Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Posts

Display: Out of this World Books Found Here

Hello By Aiko Ikegami Berkeley, CA: Creston Books, 2019. Picture book. In this wordless picture book, an alien visits Earth, makes friends with a little girl, and returns to his home planet to share his experiences. - Publisher We Are Definitely Human By X. Fang Toronto: Tundra Books, 2024. Picture book. When three mysterious visitors from "Europe" crash-land in Mr. Li's field, he does what any good host would: he invites them back to his farmhouse and offers to help fix up their "car". No, there's nothing strange about these guests at all. Just like other humans, they "make business", "play sportsball" and "wear hat". As the townsfolk also come to the aid of the visitors and the gathering turns into a little party, interplanetary relations reach an all-time high. - Publisher Greetings Floof! Written by C.J. Hong Illustrated by A.J. Smith Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2024. Picture book. Floof from planet Ploof has landed! And it...

Review: Bug on the Bus

Bug on the Bus By David Catrow New York: Holiday House, 2026. Easy Reader. Bug and many other creatures big and small hop onto the bus. A silly little bus driver witnesses the arrivals, and all is fine and well until Skunk joins the crew! Hilarity and fun ensue. This story is simple, but exciting. Early readers will be sure to love it! This book was a uniquely well done easy reader, as it is truly fully accessible for the most beginning reader! It is filled with simple words, many only three letters long. While it is filled with simple words, the story is fast paced and sure to please everyone listening. As an added bonus, the illustrations are charming and silly, which adds a lot to the book as a whole. Make sure to check this out for any budding readers in your life!

Review: Swing!

Swing! By James Yang New York : Viking, 2026. Picture book. Swing! is an adorable story about the magic of childhood heroes. Readers meet an elementary-aged girl who is learning to play tennis with her dad as her patient coach. Together, they watch legendary tennis player Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) win matches on TV. When our young protagonist doesn’t win as often as she’d like, her temper gets the best of her. And when Timmy bothers her at school, she isn’t always as kind as she could be. Along the way, she turns her admiration for Arthur Ashe into inspiration—and looks pretty cool doing it in her Ashe-inspired eyewear. The book is a great choice for kids who have a sports hero of their own. I especially enjoyed the spunky attitude of this determined character, who knows what she wants and works hard to achieve it. It’s a feel-good story that may encourage readers to think about the heroes in their own lives and the lessons those heroes can teach them. If you’re looking for an inspiring...

Five Faves: Eclipses and Fun Space Facts

Did you know that we experience eclipses of the sun and moon every year? This year the Solar eclipse was on August 12th and blocked out the sun for a full 2 minutes. Did you see it? It's okay if you missed it, because we're going to have a lunar eclipse on August 28th. Earth is one of the few planets that experience solar eclipses. Here are some books to learn more about eclipses, what they've meant to the people that view them, and other fun space facts. Eclipse of 1919: How Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Changed Our World by: Emily Arnold McCully New York: Christy Ottaviano Books, 2025. Informational Albert Einstein has always had a curious mind, fascinated with the laws of the universe and finding ways to explain how it all worked together. He had a theory, an idea, that gravity is what happens when objects bend the space and time around them. But gravity isn't something easily seen so to test his hypothesis, he needed to see if the gravity of the sun ...

Review: Case of the Pilfered Pearls

The Case of the Pilfered Pearls (The Shrew Detective #1) By Margi Preus New York: Amulet Books, 2026. Intermediate. 119 pages. Detective Minerva Shrew prefers to keep her mystery solving to the woods where she lives. But when her cousin Tenacity comes to solicit her help to prevent a murder, Minerva breaks her rule of "woodland cases only" to journey from the forest to the human house to help. Sure enough, the lady of the house has lost a pearl necklace, and if it doesn't turn up, she's prepared to call an exterminator on all of the critters in her house. Minerva proves herself a shrewd shrew, as she carefully tracks down clues to save the critters and the day. This short novel is dripping in charm, enhanced by lots of black and white illustrations. Minerva is the kind of character that becomes an instant star - she's smart, kind, and good with words. Her loquaciousness is the result of her unique wallpaper, pages of a dictionary cover her home and she shares new...

Review: A Sea of Lemon Trees

A Sea of Lemon Trees By Maria Dolores Aguila New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2025. Fiction. 272 pages. I will be recommending this book to anyone and everyone! It's a gorgeous novel in verse, based on true events in an agricultural town in California in the early 1930s. Some in the community were in favor of segregation and planned to send all of the Mexican American children to a separate school. However, many in the community knew segregation was wrong and they put their own plans in place to resist segregating the schools. This decision to oppose segregation required the sacrifice, persistence, courage, and bravery of community members young and old. Roberto Alvarez, a 12-year-old will become the lead plaintiff in the court case fighting school segregation. Roberto believes in the power and strength of community, and knows that even though he is young, he can make a difference by standing up for what he believes in. I loved reading about Roberto's determination and willingn...