🙂 There, in the crowd, is…a friend. Young, old, short, tall, feisty, funny, or even furry. Friends come in all shapes and sizes.

🙂 Depicting twenty-three different places, some of which are named, while others are represented through clues only, the book invites us into routines, habits, cultures, and landscapes that reflect our diversity as well as our similarities.

🙂 A peddler’s heart is moved by the kindness of a little man who cares more about the peddler’s comfort and well-being than winning a brand new bed, even one that’s guaranteed to never squeak.

An A to Z introduction to the world’s most beautiful birds.

Percival Priggs wants to be the perfect child in order to please his seemingly perfect parents.

Here is a dream caught on paper. As sleep starts the journey into the blue, marvelous threads unravel dreamy images out of the blue.

A child imagines what lessons are taught at Mom School, which cover everything from baiting a fishing hook to tucking you into bed.

Meet butterflies such as the pink-tipped clearwing satyr, the green cloudless sulphur, and the blue morpho. Count from zero to twenty-five, review your colors, learn fun butterfly facts, and say the word “butterfly” in more than twenty languages!

With a myriad of stripes and spots, tails and wings, you’ll have to search hard to find the twins!

🙂 A curious bunny looks for signs of the arrival of spring, in a story that celebrates the five senses.

Where are 1 fish truck, 1 apple truck, and 1 dairy truck headed? Follow 8 vehicles through 11 intricate mazes to find out, and along the way look for surprises hidden in the pictures.

Combining the features of a map, a pop-up and a picture book, this one-of-a-kind interactive experience invites the child reader to explore, enjoy, and find her own way through the jolly maze of an Indian village carnival.

🙂 A young Latina girl accidentally breaks her grandfather’s vihuela and searches for someone in the community to fix the instrument, which leads her to discover her grandfather’s legacy as a mariachi.

Follow one little mouse on her search for a best friend to stay by her side…

A big wave takes Toto away. He needs help.

At the end of summer, a girl’s mother wants to put away her favorite beach hat but the girl asks to keep it out, then decorates it for each holiday and season from autumn through spring.

🙂 Henry the pig is excited to spot the Great Pig in the Sky one starry night, but when he shows the other farm animals, he gets frustrated because they each see something different.

🙂 Through a series of amusing examples, a young boy learns how to get ready for a good night’s sleep–and bedtime should not include dinosaurs and sharks.

Tommy has worn out his parents and sister with his bouncing, clomping, and leaping but when they convince him to try tap dancing, he finds it the perfect outlet for his energy.

🙂 After bedtime a house comes alive as a lamp in the shape of a bird solves an array of problems including a leaky faucet, a creaking chair, and sneezing broom, all while the family sleeps.

After his teacher says anything can be in an art exhibition, and his fellow students give myriad reasons why something might belong in a museum, a child offers his special grandmother as an exhibit but when the curator cites a rule against accepting grandmas, the child has a better idea.

Today is the perfect day to stay in. To stay warm and snug in pajamas. To put marmalade in hot popovers. To ride in a basket-shaped rocket ship to space…innerspace.

A reassuring and hilarious look at a child’s trepidation about meeting his first babysitter then realizing he adores her!

Little Tom Drum loves strawberry pie so much that he creeps down to the kitchen at night to get just one more small slice of that sweet, delicious, flaky pie resting on the windowsill in the golden moonlight…

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 Spencer loves books and reads one every night, sometimes aloud, then puts the book back in its place, but one morning his favorite book is missing, and the next day another, each replaced by a different object.

Templeton the cat makes a wish for his family to disappear, but quickly learns that being alone isn’t as great as he had thought it would be.

🙂 Troto is a happy little car who likes to go places until he drives all the way to Cactusville and meets some big trucks that tease him for being so small.

As friends Bear and Mouse share a day together, Bear counts various objects, from one to five, and the reader is invited to do the same.

🙂 Cat tries to trick the Tooth Fairy, but he meets his match in a mischievous mouse.

As the circus train rolls into town, excited children and their parents get in line for their chance to experience the Big Top.

Children are taught when and where to “say the magic words.” But what do expressions such as please, thank you, I’m sorry, and I love you really mean?

🙂 As his friends Bird, Mouse, and Bear celebrate the arrival of spring, Rabbit finds more and more things to dislike about the change of seasons until, at last, he admits that spring can be full of pleasant surprises.

🙂 Kitten loves to explore, pretend, and get into trouble!

Follows a family of puffins from the time the parents greet one another off the coat of Alaska and prepare to raise a family, through the care of their fragile egg and ravenous chick , to Little Puffin’s first flight across and into the sea.

When school lets out for the summer, Rufus Leroy Williams III, a determined pig who loves to read, decides to become a pirate.

Turtle and me. We’re never lonely or sad when we’re together. But we’re getting older…Do I still need Turtle? Does Turtle still need me?

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 A picture book about a parrot named Beatrix, who is very awake, very excited to see her friends, and has a very hard time using her ‘indoor voice’.

Stella brings her two fathers to school to celebrate Mother’s Day.

🙂 Join Baby’s family as they try to figure out what Baby’s first word really means in this charming picture book.

Tallulah loves the grace and elegance of ballet and can pirouette perfectly, but at dance camp, struggles to learn tap.

After trying pizza for the very first time, everything Baby Bear sees reminds him of the tasty treat and he decides never to eat anything else.

🙂 At the end of the day, tired sheep return to their shed, but none can sleep until the collie arrives, giving a hug, a drink of water, and more until all have begun to snore.

🙂 A little girl collects wildflowers while on a walk with her distracted father. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.

Bear doesn’t want to be a bear anymore, so he tries out what it’s like to be a duck. With a few lessons from Duck, Bear realizes he makes a much better bear after all.

In the follow-up to Steve Light’s highly praised Have You Seen My Dragon?, readers follow a little girl as she gallivants through a county fair, searching for her furry beast pal.

8) A terrible storm is coming! Kindhearted Badger is working hard to keep everyone safe–protecting burrows and rescuing nests. But who will take care of Badger’s home in the old oak tree?

Calling all preschoolers! Come learn your ABCs with a charming crew of animal friends playing music with instruments from around the world!

Summer vacations can be magical. Especially when you go back to the same place every year.

🙂 When the Mona Cheesa is stolen from a museum in Paris, there is only one person up to the job of finding it: William, international cat of mystery.

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

It’s Bulldozer’s big day. But as he eagerly, hopefully, rolls around the construction site, he realizes that it’s only another busy day for the other trucks.

🙂 One pig looks to take a relaxing bath in private, but he is soon joined by another pig, then another, until there are ten pigs–and number one has to come up with a plan so that he can actually enjoy his bath.

Cave swallows Burt and Pippi, tired of being crowded by their eight siblings, set out to find a bigger nest but discover that traveling is good, but coming home is better.

🙂 The best adventures are the ones we have together.

Young Millie looks after three hens, a rooster and seven chicks with love and care. Her playful story introduces children to keeping chickens.

Ann will not let Min play. But Min will not give up.

🙂 What happens when two shy children meet at a very crowded pool? Dive in to find out!

🙂 At bedtime, a little girl asks her big sister to tell her what to dream about and together they imagine the possibilities.

Ben loves to draw and does so in all of his classes, but his drawings of people are so good he’s afraid to let his classmates see them, until the day he loses his notebook and his talent is revealed.

Rappy the Raptor tells the story of how he became a rapping velociraptor, all in rhyme.

Ringmaster Rick calls an emergency meeting to boost the self-confidence of Circus Town’s performers after hearing several put themselves down for mistakes made while rehearsing their acts.

In 1893, Engineer Ari is in a rush to get his train to Jerusalem and back before Passover, and he still needs many things for his seder plate. Luckily he has many friends to help.

8) When it comes to homework, projects, and goals, Stickley the frog is a flexible thinker who never gives up.

This is Robot. He likes to…SMASH!

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 Although animals everywhere are sleeping, a youngster with an active imagination and a hefty to-do list resists bedtime with adventurous flair.

🙂 Zane rushes home to tell his mother about problems he faced during his school day, and she reminds him that while others may only see his “autism stripe”, he has stripes for honesty, caring, and much more.

When Bird and Bear go on a birthday picnic, they discover something surprising that will change how they see the world forever…

8) Meet Stick and Stone. They stick up for each other, because friends rock!

🙂 Using only two words–“look” and “out”–relates a story about an attention-loving gorilla, a television-loving boy, and a friendship that develops over books.

A little girl discovers a crocodile under her bed. “This is going to be fun!” she thinks. She tames the beast, teaches him tricks, and makes a new friend.

Up in the garden, the world is full of green–leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt there is a busy world of earthworms digging, snakes hunting, skunks burrowing, and all the other animals that make a garden their home.

🙂 This is a story about Fritz, also known as Frederick the Great, King of Prussia–and champion of the common potato.

🙂 A young boy discovers a whale in his pool and tries everything he can think of to get it out.

Reveals how things that seem little are actually very important, such as a little light that is really a welcoming light, or a little idea that is actually a fantastic idea.

🙂 Gwendolyn Grace, an alligator, does not want to obey when her mother tells her to be quiet while the baby is sleeping, but finally sees that being patient has its rewards.

Little redheaded Henry is ready to do things for himself. But is his family ready to let him?

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 An old man known as the Wren plays his hurdy-gurdy, and with the help of his student, the Sparrow, brings hope and inspiration to the people of a small Polish town.

Buster Bickles’s big ideas were always getting him into trouble. But he had no idea just how much trouble he could get into until Uncle Roswell invited Buster to test his newly invented What-if Machine.

Meet Florabelle. She’s a little girl with BIG ideas. Although her family can be a bit serious at times, Florabelle knows that life is always more fun when you use your imagination.

Best friends Frito and Freddy want a place where they can play together that has plenty of space and not too many rules, so they build a clubhouse that is perfect–until their families and friends come to visit.

🙂 It’s time to clean the house, set out our best dishes, and fill our homes with food and family to celebrate the joyous holiday of Passover!

One day, as Elmer is out walking, he hears a cry for help. Butterfly has been trapped in a hole by a fallen branch. Elmer rushes to the rescue and frees her. In return she promises to help Elmer should he ever need it.

Dinosaur spends a day “helping” his mother, from the time he roars to awaken her until their final contest at bedtime.

Two siblings provide instructions for how to surprise one’s dad, including surprises you can make, do, or find–and how to plan a Special Day surprise party for him.

8) All the chickens in the farmyard lay eggs regularly–all except for P. Zonka, that is. She’s too busy looking at the colors of the world around her. The other chickens think P. Zonka’s just lazy…until she lays the most beautiful egg they’ve ever seen.

All the orangutans are ready for a nap in the sleepy depths of the afternoon–all except one.

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 Delphine is a servant in Queen Theodora’s palace. She has no family, no friends, and her life is full of work. Fortunately, Delphine loves to sing, and if her spirits are down, songs bring her comfort and cheer.

🙂 Illustrations and rhyming text reveal the special love between a parent and a baby, from button nose to tiny toes.

🙂 Illustrations and easy-to-read, rhyming text, guide the reader in drawing scaly, knobby-kneed dragons that fly, play musical instruments, ride bicycles, and more.

🙂 Come explore a boy’s family tree one side at a time, starting from the front of his photo album and then starting from the back–and see how they come together in the middle!

Mama Seeton’s simple and comforting whistle calls her family home, no matter how far away they may be.

🙂 Adam does not like Koala. Koala is the most terrible terrible. Or is he?

🙂 After a busy day filled with loved ones, adventure, and fun, baby is tired from head to toe.

8) Illustrations and minimal text reveal the thoughts of an energetic puppy as he busily sniffs his way in and around the house, and the reader can guess where the pup will be going when the page is turned.

A man is followed by a skunk all day until the tables turn.

Two toddlers have a nearly-silent adventure at the beach.

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

🙂 Friendship advice given as gardening tips.

Tom tells all about his bicycle, his ride to work past trucks, cars, and even elephants, and his work as a circus performer.

🙂 Take flight with birds right outside your window, whether chickadees or cardinals, sparrows or starlings.

Bunnies Binny, Benny, Bernie, Bonnie, and Buddy love doing everything together until Hoppelpopp, a great big rabbit, challenges them to a competition that will determine which of them is the best.

A boy likes owls and wishes only to do what owls do, but will he really eat a mouse?

🙂 The monkey doesn’t want to share his banana when a playful bumblebee wants a bite. But soon the monkey finds himself with a much bigger problem on his hands…

If you plant a carrot seed…a carrot will grow. If you plant a cabbage seed…cabbage will grow. But what happens if you plant a seed of kindness…or selfishness?

A small insect learns that even though she can walk on the ceiling and fly superfast, there are dangers lurking everywhere.

Callie and her family are moving from their house to an apartment, so they’re having a yard sale. It can be hard to let things go, but in the end, it’s who you have–not what you have–that counts.

🙂 When Mom gives them each a blank book to fill, three creative siblings write three very different stories that add up to one colorful portrait of a family.

In my position as a technical processing assistant at the DeWitt Community Library, I catalog a lot of new picture books. Unfortunately, I cannot review them all, but I do read them all and have assigned a 🙂 to my favorites. Finley Frog’s favorite is marked with a 8). Below are a few I’ve cataloged recently. (Whenever possible, summaries have been taken directly from the books.)

Meet Gus, a gosling who likes to be by himself. But when his adventures lead him to a turtle’s nest, he’s in for some unexpected companionship.

Pim wants to fly. So does the dog. Suddenly Pim is gone! Where is Pim?

🙂 When Farmer Fred forgets to feed the horse, the mouse helps out and later, when the mouse is in trouble, the horse repays his kindness.

🙂 It started small. Tommy blushed. Funny! When everyone laughed at him, it wasn’t so funny anymore. But how do you stop bullying?

🙂 Illustrations and rhyming text follow a young rabbit as he leaves home on a journey, discovering the joys of different kinds of roads and what they may bring–including a way back home.

🙂 Having decided he does not want to go to bed, Vincent unravels the blanket of night and transforms it into a cat, a lullaby, and even an elephant before finally giving in and closing his eyes.

8) A growing tadpole loves his frog dad so much he never gives him a moment’s peace.

🙂 After a tantalizing dream about golden cookies, Knight and his horse embark on a quest for baked goods.

Very early one morning, Raju and his mother set out on an adventure. It is cold and dark. They walk for a long time, past a slithering snake, snapping crocodiles, and even a tiger, but Raju’s mother shoos the scary creatures away and keeps him safe.

🙂 Some of us have…warty warts, huge feet, wrinkly skin, lots of spots! Do we care? No! We’re all a little different, and that’s the way we like it!