Stories That Astonish and Take Risks: Ten New Children’s Books Out in February

Whenever I get a chance to talk to young readers about books, I come away marveling: Kids are interested in so many things , and they’re interested in those things all at once ! Do they want to read an illustrated book about bugs? Yes! Do they want to read a novel about monsters from Greek mythology? Also yes! Are they bothered by stories that don’t stay neatly within the labeled categories on bookstore shelves? Not even a little bit. Kids have their own literary preferences, like all of us do, but they’re often more willing than adults might be to take risks in their reading. And children’s book creators take risks, too. They play with genre, blurring the lines between historical fiction and fantasy, or they break away from traditional formats, retelling a Korean folktale as a graphic novel or writing a memoir as a series of poems. The new books that caught my eye this month are great reads for daring, curious readers of all ages. * Memory Garden – Ghahremani, Zohreh Zohreh Ghahremani, Memory Garden ( illustrated by Susie Ghahremani) (recommended for ages 4-8) After enduring a long stretch of gray winter days, I was thrilled to escape to the green world of this warm picture book, where a young girl and her grandmother are planting flowers together. As they work, Nana shares her memories of the Persian garden where she spent happy times when she was young herself. The small moments she describes—shaking mulberries out of a tree, finding a hedgehog curled up by a stream—help readers picture Nana’s life in Iran and imagine how it might feel to immigrate to a new country. I particularly love how the bright illustrations blossom across each page, connecting the past to the present. The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions – Clarkson, Giselle Giselle Clarkson, The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions (recommended for ages 7-12) If you’ve ever met a kid who can’t walk down the block without stopping to notice a dandelion puff, a dew-spangled spiderweb, or an ant […]

Click here to view original page at Stories That Astonish and Take Risks: Ten New Children’s Books Out in February

© 2024, wcadmin. All rights reserved, Writers Critique, LLC Unless otherwise noted, all posts remain copyright of their respective authors.