Tag Archives: Nature

The Carpet: An Afghan Family Story

Inspired by the author’s own life as an Afghani refugee, this impactful story expresses the importance of the family carpet. The carpet is the centerpiece of life – sipping tea and talking together, helping, sharing, caring, playing, learning, listening, remembering, and dreaming. The carpet is a piece of home. The bold-colored illustrations were made with ink drawings on paper and digital coloring. An author’s note tells the author’s backstory. mjw

Title: The Carpet: An Afghan Family Story
Author: Dezh Azaad
Illustrator: Nan Cao
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers.New York
Copyright: 2023
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-4197-6361-8
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Afghani
Author’s residence: Germany
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Chinese
Illustrator’s residence: New York City
Awards: 2024 South Asia Book Award
Subjects: Cuisine, Culture, Cooking, Games, Folklore, Home, Refugees, Stories, Traditions

The Gray City

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Robin has moved to a new city where everything is gray – buildings, traffic, people, streets, her school, and even all the paint in a paint shop. She sets out in search of color. At school, she meets Alani, who hates “all this gray business.” Together, they use their detective skills to discover that the faceless Gray Works is responsible for the lack of color in the city. She and Alani sneak into the building and adjust the company’s controls to colorful. The Gray City’s colors had been hidden. Now it’s full of color. This imaginative story has eleven chapters with quite a bit of text for a picture book. The illustrations are masterful in this introduction to color theory, which is explained in the back matter. mjw

Title: The Gray City
Author: Torben Kuhlmann
Illustrator: Torben Kuhlmann
Publisher: NorthSouth Books, Inc., New York
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: German
Translator: David Henry Wilson
Original Title: Die graue Stadt
Original Publisher: NordSud Verlag AG, Zurich, Switzerland
Original Copyright: 2023
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4554-1
Hardcover pages: 64
Age range: 6-10
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: German
Author’s residence: Hamburg
Illustrator’s ethnicity: German
Illustrator’s residence: Hamburg
Awards: 2019 Batchelder for Edison
Subjects: Cities, Color, Color Theory, Discovery, Imagination, Libraries, Mystery, Science

SOS Water

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Lalo, a sailor, encounters a talking goldfish in a fishbowl on a pile of trash. Her name is Rosa, and she longs to have a better life. Lalo takes Rosa to a pond, a mountaintop, the Arctic, the jungle, the desert, the beach, and the River Seine. But everywhere is polluted with empty plastic water bottles. Lalo dreams that he has magical powers to clean the world. Several spreads show different animals cleaning up the ubiquitous water bottles. They come to a community garden and meet Bibo, a gentle little garden gnome, who suggests the perfect place for Rosa – a magic pond next to his house. The final page shows Lalo drinking a big glass of refreshing tap water. Whimsical line drawings saturated with water bottles further distinguish this important environmental lesson. A Spanish-language edition is also available. mjw

Title: SOS Water
Author: Yayo
Illustrator: Yayo
Publisher: Tradewinds Books. Vancouver, Canada
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-990598-23-4
Hardcover pages: 56
Age range: 6-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Colombian
Author’s residence: Montreal, Quebec
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Colombian
Illustrator’s residence: Montreal, Quebec
Subjects: Goldfish, Plastic water bottles, Pollution, Sailors, Water, Water pollution

Caterpillar Chryzzle

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Worm and caterpillar are best friends, They go for crawls and they love to sit and talk. One day caterpillar starts describing a strange and quite bewildering feeling – he is chryzzaling. He fixes himself to a stalk and wonders about life’s secrets and surprises and the deeper meaning of it all. Worm only giggles, shakes his head, and crawls away. He therefore misses when a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis and soars up into the sky. The clear, delicate-style watercolor paintings, filled with amazing details, combine realism and fantasy to round out this beautiful work. The author is one of the most successful children’s songwriters and musicians in Switzerland, Many of his songs have become true classics. He gives over 100 concerts each year in Switzerland. A QR code in the book leads to his song “Caterpillar Chryzzle.” . mjw

Title: Caterpillar Chryzzle
Author: Andrew Bond
Illustrator: Julie Volk
Publisher: NorthSouth Books, Inc. New York
Copyright: 2025
Original Language: German
Original Title: Die Raupe spinnt
Original Publisher: NordSud Verlag AG. Zurich, Switzerland
Original Copyright: 2024
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4559-6
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: The author grew up in DR Congo, UL, and Switzerland
Author’s residence: Wadenswil, Switzerland
Illustrator’s residence: Vienna, Austria
Awards: IBBY Honor Illustrator
Subjects: Butterflies, Caterpillars, Chrysalis, Metamorphosis, New experiences, Worms

Hiro, Winter, And Marshmallows

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Hiro is a bear too curious to sleep all winter long. Her stomach rumbles, and her heart longs for adventure. She packs her things into her backpack and slips away from her sleeping family. She discovers winter and snow and smells the odor of burning wood and sweet, gooey toasted marshmallows. She finds a bonfire party, but scares everyone away except for Emile. He is a little boy hiding behind a tree. He whispers to Hiro that the marshmallows are done. He knows because he is a marshmallow expert. Hiro doesn’t want to scare Emile. Slowly, they begin to converse. “What’s it like being a bear?” And “What’s it like being an Emile?” They share stories and have fun together until Emile hears his mom calling for him. They both return to their homes. Hiro’s mom completes this quirky story with, “Goodness, it smells like marshmallows in here!” The delightful artwork in this dreamy fairytale is rendered in colored pencils, watercolors, acrylic paints, and markers. mjw

Title: Hiro, Winter, And Marshmallows
Author: Marine Schneider
Illustrator: Marine Schneider
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. Grand Rapids, Michigan
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: French
Translator: Vineet Lal
Original Title: Hiro, hiver et marshmallows
Original Publisher: Versant Sud
Original Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5632-6
Hardcover pages: 40
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Belgian
Author’s residence: Brussels, Belgium
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Belgian
Illustrator’s residence: Brussels, Belgium
Subjects: Bears, Bonfires, Hibernation, Marshmallows, Parties, Snow, Winter

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life In The Mountains

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This inspiring picture book biography about Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mt. Everest, is the perfect introduction to this trailblazer. As a young girl, Junko dreamed of a life climbing mountains, but most mountaineering clubs said “No women allowed,” and they wouldn’t sponsor her. She even had to sew her own gloves because all gloves were designed for men – way too big for her small hands. But Junko was eager and unstoppable. She planned, trained, and dreamed beyond the horizon. She put together an expedition to summit Mt.Everest with an all-women team. After years of preparation, Junko and her fellow climbers traveled to Nepal. They established camps beyond the moving ice and deep crevasses. They encountered an avalanche, but finally, Junko and her guide made it to the top – where Earth met the sky. After her success, she took on new challenges. She climbed the highest mountains in more than 70 countries and campaigned for sustainable mountaineering to protect the wild spaces she loved for future generations. The illustrator used a Japanese calligraphy brush and India ink to make drawings on watercolor paper, and then she colored the drawings digitally using Adobe Photoshop. The illustrator is the Japanese designer who created Hello Kitty. The language is poetic and lovely. Backmatter includes an author’s note, a timeline, a glossary, and a bibliography. mjw

Title: Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life In The Mountains
Author: Anita Yasuda
Illustrator: Yuko Shimizu
Publisher: Clarion Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-06-324241-8
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Information Book, Nonfiction, Picture Book Biography
Book setting: Nepal. Japan
Author’s ethnicity: Japanese
Author’s residence: Ontario, Canada
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Japanese
Illustrator’s residence: New York City
Awards: 2025 Caldecott Honor,
Subjects: Gender stereotypes, Himalayas, Mountain climbing, Mountains, Mt. Everest, Sherpas, Sustainable mountaineering, Trailblazing, Yaks

John The Skeleton

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John is a newly retired skeleton. He was a classroom teaching aid in a South Estonian school. Gramps and Grams bring John to their outdoor summer kitchen on their farm deep in the woods. Every day is exciting for John. He rides in a car, meets the farm animals, scares some crooks in the village, visits with the grandchildren, takes a bath and makes a snow angel. He even becomes part of an art exhibit at the city museum. Short chapters and folk art pencil illustrations in black and white with pops of beet red present a view of Estonian culture with saunas, pixies, and linden-blossom tea. The text is also medically accurate. This quirky, affectionate story portrays what it means to care for one another, grow old together, and appreciate the little things. mjw

Title: John The Skeleton
Author: Triini Laam
Illustrator: Marja-Liisa Plats
Publisher: Yonder, an imprint of Restless Books
Copyright:2024
Original Language: Estonian
Translator: Adam Cullen
Original Title: Luukere Juhani juhtumised
Original Publisher: Paike ja Pilve, Saue, Estonia
Original Copyright: 2020
ISBN: 978-1632063700
Hardcover pages: 64
Age range: 6-12
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: South Estonia
Author’s ethnicity: Estonian
Author’s residence: Estonia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Estonian
Illustrator’s residence: Estonia
Awards:2025 Batchelder Award, soo5 ISBBY Outstanding International Books, 20221 White Raven Catalog
Subjects: Aging, Death, Farms, Grandchildren, Grandparents, Retirement, Skeletons

My Name Is Long As A River

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Kaveri Thanjavur Jayalakshmi Ganesan doesn’t think her very long name is special. She wants to be called Kav. Her paati (grandmother) explains that her name comes from her family’s heritage, where she was born, and the powerful Kaveri River in South India. Kav learns that it is okay to have a long name and that she should be proud of it. She was carefully named and each of her four names bonds her to her family and her homeland. The language in the book is beautiful and full of lovely imagery. The radiant artwork was rendered in gouache. Backmatter includes a glossary with pronunciations; an author’s note; tips on pronouncing names; a map and information about the Kaveri River; and some poems and sayings about Kaveri from ancient Tamil Sangam literature and Kannada, Kodav, and Sanskrit languages. mjw

Title: Hannah’s Winter
Author: Suma Subramaniam
Illustrator: Tara Anand
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-0593-522936
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: India
Author’s ethnicity: Indian
Author’s residence: Seattle, Washington
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian
Illustrator’s residence: New York City
Subjects: Culture, Festivals, Ganesha, Goddesses, Multigenerational family life, Rivers, Sarees, Self-confidence, Self-esteem, Traditions

Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium

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This beautiful collection of animal noses around the world tells kids everything they ever wanted to know about animal noses. A Table of Contents divides the book into Flying Creatures, Ground-dwellers, Underground Diggers, Happiest When Hanging Out In Trees, and Water Creatures. Aardvarks, Dik-Diks, Pigs, Proboscis Monkeys, Coatis, and many, many more are clearly explained and illustrated in detail. A comprehensive Glossary, Notes, and a thorough index are included. The front endpapers show a world map and the back endpapers depict many animals drawn to scale, compared to humans. The witty drawings rendered in ink and colored pencil round out this impressive work. mjw

Title: Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium
Author: Lena Anlauf
Illustrator: Vitali Konstantinov
Publisher: NorthSouth Books, New York
Copyright: 2023
Original Language: German
Translator: Marshall Yarbrough
Original Title: Geniale Nasen
Original Publisher: NordSud Verlag AG. Zurich, Switzerland
Original Copyright: 2023
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4535-0
Hardcover pages: 64
Age range: 6-12
Genre: Picture Book, Nonfiction, Information Book
Author’s ethnicity: German
Author’s residence: Marburg, Germany
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Ukrainian
Illustrator’s residence: Marburg, Germany
Subjects: Animal habitats, Diversity of nature, Noss, Zoology

Meet Buffy Sainte-Marie

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Buffy Sainte-Marie was adopted out of her Nehiyawe (Cree) community as a baby and taught herself how to play the piano at age three. Her famous song “Universal Soldier” was released in 1963. She appeared regularly on Sesame Street from 1975 until 1981. She became a peace activist, an advocate for Indigenous-focused education, and a strong supporter of Indigenous rights. Buffy’s songs have inspired three generations of fans and received international fame and many awards. The comic-inspired illustrations in this engaging book were created using a blend of digital tools and traditional media. Sketches were created with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop, then traced onto watercolor paper, where color and texture were added using gouache and watercolor paints. Ink was used to add the black lines to finish the look. Back matter includes a timeline of Buffy’s life and historical photos of her performing. mjw

Title: Meet Buffy Sainte-Marie
Author: Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrator: Mike Deas
Publisher: Scholastic Canada Ltd. Toronto, Canada
Copyright: 2023
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1443196123
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 6-10
Genre: Picture Book, Biography, Nonfiction, Information Book
Book setting: Canada and U.S.
Author’s ethnicity: Canadian
Author’s residence: Toronto
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Canadian
Illustrator’s residence: British Columbia
Subjects: Activism, Biography, Canadiana, Composers, Creativity, Cree Indians, Indigenous, Music, Musicians, Peace, Singers, Social activists

Water: Discovering The Precious Resource All Around Us

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This question-and-answer book features a young girl and her grandfather exploring water’s role in world history and earth science. Topics include: How much water is there on earth? Why does it rain? How are rainbows and water related? How is a sea different from an ocean? What lives in our oceans? How powerful is water? What is life without water? How can we protect our planet’s water? The answers offer many vocabulary words clearly explained in the energetic text. The book’s endpapers reveal fascinating water facts. To illustrate the book, the author/artist sprinkled, dripped, and thinned acrylic paints with water. Approximately ten liters (2.6 gallons) of water were used to create the book’s gorgeous artwork. mjw

Title: Water: Discovering The Precious Resource All Around Us
Author: Olga Fadeeva
Illustrator: Olga Fadeeva
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. Grand Rapids, Michigan
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: Russian
Translator: Lena Traer
Original Title: Boda
Original Publisher: Rech
Original Copyright: 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5622-7
Hardcover pages: 56
Age range: 8-14
Genre: Picture Book, Nonfiction, Information Book
Author’s ethnicity: Russian
Author’s residence: St. Petersburg, Russia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Russian
Illustrator’s residence: St. Petersburg, Russia
Subjects: Earth Science, Ecology, History, Natural resources, Nature, Oceans, Rain, Science, Seas, STEAM. Weather

Agreement Under The Stars

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There was a time in the forest when the animals lived together in peace and harmony. But little by little the outside grew around them and the forest seemed to grow smaller and smaller. The animals couldn’t stand it anymore and soon there were quarrels. An emergency committee came up with a solution to restore peace. Some animals would be active during the day and sleep at night. Others would come out at night and sleep during the day. Since nobody volunteered to take the night shift, the committee selected animals to be the night creatures. However, the reason why we have daytime and nocturnal animals is not how it is told in the story. The book’s real message is that deforestation has caused the disappearance of one-third of our forests. The realistic-looking animals and bright colors rendered in ink and watercolors with rubbings and stamped textures are very appealing. The book is printed on “stone paper,” a special paper made of limestone. The paper doesn’t come from cutting down trees, doesn’t use water, and doesn’t need harmful chemical products. A final note tells more about deforestation and things we can do to save our forests. mjw

Title: Agreement Under The Stars
Author: Susana Rosique
Illustrator: Susana Rosique
Publisher: Cuento De Luz. Madrid,, Spain
Copyright: 2024
Original Language: Spanish
Translator: Jon Brokenbrow
Original Title: Acuerdo jajo las estrellas
ISBN: 978- 84-19464-82-8
Hardcover pages: 38
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Spanish
Author’s residence: Spain
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Spanish
Illustrator’s residence: Spain
Subjects: Cooperation, Deforestation, Empathy, Forests, Harmony, Nocturnal animals, Parable, Peace, Solidarity, Survival, Sustainability