Feeling sad, tired, frustrated or upset? This book is for you! Follow kids in everyday scenes, learning ways to feel better by using five easy breathing skills. This colorful picture book begins by explaining how breathing is a part of each day and the different ways that we breathe. The rhyming text makes each example enjoyable to read and offers a breathing skill to calm your mood. Both kids and adults can use these mindful practices to create a peaceful state of mind.
This simple story tackles an incredibly difficult topic: loss. In this book, a child is learning to support the people close to them who are dealing with loss. As they encounter different levels of grief, ranging from the loss of a cactus to the death of a grandparent, they find that each instance requires a different approach; be it laughter, hugging or merely remaining present. Kyle Lukoff is a trans author whose work always carries deep empathy and tenderness, while never being patronizing to his young audience. I loved this book!
Time for Bed! Some days it’s hard to get ready for bed. Benny and Penny mouse are having one of those days. Join these two brother and sister mice for a funny adventure as Penny tries to get Benny to stop and follow their bedtime rules. Cute illustrations are presented in an easy to follow, beginner, comic book style. The story is relatable in how kids procrastinate when time for bed.
If You Go Down to the Woods Today by Rachel Piercey
Recommended by Lucy Rose best for ages 4+
This book is a visual treat. It is crammed full of intricate and delightful woodland illustrations. Kids and adults both will enjoy combing over every page to discover every tiny detail. There is no overarching narrative to follow, but your imagination can find stories within the rich layouts.
This is a wonderful book for toddlers and preschoolers. With bright, simple pictures, the authors illustrate the many types of hair people can have. There is a sweet, subtle humor here and a lovely, gentle inclusiveness. This book will make adults and children smile, but it will also help them remember that differences are to be celebrated, and everyone is welcome in our world.
Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill
Recommended by Becky, best for middle school
From the publisher, "After ice-skater and Olympic hopeful Mina wipes out at her biggest competition, she gets recruited by a squad of vampires who need a human player to complete their Paranormal Roller Derby team." This is a perfect graphic novel for spooky season. I've been waiting to get my hands on this book and can't wait to read it. I mean, who wouldn't want to be on a vampire roller derby team?
Amir, the spoiled son of a wealthy family in Pakistan, is a kid who doesn’t feel good about himself and doesn’t have any real friends. He is struggling with the disappearance of his mother and his uncertainty about the future. But when he begins an unexpected quest, many of the questions he has about his world start to rise to the surface. His doubts grow as he explores another realm and sees parallel issues of inequality, classism, and exploitation of people and natural resources. He is faced with a choice about whether he wants to try to make a change for the better. Along the way, he learns about what it takes to have, and to be a friend. This is a wonderful book to read along with your kids to talk about the importance of standing up for what they believe in and learning to trust others and, most importantly, themselves.
Inside Out 2 is a movie about the voices in your head, your emotions to be exact. The main character, Riley, is now a teenager and excited to start high school, only to find out that her two best friends have been assigned to a different school. Back to square one where she’s the new girl all over again. Cue ANXIETY!
Riley’s one chance to quickly form a new social circle is through this weekend hockey training camp where if she makes the high school team, she will be in with the popular crowd. But will she let her anxiety make her lose her sense of self? Snub her friends? Cross lines she shouldn’t be? Watch to find out!
This movie is such a great portrayal of how anxiety can slowly take over your headspace until you feel trapped by it and become prone to anxiety attacks. The main character being a teenager makes it so relatable not only to current teens and tweens, but adults who’ve likely felt the pressure of trying to fit in during high school. Fair warning to all the people who deal with anxiety: to have what you feel be so perfectly represented on screen may make you cry.
Besides the movie’s message though, there’s some fantastic world building where we see clever nods to brainstorms, sarcasm and deep dark secrets. And just looking at the character, Anxiety…. will bring out your anxiety, thus great character design!
Hungry Bins is an amped up matching game. It is like the memory game in which you have to find two matching cards. Once you do, though, you keep one and feed the other to the proper bin according to what type of waste it is. So, kids can strengthen their memorization skills and reinforce the concepts of recycling. It is colorful and fun and, of course, made of 100% recycled material (and no plastic).
