Published by Greystone Kids 

Summary:  The chicken coop is a “safe, agreeable place” where life is “comfortable”, but a picture of a human carrying off a chicken by her legs shows readers a slightly different story.  When the capybaras come to the coop, it causes quite a stir.  They’re big, wet, and hairy, but it’s hunting season, and they have no place to go.  So the chickens reluctantly grant them shelter, as long as they obey the rules to stay silent and to leave the chickens’ food and water alone.  But one day a chick and a young capybara start playing together.  When the “dangerous” capybaras protect the chick from the farm dog, everything changes, and the capybaras move into the coop with the chickens.  At the end of an unsuccessful hunting season, the hunters return to an empty chicken coop.  “No one ever knew what happened,” is the final sentence, followed by a spread showing the chickens roosting on the capybaras’ backs in the water, then having a serious conversation with a young lamb.  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Originally published in Venezuela, this picture book is simple and fun enough for preschoolers, but could definitely be used to start some interesting conversations with older ones. The disconnect between the text and the illustrations questions the meaning of such words as “comfortable” and “dangerous”. Delightfully subversive.

Cons:  Made me really question not being vegan.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary:  Lydia’s story is told in the form of a letter that begins “Dear Librarian”.  At the age of 5, she and her parents and six siblings left Colorado to move to Iowa.  Her dad was in search of a new job, and the family needed a new home.  For six months, they lived in different family members’ homes, which were too small, crowded, or full of beautiful objects not to be touched by the seven children.  During this time, Lydia discovered the public library, which became a haven, and the librarian, who always greeted her with a hug and made her feel welcome.  After six months, the family got their own home, but Lydia never forgot how the library made her feel, and she grew up to become a librarian herself.  Includes a letter from Lydia to the reader that recounts how she reunited with her librarian friend in 2018 on the NPR show This American Life, and photos of Lydia at age 5 and in 2018 with “her” librarian, Deb Stephenson.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  A heartwarming and inspiring true story that would make a great first-day-of-school read for school librarians.

Cons:  I would have liked to see more back matter on the issue of homelessness.

Published by Clarion Books

Summary:  A dog narrates her best day ever: hanging out with her best friend (a boy in a wheelchair), digging, chasing a cat, and swimming.  But after she rolls in a dead fish, her boy tells her she stinks, they head home for a bath, and suddenly the day is not the best ever.  When she runs around after the bath and breaks a lamp, her boy yells at her, and it becomes the worst day ever.  But an evening apology and a game of fetch with her friend quickly restores the status back to best.  32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  A dog’s live-for-the moment joy is beautifully captured here, and it’s nice to see a kid in a wheelchair being a part of a story that is not about disabilities.

Cons:  Rolling in a dead fish.