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Can there ever be enough books that encourage kids to accept themselves for who they are? We think not! Rose and Her Amazing Nose is a picture book that does just this: it teaches kids the importance of accepting themselves.

I Love You Just Like This! is an adorable story about love and all the ways parents feel it for their children.

Patrice Barton’s artistic talents were discovered at age three when she was found creating a mural on the wall of her dining room with a pastry brush and a can of Crisco.

This musical, rhythmic dinosaur book is a delight for small children getting ready for bath time.

The Little Parrot and the Angel's Tears is a powerful allegory of overcoming insignificance.

This is a book young people will probably want to read more than once, both for the themes in the story and for the author’s storytelling. It will appeal to middle grade readers who like sports – especially basketball – and coming of age stories.

Lee Wardlaw is the author of 30 books for young readers, including Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Children’s Poetry Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, and the Purina/Fancy Feast “Love Story” Award.

The verse novel is a condensed blend of poetry and story that flows from one word to the next. It shows the reader how to listen, how to see more sharply, how to emotionally connect. And somewhere in the journey we are changed.

February is African American History Month. Sharing these books with young readers comes with the responsibility to discuss ... progress towards equality.

In children’s book author Steven Schoenfeld’s Can You Buy Me the Wind?, children and parents alike are treated to a rhyming picture book that seeks to instill a solid set of values.

This exciting release of HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND MORE LOST STORIES has Dr. Seuss fans, young and old, heading to the bookstore.

Based upon the picture book, Giraffes Can’t Dance, this sturdy and colorful board book is a fun way for little ones to learn how to count to ten.

As a children’s entertainer, Jimmy Vee has combined his love for kids and passion of children’s books in his rhyming picture book by using his “Same Is Lame” philosophy—a philosophy that is all about self-­‐acceptance and knowing it’s okay to be different, as well as embracing the differences of others.

Jimmy Vee has dedicated his life to helping people discover what makes them unique and showing them how to capitalize on it.

On special occasions the girls’ parents told them of THE SUGAR PLUM TREE and they awoke to small candy treats or TREASURE waiting under their beds. It’s this TRADITION, of POETRY IN ACTION, the girls now hope to pass on to your family.

Inspired by Eugene Field’s (1850-1895) original The Sugar Plum Tree poem, here is a deliciously sweet bedtime book from Katherine James that takes young readers across the Lollipop Sea to the Garden of Shut Eye Town where the Sugar Plum Tree grows.

The Blue Baboon in the Big Balloon by Sarah & Steven Mostyn is well suited as a read aloud book or for young readers.

This unique and charming alphabet book uses rhymes and fact snippets to introduce Chinese words to a pre-schooler. The words are written in Pinyin, a sound system using Roman letters to write Chinese sounds. Words introduced are significant in Chinese culture, but relatable in any culture.

It’s National Poetry Month this April and what better way to celebrate than a chat with author, poet, and creative writing instructor Karen Benke.

Author Showcase 

“Everyone poops—yes, it’s true—from aardvarks to the humped zebu.”

Artie Bennett, author of the award-winning and much-acclaimed The Butt Book, delivers the inside scoop on every type and use of poop in his “number two,” spanking-new picture book. In hilarious verses, with eye-popping illustrations, Poopendous! relates the many, often remarkable uses of poop throughout the world while paying homage to its prolific producers, from cats to bats to wombats! Virtuoso illustrator Mike Moran gives us a Noah’s Ark of animals doing their less-than-solemn doody. So pick up your pooper-scooper and come along for a riotously rib-tickling ride. You just may agree that poop is truly quite . . .  poopendous!

Reviews

“For anyone who loved The Butt Book, you must immediately go and buy Artie Bennett’s follow-up, Poopendous! It appears there is no topic Mr. Bennett can’t make funny and educational. There aren’t many picture books that teach kids that “Monkeys fling when under stress. It helps the monkey decompress” and “Seeds inside a critter’s poop might go as far as Guadeloupe!” I’m not kidding when I say this came in handy at my son’s preschool last week.”

—The Huffington Post

“Poopendous! is an awesome picture book. If you are looking for a really funny book, with great pictures, any kid will sit through, this is the book. Artie Bennett obviously knows what makes kids laugh and the former children’s librarian in me applauds him for his use of unique vocabulary and content that keeps kids engaged and talking.”

—Long Days, Short Years

“Bennett addresses this subject with a nimble rhyme: ‘Rabbit pellets, raccoon tubes, / Owl whitewash, and wombat cubes./ Camel poop is desert-dry. / Wet poop comes from birds on high.’ There are kernels of wisdom to be found in Poopendous!, but the main point is entertainment.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A book like Artie Bennett’s Poopendous! comes in so incredibly handy. The rhymes and illustrations make it nicely lighthearted. It does a beautiful job of walking the line between ‘everyone does it and it’s just part of life’ and ‘it’s not something you want to bring in for show-and-tell.’ Plus, it’s so packed with information that it’s perfect for a parent whose kid is firmly in the “why” phase but who doesn’t want to dig up a lot of fecal facts.”

—New York Family

“Breezy and breathless!”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Artie has done it again. Kids of all ages love to talk about poop, and Artie creatively capitalized on that with his colorful, educational, and funny book Poopendous!”

—Family and Life in Las Vegas

About the author: Artie Bennett is the executive copy editor for a children’s book publisher and he writes a little on the side (but not the backside!).

His itch to write gave us The Dinosaur Joke Book: A Compendium of Pre-Hysteric Puns (currently extinct) when he was a much younger man. The Butt Book, however, was his first “mature” work. The Butt Book was showered with praise and won the prestigious Reuben Award for Book Illustration. His “number two” picture book, fittingly, is entitled Poopendous!  Wh

By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 25, 2012

Beautiful Dreamers

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we’ve hand-picked ten many-splendored new books. Children are born loving poetry from the moment they form their first babbling words to when they begin to tackle more complex rhythms and tongue twisters. As they acquire language and enjoy how it rolls off their tongues, they also gain an appreciation for the beauty of creative expression. Nothing quite tops that moment when they learn to recite their first nursery rhyme. So leave a poem in your child’s pocket and help him discover the appeal of modern poetry.

Every Thing On It

By Shel Silverstein

If you’re like most of us, you may have grown up with Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, or The Giving Tree on your childhood bookshelf. Master wordsmith and doodler Shel Silverstein invented laugh-out-loud silly rhymes for us to endlessly ponder. Every Thing On It has been posthumously published as a new collection of his irreverent poems and characters drawn with his trademark squiggly offhand style. It’s a great joy to share his nonsense poems with a new generation to puzzle over and love for years to come.

Ages 8-11 | Publisher: HarperCollins | September 20, 2011

A Stick Is An Excellent Thing

By Marilyn Singer; Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

What a winning combination Pham’s playful illustrations and Singer’s amusing verse make in this lovely poetry collection. Bouncing rhyme and pictures of active children at play ensure even the most poetry-adverse child will warm to its magical delights. As Singer’s light-handed verse concludes, “A stick is an excellent thing if you find the perfect one.” We’ve certainly found the perfect book of poetry in this one. For more on LeUyen Pham, check out our interview with her.

Ages 5-8 | Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | February 28, 2012

Water Sings Blue

By Kate Coombs; Illustrated by Meilo So

In her first book of poetry, Kate Coombs takes us on a voyage under the sea.