Annie Carl
[isbn]
Unique stories, profound stories, wacky stories, highly imaginative stories, all offered through the lens of disability representation. This collection is as compelling — and fun — as it is important.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Brian S. Ellis
[isbn]
Brian S. Ellis’s poems are heady, human, philosophical, sometimes dark, sometimes funny, beautifully nerdy, and always full of story.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Kate Ristau
[isbn]
Kate Ristau’s new Mythwakers series sets out to teach kids all about mythology but in a new and super fun way: through the point of view of its characters. First up is Asterion, the famous minotaur. Asterion is goofy, kind of cheeky, and full of fascinating facts about his mythological life and the true history of Ancient Greece. With Ristau’s light, breezy style and loads of hilarious jokes and asides, Mythwakers: The Minotaur is a... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Mitchell S. Jackson
[isbn]
Brilliant wordsmith/storysmith Mitchell S. Jackson is coming to us with what on the surface looks like a beautifully-made sports fashion book — and it’s that, and more. It’s a fascinating history, a well-organized timeline, and most of all, an expansive celebration of a unique and empowering culture. This book is cool.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jason Reynolds and Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey
[isbn]
There Was a Party for Langston celebrates Langston Hughes, “whose ABC’s became drums,
bumping jumping thumping / like a heart the size of the whole wide world.” This book bumps and thumps, too, using rhythmic words, expressive art, and loads of heart to pay tribute to an important man.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Stephen O'Donnell
[isbn]
Fine artist Stephen O’Donnell turns his artist’s eye toward the act of putting story on the page in this debut collection. With lush imagery and poetic turns of phrase, these stories are a moving — at times beautifully melancholy — meditation on the ways we strive to find kinship in the world.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Joy McCullough and Devon Holzwarth
[isbn]
Illustrated with rich colors and flowing energy and filled with a diverse array of young readers, The Story of a Book is an imaginative ode to the magic of books and the uniqueness of our relationships to them.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Terry Border
[isbn]
You’d think it would be easier for a cupcake to plan her own birthday party — but there’s a lot to think about, like how to play musical chairs without getting your frosting squished. Terry Border’s tale of one persevering pastry and her fun-loving food-friends trying their darnedest to throw a birthday bash is punny and funny, and, like a good cupcake, just the right amount of sweet.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Susi Schaefer
[isbn]
Susi Schaefer’s spritely writing and fun, cartoony artwork tells a story with loads of whimsy and a meaningful message about the gifts that come when you learn you don’t need to be the best and brightest in the bunch.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Nikki Grimes
[isbn]
Talking directly to the child in the story, as if from the voice of an attentive, loving parent, this picture book takes the reader on an adventure told in poetic language and cut-paper collagelike illustrations. A clever, effervescent bathtime/bedtime book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith
[isbn]
Jordan Scott’s language is elegant and tender, and Sydney Smith’s artwork is luminous in this quiet and cozy tale. Another beautiful collaboration between Scott and Smith.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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E. B. Goodale
[isbn]
With simple, elegant writing and soft, lovely artwork, E. B. Goodale pens a gentle exaltation of the constancy of a parent’s love. Quiet and joyful.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Dian Greenwood
[isbn]
Dian Greenwood's writing is precise, beautifully described, full of heart and insight. And what's the best treasure of all in this complex, moving, and thoroughly entertaining book? The way she puts her characters on the page. How can you not fall in love with these sisters? Every last wonderful, snarky, sad, funny, wise, raging, captivating, broken, human part of them.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Zaji Cox
[isbn]
Written in beautiful, poetic fragments, Plums for Months abounds with the challenges Zaji Cox faced growing up, but, more importantly, is suffused with the joy that can’t help but overflow from this unique, imaginative, thoughtful human.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Vashti Harrison
[isbn]
At first Big is a simply and sweetly told story about a girl who thinks she doesn’t fit in — and then it gets surreal. And surprising. And magical. What a strange and beautiful way to depict how it feels to finally realize you’re perfect the way you are.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Charlotte Cheng, Amber Ren
[isbn]
Warm, luminous art and simple, elegant text follow GoGo’s adventure into a bustling and enchanting Taipei night market — and to a lost little girl who needs help. A joyful story of discovery, kindness, and love.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Kesha Ajọsẹ-Fisher
[isbn]
In these far-flung stories, Kesha Ajose-Fisher’s elegant prose explores themes of distance and closeness, motherhood and womanhood. Read this powerful, poetic collection, and you’ll quickly understand why it won the Oregon Book Award.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Brian Selznick
[isbn]
With nearly 300 pages of illustrations, Big Tree is an utter feast of imaginative delight for fans of Selznick’s work (raises hand) — but within that delight is also not only an epic adventure but a celebration of the importance and delicacy and resiliency of this big place we call home.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Diana Sudyka
[isbn]
Sudyka’s imaginative use of design and scope makes Little Land a great introduction to the care of the earth. Particularly clever is her use of slanting and upending the frame as the world gets out of balance — and her sly introduction of the children who can bring that balance back.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Sara Pennypacker and Matthew Cordell
[isbn]
Leeva at Last is a warm-hearted, uplifting, and very funny tale of community and perseverance staring responsible Fern; anxious, hazmat-suit-wearing Osmund; a badger; and Leeva Thornblossom, the most charming, precocious do-gooder you could ask for. This book is a delight.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Carole Lindstrom, Steph Littlebird
[isbn]
With Carole Lindstrom’s simple, poetic language and Steph Littlebird’s lovely, fluid artwork, bursting with color and joy, a young girl’s musing about her hair opens up themes of family, history, strength, pride, and the celebration of Indigenous culture. A gorgeous book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Grace Lin and Kate Messner
[isbn]
With rhythmic text and beautiful gouache art full of lush hints of magic — like the dress that changes color to mirror the different places Alice travels to in her journey through the pages of her book — Once Upon a Book is a lovely celebration of imagination and reading.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Liz Prato
[isbn]
Liz Prato’s essay collection is illuminating, provocative, unflinching, a wonderfully thorough look at a generation — my generation — in all its strengths and flaws. An eloquent and powerful examination.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Neil Cochrane
[isbn]
A trans- and queer-centered homage to Beauty and the Beast! This book is wonderfully imaginative, lushly written, and just a downright joy.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Ibtihaj Muhammad and S. K. Ali and Hatem Aly
[isbn]
With simple text and friendly artwork that’s both cartoony and painterly, with messages of kindness and generosity, The Kindest Red is a book we all need right now regardless of age — one of sheer, boundless hope.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jonathan Hill
[isbn]
Navigating the social hierarchies of middle school can be treacherous enough even when you’re not a lizard person recently relocated from your old home deep inside the earth. Jonathan Hill’s artwork is deceptive in both its simplicity and its whimsy, imbuing this tale with suspense and depth. You may think it’s an imaginative, funny sci-fi-tinged page-turner — and it is — but it’s also a wise exploration of the immigrant experience and... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Lane Smith
[isbn]
This whimsical adventure of Rabbit on a quest to find the perfect gift for his Nana uses lush and quirky artwork with fun typography that bounces and flies, to tell a sweet, simple story about kindness and love. Made me want to hug the whole world.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Juhea Kim
[isbn]
Juhea Kim’s epic chronicle of life in occupied Korea during the early twentieth century is at once intimate and sweeping, full of lush detail and complex, beautifully drawn characters. A powerful meditation on love, loss, struggle, and persistence.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Randall de Sève and Carson Ellis
[isbn]
In the adorable, warm, enchantingly rhythmic This Story is Not About a Kitten, not only do kids learn about community and caring (and, yes, the kitten), they learn an important fact about stories — how they’re capable of being about so much more than you think.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Satya Doyle Byock
[isbn]
Psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock has penned a soulful, socially aware take on Quarterlife that shifts the conversation away from just social media, or helicopter parenting or elite college students. This is a book that is accessible and insightful for anyone between adolescence and midlife, and beyond.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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April Genevieve Tucholke and Khoa Le
[isbn]
What a delightful book! With poetic and charming language and lush, quirky, magical artwork that makes you love both the light and the dark, Beatrice Likes the Dark is a sweet tale that celebrates curiosity, sisterhood, and the differences between us.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Stephen Savage
[isbn]
With spare language and moody linocut artwork in shades of blue, Moonlight follows that light on its journey: through the forest, across the water, down the mountain, along the train tracks, finally finding a child in bed. A cozy bedtime poem full of simple, beautiful magic.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Yuvi Zalkow
[isbn]
Saul can’t stop messing up his life, but you can’t help but love him for being the sad, funny, awkward, self-deprecating mess he is. With endless wit and quirky charm, Yuvi Zalkow examines the myriad ways we lose touch with our lives and with each other, and the ways we fumblingly inch our way back. I Only Cry with Emoticons is the perfect fun read for all of us other awkward, anxiety-ridden, dis- and misconnected messes in this mess of... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Michaela Goade
[isbn]
Berry Song is the first picture book both penned and designed by Caldecott-winner Michaela Goade. Her soft, warm, very detailed artwork and shiny, jewellike language come together beautifully to celebrate the abundance of the earth and subtly urge humankind to interact respectfully and honorably with it.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Kevin Sampsell
[isbn]
The collages and poems in I Made an Accident are dreamy and nightmarish, sometimes at the same time, often funny, just as often disturbing — and always quirky and imaginative in that Kevin Sampsell way. The perfect kind of peculiar.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Ibram X. Kendi and Cbabi Bayoc
[isbn]
With Kendi’s elegant prose and Bayoc’s warm, joyful illustrations, Goodnight Racism cleverly takes the moon from Margaret Wise Brown’s similarly titled classic and makes it so much more — letting it lull sleepers into dreams of a world of equality, “a world where all people are safe.” A joyful, hopeful book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Ruth Forman and Talia Skyles
[isbn]
With Ruth Forman’s simple, poetic text and Talia Skyles’ bright, colorful artwork that bursts with joy, Bloom is an homage to African American girls, and to all girls, a celebration of self and growth that invites the reader in. Beautifully, simply life-affirming.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Mac Barnett and Kate Berube
[isbn]
John loves dancing. But will he be able to put aside his nervousness and show his friends at school his talent when it’s his day for “Sharing Gifts”? Written from those friends’ point of view, John’s Turn is a lovely story that celebrates difference with subtlety, humor, and grace.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Laura Stanfill
[isbn]
The writing is whimsical but transcends whimsy. The story is magical but transcends magic. Laura Stanfill's Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary is deceptively delightful, exploring real-world themes of connection, loss, feminism, death, and identity, all wrapped up in lyrical language, bountiful cleverness, and endless wit. Resplendent and transcendent.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Antwan Eady and Gracey Zhang
[isbn]
Author Eady's language is poetic, and illustrator Zhang's artwork is fluid and dancing, in this picture book about Nigel, who has big dreams he shares with the moon but is afraid to share with his earth-bound friends. A beautiful story about self-acceptance and the support and love of good parents.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez
[isbn]
In The Year We Learned to Fly, Rafael López’s elegant, poetic artwork mixes beautifully with Jacqueline Woodson’s elegant, poetic words and spare, yet lush storytelling. The magic in this tale doesn’t just transport the children, it teaches them. And it teaches us. It’s a celebration of spirit, legacy, and love.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Shawn Levy
[isbn]
In A Year in the Life of Death, Shawn Levy’s provocative, insightful book of poetry based on New York Times obituaries from 2016, each poem is a tiny mystery story with the last line revealing its subject. So many made me cry. So many made me laugh. Together, they form a unique history of the 20th century full of fascinating facts, nostalgia, social and political commentary, and, of course, human stories running the gamut from... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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James M. Cain
[isbn]
Like many people, I saw the film Double Indemnity first, and it is, of course, a top-notch film noir, arguably one of the best — but I love the book just as much. Leaner, simpler, James M. Cain’s novel is a lightning-fast, tension-laced read full of pulpy goodness, exploring themes of obsession and the corruption of the soul through Cain’s everyman-gone-wrong, Walter Huff. The end of the book — completely different from the film, by the... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Mary Roach
[isbn]
Mary Roach always offers absorbing, entertaining science, and Fuzz, all about “when wild animals break laws intended for people,” delivers the funny and fascinating goods — full of facts, wry wit, and important commentary on the ways animals and humans (in all their goodness and not-so-goodness) can coexist.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Terry Fan and Eric Fan
[isbn]
While I love this delightful story of the wonderment that comes from a mystery and the way greed can soften into graciousness, the artwork is the star: luscious black and white landscapes with bursts of yellow and green. And the hats! Oh, what magical detail and charm!
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jory John and Lane Smith
[isbn]
Jory John and Lane Smith are at their deadpan best in this third book in their Animal Problems series. With John’s spare words and Smith’s energetic, beautifully textured illustrations, the world’s most enjoyably grumpy cat comes to hilarious, delightful life. Bonus: What could be more fun to read aloud?
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Marilynne Robinson
[isbn]
Beautifully quiet, quirky, heartbreaking, transcendent. There are so many reasons to love Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping. Above all for me: the sentences. Her language is so beautiful that it occurred to me one day, simply reading a description of two women looking flushed in the steam of cooking stock in a kitchen, that Robinson’s language made me want to try harder to find things to be joyful about in my day.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Michelle Ruiz Keil
[isbn]
Michelle Ruiz Keil's writing sparkles with magic and imagination. Rich with references to such diverse subjects as Shakespeare, punk music, Greek mythology, and Mexican culture, the adventure she lays out for sister and brother Iph and Orr in Summer in the City of Roses is a smart page-turner written with elegance and depth. Keep your eyes open. In this particular City of Roses, things aren't exactly as they seem — in surprising,... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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David Ouimet
[isbn]
In a wonderful follow-up to his book I Go Quiet, David Ouimet explores friendship, anxiety, and self-expression in I Get Loud. The story is elegantly told and its themes important, but the artwork is the star of this picture book: gorgeous, sweeping, highly detailed. Stunning.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jennifer Finney Boylan
[isbn]
Not only was Jennifer Finney Boylan’s story groundbreaking — one of the first works to put the transgender experience on the page and on the world stage — her writing is beautiful, honest, irreverent, and very funny to boot. When She’s Not There debuted in 2003, Boylan’s candor, determination, and outrageous wit were the perfect combination to open hearts and inspire a generation of trans folks. And now, as half our country continues to... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Alice Walker
[isbn]
Alice Walker’s beautifully crafted epistolary tale about Celie, a poor Black woman finding her way to fulfillment and love in an ugly world, is an important book about race, identity, sisterhood, and human connection, and is more than worthy of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award it won. A brilliant work that is as timely today as when it was published almost 40 years ago.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Selina Alko
[isbn]
This is no A-is-for-Apple alphabet book. Instead we get Ancestors, African Dance, Art, Abuelita, Aspire. With well-chosen words and gorgeous collaged artwork, I Is for Immigrant tells the rich, joyful, many-layered story of the people and cultures that make up the very best of America.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Muon Thi Van and Victo Ngai
[isbn]
"The sun wished it was cooler." "The path wished it was shorter." Told through the wishes of inanimate objects that share in the journey, this story of a refugee and her three children is stunningly beautiful in its simplicity and its perfect depiction of emotion in words and pictures.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jon Klassen
[isbn]
There's a full 96 pages of dry, sly Klassen goodness in this book of five connected stories about Turtle, Armadillo, and Snake hilariously contemplating the uncertainties of the universe. For those who can't get enough of Jon Klassen (raises hand), this book is a deadpan dream.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Karen DeWitz
[isbn]
Look at That Bird! is a super fun guide that's easy to use for new birders, and specific to the Pacific Northwest, so PNW kids can find, identify, and learn about birds in their own environment. Full of great pictures, fascinating facts, and projects they can perform themselves!
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen
[isbn]
In the long-anticipated sequel to The Sympathizer, we find our antihero embroiled in the Paris underworld. Beneath the rip-roaring action resides dark humor, deep character study, and meditations on identity, capitalism, and colonization. The Committed is a powerful follow-up to Nguyen's award-winning, way-more-than-just-a-spy-novel.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jory John and Erin Kraan
[isbn]
What's a bear to do when he (finally, after passing lots of friends) realizes he's left the house in his underwear? Written entirely in charmingly funny dialogue, full of whimsically drawn forest creatures (who, by the way, don't laugh at him), Something's Wrong! is utterly delightful.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Suzy Vitello
[isbn]
After the earthquake that levels their city, the Sparrow siblings have to find their way back to each other, physically and figuratively, and survive together. Suzy Vitello writes with elegance and beautiful particularity in this riveting page-turner that plumbs the tensions surrounding the ideological divisions of both family and country.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Lidia Yuknavitch
[isbn]
Fierce, elegant, beautifully grotesque, unabashedly sexy, unapologetically brutal. Exploring the effects of trauma and want on the psyche, Lidia Yuknavitch masterfully mixes sharp reality with the fantastical. Whether about blood-hungry mythical graywolves or desperate addicts seeking a fix, the stories in Verge are surreal, dark fairy tales of pure, deep-down truth.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien
[isbn]
I was drawn to My First Day because of its luminous artwork and was rewarded with the engaging story a Vietnamese boy's harrowing journey along the Mekong Delta — and the wonderful surprise of his journey's end. Exciting, uplifting, and cleverly multilayered.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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LeUyen Pham
[isbn]
In warm, soft shades of color, LeUyen Pham's Outside, Inside is a gentle portrait of 2020, with tiny glimpses into stay-at-home life from all over the world, evoking both inclusivity and the feeling that we're all in this together.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Kathleen Lane
[isbn]
Oh my, I love this book. Filled with fabulous, darkly funny short stories and deliciously quirky imaginative pieces (like the hilarious "Personality Test" and the equally hilarious "Choose Your Own Catastrophe"), Pity Party is a droll, insightful take on the twisted-up, stomach-churning, anxiety-ridden ball that is kidhood.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Rosanne Parry and Lindsay Moore
[isbn]
A Whale of the Wild is a beautiful story told deftly from the perspective of a young orca whale separated, along with her brother, from their pod. Their journey home is a harrowing tale Parry created using extensive research into the lives of whales and the details of their fading ecosystem. With its exploration of climate change and the fight for survival, Vega's story, and her point of view, are so important for us to share right now.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Cathy Camper and Kenard Pak
[isbn]
Beautifully poetic in words, in concept, in art, Ten Ways to Hear Snow is a deceptively simple tale of a young Arab American girl visiting her grandmother. In the lovely sweep of Cathy Camper's words and Kenard Pak's art, though, is an exaltation of the unassuming perfection of kindness and the quiet moments of joy we need so much today.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jonathan Hill
[isbn]
Award-winning cartoonist Jonathan Hill contrasts surprising humor with the desolation of a ruined landscape and the longing of three Vietnamese American siblings searching across the country for their missing mother, eight years after the big Cascadia earthquake. With themes of violence, environmentalism, and family, Odessa is much more than a page-turner — but what a page-turner!
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Nathan W Pyle
[isbn]
Nathan W. Pyle's droll moments in time as seen through the eyes of his uniquely formal-tongued space aliens are a balm for the stressed soul, making us laugh at the ridiculousness and poignancy of everyday life. Stranger Planet is irresistibly enchanting.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Emma Donoghue
[isbn]
Emma Donoghue's luminous story of three days in an Irish maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a tale of death and life, of history, of feminism, of determination, of all kinds of love, painted in gorgeous prose that at times made me stop to copy down passages — not just because of their beauty but because of the heart-in-the-throat feeling of being reminded that, in the midst of such brutal reality, can be stunning moments of joy.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Vanessa Veselka
[isbn]
Vanessa Veselka is a keen observer of the world and a powerhouse storyteller, and you can't help but fall in love with sisters Livy and Cheyenne. The Great Offshore Grounds is a gritty but luminous epic, beautifully cerebral, a deeply real story with touches of surrealism, loads of dark humor, and loads of heart.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Karen Karbo
[isbn]
Wrinkle creams. Fad diets. Skinny teas. The endless strivings for so-called self-improvement. Pshaw! With her patented wit and boundless gumption, with loads of research and insight, Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women and the Kick-Ass Women series, gives us a manifesto to throwing off the shackles of society’s flawed (and consumer-hungry) expectations and getting comfortable again in our own, authentic skin.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Lisa See
[isbn]
Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women turns gender roles inside out as best friends Mi-ja and Young-sook, working in an all-female diving collective on the Korean island of Jeju, navigate their lives and differences across decades. See’s writing is lyrical, and the story is thoroughly engrossing in this tale of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jennifer Weiner
[isbn]
What better way to escape from the stresses of Covid life than sinking into a yummy beach read? Jennifer Weiner’s Big Summer is that and more, a tale of the reconnection of plus-size Instagram influencer Daphne and her old high school frenemy Drue — with a sumptuous Cape Cod wedding, a murder mystery, and loads of sexy, mayhem-y fun.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Erica Heller
[isbn]
If you could ask for one more experience with a lost loved one, who would it be? Memoirist Erica Heller asked this question of friends and family members of a slew of fascinating subjects — from James Baldwin to Julia Child to Rod Serling to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and more and more. What follows is a wonderful array of fantasy lunches between people, a collection of richly imagined, deeply human, engagingly varied stories, including, of... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Chris Grabenstein and Leo Espinosa
[isbn]
Annalise will not take a nap! She fusses, she fumes, she screams. With adorable cartoony art that just about screams itself right off the page (“WAAAAAAA!”), No More Naps answers the important question: What happens when you’re finally tired, but everyone else has taken all the naps?
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Deborah Marcero
[isbn]
With poetic language and set in a gorgeous, sprawling landscape that somehow makes the friendship of two bunnies, Llewellyn and Evelyn, feel more intimate, Deborah Marcero’s In a Jar is a sweet, delicate story about how to hold on to what we hold dear.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Mitchell Jackson
[isbn]
Combining scholarship and personal history, and writing with his uniquely brilliant voice, Mitchell Jackson takes on the struggles, consequences, and even responsibilities that spring from growing up with the inherited burden of poverty and marginalization. Survival Math is a gorgeously crafted memoir and, in its wider scope, a downright important book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jory John and Pete Oswald
[isbn]
They swagger; they wear shades… they’re cool beans! And one little bean wants to be just as cool as them. With whimsical artwork, loads of beany puns, and a sweet surprise twist, the dynamic duo of Jory John and Pete Oswald show us what it truly means to be cool.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Courtenay Hameister
[isbn]
Writer, producer, and professional worrier Courtenay Hameister spent a year doing stuff that scares her. Like an MRI, a sensory deprivation tank, and professional cuddling. A Brazilian. The result is a collection of surprising, sometimes brutal, sometimes blushworthy, sometimes heartbreaking, always hilarious experiments told with honesty, insight, and ferocious wit.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Susan Cooper and Carson Ellis
[isbn]
With Carson Ellis’s beautiful, moody art accompanying Susan Cooper’s brief, gorgeous yuletide poem, The Shortest Day is a different kind of holiday book, one that seems to embrace all times and all peoples, paying homage to the joys of ritual, celebration, and togetherness.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Anil Ananthaswamy
[isbn]
The “double-slit” experiment has flummoxed scientists for 200 years. With concise, compelling prose that makes this complex, bizarre subject not only fathomable but downright fascinating, Anil Ananthaswamy explores the who, what, why, and how of one of the weirdest, most mysterious experiments in the history of science.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Yuval Noah Harari
[isbn]
Once man has conquered plague, famine, and war, what will the next quest be? New York Times bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari tackles this question deftly, painting a fascinating, insightful, and frankly downright scary picture of the future of the species that strives to be gods of the earth.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Oliver Jeffers
[isbn]
Jeffers’s fable about the futility of insatiable greed is gorgeous — written with subtlety, poignancy, and humor, rendered in fluid browns and green-blues, with dollops of surprising, vivid pink, expertly utilizing white space in a way that beautifully underscores the deep loneliness that comes with selfishness.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Vicki Conrad and David Hohn
[isbn]
How did a young girl who had trouble reading grow up to be the beloved writer Beverly Cleary? With beautifully rendered illustrations that pay homage to Cleary’s books, Just Like Beverly paints a detailed picture of the spirit, ambition, and downright genuineness of one of our best-known children’s writers.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Robert Hill
[isbn]
It’s tea time for two of the three remaining residents of New Eden. He’s 99, she’s about to turn 100. Heading their way, hoping to break up this tea, is the third human still standing in this strange, isolated town, himself a spry 89 years old and carrying with him the deep secret he’s been holding all his adult life. Robert Hill’s marvelously bizarre tale is full of rollicking weirdness, quirky characters with names like Brisket Whiskerhooven... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Tom Spanbauer
[isbn]
“If you’re the devil, then it’s not me telling this story.” How can a book that opens like that not be the perfect combination of intimate and epic? Tom Spanbauer’s iconic tale of the (very quirky, very particular) Old West follows the lives of Idaho madam Ida Richlieu, widowed prostitute Alma Hatch, Montana cowboy Dellwood Barker, and narrator “Shed,” a half-Shoshone bisexual young man seeking love in a hostile world. Written with his brilliant... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Margaret Malone
[isbn]
The stories in Margaret Malone’s People Like You are so good — they’re only-book-on-a-desert-island good. They are exactly why I read, with their sumptuous minimalism, their gorgeous, particular detail, their delicious deadpan humor, their off-kilter characters. Like the book’s title, every sentence and paragraph is elegantly constructed to mean what it means and to mean more. But the main reason I’d keep this book on that desert island... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Mo Willems
[isbn]
What if there’s math at school? Or reading? What if there’s too much to learn? The Pigeon’s head might pop off! What better way could there be to explore the fear of the unknown than hand-in-hand with Mo Willems and our favorite fussy, fretful, rant-y, rave-y, super lovable bird? Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jennifer Pastiloff
[isbn]
Yoga guru and motivational speaker Jennifer Pastiloff brings her popular "On Being Human" workshop to the page in a powerful, inspirational memoir full of her own personal struggles and triumphs, told with candor, humanity, humor, and straight talk. An achingly authentic, truly empowering book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Rosanne Parry and Monica Armino
[isbn]
With excitement, humor, sweetness, and a beautiful, imaginative voice full of innocence, exuberance, and downright wolfiness, A Wolf Called Wander is the incredible tale, based on a true story, of one young wolf’s coming-of-age during his adventurous 1,000-mile trip in search of a new home.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Nikki McClure
[isbn]
Illustrator Nikki McClure is back with a lovely story of a cat teaching her kitten the feline ropes. Rendered in McClure’s signature paper cuts in black and white with hints of lively blue, How to Be a Cat is as full of sweetness, energy, and mischief as your favorite kitty.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Liz Scott
[isbn]
This Never Happened is a mystery of the heart, an excavation and examination of the known fragments of a mostly unknown story. Piecing her way through the relics and memories of her very odd and broken family, Liz Scott writes with a voice that is fresh, frank, and generous, full of insight and wicked humor. This Never Happened is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Amy Hempel
[isbn]
Amy Hempel’s first short story collection in over a decade ranges from short, addictive vignettes to the gorgeous 62-page “Cloudland,” all with delicious peculiarity, sparseness, blunt humanity, dark humor, and Hempel’s beautifully honed talent for circling around a truth while somehow, at the same time, diving to the heart of it.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jory John, Pete Oswald
[isbn]
He’s not only an egg, he’s a verrrrry good egg! But what if sometimes good can go too far? With soft illustrations filled with detail and deadpan humor, The Good Egg reminds us that the first step in being good is being good to yourself.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Corinna Luyken
[isbn]
“Some days, it is tiny. But tiny can grow.” With soft, delicately rendered illustrations in shades of gray with well-placed joyful bursts of yellow, Corinna Luyken explores the heart in all its aspects — simply, whimsically, and beautifully.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Bart King, Russ Miller
[isbn]
For anyone who wants to get a leg up on their aspiration to become an agent of international espionage — or just wants to learn some cool stuff and laugh their head off, this book is perfect. It’s full of actual true spy stories as well as super fun and informative how-tos on such subjects as disguise, lie-detection, and self-defense. Even for non-spies, this book is stuffed full of fascinating facts and lots of wackiness and is just plain fun.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Libby Babbott-Klein and Jessica Walker
[isbn]
Fabulous feminists of history — as babies! Including whimsical and informative depictions of powerhouse women such as Billie Jean King, Frida Kahlo, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mae Jemison, and Yoko Ono, Baby Feminists is full of fun and inspiration for feminists of all ages.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Paige Williams
[isbn]
Eric Prokopi was fossil merchant to the stars — until he was accused of dinosaur smuggling. Who really owns these wonders we excavate from our world? With engaging prose and detailed reporting, Paige Williams deftly explores possession, obsession, and the fraught intersection of science, history, and money.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Patrick McDonnell
[isbn]
Three friends have a pajama party — with food and shooting stars and some bed jumping too! With his signature simple-but-bursting-with-whimsy drawings, Patrick McDonnell creates a sweet homage to togetherness and the coziest time of the day.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Jory John, Lane Smith
[isbn]
The penguin is dissatisfied with the snow, the ocean, the fish, and the fact that he sinks “like a dumb rock.” Jory John’s dry humor and Lane Smith’s beautifully textured illustrations come together perfectly in this tale of a charmingly surly sourpuss who discovers how to appreciate what he has.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Sandra Boynton
[isbn]
For kids (and adults) who loved Sandra Boynton’s book But Not the Hippopotamus, and who worried about the fate of the armadillo at the end, she’s finally given us a sequel! Whimsical and imbued with Boynton’s simple, sweet style, But Not the Armadillo is worth the 25-year wait.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Michael Chabon
[isbn]
Leave it to Michael Chabon to take the Jews directly from WWII and plunk them into what could best be described as Yiddish noir — set in Alaska. In this wacky tale, Jews were temporarily relocated to Sitka, Alaska, where they created a new world for themselves following the 1948 collapse of Israel. Now, 60 years later, their enclave is about to revert to Alaskan control. Into this setup, which is equal parts absurd and poignant, Chabon introduces... (read more)
Recommended by Gigi L.
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