Join this “mysterious FACTopia tour…” to encounter top secrets, unsolved mysteries, dark caves, deep ocean dwellers, hidden history, and more. Lots more! Photographs and comical illustrations combine for an intriguing, fact-based jaunt through time and places.
Secret FACTopia! Follow the Trail of 400 Hidden Facts
Imagination and science combine in gloriously detailed illustrations and descriptive poems for a unique look at what various creatures call home. Additional information about the animals and other resources conclude this memorable book.
Home
Many animals are extinct — but not only is there a great deal that can be done to stop continued extinction, new creatures continue to be discovered. Handsome, detailed illustrations combine with brief narrations just right for dipping in and out. Done in collaboration with the Smithsonian, the book includes additional information and resources.
Extinctopedia
Tardigrades, also known as “moss piglets” or “water bears”, are highly adaptable and durable microscopic creatures. Depicted here as (almost) adorable bug-eyed critters whose mother sets them out to seek their fortune, readers will share an adventure with a large, hairy wolf spider while gaining information about these tiny, eight-legged animals.
The Three Little Tardigrade: A Slightly Scientific Fairy Tale
Like children often do, this dog and cat take a most circuitous route home, encountering lots to see, smell, and hear along the way. Brief rhythmic, sometimes rhyming text accompanies this familiar adventure. Readers familiar with the author’s Inside Cat and They All Saw a Cat may recognize the styles and critters in this volume.
Two Together
Mavis, a hen that knits, saves her friend the sheep (not to mention wool for her knitting) proving that even the most chicken of us can find a spark of bravery when needed. Madcap humor in this delightful romp is sure to hold up to many readings.
Mavis the Bravest
A range of poets, from Lois Lowry to Lee Bennett Hopkins, express thanks for critters small and large. Expressive, idealized watercolors depict adorable animals and children in poems of gratitude.
Bless Our Pets: Poems of Gratitude for Our Animal Friends
A big brown bear announces it is the only bear in the book, until a polar bear — and then other bears — join them. Together, they discover (along with the reader) how different types of bears are similar and different. Fact and humor combine in this humorous informational picture book with additional resources included.
Bears Are Best!
From polar bears to owls, animals introduce shapes in one book (Hello Hello Shapes (opens in a new window)) while an axolotl to a zebra present color in another book (Hello Hello Colors (opens in a new window)). All animals — many endangered — are identified at the end of each sturdy book.
Hello Hello Shapes
Unique and quite handsome fish in this small, sturdy edition present a range of emotions accompanied by sophisticated descriptive word — sure to encourage conversation with young children.
Happy
Lift the sturdy flap to answer the question posed in the title. Bright illustrations and straightforward language create a fine book for sharing. Canine aficionados may appreciate What Is Puppy Going to Do? (opens in a new window). Each animal is presented in a recognizable situation.
What Is Chick Going to Do?
The golden puppy joins his girl while she works in the community garden. The young dog winds up being a helpful companion to others also working there in this short, easy to read addition to the series.
Biscuit and Friends Visit the Community Garden
A delightful bedtime tale, set on the African plains. The sun has set and the moon is rising, and that means it’s bedtime. But not if Lala has a say — because she’s not ready to go to sleep! First she needs to say good night to the cat. And the goat. And the chickens. And, and, and … Lala’s adorable stalling strategy will ring true for all parents whose little ones aren’t ready to say goodbye to the day — and all will appreciate the wonderful culmination to the bedtime ritual.
I Just Want to Say Good Night
The story of a little girl and a duckling who both grow to understand what it means to care for each other as they learn that love is as much about letting go as it is about holding on. When a little girl finds a duckling who has wandered away from the park onto the city streets, she takes it home to care for it. The baby duck requires constant attention — early morning feedings, bathing, and tidying — until the time comes to say goodbye. When her pet has grown too big for the bath, the girl takes the full-grown duck back to the pond. Afterward, she misses it and wonders if it remembers her … until one day, the duck comes back — with six ducklings of her own.
Love Is
This middle grade historical novel set during the Great Depression is a moving tale of the spirit of American persistence, found family, and the magical partnership between girl and horse. Bea wakes to Daddy’s note in a hayloft, where he abandoned her with her little sister after the stock market crash took everything: Daddy’s job at the bank, their home, Mama’s health and life. How is Bea supposed to convince the imposing Mrs. Scott to take in two stray children? Mrs. Scott’s money and Virginia farm are drying up in a drought and the Great Depression, too. She might have to sell her beautiful horses, starting with a dangerous chestnut that has caused tragedy in the past and injures her stableman shortly after Bea arrives. Bea understands the chestnut’s skittish distrust. She sees hope in the powerful jumper — if he can compete at horse shows, they might save the farm, and maybe Bea can even win a place in Mrs. Scott’s heart.
Bea and the New Deal Horse
A bilingual board book introducing Chinese characters through the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The adventure loving Dragon, the carefree Horse, and the artistic Goat are just three of the 12 Lucky Animals to be found in the Chinese zodiac, rendered here in bright illustrations. Use the wheel on the back cover to help little readers discover who their lucky animal is and how to pronounce its name in Chinese and English.
12 Lucky Animals
The story of a dog who unwittingly becomes a hero to a park full of animals. Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes — to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends — a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican — work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the Equilibrium is in balance. But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world.
The Eyes and the Impossible
Intended for young readers, adults will likely be as intrigued at the graphical presentation of information which can be consumed in large bites or small chunks.
Britannica’s Encyclopedia Infographica
The title says it all! Brief but accessible information about a range of topics is ideal to dip into or spend hours poring over.
Absolutely Everything! A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots, and Other Things too Numerous to Mention
An abandoned puppy helps 11-year-old Laura move forward after the 911 call she made to save her parents from an overdose. Now in the care of her Titi Silvia, they ultimately find a way to heal themselves in this novel in verse that explores family, communication, and friendship.
Something Like Home
Brother and sister Zara and Zeeshan accompany their parents to Key West where their pediatrician mother will be honored. They struggle to get along with each other during the trip, but their bickering ends when they discover a loggerhead turtle in distress that they name Sunshine. Together the siblings figure out how to help Sunshine return to the sea while gaining a new respect for each other, in this gently humorous graphic novel.
Saving Sunshine
Two books from a Little Free Library hold the secret of a town’s long hidden mystery. Told from different points of view — a boy named Evan, Al (a ghost librarian), and a handsome orange cat called Mortimer — reveal the secret behind the town’s puzzling history in this twisty, satisfying tale.
The Lost Library
Wrap-around stories are used to present fascinating information in an inviting, accessible, and authoritative way. This title from the Science Comics series provides information about commonplace creatures now at risk. Another book, World War II: Fight on the Home Front (opens in a new window) (from the History Comics series), provides a look at the impact of the last century’s war on those not engaged on the frontline.
Frogs: Awesome Amphibians
Are the creatures in this lighthearted look at dangerous animals out to get humans or are they just doing what they need to survive and thrive? Common names as well as Latin names are presented alongside a humorous illustration and an invented name for the critter’s survival mechanism.