I love board books by Roy Henry Vickers and Lucky Budd. They are stunning. They are thoughtful. They teach me things I didn’t know, and the images capture my little one’s interest. This newest one (gifted to me by @zgstories and @harbour_publishing) is called A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs, and is all about animals of the west coast! It is filled with rhyme and rhythm, and I’m excited to share some of my favourite pages with you. Please check out this book (or the others by this duo) if you are on the hunt for board books, as they are so beautifully made. This post contains affiliate link ..read more

Hooray for Trucks! is a cute, rhyming picture book about bath time. If there’s anything I’ve noticed about kids who love machines and construction vehicles, it’s that they almost always seem to know all of their individual names and the very important jobs they have to do. This book contains a plethora of different vehicles, all wanting to focus on their hard work rather than get a bath.  The illustrations by Suharu Ogawa are bright and have little quirks to them – like a truck wearing a bandaid and an old farm truck with a little moustache and glasses. These little details give each truc ..read more

BEATRICE AND BARB is so cute – a story of patience, perseverance, and going the distance for our friends. Beatrice wants a pet more than anything, and after some negotiating with her mother, she takes on the responsibility of a Venus fly trap. She soon discovers there is a lot to know about caring for her new companion, and goes the distance to make sure she properly takes care of her new friend. I appreciate the way this book fosters both socio emotional development and discussion about scientific facts, like habitats and ecosystems. Beatrice is filled with empathy and tries to make responsib ..read more

Flowers Are Pretty Weird! is a fun non-fiction book about all of the surprising and unique things we don’t tend to realize about flowers.  Right away I thought of the @bloedel_conservatory and how this would be perfectly paired with a little field trip there, as they currently have the corpse flower “Uncle Fester” on display.  In this book, a cute little bumble bee takes us through some of the weird things they’ve observed about flowers – some stinky, some spooky and some silly. It’s a great companion to the earlier one in the series, “Butterflies are Pretty Weird” and includes some ..read more

I have 2 picture book bios to share from the Trailblazing Canadians series #gifted to me by @heritagehousepublishing If you’re not Canadian, don’t scroll away – I hope you still read them! They’re inspiring & a great classroom resource or book for elementary kids obsessed with history or stem. I know this post is a bit longer today, but promise it’s worth the read. The first one I’m going to share is Kimiko Murakami: A Japanese Canadian Pioneer by @haleyhealey A few years ago, @universallimitedtheatre did a site specific theatre show about Japanese Canadians forced to live in the barns at ..read more

The Secret Pocket, by Peggy Janicki and illustrated by Carrielynn Victor, is the true story of Janicki’s mother Mary, who at four years old was taken to the Lejac residential school. While there, deprived of food, the girls were creative and sewed pockets into their clothes to sneak food. Teachers, this should absolutely be added to your library – and make sure you read the author’s note. I teared up to find out that UFV now sews a secret pocket into the stole of the graduation gowns of the Indigenous graduates, and puts Mary’s story in there.  Published by @orcabook, I borrowed this book ..read more

The Shape of You by Mượn Thị Văn, illustrated by Miki Sato “The shape of my fingers will always fit yours” Something I love about teaching kids is that they describe things in ways we wouldn’t as adults. One of my students mentioned that when they felt nervous it was like being “covered in spiders.” And though I’d never heard it described that way before, I immediately knew what they meant. The Shape of You feels like a lullaby asking “How do we see the world around us?” In it we explore the shapes that make up our surroundings, our feelings, and our relationships. Sometimes it’s literal- “The ..read more

Looking for a cute, useful, thoughtful baby shower or birthday gift? Why not put together a little themed bundle for your friend’s bundle of joy? This all started because of a crayon onesie that my son wears from Old Navy, and me thinking how great it would go with the Day The Crayons Quit. The crayons onesie is no longer on their website but I promise if it comes back, I’ll tell you right away. Below are some other ideas! This post contains some Amazon affiliate links. Any of those I may receive a small commission on should you choose to use my links (thank you!). The clothing stores are just ..read more

Today is Child and Youth Mental Health Day, so I wanted to feature a new picture book about depression & anxiety. I love that publishers are creating kids’ books that talk about mental health. Dark Cloud does this with sensitivity – it doesn’t make depression scary, but also doesn’t pretend that everything will always resolve and be perfect. Abigail has a dark cloud that follows her around, making everything damp. It takes the joy out of the things that she used to love – even her birthday. There are moments that she can hide it away, like in a tall sandcastle, but it finds its way back ..read more

Kumo the bashful cloud, by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Nathalie Dion Themes: Confidence, being yourself, letting yourself be seen by the world, quiet, gratitude, self-doubt, boldness What a lovely story about Kumo (Japanese for “cloud”) being called to share her cloud talents with the world. She doesn’t feel quite ready, but the other clouds are all busy and it’s up to her to journey across the sky to offer shade and delight to people below. As she adventures on, she begins to notice that people–and even other clouds–are seeing her for her beauty and talent, and her anxieties about being “not ..read more