Ann Arbor’s Nicola’s Books has gathered an updated list, for April, of their employees’ recommendations for children’s books. These lists help to provide some fresh literature choices to inspire your kids to read.
This month’s list has a nature / environmental theme, leading up to Earth Day on April 22.
Sai is such a great, relatable heroine. Who can she trust? So many strong female characters ... both friend and foe. A remarkably vivid world is built and Soontornvat keeps the surprises coming ... up until the very end. Incredible middle grade fantasy.
Book: No Nibbling
Type: Picture Book
Description: A delightful story about a very precise gardening goat named Derwood who is visited by a precocious bunny named Tabitha. As the story progresses, a garden flourishes and puns abound. – Christina
Book: In Our Garden
Type: Picture Book
Description: Millie proposes that her new school start a rooftop garden. The school and the community rally behind the idea and the results are delicious. – Christina
Book: Our Planet! There’s No Place Like Earth
Type: Picture Book
Description: This nonfiction picture book is told from the perspective of Earth herself; home to all the plants and all the animals in the solar system, including nearly eight billion people. With charm and humor, the author shares how Humans have accidentally moved Earth’s climate change into the fast lane, and she needs your help to put on the brakes. We need to save Earth together! – Alana
Book: Wishtree
Type: Intermediate Reader
Description: Katherine Applegate has written one of my all time favorite books with ‘Wishtree’. Red (a stately oak tree) is the main character and narrator. The book deals with prejudice and a realistic world where not all is easy but the menagerie of animals (particularly the cranky crow, Bongo) help the story from getting too heavy. Perfect read for reluctant readers, book groups or read alouds.
-Christina
Book: Last Mapmaker
Type: Intermediate Reader
Description: Sai is such a great, relatable heroine. Who can she trust? So many strong female characters … both friend and foe. A remarkably vivid world is built and Soontornvat keeps the surprises coming … up until the very end. Incredible middle grade fantasy. – Christina
Book: Witchlings
Type: Intermediate Fantasy
Description: Rather than lose their magic three young witches volunteer to take on an impossible task. If they fail they could be turned into toads! Along the way they learn a lot about what it means to be a true friend. Witchlings is a clever, magical fantasy filled with humor, mystery, and lots of fun. – Linda
Book: Pride & Premeditation
Type: Young Adult
Description: A fun retelling of Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in the form of a murder mystery. Romance, mystery and a great 17 year old Lizzie Bennet as protagonist. Also consider the newly released second book in the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries series, Sense and Second Degree Murder, a clever retelling of Sense and Sensibility. – Christina
Type: Young Adult
Description: This bestselling fantasy (soon out in paperback) is a metaphor for climate change and how each of us can make a difference. For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, but now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic; the storms, more destructive. All hope lies with Clara, a once-in-a-generation Everwitch whose magic is tied to every season.– Meghan
