I first spotted In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek around Valentine’s Day last year. I picked it up, assuming it was a book associated with the holiday. Instead, I found a picture book so full of heart and emotion that it was overflowing.
All in Dr.Bookworm Book Rec
Pre-ordering Books
Do you pre-order books so you’ll have them on their release day?
World Read Aloud Day 2020
In honor of World Read Aloud Day, here are two of our all time favorite picture books to read out loud.
First Pages: Frankly In Love
“Well, I have two names.
That’s what I say when people ask me what my middle names is. I say:
Well, I have two names.
My first name is Frank Li.
Mom-n-Dad gave me that name mostly with the character count in mind.
No really: F+R+A+N+K+L+I contains seven characters and seven is a lucky number in America.”
~ from Frankly In Love by David Yoon
First Pages: Wayward Son
“Simon Snow did what he came to do.
What they all said he would do someday. He found the big baddie—he found two—and he finished them off.
He didn’t expect to live through it. And he hadn’t.
Baz once told him that everything was a story, and that Simon was the hero.”
First Pages: Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon
“Drake didn’t see the king’s soldier coming. He was busy digging in the onion patch. He pulled out a fat, white onion. A worm crawled on it. Drake didn’t mind the worm. He was the son of a farmer. HIs family had been growing onions in the Kingdom of Bracken forever. He would spend his life digging up onions, whether he wanted to or not.”
~ from Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon by Tracey West
Llama Destroys the World
Dat! Dat is my new favorite picture book! And llama.
I Like The Me I See
In our current culture, when our little ones may be learning that they might not have the right hair color, or skin tone, or nose, or clothes, or verbal skills to be accepted, I love Culture Queen’s simple but profound message: I LIKE THE ME I SEE.
First Pages: Good Omens
“It was a nice day.
All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.
The angel of the Eastern Gate put his wings over his head to shield himself from the first drops.”
~ Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Sky Color/International Dot Day 2019
Today, in honor of Peter H. Reynolds, I want to talk about another one of his books, Sky Color. In Sky Color, Marisol is an artist but she becomes stumped when she is helping to paint a school mural and there is NO BLUE PAINT FOR THE SKY!
Dragon Post
Dragon Post has the main character writing to ‘experts’ about what to do with a new dragon he has acquired.
First Pages: Wizard of Oz
“Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs and the beds.”
~ from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
When Sadness Is At Your Door
How often do I talk about SADNESS with my patients? Every day.
we don't eat our classmates
Penelope is starting school for the first time but she’s having trouble making friends….because she keeps eating her classmates.
Book Vs Movie: The Sun is Also a Star
“Carl Sagan said that if you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. When he says ‘from scratch’, he means from nothing. He means from a time before the world even existed. If you want to make an apple pie from nothing at all, you have to start with the Big Bang and expanding universes, neutrons, ions, atoms, black holes, suns, moons, ocean tides, the Milky Way, Earth, evolution, dinosaurs, extinction-level events, playtupuses, Homo erectus, Cro-Magnon man, etc. You have to start at the beginning.”
~from The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Carmela Full of Wishes
Carmela Full of Wishes is full of heart and has stolen MY heart in its rendering.
Dear Boy
Dear Boy is an anthem for little boys to be who they are, but not in a boys will be boys old-school way
If I Was the Sunshine
Julie Fogliano has woven together a lovely soft sort of ode to a loved one in a call and answer format. It’s a quiet melody that is not quite predictable, but depicts an ongoing relationship that draws two people (or things) together. Loren Long’s gorgeous illustrations are vibrant and full of flight, ocean waves, changing seasons, and always, always the ways we interconnect with each other and beyond.
What If It's Us
What I loved about What If It’s Us is that Albertalli and Silvera realistically portray the voices, the angst, the humor, the friendships, AND the awkwardness of teen relationships.