We are rounding out the last day of November December and while I was surprised to see I hadn’t shared our monthly favorite picture books since the July/August post, I probably shouldn’t be surprised because fall has been one big blur of survival mode. Continual sickness from preschool germs, very little sleep and routines that never fell into place– but we did read some wonderful books. Links are afflilate links through bookshop.org
Bonaparte Falls Apart | We read a lot of Halloween books in October, but this was definitely in the top 3. Bonaparte is an adorable skeleton who is, as the title says, falling apart. His friends all try their best to help him stick together before he has to start school, as he’s worried other kids will tease him. While the ending does lose me a little bit, my kids adored reading it & I look forward to reading the sequel one of these days.
Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome – I was a little bit late getting into the Amy Wu books, but they are just as sweet as everyone says and I can see why they’re so well loved. This is the newest book, where a new classmate joins Amy’s class and how she learns to connect with them. We were making smoothies recently and my oldest said, “maybe I can bring these to share with my class, like how Amy brings her bao buns.” I thought it was really special he was still thinking about the book.
Cornbread and Poppy – We also loved the second book, The Carnival, but the first one is easily a top 10 book of the entire year. These had been on my radar for a while, but weren’t available through our library and I was hesitant to buy a book without reading it first. Worth the wait, but also I wish I had just bought our own copy because it is really that good. We’ve been longtime fans of Matthew Cordell’s wordless picture books, and these early readers offer the same detail and emotion through the illustrations with text content to go along with it.
What’s in Your Pocket – There is so much to love about this book. You learn about many different scientists and how they all started as ordinary people who put something in their pocket. Perfect if your kids are into collecting or exploring, while also being a great way to learn about people like Charles Darwin to Mary Anning.
Sky Boys – I picked this up prior to a trip we had planned to take to New York (that didn’t happen because of illness), but we still read this book dozens of times. While it’s mostly about the sky boys, or the men who built the empire state building, there’s a deeper story that’s being told by a young boy who helps his dad find work during the great depression.
The Magic Schoolbus – I feel like I need to mention this series because it was on major repeat on audio in the car. The stories are informative with great narration and an exciting storyline, but some of the language/content is just not great… like the constant, and I mean CONSTANT, mention of Ms. Frizzle being weird/making fun of how she dresses/etc. We have read one of the updated series, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, and that wasn’t a theme thankfully and both my 3 & 4 year-old requested reading it multiple times–Carlos Gets the Sneezes.
Carly Reads Here 