Who knew? June 17th to 23rd is National Pollinator Week. This is the first time I've come across this week of commemoration and by coincidence, it fit in with a few new books I had selected to blog about, focused on bees. Here are some suggestions for elementary grades:   Bee: a peek-through picture book by Britta Teckentrup This one is for young bees with a gently rhyming text and die-cut ..read more

Looking at the book, An Indian Beach: by Day and Night created by Joelle Jolievet, I realized that I hadn't gushed about a favorite publisher of mine, Tara Books, for quite sometime. An oversight, to be sure. The books that I love most from Tara Books are handmade (from the paper, to the images being screenprinted, to being bound by hand) and/or often illustrated in unique and interesting ways ..read more

I love books like The Great Journey by Agathe Demois and Vincent Godeau. It's super fun with lots to look at as we follow a tiny bird on a long journey across various landscapes and see hidden, unexpected and surprising images along the way. I especially love the special effect of the green line drawings that are embedded in the bold red line drawings which the reader can only see when they use ..read more

I always know summer is almost here when I get a notification from Sync about their upcoming season of free YA audiobooks. So, starting this Thursday, April 25th you can starting downloading a terrific list of YA reads that you can listen to at home, in the garden, on the bus, in the car, on a plane, while exercising...well, you get the idea. In Sync's own words:  SYNC is a free summer ..read more

Paula Hollohan is my guest blogger today raving about a recent addition to the Doucette Library's collection  that has great classroom potential, connecting to STEM, science and language arts. Thanks, Paula. Hedy Lamarr’s Double life: HollywoodLegend and Brilliant Inventor written by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Katy Wu Now here is the kind of book I would love to see in K-5 ..read more

I find the story about Orson Welles’ 1938 radio production of the War of the Worlds and its impact on many Americans who had tuned into their favourite radio program, utterly fascinating. On October 30th, 1938 (Halloween Eve or Mischief Night) the American public were about to get punked big time.  The story goes, that Orson Welles and the players of the Mercury Theater had adapted the novel ..read more

This is sort of a Public Service Announcement, letting those of you who frequent the Pinterest page for the Doucette Library, that I’ve added one more. The latest addition is for Social and Emotional Learning, K-3.  Both Paula (co-worker) and I have been fielding a few more questions and requests for picture books that touch on these topics.  We’ve also noticed a few more lists of picture ..read more

A couple of nonfiction books that recently caught my eye are from the publisher 360 degrees. What I liked their approach to lift-the-flap books for older kids.  In Focus: Close-ups, Cutaways, Cross Sections, 10 Illustrators created by Libby Walden is a general information book that covers a range of topics from both the natural and human-made worlds in a unique way.  Each double spread ..read more