Published by Sterling Children’s Books

Summary:  Harpreet loves to dress according to his moods: yellow when he feels sunny, pink when he wants to celebrate, and red when he needs extra courage.  His head covering, called a patka, is always part of his carefully coordinated outfit. When his family moves across the country, Harpreet finds himself nervously wearing blue, sadly wearing gray, and shyly sporting white.  White becomes his go-to choice as he attempts to fade into the background of his new school. But when a chance encounter involving headgear leads to a new friendship, Harpreet happily begins to wear the colors of the rainbow once again.  Includes a note about Sikhism from Sikh scholar and professor Simran Jeet Singh. 32 pages; ages 3-8.

Pros:  A touching friendship story that most kids will connect with, while at the same time learning about a culture that may be unfamiliar to them.

Cons:  Harpreet’s pallette seemed a little limited, leading me to wonder where green, purple, orange, black, and brown fit in.

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Published by Chronicle Books

Summary:  “A stone sat still with water, grass, and dirt/and it was as it was where it was in the world.”  While the stone remains constant, perceptions of it change. To a chipmunk, it’s dark, but to an owl, it’s bright.  When a gull uses it to break open a clam, it’s loud, but it’s quiet to the snake resting on top of it. Over time (“And the stone was a blink/and the stone was an age”), the landscape changes and the stone becomes an island, then eventually is submerged underwater.  “Have you ever known such a place? Where with water, grass, and dirt, a stone sits still in the world.” 56 pages; ages 3-300.

Pros:  This is a truly amazing book with so many different levels: it can be read as a nature book for the kiddies, or as a Zen guide to learning to connect with the eternal in a transient world.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Wenzel’s Caldecott honor book They All Saw a Cat, but I sure would love to see this one get some Caldecott recognition.

Cons:  I feel like I need to retreat from the world and just think about this book for awhile.

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Published by Candlewick Press

Summary:  The narrator describes her beloved grandmother, and how they spent their days together as she grew up in Iran.  Grandma never minded her granddaughter following her around and doing the things she did, even when the little girl climbed on top of her during her morning prayers.  The two often visited their friends next door–the two girls played together while the women drank coffee and talked. The grandmothers would pray for each other, one in a church and one in a mosque.  The narrator concludes, “In this big universe full of many moons, I have traveled and seen many wonders, but I’ve never loved anything or anyone the way I loved my grandma. She was kind, generous, and full of love.  I still want to be just like her.” 32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  This would be a great mentor text for learning about narrative fiction or writing about a character.  The illustrations are beautiful, and interesting facts about Iran and Islam are woven throughout the story.

Cons:  It would have been nice to see some other family members interacting with Grandma and the little girl.

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Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Summary:  A diverse cast of characters uses books to spark their imaginations, comfort themselves, lose themselves, and to find a friend.  A baby even uses the corner of a book for teething. Only nine sentences long, the text works well with the mostly purple illustrations, with the different books providing spots of other colors.  32 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  Short, sweet, and simple, this would be a great way to generate classroom discussion about the wonders of books and reading.

Cons:  It seemed a bit too short. 

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