ABC3D
by Marion Bataille

Here's a spectacular addition to your alphabet collection, a chunky little pop-up book with a graphically thrilling rendering of each letter of the alphabet. No A is for apple here; each letter is its own celebration. The first clue is the holographic cover; depending on how you tilt the book,... Read More

Zoo - ology
by Joëlle Jolivet

This extravagant book by a French author/illustrator (and first published in France) contains handsome woodcuts of more than 300 animals, from aardvark to zebu, categorized by size, characteristics, and environment. Zoo-ology also has the distinction of being the biggest book I've ever reviewed. It came in its own... Read More

United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds: Their Stories, Their Glories
by Hudson Talbott

What a hoot! A picture book about the fifty states, narrated by a bespectacled bald eagle holding a microphone and perched on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Below him is a colorful map of the U.S., surrounded by little framed portraits of each state's bird. "Good evening, everyone, and welcome... Read More

Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch
by Mona Kerby

In October of 1888, a stray brown and white terrier wandered out of the rain into the post office in Albany, New York, and sacked out on a pile of canvas mail pouches. He stayed, hopping aboard the mail wagon each day for a ride to the train depot. One... Read More

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?
by Steve Jenkins

Take a jaunt through the animal kingdom to identify the noses, ears, tails, eyes, mouths, and feet of a variety of creatures, thirty in all. On the first of each pair of double page spreads is a question, such as, "What do you do with a nose like this?" which... Read More

Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator
by Sarah C. Campbell

Years ago, when I was a new school librarian, a third grade boy came into the library. "Miss Freeman, do you have any books on the blue-footed booby?" he asked earnestly. "Very funny," I said. "No, really, do you have any books on the blue-footed booby?" "Ha, ha," I replied... Read More

I Face the Wind
by Vicki Cobb, Illustrated by Julia Gorton

A young girl demonstrates the properties of wind through her own observations and a series of easy-to-read-and-do activities and experiments, using common household materials, that teach science through experience. The collage illustrations are amiable and appealing and the question-filled text will get readers thinking, testing, and drawing scientific conclusions. There... Read More

Inside-Outside Dinosaurs
by Roxie Munro

In a veritable visual panorama of dinosaurs, eight classic dinosaurs are presented in two ways: first as skeletons and then as living creatures. On the upper right side of the first oversized white two-page spread are gigantic red capital letters: BRACHIOSAURUS. Stretched across the page is a painting of the... Read More

Gone Fishing: Ocean Life by the Numbers
by David McLimans

As a companion to his Caldecott Honor winner, Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet, which was illustrated in red, black, and white, McLiman's ocean counting book uses a deep blue hue. He uses pencil, brush, India ink, and computer to present ocean creatures and their habitats from one... Read More

Panda Kindergarten
by Joanne Ryder

What's more adorable than a baby panda? How about 16 of them, resting on two big white towels? The cute factor of this nonfiction color photo essay is off the charts. At the Wolong Nature Reserve in China, giant pandas are raised and studied by researchers who are helping to... Read More

Alphabeasties: And Other Amazing Types
by Sharon Werner, Illustrated by Sarah Forss

You've never seen an alphabet book like this before. A is for alligator, but the accompanying picture is composed of hundreds of uppercase and lowercase black A's. Each page contains an animal-bat, camel, dog, elephant- rendered entirely in its initial letters. The giraffe's neck is so tall, the head is... Read More

Redwoods
by Jason Chin

On his bench in the 14th Street Station of the New York City Subway, a dark-haired young boy spots a book called Redwoods. (Intriguingly, the cover of the book he finds appears to be the same as the actual book, Redwoods, with the selfsame boy on... Read More

Groundhog Gets a Say
by Pamela Curtis Swallow, Illustrated by Denise Brunkus

On February 3, after the crowds of humans have dispersed, Groundhog bemoans the fickleness of being a once-a-year wonder. "I don't get it. Where is everybody? Yesterday I was BIG news, a star, king of the mound! Everyone wanted my weather report. Today . . . nothing!" Listening to and... Read More

I Lost My Tooth In Africa
by Penda Diakité, Illustrated by Baba Wagué Diakité

"My dad says if you lose a tooth in Africa and put it under a gourd, you will get a chicken from the African Tooth Fairy!" That's Amina speaking, as she and her family set out from their home in Portland, Oregon, to visit her father's family in Bamako, Mali.... Read More

Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest
by Steve Jenkins

Take a tour of earth's natural wonders to find the longest river (the Nile: 4,145 miles), the highest mountain (Mount Everest: 29,028 feet); the coldest place (Vostok, Antarctica at 129 below zero), and the windiest spot (atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire, with a record wind of 231 miles per... Read More

Actual Size
by Steve Jenkins

All of the eighteen animals and parts of animals are shown actual size in this spectacular oversized science picture book. Children can compare and contrast the smallest fish (dwarf goby, length: 1/3 inch) with the twelve-inch eye of the giant squid. They can examine the biggest spider (the twelve-inch Goliath... Read More

At Gleason's Gym
by Ted Lewin

Follow nine-year-old boxing champ Sugar Boy Younan as he spends a Saturday in Brooklyn training with other athletes—kids and adults, male and female—in “the most famous boxing gym in the world.” Combining a poetic descriptive text, gritty, realistic watercolors, and shaded pencil sketches, this evocative picture book envelops the reader... Read More

Ballerina Dreams
by Lauren Thompson and Joann Ferrara, Photography by James Estrin

When you first pick up this pink book with the three little girl ballerinas on the cover, you think this will be a book your little girls will love, and that's true. But the very young dancers—Nicole, Shekinah, Veronica, Abbey, and Monica—are not your everyday dancers. While they've always wanted... Read More

If You Decide To Go To The Moon
by Faith McNulty, Illustrated by Steven Kellogg

"If you decide to go to the moon in your own rocket ship, read this book before you start." So begins a resplendent you-are-there nonfiction picture book, narrated in second person, with sensational full-page paintings. We follow an eager blonde-haired boy as he blasts off in a rocket ship and... Read More

Lightship
by Brian Floca

“Here is a ship that holds her place.” So begins the simple, lighthearted, and poetic text that describes the role of the U. S. lightship Ambrose, a ship that stayed anchored close to shore in all weather and acted as a floating lighthouse to other passing vessels. Cheerful and appealing... Read More

May I Pet Your Dog?: The How-to Guide for Kids Meeting Dogs (and Dogs Meeting Kids)
by Stephanie Calmenson, Illustrated by Jan Ormerod

Some children are too afraid of dogs. Others are not afraid enough. How should we behave when we encounter a strange dog? Harry, a longhaired, chocolate-dappled dachshund, encounters a young boy and gives him a series of concrete and practical instructions on how to be friends with a dog. The... Read More

Nic Bishop Spiders
by Nic Bishop

Look closely at the cover of this book, with the glowing oversized color photo of a brown and reddish jumping spider, standing on tiptoes, gazing right at you. The details are mesmerizing, from its glossy black eyes (5 of 8 are visible; most spiders have eight, as you learn on... Read More

Surprising Sharks
by Nicola Davies, Illustrated by James Croft

Learn about sharks and their way of life, thanks to a punchy text, easily accessible to all, water-logged acrylic and pastel illustrations, and cool facts—"Sand tiger sharks give birth to just two live young— which is all that's left after those two have eaten the other six babies in their... Read More

Vulture View
by April Pulley Sayre, Illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Open this sweeping, soaring overview of turkey vultures and you'll sigh, it's so ravishing. You never thought you'd care about those scavengers you’ve probably seen swooping high above the highways, but the combination of the easy-to-read poetic text and Steve Jenkins's magnificent cut paper collages in bold colors against a... Read More

What's the Matter in Mr. Whiskers' Room?
by Michael Elsohn Ross, Illustrated by Pail Meisel

For kids who find the study of science intimidating, wait till they meet the male counterpart to Ms. Frizzle (who kids already know and love from Joanna Cole’s “The Magic School Bus” books)—Mr. Whiskers, a teacher with a beard, a blond crew cut, and a passion for “the big idea.”... Read More