Provo Library Children's Book Blog

  The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest  Written by Aubrey Hartman  Illustrations by Marcin Minor  New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2025. 313 pages.  Clare is the undead fox of Deadwood Forest. Which basically means he is a dead fox who is actually alive and works as an Usher (the animal that helps the other dead animals cross into the Afterlife). Due to the fact that Clare was hit by a car as he died, Clare looks horrific. In fact, Clare looks like a monster. Which is perhaps why so many humans fear the “monster” of deadwood forest and tend to sing horrible chants about him on Halloween.  One day as Clare is going about his life, a badger named Gingersnipes comes looking for which way to go to the Afterlife (there are four directions: Peace, Progress, Pleasure, and Pain). Only, Gingersnipes tries to go to all of the various and ends up right back on Clare’s doorstep. In search of answers, Claire heads to Hesterfowl (a bird who has visions of the future) to...

 In a few months we will be celebrating a  lesser known holiday that is recognized in the United States as June 19th, or Juneteenth. This holiday commemorates the day that slavery ended in the United States. It is also called, “Independence Day," “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day.” To help you learn more about this important holiday we have a list of books you can read. So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story Written by Anne Wynter Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2025. Informational. A picture book that explains the history behind the Juneteenth celebrations and how it became a national holiday in 2021. Beautiful illustrations along with the lyrics of "Lift Every voice and Sing", explain the history of what Juneteenth honors and how it has been celebrated through the years. The story goes back and forth in time showing images of enslaved people along with modern-day pictures of Juneteenth parades and celebrations.  A great book to help teach why Ju...

  Nearly Exactly Almost Like Me Written by Jennifer Bradbury Illustrated by Pearl AuYeung New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. Picture Book. When an ice cream truck stops in the park, two brothers rush to get in line. The older boy gets there first to hold their place in line just for someone to yell, "No cuts!" when his little brother joins. It turns out that "no cuts" boy doesn't believe they're brothers due to their lack of family resemblance. However, the big brother insists that his adopted younger brother is "nearly, exactly, almost like me." He then goes on to describe the various traits he and his little brother share, such as both loving their trampoline or how they both ate way too much candy on Valentine's Day and threw up on the rug. Through highlighting their similarities, we get the story of how both boys came to be with their family. Their parents first met each of them "through a picture," a sonogram or ph...

Your Birthday Was the Best! Written by Maggie Hutchings Illustrated by Felicita Sala Toronto: Tundra Books, 2022. Picture Book. The story of an eager cockroach who gate-crashes a birthday party -- with hilarious results. For fans of I Don't Want to Be a Frog. It's your birthday, and little do you know that an unwelcome guest has joined in on the festivities. A friendly cockroach has snuck undetected into the house, and has proceeded to join in on all of your fun party games. You were so excited to finally spot him napping on top of your birthday cake, having eaten his fill, that you couldn't help but scream! You think he's gone when your dad sucks him up in the vacuum cleaner . . . but with a birthday party this good, he's going to be nearly impossible to keep away! This laugh-out-loud picture book from bestselling author Maggie Hutchings and acclaimed illustrator Felicita Sala is the perfect birthday gift for young readers.-- Publisher Matthew's Birthday Party ...

  Cuentos ¡Diez manzanas en la cabeza! Escrito por Dr. Seuss Ilustrado por Roy McKie New York : Beginner Books, una división de Random House, 2019. Fácil. "Un león, un perro y un tigre están balanceando diez manzanas sobre sus cabezas cuando unos osos empiezan a perseguirlos." --Editor Cuentitos El verano Por Julie Murray Minneapolis, Minnesota : ABDO Kids, 2016. Fácil. "Hay cambios muy grandes en el verano--desde el clima hasta las actividades que hacemos. Texto sencillo y fotos vibrantes describen la estación y lo divertido que es." --Editor Otros libros sobre los números Gato guapo Oveja 19 Una ranita arbórea Cómo contar hasta uno Contando bananas

  Preschool Time The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe! Written by Christina Soontornvat Illustrated by Colin Jack Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2020. Picture Book. No matter how many times the ten Blunder kids count, they always come up one short... --Editor Preschool Time One Big Pair of Underwear Written by Laura Gehl Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld New York: Beach Lane Books, 2014. Picture Book.  Progressively larger groups of animals try to share a limited number of scooters, cookbooks, nap mats, and underwear. --Editor Toddler Time One Hundred Bones By Yuval Zommer Somerville, MA: Templar Books, an imprint of Candlewick Press, 2016. Picture Book. Scruff the dog is a stray who just loves to dig. It doesn't make him the most popular dog in town. But when he sniffs out a pile of old bones, he gets all the neighborhood dogs to help him. They uncover not one, not two, not three... but 100 bones and make the most exciting dinosaur discovery of all time! Scruff's find wins hi...

My little boy is obsessed with skeletons. He's not that interested in dinosaurs, but he loves their bones. He thinks pirates are pretty cool, as long as they are pirate skeletons.  We spend a lot of time seeking out any and all depictions of skeletons, whether they be unseasonably Halloween-ish, medical, or just a loose femur rattling around somewhere. If you too have a budding osteopathologist in your household, check out these books about bones!  Boney Written by Cary Fagan Illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova Toronto; Berkeley: Groundwood Books : House of Anansi Press, 2022. Picture Book. A thoughtful little girl finds a bone in the forest and takes it home with her. She cleans it, cares for it, and plays with it until she has a sudden sense of melancholy about the unknown creature who died and left a piece of itself behind. She buries the bone in the earth again.  Boney  explores nature, stewardship, interconnectedness, and mortality. I was surprised that my young son...

  Jojo Vs. Middle School By Joy McCullough and Veeda Bybee New York: Aladdin, 2025. Fiction. 184 pages. Jojo's middle school experience is not off to an auspicious start when her mom forgets to wake her up for her first day of school and her mom's boyfriend's cat vomits all over the first day of school outfit that she set aside. Did I mention that her mom's boyfriend is the viral cat influencer Mr. Meow, so he has A LOT of cats. To avoid being dropped off in the Catmobile, Jojo races out the door to catch her brother for a ride only to discover when it's pointed out to her by an elementary school bully in the middle of a crowded hallway, that one of the cats has also ripped a hole in her leggings and she's been showing off her cat-themed underwear to the whole school. When she flees during lunch to the only empty section of the school she can find, the locker room of an old abandoned gym, she finds three other students there who feel just as awkward about their ...

 Earth Day has been observed for over 55 years. It is an annual event on April 22, to demonstrate support for environmental protections. This year's theme was, "Our Power, Our Planet". This theme calls for a global united effort to transition to renewable energy, with the goal of tripling global clean electricity generation by 2030. It encourages individuals, businesses, and governments to take action by educating, advocating, and mobilizing local communities. So, here are a few books to inspire, inform, and give you some ideas to help with this effort. Climate Is Just the Start By Mikaela Loach New York: Random House Children's Books, 2025. Informational. 191 pages. Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist based out of the United Kingdom. By utilizing personal stories, she explains the climate crisis in an inspiring way that helps battle the sense of "doom and gloom" that young people commonly feel in the face of this monumental problem. Read this book i...

Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet By Geo Rutherford New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2024. Informational. 96 pages. Have you ever heard of a lake so salty that its waters mummify any creature that touches it?  How about a a lake that perfectly preserved the crew of a sunken Canadian ship, with one crew member being nicknamed "Old Whitey" eternally floating in the engine room?  From the macabre to the astounding, Spooky Lakes tells the tale of twenty-five of Earth's most intriguing lakes.   This book is one of my favorites from 2024.  It was wildly entertaining and informative and I couldn't wait to read about each new lake presented.  I kept stopping to reread particularly crazy parts out loud to my kids so they, too, could be amazed!  It also made me add a couple new locations to my travel bucket list and also cross some locations off.  I highly recommend this fast paced, high-interest informational book ...

In the Children's Department, we have an amazing section of picture books that we call our Hot Topics section. In this section, we group the picture books by a specific topic. A few examples of these topics are: superheroes, princesses, seek & find, favorite characters, and alphabet books. If you haven't had time to explore this section yet, I highly recommend it! It's a great way to easily find books on topics that are very popular. This blog post will feature five of my favorites from this section. A is for Bee By Ellen Heck Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2022. Picture Book. I found this book fascinating. It goes through each letter of the English alphabet and features a drawing of an animal. Then it lists what the word is for that animal in other languages. It was so interesting to me to see how often in multiple other languages, the first letter is the same, but in English it is totally different. The example on the cover: ari, aamoo, abelha are some of the words fo...

  Cuentos Los colores del camaleón Por Chisato Tashiro New York: Ediciones NorteSur, 2007. Libro ilustrado. "Cansado de estar constantemente cambiando de color, el camaleón está sorprendido de descubrir que los otros animales de la selva estań aburridos de sus colores también, y él empieza a cambiarles por cualquier color y modelo que desean." --Editor Cuentitos Los animales de la granja Por Isabel C. Mendoza New York, NY : DK Publishing, 2023. Fácil. "¡Ven a visitar a los animales que viven en la granja! Busca lindos terneros, corderitos y muchos más." --Contraportada Otros libros sobre los colores Tren de carga El día que los crayones renunciaron ¡Fuera de aquí, horrible monstruo verde! El camaleón azul Rosa no es un color

  Preschool Time Becoming Blue Written by Ellen Tarlow  Illustrated by Julien Chung  New York: Beach Lane Books, 2022. Picture Book.  Blue thinks being Red must be exciting since Red gets to fight fires and tell cars to stop, but when Blue tries being Red for the day he realizes the best thing to be is yourself. --Editor Preschool Time Summer Color! Written by Diana Murray Illustrated by Zoe Persico New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2018. Picture Book. Two children notice all the beautiful colors that surround them on a rainy summer day out in the country. --Publisher Toddler Time Lunch By Denise Fleming New York : Henry Holt and Co., 1992. Picture Book. A very hungry mouse eats a large lunch comprised of colorful foods. --Editor Book Babies Babies Can Sleep Anywhere Written by Lisa Wheeler Illustrated by Carolina Búzio New York: Abrams Appleseed, an imprint of ABRAMS, 2017. Picture Book. Compares the sleeping habits of animals with those of human babies. --E...

The Secret Gardens of Frances Hodgson Burnett Written by Angelica Shirley Carpenter  Illustrated by Helena Perez Garcia Fresno, CA: Bushel & Peck Books, 2024. Biography. If you liked The Secret Garden , Lord Fauntleroy , or A Little Princess , then you will enjoy reading about the woman who brought those stories to life. She had a mind that could imagine anything! Her name is Frances Hodgson Burnett. This book is a biography that traces her journey from her childhood in England to her later life as a successful writer in America. Through her love of nature, storytelling, and determination, Frances created some of the most cherished books in children’s literature.  This book not only tells the story of Burnett’s life but also connects it to the magical worlds she created in her fiction. The vibrant illustrations show how her real-life experiences and surroundings inspired her writing. Young readers will get a sense of how a writer’s imagination can grow from both ...

Spring has arrived, and birds are back to singing in the treetops! If you like birds and want to learn more about our feathered friends, check out these books! What's Inside a Bird's Nest? By Rachel Ignotofsky New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2024. Informational. Learn about the life cycles and behavior of birds in this guide that answers the questions readers young and old might have about bird lives. Energetic illustrations and information-filled pages are perfect for skimming or reading in-depth.  Birds Everywhere Written by Camilla De la Bédoyère Illustrated by Britta Teckentrup Somerville, MA: Big Picture Press, an imprint of Candlewick Press, 2023. Informational. Birds are everywhere, with so many species to learn about! This introduction examines the different origins for the birds we know today, courtship and nesting, migration, the interaction between humans and birds, and bird habitats across every continent. Several seek-and-find games and puzzles are includ...

Danilo Was Here By Tamika Burgess New York: Harper, 2025. Fiction. 298 pages. It's 1989 and Danilo Osorio wants to follow his dreams, he just isn't sure what they are. Danilo is from Panama and lives in a neighborhood that was mostly destroyed by the recent U.S. military invasion to depose dictator, Manuel Noriega. After their apartment is condemned, Danilo and his family are sent to a refugee camp. Months earlier, Danilo's father left the family to look for work in the United States, but now the calls from dad have stopped and he hasn't sent home any money either. Baseball, the thing Danilo shared with his father, has always made Danilo special -- now it might be the key to changing things for his family. An American baseball scout arranges for Danilo to come train in San Diego, and Danilo agrees to go, to hopefully track down his father and get the money his family needs. As his search for his dad wears on, tensions with his mostly white baseball team heighten, and as...