Author: Margaret Kingsbury

Most picture books depict boys with dyslexia, so I was very happy to see this one releasing today, about a little girl with dyslexia trying to write a story for her grandmother’s birthday. It’s a sweet story, and the back matter includes ideas to help kids with dyslexia. For another picture book about dyslexia featuring a girl main character, check out Brilliant Bea.

Abdul loves stories but struggles to write down his own. He thinks, because his writing is so messy and because he never sees kids like himself in stories, that he shouldn’t be a writer. Then a real writer visits his classroom, Mr. Muhammad, and shows the class that everyone makes mistakes, and that good stories come from good editing. Encouraged, Abdul realizes that anyone can be a storyteller, including himself. While this picture book doesn’t specify that Abdul has dyslexia, it is adjacent.

This beautifully illustrated picture book is one of my favorites. It’s based on the author’s childhood experiences. Hudson loves drawing and stories, but he reads very slowly, and he gets frustrated and embarrassed by how long it takes him to read. When he learns about other people who read slowly, he gives himself permission to read slowly and continue to relish the books he loves.

Like Hudson, Aaron loves stories and art, but words jumble up whenever he tries to read or write, and he struggles to make sense of them. When Ms. Greer assigns the class a storytelling project, Aaron despairs. But with a little ingenuity, he finds a unique way to tell a story. Like the rest of The Questioneers series, this is written in rhyming verse. It’s such a fun read aloud.

Violet loves her brand-new box of crayons. Each crayon tip is so perfect and each color so bright! She’s excited to use the crayons and imagines many colorful scenes she could create. However, if she uses the crayons, they will no longer be perfect! She can’t seem to make herself use them. Then one day her younger sister takes the crayons and draws her sister a picture. Instead of being happy, Violet is very upset about her sister using her crayons. I had almost this exact scenario play out with one of my sisters and a sewing kit she had. It did not work out so well; it was the first time I was grounded, lol.

Speaking of sibling conflict, sometimes Lulu and Zoey get along, and just as often they don’t. Fights break out about sharing and having alone time, and sometimes these fights even turn physical. But they also often have a lot of fun together, and their creativity can shine together, too. This rhyming picture book provides a slice-of-life glimpse into the life of these two sisters.

Sisters Siasi and Siloah love spending time with their ningiuq, the Inuktitut word for grandmother. They especially love picking berries with her. At the end of every summer, the trio heads out to pick berries, and berry picking continues as the season changes. When the berries are picked, they make delicious treats. This is a sweet intergenerational picture book that releases on Tuesday.

Ling and Ting are my favorite sisters from children’s lit. There are four Ling & Ting readers, and while they can be read in any order, Not Exactly the Same is the best place to start. Though they’re twins, Ling and Ting are not exactly the same, as the six interconnected stories in this will show. Despite their differences, they love being together, and they love being almost the same. These readers are modern classics. If you haven’t read them yet, definitely check them out!

While there isn’t much gender diversity in children’s books about school pictures, this one is different, and very LGBTQ+ friendly. Molly’s mom frames and hangs all school pictures in a place of honor, and Molly wants this year’s picture to be perfect. But Molly’s mom wants her to wear a frilly dress, and Molly definitely doesn’t want to wear a dress. She can’t convince her mom to let her pick out her own outfit, so she sneaks to school with her brother’s old tuxedo in her backpack, the perfect outfit for Molly’s dream picture.

Amira is so excited to celebrate Eid with her entire family, and she’ll be missing school for the holiday. However, she then remembers that she’ll also be missing picture day. Her mother tries to reassure her that she’ll get plenty of pictures at the Eid celebration, but it’s not the same. Amira wants pictures with her class! Thankfully, she’s able to attend just for pictures. This is a good reminder for teachers and school departments to remember all student holidays and not plan big events when minority students might be absent.

The Geraldine Pu books are slim, early reader graphic novels that are great for beginning readers. This is the second book in the series, and currently three have been published. Each can be read as a stand alone. In this one, Geraldine really wants to wear her favorite cat hat for school pictures because she dislikes her own hair. It would be so much better to cover it up with her hat, but there’s a no hat rule. Can Geraldine learn to like her hair?

It’s middle school, and Viv wants to be more like the most popular girl in school, who has a ton of social media followers and is constantly making viral videos. For school pictures, Viv decides to cut her hair and style it like her favorite media personality, and has one of her friends film it for social media. The video goes viral and everyone wants Viv to give them their big happy moments. Meanwhile, she’s alienating her friends in her quest to be popular. This is an entertaining middle grade graphic novel.

When a wildfire is spotted near her home, Malia and her family must evacuate. Her parents tell her to quickly pack what she can, but how can she pack everything important to her? It’s impossible. When they leave she realizes that her family and pet are what’s most important. This is a great book for kids facing an evacuation.

In this simple, poetic picture book, animals react as a wildfire starts in their forest and warn other animals to flee. Meanwhile, humans also spot the flames and begin to douse them via firefighters and aircraft. The beautiful, vibrant illustrations capture the animals’ panic as they journey to safety.

When a boy moves from the city to the country, he initially misses his city life, but soon he comes to love nature and befriends a fox. One day, he spots a forest fire and the family evacuates. He worries about what will happen to the fox. After the fires have been put out, the family returns home to find their house in ruins. They rebuild, and when they do, the fox returns. By the way, Danny Popovici is a volunteer firefighter.

This lyrical picture book is a bit different than the other three. Cooke looks at the history of fire and how it’s often essential to both human life and flora and fauna. Fires are indubitably dangerous, and Cooke addresses that, too, but they’re also essential to ecosystems. The illustrations are stunning.

While Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are the most well-known leaders of the movement, it was Carrie Chapman Catt who led the Women’s Suffrage Movement when the 19th Amendment passed as a result of her campaigning and hard work. This picture book biography begins with a young Carrie asking questions, and refusing to stop asking questions even when her father mocked her. Because her father didn’t believe women should go to college, Carrie washed dishes to pay for it, and when she graduated, she joined the Women’s Suffrage Movement, led at the time by Susan B. Anthony (there were different women’s groups campaigning, but I’ll keep it simple here!). This follows Carrie all the way to Nashville, where she successfully campaigned and the 19th Amendment was passed. I love that this picture book includes Carrie’s long relationship with another woman, and doesn’t hide that Carrie was queer.

This picture book centers on that final day of voting in Nashville, and how it all came down to one legislator, Harry Burn, and more importantly to his mother, Febb Burn. Harry had intended to vote “No” on the amendment, but then he received a letter from his mother with a big, old-fashioned guilt trip about how of course Harry would vote yes, how her beloved son knows how industrious his mother is, and how much she loves him and how (subtext) she will never forgive him and guilt him for the rest of his life if he were to vote no, but of course, he must already be planning to vote yes, because he loves his mother so. Harry was a good boy and voted yes. I’m really glad this picture book exists because no one I ever talk to knows about Febb Burn! Her voice is the one that won the vote.

This is a beautifully illustrated, large nonfiction biography collection and history that I encourage anyone that enjoys learning about the movement to read. It covers the Women’s Suffrage Movement in both the United States and the United Kingdom. You probably recognize David Roberts’s illustrations from the Questioneers series, like Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer. It includes lots of fun facts about the movement, from badges to parades and more.

Black women were absolutely vital to the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The vote would not have happened without women like Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells. Yet many white women suffragists were racist, and their racist beliefs and in-fighting hindered the movement. This middle grade nonfiction is a vital examination of the role of African American women in the movement. Dionne also connects how the struggles of Black women during the Women’s Suffrage Movement apply to current efforts to restrict voting access for Black citizens.

For readers just venturing into chapter books, Rebecca Elliott’s books are always my first recommendations. She has two extensive chapter book series: Owl Diaries and Unicorn Diaries. They’re heavily illustrated, really engaging, and very easy to follow along. The Unicorn Diaries series follows a unicorn named Bo Tinseltail as he attends school at Sparklegrove School for Unicorns. Every unicorn has one magical power, and Bo’s is to grant one wish per week. In book one — Bo’s Magical New Friend — Bo wishes for a friend, but he can’t grant wishes for himself!

Crimson Twill isn’t like other witches. She doesn’t like dressing in black and cackling and being spooky. Instead, she wears bright colors and skips and giggles. Crimson lives in the country but in this first book she’s visiting Broomingdale’s in New Wart City for the very first time! She has five gold coins to spend, but no idea what she’s going to buy. As she explores the store, shenanigans ensue, and she finds out that money can’t buy the thing she wants most of all — friends. There are currently two books in this fun series with a third releasing next year.

The Princess in Black is another great chapter book series for children who are transitioning from readers to chapter books. The print is large and easy to follow, and there are lots of illustrations. Plus the stories are action-packed and super fun! There are currently 10 books in the series. In this one, the third book, a horde of adorable bunnies escape from Monster Land, but the Princess in Black is too charmed to fight them off. What harm could come from bunnies? But when the grass swiftly disappears and the bunnies begin hungrily eyeing the princess and her horse companion, she realizes there might be a problem. I just read this one last night with my daughter and we had lots of laughs!

This is another fantasy series I absolutely adore. Zoey and her mom have a special ability: they can see magical creatures! These magical creatures visit her mom when they’re injured or in trouble, and she helps them and keeps track of their treatments in a journal. Now that Zoey can see the creatures too, she’s stepping in to help. In the first book, Zoey aids a baby dragon while her mother is away, with the help of her sweet cat Sassafras, of course!

When a child wakes one morning, everything feels like too much sensory input. The alarm clock beeping is too loud, the tag on a shirt is too scratchy, and the sun is too bright. When the child and their mother go to a playground, the child has a breakdown and needs a snuggle from Mom and a soft blanket. They return home and the child practices calming techniques. Back matter includes a note to caregivers and educators from the author as well as advice for how to handle sensory overload. This is a rhythmic and simple read that autistic children and adults can relate to.

This is a fantastic back-to-school picture book about a bat that initially has trouble fitting in at their new school. Bitsy is so excited to start school, but on her first day, she can’t seem to do anything right. She’s told to sit in a chair, which makes her dizzy, and to use her arms instead of her feet, which creates a big mess. Everything about the day leaves her feeling uneasy and ill. When she gets home, her supportive parents encourage her to be herself, and to not try to fit in. Then Bitsy has a brilliant idea — she’ll lead the students in a crafting activity that will show them how their differences make them a star. She’ll also ask for accommodations at school. Back matter includes definitions related to autism and an author’s note about being autistic.

This is the only picture book I know of that depicts a Black nonverbal autistic child who uses a tablet to communicate. I would love to see more tablet usage in picture books! It’s about a normal day in the life of the young protagonist as he goes to the park with his mother and gets a treat afterward. Both mother and son use a tablet. I interviewed the author for a piece on disability in picture books for School Library Journal.

This lovely middle grade novel-in-verse is about 7th grader Selah and her struggles to mask in public. Her mother is insistent she masks, but doing so is incredibly difficult, and makes Selah feel like she’s unraveling. She pours out her frustration in her poems, which she’s scared of showing anyone. When she attends FantasyCon, she meets other autistic people who don’t mask and instead have found ways to embrace and accommodate their autism in public spaces. This gives Selah the confidence to speak up for herself.

Constantia’s experience at a new school immediately gets off to a rough start when the teacher can’t pronounce her name correctly. She wishes she had an easy name like one of the many Emmas in her classroom. She also feels set apart from the other students by the lunches her mother packs her, which usually have a whole tomato in them. But when she makes a friend to share tomatoes with, she doesn’t feel the need to be just like everyone else anymore. This picture book is based on the author’s experiences as a Cypriot attending school in London.

All the other children in the playroom Luli attends speak a different language, and because of the language barriers, they play by themselves, and it’s often quiet. Then Luli has an idea. She brings in tea and cookies to share with the classroom, and suddenly everyone wants to talk and play with one another. While this takes place in a daycare-like situation, the story can be applied to any ESL classroom situation. It’s such an adorable book.

Isabel is very nervous about starting school, especially because she doesn’t speak much English. She much prefers the many colors of Spanish, her native language. While Isabel does struggle to understand everything that’s being said that first day, she connects with a new friend through art and decides that maybe school won’t be so bad after all. This sweet picture book is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

Eight-year-old Jessica has recently moved from the Dominican Republic to Brooklyn, New York, and she misses the DR so much, especially her grandmother and friends. She doesn’t speak English, but her teacher offers to help. It takes a while for Jessica and her mom to settle into Brooklyn and find a home, but the longer they stay, and the more they explore their new home, the more Jessica enjoys it. This is a broader picture book than the others, focusing not just on school but the struggles of finding work and an affordable home as an immigrant.

While Olive usually has lots of fun at her grandfather’s house, today she is sad because her best friend has moved away. Her grandfather suggests she write a letter to her friend. Meanwhile, a little green envelope waits patiently in a drawer, waiting to be used. The envelope has waited for a very long time and hopes that this time it will be the perfect fit for Olive’s letter. When Olive chooses the green envelope, it happily goes on a journey to connect with Olive’s friend. This is such a sweet read for kids who have friends moving away. I remember going to my grandparents’ house as a kid and taking out their pile of cards and envelopes to decorate!

This moving picture book is told through a series of letters between two neighbors. The correspondence begins when Jackson accidentally kicks a ball into Mr. Graham’s garden. Mr. Graham invites Jackson over to help with the garden, and afterward blooms a friendship between the two despite the differences in their ages. Letters follow the two as Jackson celebrates his 7th birthday and Mr. Graham enters a nursing home. As a warning, this does end with Mr. Graham’s death, though Jackson continues to write letters to him and to garden.

Alice loves everything about her street. When she overhears neighbors complaining and grumbling about the street, she writes letters to help the object of their frustrations feel better, from a letter to the snow about how excellent it is for making snow angels to a letter to a maple tree. When neighbors find and read these letters, it makes them feel better about their community. Then one day Alice wakes up in a bad mood and her street doesn’t seem as appealing anymore. When she discovers a letter another child has written to the crocuses, she not only feels better, she also makes a friend.

The Dear Beast chapter book series follows Andy’s two pets — a silly dog named Baxter and a grumpy cat named Simon — and their many shenanigans, which are shown via letter correspondence. Baxter lives at Andy’s dad’s house, while Simon lives at Andy’s mom’s house. Andy’s mom has a business trip and, for the first time, Simon will be staying with Baxter, whom Simon refers to as the Beast. Simon is less than thrilled by the idea and takes the first opportunity to slip away. Baxter is desperate to find him. There are currently four books in this really fun chapter-book series.

This spinoff of the popular A to Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy features a main character wheelchair user, Abbi Wallace, solving animal-related mysteries. It’s also written by a wheelchair user. In this first book in the series, Abbi and her friends are excited about going to the Maine State Fair and seeing the animals in the 4-H pavilion. But when they get there, the pavilion is in shambles and all the alpacas except one are missing! Who could’ve stolen the alpacas? Abbi, her dog, and her friends are on the case. I grew up in a rural area where 4-H was a pretty big deal and the highlight of our local fair, so I really enjoyed this one for multiple reasons.

Marly, who wears an eye patch for her amblyopia, is surprised to discover that she’s been named in her next-door neighbor’s will. She had no idea Mr. Summerling had died, and while she took an interest in his treasure hunting, the two didn’t chat all that often. When she goes to the will reading, she discovers two other children have been named in the will, and they’re tasked with solving a series of riddles to find the treasure left to them in the will. Marly’s best friend has recently moved away, so this might be a great chance to make new friends. I really enjoyed this one! My nephew wore an eyepatch for the same condition at this age and it would’ve been great to have a book like this then. This series currently has four books in it.

This is the first book in a new chapter book series featuring neurodivergent characters that is written by an autistic author. With the help of a teacher, Nick has started the Infinity Rainbow Club at school for neurodivergent kids like himself. When the teacher announces that they will be participating in a brick building challenge, Nick is at first excited. But he’s not too keen on working with a partner, and his partner is a new girl named Ruby. What will she be like? I love how rich in sensory detail this book is. It releases in September, with more to follow.

While this is not a chapter book, it is a great nonfiction read for the same age group, 6-10-year-olds. Burnell, who is also disabled, writes mini-biographies of 34 disabled folk from a variety of backgrounds. Some of the people featured are well-known for their disabilities: Ludwig van Beethoven, Peter Dinklage, Helen Keller, and Stephen Hawking, for example. But others might not be as well-known to kids for their disabilities, like Lady Gaga, Frida Kahlo, and Lil Wayne. It’s a fantastic collection with beautiful illustrations.