Calling all cat lovers! Do you ever wonder what your cat is saying to you when you leave the house? Do you wonder what they fill their days with? Leonard, the cat, loves his human. He joins him for dinner, hangs around his shoulders and sleeps with him. But, when his human leaves for work Leonard feels lonely. Leonard is quickly bored, until he spots a fellow feline home for the day. The other cat lives across the street in a parallel apartment and Leonard has an idea. He sneaks himself into his human’s instrument case and crosses the street to meet his new friend, cat to cat. Mariposa only speaks Spanish, but the language barrier doesn’t stop the two from having a great time playing with each other. In the evening, Leonard sneaks home through an open window. Leonard takes Mariposa on many adventures through the seasons until one day Mariposa’s human discovers Leonard in his apartment and, because of the cold, closes their apartment window leaving Leonard no way to get home.

This is a cute story of friendship between cats and between felines and their humans. You get to feel the sadness and joy right alongside the characters as the illustrations provide a colorful, emotional journey.

Cat lovers will adore this friendship story!

Naaz Khan created a wonderful, rhyming, funny tale of a brother, Musa, and his sister, Dada, on their trip to the beach in the daladala, a bus, in Zanzibar. This book is a fun counting book as they continue to add 1, 2, 3 and up to 10 things and people to the daladala. Musa doesn’t think any more can fit, at each stop he says there is no more room, but his sister believes they can fit everyone who needs the lift. By the end of the story when they are adding 10 divers to the bus, Musa is laughing along with his sister and ready to welcome anyone aboard. Finally, they make it to the beach and as everyone spills out, you count backwards remembering all the people and animals and things Musa and Dada made room for along the way.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is the representation of Africa in the illustrations. The pictures show so much joy and movement and all the reader can do is giggle along with Musa and Dada as they stuff as many things as possible onto the daladala bus. I also enjoyed how the text was represented, also with alot of movement, using large type-face for some words and arranging the phrases in different places across the page.

The book does have a glossary at the back for a few Arabic and Swahili words that show up in the text. Although it does explain the words, it does not help pronounce them.

I think many kids would find this book funny and it will spark great conversations about different cultures, countries, and language.

Aaron Slater Illustrator by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts is another great addition to the Questioneers collection. In this rhyming story, Aaron Slater is born LOVING stories, he loves listening to stories and what his heart wants most is to create his own stories. But to write, first he must read, and words are not easy for Aaron to understand – they’re all just squiggles. Aaron struggles to write and read in school and keep up with his classmates, one day when Miss Greer asks the class to write a story Aaron just tells his story. He doesn’t have a single word on his page, but his class sits in rapture as they listen to the words spill out of his mouth. His teacher recognizes this special gift of Aaron’s and thanks him for the beautiful story. Aaron discovers that he can succeed, his path might just be a little different.

I love this story because it highlights a student struggling with dyslexia, and a teacher embracing him for who he is and appreciating his gifts. I know many students will identify with Aaron Slater.

The illustrations are fantastic and its so much fun to find the other Questioneers among the pages. Don’t forget to check out the hardcover under the jacket for more of Aaron’s (Roberts) illustrations!

First loves make your heart beat fast, make your cheeks burn pink, and make you shy even when they’re your best friend. Archie and Zack love eachother, and everyone knows this. Archie decides to write Zack a note, from A to Z, but he feels something is missing, so he hides it in a tree. He writes another one, but again hides it. He writes a third note, and hides that one as well. Three classmates find the notes: Zuzella, Zinnia, and Zelda. All who the note could be for since it didn’t say Zack – but each knew the note was from Archie to Zack because everyone knew they loved eachother.

This cute picture book is the perfect first love story, a perfect depiction of people who are just meant to be, and a perfect picture story of acceptance. I enjoyed that the illustrations add to the story, in fact, you need them to fully understand what Archie feels as he wonders whether this will be the note he gives to Zack.

If you are looking for an LGBTQIA+ fiction picture book to add to your collection, this sweet story is the one! Don’t forget to check out the cover under the jacket for a surprise!

In this sequel to Kelly Yang’s novel, Front Desk, we continue the story of Mia, Lupe, and Jason. Mia and her family (and the other investors) now own the motel and are doing really well. They have had a great summer with Lupe and Mia running the front desk. In Kelly Yang’s first novel she tackled topics of colorism and racism, in this novel she takes on the topic of immigration as well as racism. Despite these topics being difficult to convey to elementary kids, Yang does it in a way that middle grade students can understand, empathize with, and learn from. I was very impressed with the amount of information presented and the ease at which Yang fit it into her story.

This novel surrounds a gubernatorial race in California and immigration legislation that would kick all illegal immigrants out of schools – including Mia’s best friend Lupe. Mia watches many of her classmates and Lupe shrink in fear and worry as their new 6th grade teacher talks about the legislation and tells them that racism doesn’t exist. Mia, who learned how powerful her voice is in the first novel, continues to use her writing to make change at the motel and in her community. They are faced with many challenges, including the motel possibly losing investors because Mia wrote ‘Immigrants Welcome’ on their Calavista Motel sign.

This is a fabulous story of friendship, integrity, empathy, and the power of voice.

The afterward of this novel also tells about the author’s own experience with similar legislation growing up in California. She talks about the quantitative and qualitative research she put into this book and that every hate crime which we read in the story is one that happened in real life.

I highly recommend adding this to your library, along with Front Desk.

This is a great story about how storyteller Zora Neale Hurston became the collector and teller of stories. The book follows Zora’s life from her childhood, where she got her love of oral storytelling, her mother passing away, her father remarrying, her leaving home at 14, getting educated and returning home to collect the stories she remembered from her past.

This book is illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara and the illustrations in this book are fantastic. You can feel the energy that Zora Neale Hurston carried with her on her journeys and her story friends follow you through the illustrations. There are frogs in glasses, rabbits in hats, and foxes that you can find hiding in the pages of Zora’s story. The end papers at the end of the book offer an Author’s Note and additional reading sources to continue learning about the prolific storyteller.

This is a great addition to the biographies and stories in your classroom or library.

In Jules vs. The Ocean Jules, her mom and sister are having a beach day. Jules is so excited to build a sandcastle that will for sure impress her big sister, but the ocean has other plans. Every time Jules builds a castle, the ocean comes and destroys it. Jules gets frustrated, pulls herself together and keeps trying. Each time a wave comes and smashes her castle. She perseveres with her goal of building the “biggest, fanciest, most excellent castle” on the beach. And each time “SLAP” the ocean knocks the castle down. Eventually Jules’ big sister comes to help her build the castle and together they build a big, fancy, most excellent sand castle! But, once again CRASH the ocean slaps it down. Despite that Jules and her sister realize the most excellent part of the day was building it together, not the castle itself. The beach day ends with happy sisters after a great day, until Mom tells them really the moon is controlling the waves – now they’ll have to watch out for the moon!

Great illustrations add the fun nature of this story that everyone can relate to. This book could be used in the classroom for topics of perseverance, kindness, and just a fun read aloud.

What is your favorite day of the year? Is it a holiday? Your birthday? The first day of school? Musa’s teacher’s favorite holiday is the first day of school. He and his new classmates wonder why because there are so many other great days of the year! They each have their own favorite day: Eid, Rosh Hashanah, Las Posadas, and Pi Day. As we follow along in the book, Ms. Gupta (their teacher) invites each student to introduce their own favorite day of the year to their classmates. Together with their families, they bring in food and decorations and tell share with their friends the joys of their favorite days.

As you follow these four new friends on their journey sharing with each other and their classmates, you are reminded how sharing small or big parts of ourselves can help create lasting memories and friendships. This is a perfect back to school book that shows how we may all start out differently, but in the end, we share in the togetherness that is a classroom community.

In addition to a wonderful story of friendship and the beginning of the school year, this book is exquisitely illustrated and has fantastic end papers.