Elementary school | Page 21 of 30

The Forest Keeper, is non-fiction that’s tough to believe and inspiring to ponder

While his name might not be on the tip of your tongue, you know the story of Jadav Payeng. He’s the Indian teenager who in 1979, started planting seeds on an abandoned, arid, desolate riverbank where nothing had ever grown before. Every day he returned to the area to plant new seeds and water the existing ones. Over time his trees turned into a thicket and then a forest, which eventually attracted insects, then the birds that consume (or live symbiotically with) them. The Forest Keeper is an illustrated book that tells this story in a manner that makes this stranger-than-fiction story grounded and very much in a matter-of-fact.

The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, about how he saw a need, did repetitive, seemingly frustrating actions, and planted a new eco-system.

Non-fiction can’t be empowering? Hold my bamboo shoots

A Dollar’s Grand Dream, a fun money allegory that works on two levels

Kids love money. It’s not that they’re greedy Thurston Howell wannabe millionaires, rather, it’s more that they want to be lazy, do-nothing social media influencers who make dopey videos and get paid according to insane Markle-esque levels. A child’s curiosity about money and its power is natural. A Dollar’s Grand Dream felt familiar when I first looked at this illustrated book. Ah-this is similar to the book on pennies that I liked. While I disdain the fact that the penny, as a currency, is still a thing, the book itself was quite charming. This book follows that same template, but because it’s about a dollar, it has more weight, carries more interest, and is a better book because of it.

A Dollar’s Grand Dream is an illustrated book that brings the silly, but also cashes in on humor, a great story and our natural curiosity about money.

Money, puns, jokes and fun in an illustrated book on dollar bills

Super Small, Miniature Marvels of the Natural World is big poetic STEM

STEM and poetry are two things that early elementary illustrated readers don’t see too much of. They see lots of illustrated books on cute topics that softly teach morals or lessons. In those books, there might be rhyming words or stanzas, but it’s not what educators would cast as poetry. The same can be said for the infrequency of non-fiction illustrated books in that there aren’t many of them. Super Small, Miniature Marvels of the Natural World seeks to bridge that gap, by doing so in an improbable combination.

Super Small is an illustrated book that threads the need of poetry, STEM and biology in a package that both entertains and educates at a high level.

A very smart book in a poetry, biology and STEM illustrated package

The Witchling’s Wish will age well wherever it wants

There are some artists whose work just packs a punch or leaves a mark on you. It can be a telltale sign or a manner in which they communicate that makes the project that they’ve involved with a go-to event. Sarah Massini is an illustrator whose work does that for us, and we’ve only dealt with two of her books. The Girl and the Dinosaur was the first one that introduced us to her style and now The Witchling’s Wish cements her style as one that we need to keep an eye out for. To be clear, Massini has released many books which she has illustrated, and from their covers, they all seem to have that vibe for early elementary school readers.

The Witchling’s Wish is a lush illustrated book that paints a tale about friendships and how to get them started.

How did this release sneak past us……? It’s awesome.

Looking Up is an early chapter book laugh fest, with lots of heart

The laugh-per-page ratio to a Stephan Pastis book is incredibly high. His collections of Pearls Before Swine and the Trubble Town graphic novel series are hilarious, observational, intelligent and some of the best bang for the buck in a book that you can invest in. I say “invest in” because every Pastis book that we’ve received or purchased has never left our house and sticks like glue in our forever library. We had heard about the Timmy Failure book series but hadn’t read any of them. They are less cartoon-illustrated books and more in line with a chapter book for upper elementary through middle school. Looking Up is a book that falls into that category. It also produces multiple laughs per page, gets you thinking, grinning, trying to figure out some jokes, and in the end, tugs at the heartstrings more than you expect.

Looking Up has the absurd humor and fun that Stephan Pastis is known for, but combines more heart and feels than you’re expecting.

Another Pastis piece of perfection, but with more heart than you’re expecting

Bitsy Bat, School Star is a two-tiered entertainingly illustrated book

In lower-elementary schools across the nation story time is nigh. The time of a school day when a parent comes into the classroom of pre-k through second-grade classes and reads one or two stories to kids is a precious time indeed. Bitsy Bat, School Star is an illustrated book that serves as comfort food to those older kids on that scale. It also does the trick of letting those on the younger end realize that people are different and that everyone’s a star in their own right.

Bitsy Bat, School Star is an illustrated book that serves as reassuring literary comfort food, but also as a very sublime autism primer.

An illustrated book doubling as an autism overview

Room On Top, a lovely book that’s more than the sum of its animals

Ten Apples Up On Top is a classic children’s book. However, more than that, it’s the first book that our two children really loved having read to them when they were younger. The board book version is slightly shorter, they preferred the illustrated book version because it built up the comedic tension when everyone had ten apples on top of their heads. Room on Top is a ridiculously cute illustrated book that entertains through its illustrations, sweet animal interaction, and manic chaos that exists for a brief moment.

Room on Top is a giddy, carefree, story time, illustrated book about various animals, joining in on a trip across an anteater’s back until they all fall down.

Images and text make you say ….awww….

The Great Mathemachicken 2 Have a Slice Day, giddy puns for young readers

Puns are an effective and short route to an emerging reader’s heart. Dog Man has been plowing that field for almost a decade and other children’s book series were most certainly doing the same thing prior to that. It’s also quite magical when a child understands a pun for the first time. The Great Mathemachicken 2: Have a Slice Day is an early reader chapter book that’s fun and educational, without being too much of the latter.

The Great Mathematchicken 2: Have a Slice Day deals with fun and math, both in equal measure so as to keep ages 5-8 engaged.

Ages 5-8 looking for a go-to, smart. early chapter book will dig it