Dear Acorn (Love, Oak): Letter Poems to Friends Written by Joyce Sidman Illustrated by Melissa Sweet New York, NY : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2025. Poetry. 40 pages. These whimsical and charming pairs of poems are letters between friends. They may not be the friends you would typically think of, such as a bubble and the sky or a child and their toes, but the creative personification of these ordinary things takes the mundane and turns it magical. The poems are written in different formats, suiting the voice and message of each writer. Joyce Sidman creates a perfect guide, through examples and instruction at the back of the book, on writing poetry. Melissa Sweet creates stunning illustrations using mixed mediums. This small book of poems is perfect for your child with their head in the clouds. In fact, the letters between a cloud and droplets is one of my favorite pairs. Any reader will have a great exercise in imagination while reading them.
Whether it be dragons, disease, or climate change, there are several ways that authors have imagined the world coming to a disastrous end. But in many of the stories of how the world can fall apart, there are people who fight to put it back together again. Many of these stories deal with how young people stand up to oppressive regimes to confront misinformation and discover conspiracies to create a better world. If you enjoy adventuresome stories of hope amidst catastrophe, you'll enjoy these five books set in a post-apocalyptic world. Alebrijes By Donna Barba Higuera Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2023. Fiction. 404 pages. When Leandro's sister, Gabi, is caught stealing, his first instinct is to take her place to prevent her from suffering the harsh consequences of the oppressive Pocatel regime. Because Leandro is still a minor, he isn't banished from the city to await certain death, instead, his consciousness is transferred to a small hummingbird drone, called an alebrije...