★ Du Iz Tak?

By Carson Ellis

It’s hard to believe Du Iz Tak? is only Carson Ellis’s second outing as an author (the first being 2015’s critically acclaimed Home). Prior to her recent foray into writing picture books, the illustrator’s distinctive ... Read More »

November 16, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

A Family is a Family is a Family

By Sara O’Leary‚ Qin Leng (ill.)

It’s not easy feeling different, especially when it seems all the other kids fit in. Two new picture books gently and playfully take on these insecurities and turn them into celebrations of diversity. In French ... Read More »

November 7, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Margo Thinks Twice

By Monica Arnaldo

One Saturday morning, Margo wakes up with the undeniable urge to create. As she’s about to begin assembling her masterpiece, Margo’s mother, not wanting the little girl to stick to everything, cautions her to be ... Read More »

November 7, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ Solutions for Cold Feet and Other Little Problems

By Carey Sookocheff

Toronto illustrator Carey Sookocheff isn’t new to picture books – she provided the charming art for Maureen Fergus’s popular Buddy and Earl series – but she is new to authorship, and it’s a good fit. ... Read More »

October 17, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ French Toast

By Kari-Lynn Winters‚ François Thisdale (ill.)

It’s not easy feeling different, especially when it seems all the other kids fit in. Two new picture books gently and playfully take on these insecurities and turn them into celebrations of diversity. In French ... Read More »

October 12, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Hurry Up, Henry

By Jennifer Lanthier‚ Isabelle Malenfant (ill.)

From three great talents in Canadian children’s literature come two picture books that highlight some of the more challenging aspects of childhood. In Jeremy Tankard’s Hungry Bird, Bird is hangry. In Hurry Up, Henry by ... Read More »

September 27, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Lila and the Crow

By Gabrielle Grimard

In her authorial debut, Montreal illustrator Gabrielle Grimard tackles bullying and diversity through the heartbreaking story of Lila, whose new classmates mock her for looking different. Every day, the other students call her a crow ... Read More »

September 22, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Gertie’s Leap to Greatness

By Jillian Tamaki (ill.); Kate Beasley

Anne, Pippi, Ramona, Harriet, Clementine: the precocious, incorrigible, too-bright-for-her-own-good young female character is an established archetype in children’s books. The magical thing about this archetype is that so many young readers relate to it, regardless ... Read More »

September 20, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko

By Toshikado Hajiri (ill.); David Jacobson (ed.); Michiko Tsuboi (ed.); Misuzu Kaneko (ed.); Sally Ito (ed.)

Empathy is a dominant theme in the work of celebrated Japanese children’s poet Misuzu Kaneko, who died in 1930. Her poems are about making connections and identifying with others – so much so that she ... Read More »

September 15, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Hungry Bird

By Jeremy Tankard

From three great talents in Canadian children’s literature come two picture books that highlight some of the more challenging aspects of childhood. In Jeremy Tankard’s Hungry Bird, Bird is hangry. In Hurry Up, Henry by ... Read More »

September 7, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Clara Humble and the Not-So-Super Powers

By Anna Humphrey; Lisa Cinar (ill.)

Naughtiness is the lifeblood of the comic middle-grade novel, but it presents the writer with a problem in this age of didacticism: how can a kid get into energetic and imaginative trouble when adults are ... Read More »

August 23, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

King Baby

By Kate Beaton

Canadian cartooning superstar Kate Beaton follows up her stellar kidlit debut, The Princess and the Pony, with the story of a demanding infant who holds court over his entire family. The narration is delivered in ... Read More »

August 8, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

A Squiggly Story

By Andrew Larsen; Mike Lowery (ill.)

A young wannabe author is coached by his more literate big sis to “Write what you KNOW.” The little guy knows his letters, but not many words, so he starts his story with a capital ... Read More »

August 8, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ We Found a Hat

By Jon Klassen

It would be difficult to find a person possessed of even the slightest interest in children’s books published during the past decade who isn’t familiar with Jon Klassen. His two Hat books (2011’s I Want ... Read More »

August 3, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

All the World a Poem

By Gilles Tibo; Erin Woods (trans.); Manon Gauthier (illus.)

Gilles Tibo was already a well-loved children’s illustrator when he turned his hand to writing, and he has been prolific and successful in both fields. In his engaging new picture book, he celebrates his love ... Read More »

July 18, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Inside Your Insides: A Guide to the Microbes That Call You Home

By Claire Eamer; Marie-Ève Tremblay (illus.)

Microbiology might seem like a complex subject to broach with middle-graders, but in her new book, Claire Eamer (winner of the 2013 Lane Anderson Award for science writing in Canada) succeeds in explaining the basics ... Read More »

July 4, 2016 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Picture Books

The Cranky Ballerina

By Elise Gravel

The Cranky Ballerina introduces readers to Ada, who, as the title suggests, is a reluctant dancer. Ada’s not usually in a bad mood, except on Saturdays, when she has to go to ballet class. Ada ... Read More »

July 4, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Maxwell the Monkey Barber

By Cale Atkinson

In this rhyming picture book, Maxwell the monkey opens his jungle barbershop to numerous wild animals with equally wild hair: a baboon with a mass of curls, a lion with a beastly mane, and a ... Read More »

June 27, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Ferryland Visitor: A Mysterious Tale

By Charis Cotter; Gerald L. Squires (illus.)

In the early 1970s, artist Gerald Squires, his wife, Gail, and daughters, Esther and Meranda, moved into an abandoned lighthouse-keeper’s cottage in Ferryland, Newfoundland. Not long after settling in, just before Halloween, an unexpected visitor ... Read More »

May 17, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Stone Thrower

By Jael Ealey Richardson; Matt James (illus.)

As a young boy, future Canadian Football League quarterback Chuck Ealey perfected his throw by aiming stones at the trains that passed through his segregated Ohio neighbourhood. It was the 1950s and Chuck was African-American ... Read More »

May 17, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Artist and Me

By Shane Peacock; Sophie Casson (illus.)

For years there’s been a trend of picture books based on important and/or misunderstood artists: Jackson Pollock, Charlie Parker, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, and Virginia Woolf are just a few who’ve gotten the kindergarten-lit treatment. ... Read More »

May 16, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ The Night Gardener

By Eric Fan; Terry Fan

One morning, William awakens to a commotion and dashes outside. There he sees that, as if by magic, a tall tree has been shaped into a topiary owl overnight. The next morning, another tree has ... Read More »

May 9, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ Sea Change

By Frank Viva

Rather than letting Eliot spend the summer hanging out with his friends, going to backyard sleepovers and the drive-in, and buying “monster cards and the latest issue of Spider-man,” Eliot’s parents are sending him to ... Read More »

May 3, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

My Book of Birds

By Geraldo Valério

The illustrations are the star of this oversized hardcover that operates as a scrapbook for beginning bird lovers. Author and illustrator Geraldo Valério uses collage to construct the vibrant and beautiful images of North American ... Read More »

April 25, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Half-Truths and Brazen Lies: An Honest Look at Lying

By Kira Vermond; Clayton Hanmer (illus.)

No one likes to be called a liar, but the truth is, everybody is guilty of telling a fib once in a while. Some of us do it a lot. One study revealed that six ... Read More »

April 18, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books