I’m really behind posting this, and I’ve completely given up on the GoogleDoc to track our books– but I am going to try and catch up with these monthly posts because it’s a great way to look back at our favorite books of the year. Links in this post will take you to my bookshop or bookshop.org, where I earn a commission for any purchases while you can support your local bookstore.

The Adventures of Sophie Mouse — This is a darling early reader series about a mouse and her family and animal friends. Each book is around 10 chapters, so we usually read a book in 2-3 sittings and there’s still pictures on every page (or almost every page, at least). As I’m finishing this post in August, we are up to book 15 and so far the stories have been exciting and engaging without being intense or scary.
Luna Boo Has Feelings Too — This is one of the School of Monsters books, geared toward beginning readers, but my 4 year old and 2.5 year old are equally obsessed, and it has been really fun for all of us to read together. The rhyming predictive text, makes it easy for them to guess what world will come next/finish the sentence, which is great for building confidence in beginning readers. We definitely have the rest of this series on our wish list!
Library Lion (audio) — I love using the Hoopla and Libby app to search for audiobooks to listen to in the car and this was a random one picked because it was on the longer side for a picture book (14 minutes, I believe). We still haven’t read a physical copy of the book, but have listened to it dozens of times– about a lion who goes to the library, a great story for when it might be okay to break an otherwise important rule.
More Than Sunny – This book was faced out on a library shelf and looked cute, and it has been a favorite. There’s minimal text, but it’s such a fun one to read aloud– sometimes multiple times in a row. While the cover is happy and summery, it’s a great book that goes through each season with two siblings.



Dinosaur Lady – I saw this book on Instagram and for some reason thought it was going to be too advanced, so I skipped over ever checking for it from the library. We went through a Dino Dana phase, and I somehow made the connection between one of the episodes and this book and I’m so glad I did because it’s a wonderful look at Mary Anning, the first paleontologist! Really fun illustrations, plus so much information and great talking points to start talking about gender discrimination along with all of the tidbits about dinosaurs.
M is for Mitten – This was a baby shower gift from one of my best friends and my 4-year-old came across it recently and could not be more excited about a book as he has been endlessly counting down to our trip to Michigan. I’ll be honest, it’s not my favorite for bedtime because there is a lot of text on some of the pages, and he does not let me skip anything 😂, but I love that there’s a portion that’s more story-based along with the non-fiction.