March Recommendations

In THE QUIET ONE, by Yiting Lee, Millie dreads Show and Tell. She doesn’t want to speak in front of her noisy classmates, so she escapes to a secret place that’s “filled with things that people had forgotten.” Millie finds a wheel, some roller skates, and a broken robot (named Arnold), which she cleans, fixes, and reboots. Together, Milly and Arnold transform the secret place into an elaborate playground. On Show and Tell day, Milly brings Arnold to school, and finds she’s so exited to talk about the robot, she’s not afraid anymore. The other kids are delighted with Arnold and with the playground, and “Milly [is] happy she ha[s] been heard.” Lovely digitally-edited watercolor and colored pencil art equally conveys emotion and whimsy. Pair it with The Most Magnificent Thing for two different takes on girls solving problems creatively—with tools!

ONE GIRL’S VOICE: How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land, written by Vivian Kirkfield and illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon, is the empowering story of how young Lucy Stone was full of “ideas, thoughts, and opinions,” but was supposed to keep quiet because the law in 1830s Massachusetts stated that “the voices of girls and women didn’t count.” Lucy saved her money to buy schoolbooks and put herself through college. Along the way, she encountered men who wanted to silence her, from her father to the minister at church to school administrators. But Lucy knew her voice mattered, and she proved it. The text moves quickly and assertively to portray Lucy’s smarts and determination, and watercolor and acrylic ink illustrations convey a folk-arty yet modern feel, with plenty of vibrant colors. This is an inspiring look at how one girl used her voice to make the world a better place.

PEPPER & ME, by Beatrice Alemagna, is the story of one child and their scab. Yes, when the narrator of this story scrapes their knee on a cobblestone, it’s like “a scary movie with you-know-what dripping down [their] leg.” At first they see the scab as hideous, but then they name it Pepper and the child and scab talk to each other and the scab even comes to their grandparents’ house for a visit. And then, one morning, Pepper is gone. This is a strangely sweet story with big feelings that leaves readers with a sense that somehow all is right with the world when it’s over. Alemagna’s art is splendid, as always.

JOAN MITCHELL PAINTS A SYMPHONY, written by Lisa Rogers and illustrated by Stacy Innerst, describes the way painter Joan Mitchell envisions a valley in her mind—she “doesn’t paint the valley’s flowers and meadows. She paints a feeling about them,” using “exuberant dashes of sun-soaked yellow, cotton-candy pink, inky black, bright raspberry, periwinkle, turquoise, tangerine—embraced by eternal blue.” Joan climbs the ladder up and down, looks and listens, thinks and feels. This creative picture book takes readers along as the artist works her way to her final exhibit, La Grande Vallée, a series of canvases that are full of meadows, slopes, and dells, joy and sadness, despair and delight. Back matter explains and inspires.

TEN-WORD TINY TALES OF LOVE, by Joseph Coelho and 21 Artist Friends, caught my eye when I opened it to the black and white image of ghosts in a graveyard, illustrated by Jon Klassen, which reads “They’d visit his grave yearly, before returning to their own.” Other pages may be more to your liking, but this book of evocative tiny tales features a compelling opening from the author, a closing with writing advice, and a middle filled with poignant, whimsical, extremely short stories illustrated in a variety of accomplished styles.

In THREAD BY THREAD, written by Alice Brière-Haquet, illustrated by Michela Eccli, and translated by Sarah Ardizzone, “knit one, purl one,” a mouse who's initially “toasty warm” at home, watches her world “begin to unravel.” The mouse family knows they must “up and leave, don’t look back, never let the thread go slack.” There are many dangers, and they dream of staying put, until eventually, “little by little, thread by thread,” they rebuild their nest. The text is minimal, making this an easy read for little ones even as it hints at darker subject matter, and the clever illustrations, which are created with “drawing, photography, and plenty of yarn,” nicely emphasize the whimsical.

--Lynn

March's Book of the Month--Bog Myrtle

Fun, eccentric, and mildly spooky, BOG MYRTLE, written and illustrated by Sid Sharp, is a terrific modern fairy tale—one that sits comfortably on my shelf next to Extra Yarn, The Spider in the Well, The Wooden Robot and the Log Princess, The Queen in the Cave, and The Skull. And Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden.

It’s the story of two sisters who live together “in a hideous, drafty old house on the edge of town.” Beatrice is sweet to a fault, and Magnolia is ceaselessly nasty. They’re too poor to afford yarn for a sweater, which Beatrice wants to knit to keep Magnolia warm, so Beatrice tries to trade a stone, a twig, and a cicada shell for it at the yarn store in town. The shopkeeper throws her out. When Beatrice returns the objects to the forest, the swamp woman, Bog Myrtle, threatens to turn her into a fly and eat her, but the pair end up bonding over their shared love of forest treasures and Bog Myrtle spins magic silk for Beatrice to make the sweater. When Magnolia sees the wonderful, magical sweater all she sees are dollar signs, and she sets up a factory in the basement, where she forces Beatrice and the spiders who share their home to churn out sweater after sweater for hundreds of dollars each.

I think that’s all of this quirky plot that I’ll share, but the story satisfies and the art delights. Indeed, this pro-union and -sustainability graphic novel is a treat from start to finish. The art was created with “pencil, gouache, watercolor, ink, beet juice, and dirt,” and it’s SO lovely, with bright colors, fun design elements, and characters who are varying levels of grumpy and/or cheerful. The book is well designed and uses good, thick paper that feels nice to hold. I’ll treasure my copy for years to come!

--Lynn

Shelf Awareness--Frank's Red Hat

PB Review: Frank's Red Hat

Frank's Red Hat by Sean E. Avery (Walker Books Australia, 32p., ages 4-7, 9781761600661, May 6, 2025)

Frank's Red Hat is a hilarious tale of creativity--first scorned, then redeemed--as one inventive penguin tries to get his fellow seabirds to appreciate the finer qualities of his functional, fashionable way to keep warm.

Frank is known within the penguin community for "doing things differently" and for being "full of ideas." Unfortunately, most of his ideas are not great (such as the time he figured out how to spear multiple fish at once, only to have a resident walrus insist that Frank give its tusk back). The penguins are understandably nervous when, one day, Frank wears a red hat. Not only had the seabirds never seen a hat before but, in their "cold and colorless world," they had never seen anything red. Frank tries to explain that a hat is for "keeping your head warm--in style," but when Neville gives the hat a try, a killer whale leaps out of the ocean and eats the penguin "in one big bite." Despite Frank's assurances that the hat had nothing to do with Neville's tragic accident, the other penguins want nothing to do with the hat or with Frank.

Disappointed, Frank tries to get the penguins to appreciate his creation by making several differently colored hats in hopes of creating the perfect head covering, but the wary seabirds don't trust him at all. Frank decides to make one final, perfect hat: "The evil hat will end us all!" the terrified penguins yell, "waddling for their lives." Frank is crushed and vows to never again make another hat, until... a non-penguin someone asks for his masterpiece!

Sean E Avery (Happy as a Hog Out of Mud) uses jaunty text that is active, direct, and suitably sly. His characters feature large, round eyes with expressive eyebrow lines, and his world is rendered almost entirely in black, white, and grays, which allows the colorful hats to stand out. The clever, digitally collaged illustrations add plenty of humor and depth to the story, and readers are advised to pay attention: sight gags amplify the fun and loose ends are often tied up in the art. In fact, hints in the illustrations set up the possibility that savvy readers may guess at the resolution, and the final twist adds to the satisfying finish. Frank's Red Hat shouldserve as both a boisterous read-aloud and an excellent choice to linger with after story time. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author. Originally printed in Shelf Awareness.

Shelf Awareness--Trouble Dog

PB Review: Trouble Dog

Trouble Dog: From Shelter Dog to Conservation Hero by Carol A. Foote, illus. by Larry Day (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 48p., ages 5-9, 9780802855817)

Trouble Dog deftly tells the story of Tucker, a sweet pup with boundless energy, who, after a few failed attempts, is adopted by a woman who recognizes his potential.

Tucker loves to play. But all his romping, CRASHING energy means he's returned to the shelter so frequently, the attendant begins to warn visitors, "Not this dog. He's trouble." Months go by, until Laura finds him and wonders if "maybe he's the right kind of trouble." Laura begins to harness Tucker's exuberance with special training. She introduces "a strange, new smell" and when Tucker recognizes that smell, they play. She tries hard to trick him but "Tucker's nose never fail[s]." She introduces other smells until they are working with a conservationist in Hawaii to find invasive rosy wolfsnails. The pair continues to seek out invasive and endangered plants and animals, helping scientists to study them. Tucker becomes a romping, leaping, crashing hero, who also finds love in his "forever home."

Journalist and debut picture book author Carol Foote's text is as buoyant as her protagonist, with plenty of heart for good measure. Her story champions second--and third, even fourth--chances, along with the idea that some deeply hidden talents may need extra care and attention to flourish. Larry Day (Found) uses a loose line in his watercolor illustrations that allows his fully saturated colors to bleed and blend, creating a natural feel of movement to mimic Tucker's playful nature. Backmatter explains that Trouble Dog is based on "the true story" of Pepin and Wicket and includes plenty of fascinating facts about conservation dogs. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author. Originally printed in Shelf Awareness.