Beautiful Children’s Books to Gift for the Holidays

When you open up this beautiful pop-up book, you’re greeted with a gorgeous collection of trees that spring up from the pages. When a machine comes to chop the forest down, animals flee and the following page is white and barren. What can be done to restore the forest? This sweet book will appeal to all young readers who know that their earth is changing and want to preserve wild areas and the creatures that live there.

I adore this robust book filled with a poem for each day of the year, accompanied by stunning illustrations. The poems are focused on animals and are short (some only a couple of lines!) and sweet and and sure to invite conversation and wonder.

All fifty-five African countries are highlighted here, divided into five distinct sections—South, East, West, Central, and North—and each country is showcased on its own bright, energetic page brimming with friendly facts on science, industry, food, sports, music, wildlife, landscape features, even snippets of local languages. There are fascinating pieces of information about each country, accompanied by charming illustrations.

Wonderful storytelling accompanied by beautiful illustrations and facts and photos about the areas the stories are set in make for a fantastic treasury. Published by National Geographic, this collection of stories includes a sailor with an ogre wife in a story from China, a young girl who outsmarts giants in a tale from Fiji, a clever rooster seeking its fortune in a tale from Morocco, a music-playing jaguar in a story from Ecuador, and princes turned to statues in a story from Italy, among many other stories.

This is a fantastic collection of stories, essays, poems, and historical excerpts along with full-color art by prominent Black creators. Each contribution captures the pride, prestige, and jubilation that is being Black in America. A recipient of multiple starred reviews, 30 children’s books creators lend their voices to this collection, including Nikki Grimes, Kwame Mbalia, and Sharon Draper.

When I showed this to my husband, he spent a good long while flipping through the pages and exclaiming over the scale relica comic. This hardback edition comes in a beautiful blue-and-red slipcase stamped with Spidey’s iconic sigil, while the cover features original artwork by Marcos Martín, the multiple- award-winning Marvel artist famed for his work on Spider-Man.

This book is not specifically for kids but it does include a lot of wonderful children’s book recommendations! This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen knowledge and deep love for all things literary, coauthors Jamise Harper (founder of the Diverse Spines book community) and Jane Mount (author of Bibliophile) collaborated to create an essential volume filled with treasures for any reader looking to diversify their bookshelves. I loved their recommendations and side notes on the books they include here.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

One last thing…

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