Published by Farrar Straus and Giroux 
Summary: 11-year-old Charlie has been sent to live with her Aunt Bertha and Uncle Gus while her father serves a jail term and her mother “gets back on her feet”. Charlie’s not exactly sure what that means, but she does know that she doesn’t want to be living in the hillbilly town of Colby, North Carolina away from her home in Raleigh and her big sister Jackie. She doesn’t much care for Howard, the neighbor boy who tries to befriend her, and she’s not sure what she thinks of her loquacious, quirky aunt. Charlie’s a big believer in making wishes, and she has one wish that she makes whenever she gets a chance, whether it’s finding a penny, seeing the first star come out, or getting the bigger part of the wishbone. In fact, Wishbone is the name she gives to the stray dog she glimpses in the woods near her aunt and uncle’s home, and she enlists Howard to help her with a plan to catch the dog and turn him into a pet. Their plan succeeds, and Wishbone turns out to be the first good thing to happen to Charlie in a long time. When Jackie comes for a visit, Charlie gets a chance to see her surroundings through new eyes, and begins to appreciate the people who care about her. A surprise phone call from her mother turns her world upside down and forces Charlie to make some difficult choices. 240 pages; grades 4-6.
Pros: The adorable, appealing cover is just the beginning of a heartwarming story of a girl who’s had way too much to deal with in her short life, yet still has the resiliency and heart to slowly learn to care about the people around her. Keep the Kleenex close at hand as you approach the final chapters.
Cons: I’d love to know what happens to Charlie and Jackie, but I have a feeling this will be a stand-alone book.
Summary: Octicorn’s dad is a unicorn and Mom is an octopus. He may be the only one in existence, which sometimes makes it hard to fit in. Too bad, because he’s great at ring toss, juggling, and water sports. He’s not a picky eater…plankton, fresh clover, and cupcakes will keep him happy. He loves s’mores, sports, recess. He really wants a jet-ski. Octicorn may look different from everyone else, but inside he’s the same, and would really like to be your friend. 48 pages; ages 4-8.
Summary: Jack’s summer is not looking too great: he’s expected to take care of his autistic sister Maddie while his single mom struggles to make ends meet with two jobs. At a flea market, an unsavory vendor (with the help of Maddie, speaking for the first time) trades Jack a box of seeds for the keys to his mother’s car. Needless to say, this doesn’t go over too well with Mom. The next day, Maddie is outside at the crack of dawn, digging up the backyard to plant the seeds. Before long, the two kids have created a garden of plants that come to life in more ways than one, and that attracts both the neighbor girl, Lilly, and a talking dragon. After a gigantic snail almost crushes Maddie, Jack has had enough, and tries to burn the entire garden. But complete destruction seems impossible, and by the end of this book, Maddie’s been carried off by a garden monster, and Lilly and Jack are arming themselves to go after her. Readers will have to wait for the next installment to see if they will be successful. 208 pages; grades 4-7.
Summary: A day in the life of Hank, the pill bug, begins with him crawling out from beneath his rock home and setting forth through the grass, across the sidewalk, and to the home of his best friend, a girl named Amelia. Today Amelia is pretending to be Amelia Earhart, and she puts Hank on top of her leather helmet and takes him for a ride. After an afternoon playing together, the two friends gaze at each other lovingly (an illustration labeled “what friendship looks like”), then Hank reverses his morning journey to get back home. The last page pictures him happily asleep under his rock. 40 pages; ages 3-7.
A Kids Book A Day 