Happy Sunday, kidlit friends! I’m teaching English this semester for an online associate’s program, and I am currently in a grading frenzy as the semester ends. Wish me luck!
Are you looking for the perfect gift for that bookish special someone in your life this holiday season? Tailored Book Recommendations is here to help! Here at TBR, we pair our customers with a professional book nerd (aka bibliologist) who just gets them. They fill out a survey and then sit back and relax as we pick books just for them. We’ve got three levels — recs-only, paperback, and hardcover — and you can gift a full year or one time, so there are options for every budget! Get all the details at mybtro.com/gift.
Bookish Goods
Printable Merry Bookmas Christmas Card by SymplePrints
If you’re looking for last-minute Christmas cards, here’s a bookish one to download! $5
New Releases
Sabrina Sue Loves the Moon by Priscilla Burris
This is a silly reader about a chicken named Sabrina Sue who wants to travel to the moon. The other farm animals, with the exception of her frog friend, are dubious and caution her against her space travel goals. Initially, Sabrina Sue wonders if they’re right, but then she finds her courage and decides she should pursue her goals no matter what. She wants to walk on the moon, so she’s going to do it! I read this yesterday with my daughter, and it garnered lots of laughs.
Love Like Chocolate by Tracy Banghart, illustrated by Alina Chau
In this sweet picture book, a young boy shows his new little sister his love through chocolate. Before bringing home his adopted sister, the boy’s mother tells him love takes time and needs to rise. He welcomes her home with chocolate muffins, and each celebration following is welcomed with more chocolate — chocolate cake for birthdays, chocolate pie for game days, chocolate peppermint ice cream to welcome winter, and more. At the end of the book, both brother and sister are cooking together. Back matter includes a recipe for chocolate sauce. The parents and son are white while the adopted daughter is brown.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
There are a lot of winter holidays in December and January beyond Christmas and Hanukkah. Here are four picture books celebrating other holidays this month.
The Last Slice: A Three Kings Day Treat by Melissa Seron Richardson, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
Three Kings Day is celebrated by many Spanish-speaking countries. It’s a holiday celebrating the day the three wise men first saw baby Jesus and brought him gifts, and is celebrated on January 6th, the day after the 12 days of Christmas. In this funny picture book, Marta worries about eating the literal baby Jesus in the traditional Three Kings Day dessert — la Rosca de Reyes, which hides a figurine of baby Jesus.
Dreams of Green: A Three Kings’ Day Story by Mariel Jungkunz, illustrated by Mónica Paola Rodriguez
This is another new Three Kings’ Day picture book and is available in both English and Spanish. Lucía has recently moved to Ohio, and she so misses living in Puerto Rico. She’s worried that she and her family won’t be able to celebrate Three Kings’ Day in their new home, but her family finds a way to keep the holiday alive despite the cold.
The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi, illustrated by Loveis Wise
Kwanzaa is an African American holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1. In this gorgeous, award-winning picture book, Zoboi writes poems for each of the seven principals of Kwanzaa. It opens in Africa with people celebrating harvest until they are forcibly taken from their homes. It then follows these African descendants in America, from the Great Migration to the Civil Rights Movement to today. Back matter includes an author’s note and timeline of events presented in this picture book.
Winter by Kelsey E. Gross, illustrated by Renata Liwska
Winter solstice is celebrated on December 21st. This beautifully illustrated picture book opens with Owl asking who can help shine the light and share a gift of hope for winter solstice. Each animal helps. Deer adds nuts to branches in the hope that all the forest creatures will have enough to eat through the winter. Mouse sprinkles seeds in the hope of blossoming growth in the months to come. As each animal adds gifts, hope spreads. This could be the basis for a lovely new tradition for families.
We went to our first Christmas festival last weekend, a “traditional” tractor lighting. I wondered if tractor lighting could really be traditional, but then I remembered a giant crane decorated with Christmas lights every year growing up in a small Tennessee town. This tractor lighting was also in rural Tennessee. I wonder if other Southern towns do this?
If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.
All the best,
Margaret Kingsbury