Awards

Looking for a new skill or hobby? Consider taking Lion Lessons. Readers will love following the main character through the seven “easy” steps toward achieving a lion diploma:  looking fierce, roaring, selecting meals, prowling around, sprinting, pouncing, and most importantly, looking out for your friends.  The student in the story must perform these required tasks in front of his teacher, who is none other than a lion himself!  Readers of this book will find it hard to resist practicing the seven steps along with the student.

This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of a baby owl who leaves his nest one night and goes exploring. Each page has a poem of just four words that describe the little owl’s adventure—for example: Home/Mama/Brother/Sister. When he comes to a pond, he looks in the water, and owl sees owl. The discovery of his reflection in the water sends owl darting back into the sky and headed for home. As this happens, the text and illustrations on each page reverse order, ending with little owl making it safely back to his nest and his—Sister/Brother/Mama/Home.

Toilet training can be frustrating for adults and emotional for children…but has anyone ever considered the toilet’s perspective? Well, this book has, incorporating creative humor that both adults and children can appreciate.

This book will amaze readers as they turn the pages and discover how one child and a variety of animals see the same cat. Each creature that crosses the cat’s path sees it through its own lens, which Brendan Wenzel captures so brilliantly through his illustrations. Young observers will be fascinated by the details of each perspective, including a fun twist at the end of the story when the cat sees its own reflection in water.

The main character in this book is a little spider named Walter.  Walter’s hope is to be able to spin a web that is strong enough to withstand the wind and has the pizazz he sees in the webs of his fellow spiders. He begins with simple shapes and perseveres despite losing several battles to the wind.  Walter’s determination pays off when he finally designs a multi-shape web that is a sight to behold!

We Found A Hat is the third title in a trilogy that includes I Want My Hat Back (2011) and This Is Not My Hat (2012). This trio of funny stories about animals finding and stealing hats will keep children listening and laughing over and over again. In this final “hat” story, two turtle friends find a beautiful hat but there is a problem. Two friends, one hat. What is the solution to this dilemma? Find out in this simple, imaginative story sure to be a winner with children.

Are you ready for spring?

Woodpeckers, penguins, flamingos, pigeons…with such a variety of birds in the world, what are the characteristics that make them what they are? This beautifully illustrated, nonfiction book describes the common characteristics that make “a bird a bird,” while at the same time showcases their unique differences.

Bear and Squirrel are good friends. They like to share food, play games, and help each other out. Squirrel sweeps Bear’s den with his tail and Bear shakes trees so that Squirrel can collect acorns. But Squirrel’s friends remind him that bears eat squirrels, and Bear’s friends remind him that squirrel can be a tasty snack. When Bear hibernates in winter, Squirrel patiently knits while he waits for Bear to wake up. When spring arrives, Bear thinks Squirrel looks different. He thinks Squirrel looks delicious! In a few humorous, tense moments, Squirrel gulps and disappears from the page.

The only title on our list that includes three exclamation points is this brightly illustrated, easy-to-read tale of a lovable little monster who greets everything in his path. Nothing, however, seems to match his level of enthusiasm when he sees a group of small bunnies along the way. Readers can imagine his dismay when the bunnies are not quite as enthusiastic about meeting him. Young readers will love to watch the expressions on the characters’ faces and reflect those expressions in their own voices as they read.

Sound the alarm! There’s a fire at the corner of Fourth and Main, and the crew of Engine No. 9 are on their way to help. Readers of all ages will get caught up in the action, from the suddenness of the fire alert to the bravery of fighting the flames. This story captivates the reader by focusing not only on the vehicles and buildings involved, but also the individuals who respond to the call for help and the family who faces loss and then finds the strength to rebuild. Each page features a sound word that captures the energy of the illustrations.

This circle story with full-page illustrations takes place in a fishing village in Vietnam. A mother and her baby are in the kitchen where a meal is being prepared in anticipation of the fisherman father’s return home. The family’s dog is seen on almost every page and brings attention to a hole in the floor of the kitchen. The dog looks in the hole, and we see a cricket painting a scene that shows a fisherman in a white boat. The fisherman is hoping that soon the crashing waves and thunder of the storm will end so that he can get home to his wife and child.