Published by Viking Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Squirrel is sure Trouble has arrived when a bear moves in next door.  She imagines all kinds of terrible things about Trouble as she sees him working in the yard and hears noises through their shared wall.  But when her beloved pet mouse Chamomile disappears, she assumes the worst, and, armed with a teapot, rushes to Trouble’s door.  When she discovers them knitting and eating cookies, she realizes she has been wrong to think she’s known about Trouble.  Moral: like tea and cookies, friends can be different and still bring out the best in each other.  40 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  The illustrations do much of the storytelling here, and they are a lot of fun, delivering an important message for kids without hitting them over the head with it.

Cons:  Not sure why the mouse meows.

Published by Neal Porter Books

Summary:  The narrator is angry when her parents stop the car to gather watercress by the side of the road.  It’s wet and muddy, and she’s afraid someone she knows will see her.  Back home, she refuses to eat the watercress at dinnertime.  Her mom goes to her room and gets a photo of her family in China: her as a young girl with her parents and younger brother.  “During the Great Famine, we ate anything we could find, but it was still not enough.”  The facing page shows the family again, only this time the younger brother is gone.  The girl tries the watercress, and discovers it is “delicate and slightly bitter. Like Mom’s memories of home.”  Notes from the author and illustrator explain the challenges of growing up as the child of immigrants, and how sometimes a parent’s difficult memories can make it hard for children to understand them.  32 pages; grades K-4.

Pros:  Andrea Wang captures many layers of memories with her spare text, illuminated by Jason Chin’s beautiful watercolors (his illustrator’s note provides an even greater appreciation for his art).  This would be an excellent mentor text for teaching narrative fiction.

Cons:  Readers will have to make some inferences about what happened to the mom’s younger brother, which could be a bit challenging for younger kids.

Published by Candlewick

Summary:  “Once, out in the country, someone knew right where to build a house.  Inside it smelled of sunshine and new lumber.  Outside smelled of meadow grass and sky.”  As the years pass, one family after another lives there, and the house learns about babies and bedtimes and birthday parties. But one day, a family leaves, and no new family moves in.  The years pass, the house becomes resigned to its fate, but it still can’t help wishing.  Occasionally, a family comes along to look, but decides that the house is too small or too far from the city.  The house has pretty much given up hope when a new family looks at it and seems to like it.  But they go away again…only to return a few days later!  They “fix what needs fixing and paint what needs painting”.  They appreciate the house’s history.  And they start to make new memories for the house.  32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  This would be perfect to pair with Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House.  The illustrations really capture the essence of this beautiful little house, and I was honestly on the edge of my seat wondering if a new family would ever move in.

Cons:  “They fix what needs fixing and paint what needs painting.”  Makes it sound so easy.

Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  “Some people have eyes like sapphire lagoons with lashes like lace trim on ballgowns,” a Chinese-American girl reflects.  “Not me.”  Her eyes “kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea.”  Her eyes are like her mother’s, her grandmother’s, and her little sister’s.  She reflects on how their eyes show their love and admiration as readers see the warm connections among all the girls and women in the family, and she concludes that all of their eyes are beautiful.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Both the text and illustrations are affirming of self-acceptance and family love, with the pictures showing beautiful spreads from Chinese folklore.

Cons:  I would have liked to have learned more about the images in an illustrator’s note.

Published by Greenwillow

Summary:  Kenny’s day is described in four stories: getting dressed for school; overcoming his fear of the vacuum cleaner; practicing soccer with his sister; and getting ready for bed.  Each story is marked with a colored page, the color often showing up again through that story.  The final page has Kenny sleepily climbing into bed, making this a perfect bedtime story.  40 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  Even the youngest readers will relate to Kenny’s stories which include a loving family who enjoy Kenny’s humor and reassure him about his fears.  The illustrations are deceptively simple, with the same colors and objects appearing throughout the stories.

Cons:  Bedtime also appears deceptively simple.