The light from a menorah takes a young boy on a fantastical journey around the world to experience different festivals of light, and the people who celebrate them.

Nothing brings communities together like the warm glow of a lamp or candle flame, illuminating people and the stories they tell. In The Light from My Menorah, a young boy celebrating Hannukah follows his menorah's light as it twists and turns in the night sky, carrying him to mountains, deserts, and even into space. On his journey he sees families from around the world sharing food and togetherness as they celebrate their own special holidays, lighting diya for Diwali, kinara for Kwanzaa, crowns of candles for St. Lucia Day, krathongs for Loy Krathong, and strings of lights for Christmas.

Illustrator Andrea Blinick's luminous mixed-media art creates a dazzling world filled with sparkling light and warmth, while Robin Heald's beautiful free-verse text evokes the quiet wonder of a holiday night. An author's note offers further information about Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas, Kwanzaa, St. Lucia Day, and Loy Krathong.

The Light From My Menorah, is a new book by Robin Heald, which lyrically emphasizes not only the light of her menorah, but how our world is filled with light, traveling from day into night and back again...as well as into the worship or celebration of other religions and countries.--Jane Yolen, author of Owl Moon, the How Do Dinosaur picture books, and 400+ other books

Explore the very important jobs that dogs do every day with this photographic ode to working dogs.

Through ice and snow,
I run with my pack.
Towing my friends
Down the track.

Preschoolers will explore adorable dogs and their jobs in this photographic celebration. When Dogs Work explores the real jobs that dogs do! From guide dog to water rescue dog to actor--these marvellous dogs may surprise you!

In rhythmic text perfect for an energetic read-aloud, When Dogs Work points out the incredible skills that dogs have. Bright photographs of the working dogs will help preschoolers identify the uniform of each working dog.

The book's Toddler Tough format with a padded cover, rounded corners, and extra-heavy pages makes it a sturdy choice for endless story times.

The Biltmore in New York City is full of mysteries, and Elodie LaRue, a novice detective, plans to piece together the clues and solve the case of the missing jewels.

Left behind by her globe-trotting detective parents once again, Elodie decides to prove she's worthy of joining them on a case by setting up her own detective agency at her renowned Upper West Side home, The Biltmore.

When a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings mysteriously disappear from Mrs. Vanderhoff's apartment, Elodie is asked to solve the case. Elodie begins her investigation the way any good detective would, looking for clues and potential suspects. With twists, turns, and suspects galore, will Elodie be able to prove she has what it takes to solve a crime? Or will the LaRue Detective Agency fail on its first case? As Elodie, her dog Carnegie, and new friend Oscar (a self-proclaimed parkour master) delve deeper into the mystery, they encounter a quirky cast of characters, an array of clues, and a little bit of fun.

Colored vignettes by award-winning artist, Peggy Collins, are scattered throughout the story, bringing additional humor to the cast of quirky characters.

From the award-winning author of The Umbrella House, Colleen Nelson brings another New York apartment building to life in Mystery at the Biltmore. Written with charm and wit, Mystery at The Biltmore is Only Murders in the Building meets Harriet the Spy.

Papa Jo loves to slow down and savor his day, but the excitable young Charlie may need some convincing...

Charlie's grandfather, Papa Jo, uses an hourglass to remind himself that every moment is precious. When Charlie asks Papa Jo what his hourglass is for, she doesn't really understand his answer. To teach Charlie the importance of taking her time and savoring her day, the pair spend their day at a leisurely pace, transforming every ordinary day into a wonderful time.

This gentle story reminds us to enjoy the precious moments we spend together. As young Charlie learns to slow down and appreciate the beauty of nature and everyday life, so too will your young reader. This affectionately illustrated book will work as a perfect bedtime story that will encourage children to reflect on their day and treasure the little things that make their life special.

In The Sun Never Hurries, Lucie Crovatto's rich and tender illustrations transport readers to a cozy day cooking and exploring the outdoors. Roxane Turcotte's writing showcases the special bond between a grandparent and grandchild.

The LaRue Detective Agency has gained a reputation at The Biltmore as the investigators to call, so it's no surprise when they are asked to solve the catnapping case. What is a surprise: being asked to keep this investigation top secret! Will the LaRue detective agency have what it takes to solve this challenging case?

A murder mystery movie is being filmed in the courtyard of the Biltmore, starring a celebrity building resident, Bijou, the fluffy white cat famous for inheriting the entire fortune of a popular designer--including his Biltmore apartment. But when filming is paused for the day, Tiya, the daughter of Bijou's nanny, reports that the famous feline was catnapped! The LaRue detective agency is hired...but there is just one catch, the investigation must remain top secret. How can Elodie question suspects when she can't admit Bijou is missing? This investigation will require new tactics, a keen eye, and help from her friends!

Colored illustrations by award-winning artist, Peggy Collins, are scattered throughout the story, bringing additional humor to the cast of quirky characters.

From the award-winning author of The Umbrella House, Colleen Nelson brings another New York apartment building to life in Mystery at the Biltmore. Written with charm and wit, Mystery at The Biltmore is Only Murders in the Building meets Harriet the Spy.

Friendship and empathy charm as a little witch learns to fly on a not-so-perfect broom.

While practicing for her flying test, Little Witch sometimes forgets her broom in places she shouldn't. By the time she finds her broom in the woods by Ramshackle Rat's house, the broom has been chewed and bent. When Little Witch tries to fly home, the broom is sinking, spinning, and bumping along. Unable to fix her broom, Little Witch must find a way to pass her test despite her setbacks. With help from an unlikely friend, Little Witch may find a way to soar again.

In Broom for Two, celebrated author of While You Sleep, Jennifer Maruno, enchants readers with her expressive and rhythmic text. Award-winning illustrator Scot Ritchie brings humor, charm, and a touch of magic to little witch's adventure. Illustrations showcase a whimsical duo, while utilizing a rich seasonal color palette, bringing this magical world to life as a little witch zooms across the sky.

Green for a deer, / And green for me!... Gold for a bee, / And gold for me!

Preschoolers will explore bright colors, healthy foods, and a variety of adorable animals in this multilayered Big, Little Concepts book. Just like the endearing animals around the world, we eat greens, reds, and blues too! Bunny Loves Beans explores the wonderfully similar and different food that preschoolers and animals both eat.

This fun book serves as a great introduction to fruits and vegetables, and the upbeat language paired with the adorable photographs are sure to encourage your little one to eat their fruits and vegetables! By the end of this book, preschoolers' will love to eat their greens, yellows, blues, and even pinks with this adorable photographic book!

The rhythmic text is perfect for an energetic read-aloud, and the repetitive language will boost your preschoolers' word recognition.

Jane Whittingham, author of the 2023 Texas 2×2 Reading List Selection, Bear has a Belly, once again channels her expertise into a new celebration of active preschooler fun. The chant-along text supports pattern recognition for language learning and reading readiness, and a closing spread of enriching age-appropriate activities invite further exploration and learning. This book's Toddler Tough format with a padded cover, rounded corners, and extra-heavy pages makes it a sturdy choice for endless reading fun!

A lip-smacking exploration of foods and colors.--Kirkus Reviews

Preschoolers will explore bright colors, healthy foods, and a variety of adorable animals in this multilayered Big, Little Concepts book. Just like the endearing animals around the world, we eat greens, reds, and blues too! Bunny Loves Beans explores the wonderfully similar and different food that preschoolers and animals both eat.

This fun book serves as a great introduction to fruits and vegetables, and the upbeat language paired with the adorable photographs are sure to encourage your little one to eat their fruits and vegetables! By the end of this book, preschoolers' will love to eat their greens, yellows, blues, and even pinks with this adorable photographic book!

The rhythmic text is perfect for an energetic read-aloud, and the repetitive language will boost your preschoolers' word recognition.

Jane Whittingham, author of the 2023 Texas 2×2 Reading List Selection, Bear has a Belly, once again channels her expertise into a new celebration of active preschooler fun. The chant-along text supports pattern recognition for language learning and reading readiness, and a closing spread of enriching age-appropriate activities invite further exploration and learning.

The valley of horses has been a safe haven for Honey and her family for seven peaceful years, but this seemingly perfect valley has also become their prison. Trapped by a mysterious magic, and fearing for her father's life, Honey is determined to find a way out of the valley of horses.

The valley of horses is the only true place Honey remembers since her family stumbled upon it in their converted ice cream truck while escaping from the rest of the world, and the illnesses that was spreading there. Honey's parents, her brother Rumi, and her NanNan become self-sufficient, living off the land and sharing the valley with mystical horses who seem to have a wisdom of their own. But there is a magic in the valley that prevents Honey and her family from ever leaving. When Honey suspects her father has become ill, Honey knows she must find a way to escape the valley to find help from a world she only knows about through stories.

Wendy Orr, author of the award-winning Nim's Island and Dragonfly Song, creates a magical land filled with awe and mystery. Showcasing the endurance of family, and the beauty of restoration and self-sufficiency, Orr crafts a heartfelt adventure and enchanting world to fall into.

The Great Expedition explores the wild country, the playground, but most importantly, your imagination.

On August 20th, a group of young explorers are charged with a dangerous mission. They are to travel across wild country to deliver a valuable parcel. The journey would be punishing. It would test the resolve of the brave young explorers. Most of all, it would provide us all with a pair of unlikely heroes to admire and remember for many years to come. This is their story.

Precise writing captures the essence of summer, while illustrations highlight the joys of going on an adventure. A celebration of the everlasting memories of childhood friendship.

Peter Carnavas, author-illustrator of A Quiet Girl and The Elephant, writes with a sense of adventure and play, while his illustrations create humor and relatability.

When three children stumble into an overgrown city yard, they end up elbows-deep in an urban gardening project that replenishes the earth and unites a community.

With the mentorship of Amy, a neighbor who is well-versed in no-dig gardening, Luna, Bianca, and Billy set to work mixing manure, spreading mulch, and sowing seeds. After a few weeks of hard work, the yard is transformed into a sustainable community garden, and more and more people are showing up to grow herbs, mushrooms, vegetables, and fruit. Just when everyone is beginning to harvest their hard-earned local food, they learn that the property is going to be cleared for a parking lot. Will this be the end of their secret garden? Or can the children rally their community to save the day?

In Secret Gardeners, journalist and beekeeper Lina Laurent collaborates with author and illustrator Maija Hurme to tell a story of community solidarity and ecological stewardship. Woven among the dreamlike illustrations are informative notes about soil life, composting, seed starting, beekeeping, wild pollinators, and more. An exquisite blend of fiction and nonfiction that will equip readers with all the information and inspiration they need to begin their own no-dig garden...and maybe even their own community project.

Preschoolers love baby
animals, and they love to move. Celebrate both with this Toddler Tough board
book perfect for an active read-aloud!

Fawns leap, / Hatchlings bounce,
/ Porcupettes nibble, / Kittens pounce. Story
time is on the move with this multilayered concept book. Preschoolers will
enjoy learning fun baby animal names from baboon infants to kangaroo joeys,
and they'll revel in using their bodies to mimic the movements each animal
makes. Bright photographs give a close-up look at every kitten, nestling, and
foal, as well as young children who are pouncing, flapping, and racing
alongside them. The rhyming text teaches young minds pattern recognition for
language learning and reading readiness, and a closing spread of enriching,
age-appropriate activities keeps the learning going.

A lively addition to the Big,
Little Concepts series by author and children's librarian Jane Whittingham, Animals
Move will have everybody wiggling and giggling through story time.

A new addition to the Big,
Little Concepts series by author and children's librarian Jane Whittingham, Animals
Move will have everybody wiggling and giggling through story time.

This book works in all the ways books for littles should
work: engaging subject, pleasing presentation, gentle introduction of new
vocabulary, lack of stereotyping, and strong construction for repeated reading
and handling. There is a note to adults in the back offering several
extension activities to get kids thinking and moving.--Youth Services Book
Review ★
Starred Review

Hana is at school when the devastating tsunami sweeps over Japan. But when the dark wave finally returns to the ocean, it has taken more than Hana could have ever imagined.

Hana's school sits on the side of a hill with a view of the ocean. One day, while in class, a tsunami drags the ocean across her village. Hana watches in horror as the dark water crashes into trees and tosses cars and boats around. When she is finally reunited with her family, she learns that the wave has taken more than she could have ever imagined. To cope with her grief, Hana begins to paint chidori (a thousand birds).

Miki Sato's collage art, which combines paper, textiles, and watercolor, creates a three-dimensional world that is rich in emotion, detail, and texture.

Jennifer Maruno writes with compassion and heart, bringing life to this story inspired by true events.

In this multilayered Big, Little Concepts book for preschoolers, explore body parts along with animals and celebrate the differences and similarities of our wonderful bodies.

A soft, round belly,
Bear has a belly.
I do too!

Do you have a nose like Fox, cheeks like Squirrel, and a tongue like Frog does? In rhythmic text perfect for an energetic read-aloud, Bear Has a Belly points out Moose's legs, Otter's back, and Duck's feet, inviting little ones to chime in with every body part they share in common. Bright photographs of the animal friends are paired with images of real children of diverse backgrounds and abilities who are joyfully engaging with that body part.

Jane Whittingham, author of Animals Move and A Good Day Ducks, channels her expertise as a children's librarian into yet another celebration of active preschooler fun. The chant-along text supports pattern recognition for language learning and reading readiness, and a closing spread of enriching age-appropriate activities invite further exploration and learning. The book's Toddler Tough format with a padded cover, rounded corners, and extra-heavy pages makes it a sturdy choice for endless repetitions of foot-stomping, belly-laughing, body-positive story times.

A seed waits patiently until it is time to sprout--and as this milkweed transforms from seed to plant, so too does the butterfly it feeds. Award-winning author of Outside You Notice celebrates the life cycle of a milkweed, from seed to new buds to flower.

Two young children watch a milkweed grow in their backyard--from seed to new buds to flowers, the lyrical text explores the lifecycle of the milkweed.

Wait like a seed,
Cozy and small.
Wait like a seed
Til the spring rains fall.

Wait Like a Seed beautifully explores the life cycle of milkweed and its vital relationship to monarch butterflies. Complete with accurate botanical drawings and comprehensive back-matter detailing the life cycles of plants and butterflies, this timeless story is perfect for both school curriculums and curious children who enjoy nature.

Children will be inspired to help save the diminishing population of monarch butterflies in their own environment. This book combines the wonders of nature with poetic text and warm and welcoming art.

Award-winning author Erin Alladin invites young gardeners to celebrate the world around them in this rhyming nonfiction text. Illustrator Tara Anderson portrays lifecycles with a nostalgic style, effectively capturing the wonder of the aspiring gardeners.

Mies van Hout's Happy is a tour de force of underwater awesomeness and emotion, showcasing what an artist can do with a few pastels, black paper and something fundamental to express.--New York Times Book Review

Who could have guessed that dazzlingly colored fish swimming in an ink-black sea would help hundreds of thousands of people around the world learn to recognize and name their emotions? In 2012, Mies van Hout's Happy swept the scene as both a stunning art piece and a social-emotional learning book like no other. On each of its spreads swims a single fish, each scale and fin suffused with an emotion that the facing page names in similarly expressive letters: curious, nervous, loving, content...

Readers of all ages can benefit from expanding their emotional vocabulary. Use Happy during a story time full of energetic face-making, or emote with your whole bodies for a drama exercise. Share it one-on-one to help someone name what they're feeling, or inspire budding artists to see what they can do with chalk pastels and black paper. Or simply page through the art and lose yourself in Mies van Hout's ocean of extraordinary fish. Whatever makes you...happy.

It's a delightful amuse-bouche of a book, and an aquatic introduction to everyday emotions. Ages 2- up! --Publishers Weekly

An engaging, multilayered book that helps little ones identify shapes on their favorite construction-site vehicles

Dump Truck, Dump Truck
Coming through
I spy a triangle--how about you?

It's no secret that toddlers of any gender love big vehicles. Shape Up, Construction Trucks uses rhyming verse and bright photographs to celebrate this enthusiasm in a unique take on conceptual shape books. Each spread highlights geometric shapes hiding in plain sight on excavators, bulldozers, cranes, and more. And after the toddlers have browsed the pages to their heart's content, a final note to parents offers enriching, age-appropriate activities to keep building their child's foundational skills.

By kindergarten, most children should have developed the spatial sense to identify shapes in real-world environments. Shape recognition lays the foundation not only for geometry, but for learning to recognize letters and numbers as well. With repetitive, easy-to-remember verse from the award-winning author of Nat the Cat Can Sleep Like That, Victoria Allenby's Shape Up, Construction Trucks is a highly visual shape book that digs deep.

Shipped halfway around the world to spend the summer with her mom's eccentric Australian relatives, middle schooler and passionate violinist Louisa is prepared to be resentful.

But life at the family's remote camp in the Tasmanian rainforest is intriguing, to say the least. There are pig-footed bandicoots, scary spiders, weird noises and odors in the night, and a quirky boy named Colin who cooks the most amazing meals. Not the least strange is her Uncle Ruff, with his unusual pet and veiled hints about something named Convict Rock.

Finally, Louisa learns the truth: Convict Rock is a sanctuary established by her great-grandmother Eleanor--a sanctuary for Tasmanian tigers, Australia's huge marsupials that were famously hunted into extinction almost a hundred years ago. Or so the world believes. Hidden in the rainforest at Convict Rock, one tiger remains. But now the sanctuary is threatened by a mining operation, and the last Tasmanian tiger must be lured deeper into the forest. The problem is, not since her great-grandmother has a member of the family been able to earn the shy tigers' trust.

As the summer progresses, Louisa forges unexpected connections with Colin, with the forest, and--through Eleanor's journal--with her great-grandmother. She begins to suspect the key to saving the tiger is her very own music. But will her plan work? Or will the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger disappear once again, this time forever?

A moving coming-of-age story wrapped up in the moss, leaves, and blue gums of the Tasmanian rainforest where, hidden under giant ferns, crouches its most beloved, and lost, creature.

Van Hout expertly conveys the emotional peaks and valleys of each friendship; the monster's eyes and expressions speak volumes. -- Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

Award-winning author-illustrator Mies Van Hout celebrates the fun (and sometimes bumpy) stages of friendship as monster friends play, fight, and reconcile.

Set against Mies van Hout's iconic black backgrounds and utilizing the same vibrant pastel style of the internationally bestselling Happy, each spread of Friends shows a pair of childlike monsters portraying a single verb, from play to tease to fight, reconcile, and cuddle.

This critically acclaimed picture book is both a beautiful art book and a valuable tool for social-emotional learning. Carefully crafted monster characters express an emotional depth that is visually stunning and relatable to children and adults alike.

This new, high-value edition of Friends features extra-heavy pages that, like the truest friendship, will stand the test of time and repeated readings.

Like the earlier Happy, this conveys emotional heft and arresting images in an appealing, child-size package. -- Kirkus Reviews

Baby is getting dressed to go out. But as often as his big sister adds a new piece of clothing, he tosses his hat aside.

It's time for this little one to go out. But which hat will he choose? Red hat, blue hat, striped hat, penguin hat, teddy bear hat? Once that decision is made, that hat just doesn't stay on, while shoes are tied and jacket is buttoned. One more visit to the potty. And once this child is in the stroller at last, will that hat be on his head?

Toddlers will delight in choosing their own hats after they see this charming story. A simple, rhythmic text that reflects the everyday challenge of getting a toddler ready to go out. Written by Theo Heras and Illustrated with gentle humor by Renn Benoit.