children’s books and poetry, and I am glad that we are finally giving some space to widely recognized authors like her (it has taken far too long).
In this book, Cristina is playing with a doll house that has a rabbit doll. Cristina will soon exchange her place in the doll’s house with her doll, in a vivid dream that displays her imagination, dwelling in a poetic way on what children feel when involved in representational play.
Cristina Plays is on sale since April 15, 2025.
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Pages: 36/ Hardback
EAN/UPC: 9781459841178
Up next, the idea behind the book gives voice to dads:
Love, Dad: Inspiring Notes from Fathers to Kids by Andrew Gardner (Author), Joel Warsh (Author), David Cooper (Illustrator)
This illustrated take on parents’ wishes is nice because it portrays a wide array of loving dads, something we don’t get enough of:
When you grow up, I hope you…
…let your smile change the world
…feel you are loved, in every cell of your body
…learn how to help those who need a hand
Eighteen fathers are asked to finish the sentence above, and the eighteen wishes have lot in common. They all wish for their offspring to do well, to be brave and kind, and to learn to help others.
As parents, we wish the best for our kids, always, but we rarely get to say it, we are busy barking orders, giving advice, and trying to survive. This letter anthology helps parents go past that.
Love, Dad is on sale since April 08, 2025.
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 40/ Hardback
ISBN: 9780593572160
Up next, an early reader graphic novel (I didn’t know those even existed!).
Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! by Jenny Alvarado (Author)
This is the second adventure of a pencil and eraser BFFs. I have to say that the first one, Pencil & Eraser: We Have a Dull-Emma! was hilarious, especially if you are very young, first starting in the world of comics (the page layout is early reader friendly) and love corny jokes. If you are not into corny jokes, this book is definitely not for you.
The joke breaks that happen sporadically in the book are fabulously corny: What is a ninja’s favorite juice? Fruit Punch! (You get the idea…). In the first novel, Pencil is dull and convinces Eraser to go on a sharpener-hunt throughout the school, having loads of adventures in the process.
In the second book, they fall out of their owner’s bag on their way to karate, and have to navigate the town to get there, with a fun stop in the Arcade!
These two friends are fun, relatable, and you have to admit that eraser is the practical one of the pair, but she loves her partner’s goofiness very much.
Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! is on sale since May 06, 2025.
Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Hardback | Pages: 80
ISBN: 9780593699812
Now for a beautiful book about solidarity:
New Shoes for Leo by Lauren Agra Deedy (Author), Susan Gal (Illustrator)
Susan Gal has made something beautiful for this book, rendering it in a soft light that warms everything it touches. And it is a warm story. A young Cuban American boy must help fill a box for relatives on the island, an endeavor migrant families do for every country in the world: they send clothes, medicine, and knickknacks to poorer relatives on their country of origin, sometimes monthly, to help those who are having a harder time than them.
William’s Mami and his Tía Ana ask him to help on a task for a young boy just about his age: find shoes for him to be shipped to Cuba. Cousin Leo, he will soon discover, has a lot in common with him. He also has freckles, loves baseball, and is loved very much by his close-knit family. But no one has the right size for him!
What can William do to fulfill his task?
William is about to learn a very important lesson about love and solidarity, just by fulfilling this apparently simple task.
New Shoes for Leo is on sale since March 04, 2025.
Published by Scholastic Press
Hardback | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9781338770216
Now for a recently translated book:
Newborns. How Baby Animals Come Into the World by Paulina Jara (Author), Mercè Galí (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
On this lengthy nonfiction book, there are 25 diverse ways to come into this world, from little tiny kangaroos that crawl to their mother’s pouch being the size of a pea, and continue to grow there, to baby tadpoles, tiny newborn spiders and cougars, all of them unique and a testimony to the marvel of evolution.
Some gestation periods are days; some are years. Some babies are born ready to fend for themselves, while others rely on their parents for months.
The only thing I did not like where the illustrations. I feel that a quirkier, more detailed look at animal expressions and baby faces would have made the book more relatable to young readers.
Newborns is on sale since March 11, 2025
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Hardback | Pages: 64
ISBN: 9781459840348
Finally, this book inspired Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki:
The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba (Author), Miho Satake (Illustrator), Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator)
This book, which inspired a famous Miyazaki movie, has little in common with the story portrayed in the film.
As a fan of Kashibawa’s work, I would be doing her a disservice if I said that the story was not magical on itself, it truly is! She has an ability for magical tales as strong as Dianne Wayne Jones’.
When a young Lina is sent all by herself to a place called Misty Valley, she is in for an adventure. The village is connected to different places and times, the town is not on any map, and the headmistress of the house looks like the witch in Spirited Away, but the adventures are very different.
There is a magical bookstore that is in itself a gateway to all magical bookstores in the world, there is a Pastry Chef that deals with enchanted desserts, and there are centaurs, gnomes, and other types of quirky characters roaming about. Misty Valley is a place where you go when you need to learn something, and you would not be able to find it if you were not going to change by experiencing it.
After 50 years of being a beloved classic in Japan, I truly celebrate its translation into English.
The Village Beyond the Mist is available since May 27, 2025.
Publisher: Yonder
160 Pages/ Hardback
EAN/UPC 9781632063922
Fonte: GeekDad - Leia mais