Callie Ann Starkey

Spring is here and that means it’s time to garden! This follow-up to This Little Kitty follows the same mischievous cats outside where they gather their gardening tools, seeds and starter plants, and discover all the garden has to offer. The kitties help weed and soften the dirt. They help water the seeds, but watch out for that tricky water hose! The kitties discover buzzing bees and flowers that make them sneeze. Fuzzy friends are there too, but who is that, rustling the grass? Don’t worry, kitties, it’s just a fluffy bunny! By the end of the day, the kitties are a mess, but when it’s time to clean up, they are nowhere to be found. Where could they be? It turns out these kitties have found the perfect place for a catnap. 

Karen Obuhanych’s This Little Kitty in the Garden is a bright and colorful celebration of spring. Pairing rhythmic, rhyming text that begs to be read aloud with bold, playful illustrations, Obuhanych captures each kitten’s personality on every page. Whether they are finding the best nap spot, chewing a stray weed, splishing and splashing in the watering can or digging the perfect hole for a little seed, these feisty pets find excitement in their garden. Readers will enjoy searching the spreads for all of the sneaky cats. Even if they cannot be found, they are sure to have left dirty paw prints behind!

Use this charming story to introduce young readers to gardening, or even the joys and woes of pet ownership. While This Little Kitty in the Garden is sure to attract cat lovers and gardeners alike, one only needs a sense of humor to enjoy this romp on a lovely spring day. Don’t be surprised if your young readers ask for This Little Kitty in the Garden over and over again! 

Karen Obuhanych’s This Little Kitty in the Garden is a bright and colorful celebration of spring with rhythmic, rhyming text and bold, playful illustrations.

Micha Archer’s spectacularly colorful collages in What’s New, Daniel? tell the story of a young boy’s day in the park. Daniel runs to meet his grandfather, who asks the boy, “What’s new?” Daniel responds literally: “Um, I don’t know yet.”

Daniel heads deeper into the park to retrieve some answers. What’s new with his favorite rock? What’s new with the redwing blackbirds, Mother Duck, Polliwog, Snake and other budding life in the lush and lively park that the boy and grandfather visit? With abundant curiosity, Daniel explores every nook and cranny of what is clearly one of his favorite places in the city. The answers Daniel receives prompt him to also consider what is new in his life. When Snake shares that it has shed its old skin, Daniel points out that he’s just lost a tooth. When Daniel learns that the polliwogs are all growing legs, Daniel enthusiastically shares, “My legs are growing too!” Archer, who clearly knows children well, then depicts Daniel showing them how strong his legs are: “Watch me run!” 

Archer presents a verdant park teeming with life, a pocket in a big and bustling city. Her vivid palette showcases nearly every shade of green—the true star of this show—but also warm yellows (the flowers Butterfly lands on), rich rust colors (the leaves of the oak tree in which Squirrel builds her nest), and the gleaming blues and teals of the sky, the water and even grandfather’s sweater. As in her previous books featuring Daniel (Daniel’s Good Day and Daniel Finds a Poem), Archer achieves impressive textures and details in the illustrations, creating artwork to pore over. 

What’s New, Daniel? not only captures an intergenerational bond but also celebrates the joy with which children take in the natural world. There are no screens in sight. Instead, Daniel revels in the shimmering water of the pond, the cattails sending seeds into the wind, the unfurling leaves on the fern, and the delicate wings of a butterfly, not to mention his own growing body. As Daniel puts it, with such unbridled cheer, “So many things are new!” 

In a story that captures an intergenerational bond and celebrates the joy with which children take in the natural world, Micha Archer presents a verdant urban park teeming with life.

Giovanni and his trusty donkey, Lorenzo, have a very important job as Specialists of Sky Repair. Each night, they load “star stuff” in packs on Lorenzo’s back and set off into the night sky, “over the Moon and out past Mars,” looking for holes that need to be filled. When they find a dark spot, Lorenzo brays while Giovanni spreads the star stuff into the dark. The star stuff sticks, then grows and glows until it becomes a star!

But as this lovable duo goes on their way, Lorenzo’s leg is caught in a nebula. Giovanni pulls and tugs, but Lorenzo doesn’t budge. Some unexpected allies answer Giovanni’s calls for help: Orion the Hunter, Cancer the Crab and Taurus the Bull. With the assistance of these constellations, Giovanni and Lorenzo might just make it home in time to watch the “best star ever made”—the sun—rise.

Writer and folk singer Rand Burkert (Mouse and Lion) and two-time Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka (The Hello, Goodbye Window; A Ball for Daisy) give life to this whimsical fable. The lyrical text evokes movement through Burkert’s meter and imagery, and the forms of rhyme vary throughout, making them unpredictable and exciting.

Raschka’s playful illustrations pair perfectly with the text and bring a dreamlike quality to the story. His vibrant watercolors capture Lorenzo the donkey’s sweet personality and the cast’s fierce determination to set him free from the nebula. Raschka brings the constellations to life with shades of blue and adds pops of yellow to show they are, in fact, made of the same star stuff the Specialists of Sky Repair are carrying.

A fun read-aloud for any setting, Star Stuff is sure to delight readers of all ages. While an interest in astronomy is not necessary to enjoy this picture book, Star Stuff can provide young readers with a lovely introduction to space, or it can simply serve as a lively tale of teamwork and determination.

A lively tale of teamwork and determination, Star Stuff will provide young readers with a lovely introduction to space.

Little Cap is a shy, anxious mushroom who feels safest when surrounded by the comforts of home and the companionship of his best friend, Gustav, a lovable slug. But one day, Little Cap discovers that the gate of his white picket fence is open and Gustav is nowhere to be found, so he musters his courage, packs a bag and ventures into the unknown to find his friend. 

Along the way, Little Cap faces many obstacles. He must scale a rocky cliff and traverse a fathomless gorge. He’s even forced to deal with the indignities of life in the wilderness when he steps “in something really, really gross.” He also meets his woodland neighbors, including a mole, a toad, a mouse and a grasshopper. Many of the creatures seem kind and willing to help, and one of them has even seen Gustav! The news spurs Little Cap on, even as he continues to worry about his friend. But will he ever find Gustav?  

Andrea Zuill’s Gustav Is Missing! is a heartfelt picture book filled with lively detail and personality. Her expressive illustrations capture every emotion Little Cap experiences on his journey, from trepidation and frustration to fierce determination and bravery. Zuill makes Little Cap’s small-scale world feel large and expansive through whimsical touches such as dandelions as tall as trees. Text and image contradict each other in several funny moments, as when Little Cap expresses distrust of “highly suspicious individuals” and we see him backing slowly away from an innocent-looking stalk of broccoli.  

Zuill created distinct, playful characters in previous books such as Regina Is NOT a Little Dinosaur and Cat Dog Dog (written by Nelly Buchet), and Little Cap and Gustav are adorable additions to her repertoire. With his white-spotted red hat, Little Cap is recognizable as a fly agaric mushroom, but his blue overalls and big, circular-framed eyeglasses give him a childlike quality. Meanwhile, Gustav’s bright red collar and yellow body bring to mind an affectionate golden retriever; in one vignette, Little Cap pats Gustav’s head as the slug’s tongue lolls out of his mouth like a panting dog. 

Young readers who enjoy friendship tales and pet stories, and especially those in need of a fable about confronting fears, will cheer for Little Cap at every step of his quest. Be sure to look for Gustav on the book’s endpapers as well. You never know where that silly slug might be hiding!

This heartfelt picture book about an anxious mushroom who must venture into the unknown to find his friend is filled with whimsical detail and personality.

Have you ever known it was going to be a bad day from the moment you woke up? Crusty eyes, soggy cereal, itchy tags in your clothes—everything seems to go wrong. And that’s all before you even get to school! A line cutter in class! A missing pudding at lunch! A terrible case of the hiccups! 

Some days are just plain bad, and Chelsea Lin Wallace and Hyewon Yum have captured all that goes wrong for one child in Ode to a Bad Day. With each turn of the page, readers are presented with a new rhyming ode to misfortune: “Oh Oops, / whoops!” begins the lyric to a ruined painting in art class. “Oh Yucky, / your slimy sauce does not smell yummy” goes the ode to a disappointing spaghetti dinner. There’s even a verse to an elusive “Cricket in My Room” that can be heard but never found. (But keep looking! Careful readers will love hunting for the little green bug on nearly every page.) 

Just when we feel “so annoyed,” we are reminded that we are “not destroyed.” After all, the “best part of a baddish day / is when it ends, and I’m OK.”

Hyewon Yum, author-illustrator of the award-winning picture book Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!, brings her signature style of watercolor and colored pencils to this bad day. She transforms the protagonist’s face into dramatic expressions of frustration, with frowns, pouts and big open-mouth wails. There’s even a perfectly hilarious spread of a classic meltdown in the grocery store’s cereal aisle—something all parents have certainly witnessed.

While most pages show all the things going wrong around the protagonist, Yum cleverly uses occasional spreads to highlight the child’s emotions. In these visually striking moments, the child is shown on their own, their feelings palpable as they stride across a stormy cloud, or grimace amid a shower of rainbow pencil strokes.

Reminiscent of Judith Viorst’s classic Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Ode to a Bad Day is wholly relatable and highly engaging, with lively, rolling poetry and rich, charming illustrations. No matter what kind of day it has been, don’t be surprised if young readers want to read this book over and over. 

Reminiscent of Judith Viorst’s classic Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Ode to a Bad Day is wholly relatable and highly engaging, with lively, rolling poetry and rich, charming illustrations.

When opening an envelope from his recently deceased father, a young boy is confused to only find a map of the woods: “The woods were our place. Why would Dad ask me to go back without him?”

Begrudgingly, the boy laces his hiking boots and begins down the familiar path, along which he is able to recognize several animals—showing how many hours he and his father have spent in the woods. Eventually he comes to a lone chimney, the last remnant of a long gone home. “What was it Dad used to say? There’s always something that remains.” Inside, the boy finds a locked metal box containing drawings and scribbled stories about the forest wildlife.

Nikki Grimes, Brian Pinkney and his late father, Jerry Pinkney, have gifted us a heartbreakingly beautiful picture book about loss and grief. Endnotes explain the creation journey behind A Walk in the Woods (Neal Porter, $18.99, 9780823449651), where life imitated art in an almost unbelievable way. After Jerry’s wife (and celebrated author) Gloria Pinkney asked in 2019 why Jerry and Grimes had never worked together, the two longtime friends began to lay the groundwork for a story featuring an African American child exploring nature.

In October 2021, Jerry died, leaving behind an incredible legacy in children’s literature—but also incomplete artwork for A Walk in the Woods. Brian was given his father’s artwork just a few short weeks after his death, along with an invitation to finish the story his father began. With the help of Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (Jerry’s granddaughter and Brian’s niece), Brian began to merge his ethereal watercolor paintings with Jerry’s original line work, in an experience he calls “mysterious and mystical.”

Grimes’ text is full of depth and feeling and combines with the art in a brilliant display of color and life, capturing in detail the animals as well as the boy’s emotions on every page. The cool blues and purples in the beginning feel rife with grief, while the golds and reds of the woods bring a sense of lightness to both the story and the reader, and hints of green signify that life will continue.

A Walk in the Woods is truly an exquisite story of heartbreak and hope. The collaboration between Grimes and both Pinkneys is seamless, as if all were completely of one mind.

On the last page of the book, as the boy gathers his father’s drawings and begins his trek home, he asks, “Can you smile and cry at the same time?” Readers likely will.

Nikki Grimes, Brian Pinkney and his late father, Jerry Pinkney, have gifted us a heartbreakingly beautiful picture book about loss and grief.

At first glance, Do You Remember? seems to simply be a story of a mother and son sharing fond memories. But look closer and each memory deeply reveals a piece of their life together: the excitement of berry-picking at a picnic, the woes of learning to ride a bike, the tension and darkness of a rainstorm.

As in his previous Ezra Jack Keats Award-winning picture book Small in the City and the acclaimed I Talk Like A River written by Jordan Scott, author and illustrator Sydney Smith uses ethereal watercolors to enhance his lyrical text and beautifully bring each memory to life. The images and the memories themselves feel almost dreamlike as they evoke joy and thrills, anxiety and melancholy.

After the boy and mother take turns sharing memories, the boy somberly asks, “Do you remember . . . leaving our home behind? We packed up everything we own in our truck and drove down the highway, farther than we’d ever been.” “Of course I remember,” his mother replies.

The landscape changes from hills and hay bales and fields of wildflowers to cityscapes and traffic jams, and Smith’s illustrations subtly reveal changes not only in the environment but also in the family itself. We see through two beautiful, wordless spreads that the move they remember has only just taken place; this whole time the boy and his mother have been reminiscing upon their half-unpacked belongings.

As the sun rises, the boy decides their first morning in their new home can become a memory too. From the window, he sees his new street, smells the bakery across the road and hears the buses below. Although the first night has been hard, the magic of this first morning brings assurance that all will be well. “Yes,” he thinks, “I will remember this.”

Whether you have experienced a move, a change in your family or even just a stroll down memory lane, this nostalgic tale will find its way into your heart as it reminds us that our memories will guide us through the changes of life. Sydney Smith beautifully captures all the fear and hope that comes with change in this heartfelt picture book about remembering and starting anew.

Sydney Smith beautifully captures all the fear and hope that comes with change in this heartfelt picture book about remembering and starting anew.

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