Josephine By Chloé Alméras Minneapolis, MN: Gecko Press, 2026. Gecko Press. Orginally published in France, Josephine tells the story of a giraffe and the various sights and seasons she experiences. With simple illustrations, we see Josephine encountering several different animals, her looking for a snack, playing in the clouds and water, and being filled with wonder at everything around her. With only a line per page and not much plot, this book still conveys how it is amazing to appreciate the world we live in. I think this board book is genius. The illustrations follow a pattern where elements of the left picture are inverted to create the right picture. For example, one page show Josephine surrounded by yellow flowers—represented by yellow dots—and the next page shows the yellow dots being used for stars in the sky. As well, snow becomes bubbles, leaves become flowers, and a mountain becomes small bumps in the grass. In addition to my appreciation, my four-month-old will not stop st...
Styx and Stones By Gary D. Schmidt and Ron Koertge New York: Clarion Books, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. After dying while trying to defend his village from the Spartans, Simon of Lacadaemon has spent the last 2,451 years in the underworld. The underworld isn't all bad - Simon is a servant to Queen Persephone and he gets to spend his days chatting with Socrates, Shakespeare, Sartre, and Maya Angelou (among others). But that doesn't mean he wants to stay there. In fact, after thousands of attempts to escape, Simon succeeds and finds himself in present-day Minnesota. Specifically, he emerges from a bathroom stall of a middle school where he is discovered by social outcast Zeke Tripp. To call Simon a fish out of water might be putting things lightly, he masquerades as Zeke's cousin from Las Vegas and does his best to adjust to life in the modern day. Still, it doesn't take long for Simon to become popular and to become a true friend to Zeke. If only things were that easy - Hade...