This book of 74 pages has short four to six page chapters with one black and white illustration per chapter. There is just the right amount of Korean cultural differences included to make Korean students feel recognized and non-Korean students to say, “Wow”, I never new that, “That’s cool.”

Mindy has been at her new school in Florida for a few months now. Lunar New Year is quickly approaching, reminding Mindy of how much fun Lunar New Year had always been with her mother and father. Unni, Mindy’s afterschool babysitter, is Korean, also. Unni’s mother is busy making special foods for their Lunar New Year celebration and makes extra for Mindy and her father.

Dad ( appa in Korean) wants to take Mindy to Orlando, FL, for the Lunar New Year Parade. Mindy’s not sure if she wants to go. How fun could it be without her deceased mother along. Appa tells Mindy to invite her friend Sally to come to the parade with her. At school on Friday, Mindy tells her class all about Lunar New Year during “What’s New with You?”. She even has special rice cakes to share ( not sell, like the trouble she got into in book #1) with her class.

On Saturday, appa suggests Mindy wear the hanbok (Korean dress for special occasions) to the parade her mother helped her purchase last year. It just fits. Off to the parade in Orlando with appa and Sally they go. The parade in wonderful and so big, but does not seem to have any Korean representation. Once the parade is over, Sally and Mindy see a huge Pikachu balloon floating by and run after it to take pictures. Sally and Mindy get worried, almost panicky, once they realize appa was not able to follow them through the crowd. Sally’s emergency cellphone battery has died. And neither one of them knows their parents’ cell numbers. Now what? Sally does have an emergency $20 bill for food, though. That is where appa and his friend find Sally and Mindy in the food court. The four of them have lunch, then make arrangements to meet back at Mindy and appa’s house for a Korean Lunar New Year dinner.

Mindy comes to realize that “without Mom here to celebrate with us, … I could still like it. And we could have new traditions and make new memories with our new friends.” (71)

Author Lyla Lee notes in her Acknowledgments, ” I wanted to write a book about the fun Korean traditions that my parents kept alive in our family despite the fact that we moved to the United States more than twenty years ago.”(75) She has succeeded in a most wonderful way!

Mindy Kim is a 7 1/2 year old who has just moved to Florida from California with her dad, months after her mother died. Mindy is worried about starting a new school. “My old school had kids of many different colors. But here, no one looked like me.” ( 5) Her new teacher does not know how to pronounce her Korean name Min-jung and asks, ” ‘ Do you have an English name?’ ” (10) At lunchtime, the other students have never seen a Korean lunch and laugh. After school is better, when she goes to Eunice’s (Unni) house because Unni has a dog. Mindy wants a dog of her own so much.

Mindy’s second day of school is better because she has made some goals for herself, just like dad does. First, Mindy asks Sally if she can eat lunch at her table. That worked. Sally is interested in Mindy’s seaweed snack and soon has everyone at the table wanting to try it, too. Sally gives Mindy the idea of trading food for the seaweed. Then Mindy gets so many snacks she can’t eat them all. Then, Sally suggests she sell the seaweed snacks to the other students. Mindy’s seaweed snack business is taking off. She wants to use the money she earns to get a puppy. A puppy would help dad feel better, too, because he is still sad over mom’s death, like Mindy. Another student tells on Mindy for selling the snacks which is against the school rules. When the principal gets involved, Mindy and Sally become upset with each other for their part in the rule breaking. Principal involved means parents get notified, and Mindy’s not having a mother comes up again. Dad takes it all in stride and helps Mindy apologize to Sally. Later, when everything has settled down, dad has a special celebration for Mindy for making it through her first good week at her new school.

This book of 77 pages has short four to six page chapters with one black and white illustration per chapter. There is just the right amount of Korean cultural differences included to make Korean students feel recognized and non-Korean students to say, “Wow”, I never new that, “That’s cool.”

Crackers is a dog who has a list of things to do: bark, nap, pee outside, sniff things and lives with a cat named Butters. One day their life is disrupted when their owner brings home a new puppy named Peanut. Peanut pees in the house, eats Crackers food, and keeps them up at night. Butter and Crackers try to get rid of Peanut, but they keep getting in trouble for the things Peanut does. One night Peanut walks out the front gate and gets lost. Crackers and Butter realize they miss Peanut and set out to find him. This graphic novel will have students laughing at the silly things the animals do and say. (Butter tells Peanut the toilet is a jacuzzi and the handle makes it spin.)

A little girl and a cat are playing when the cat gets sick. When the cat says it doesn’t feel well, the girl asks if the cat wants a hug. The cat does, so she hugs the cat. Then a series of animals follow saying they need a hug from the girl. The girl is liking the hugs less and less and the illustrations show her more and more bedraggled. She doesn’t feel well and the cat asks if she wants a hug which makes her feel better. The book seems like it could be great for tolerance and sticking up for oneself, but it gets a little muddled at the end.

In Kevin the Unicorn: Why Can’t We Be Bestie-Corns? a new unicorn moves in next door to Kevin and Kevin knows that they will be best friends. They try to be friends, but they just don’t like the same things. Eric likes clam juice and it is not Kevin’s favorite. Kevin wants to do something sporty, but Eric just couldn’t do it. They realize that they don’t have to be best friends, but they can still be friendly to each other. The illustrations are bright and colorful. The vocabulary and expressions are fun (flummoxed, great galloping glitter pants) and will make readers laugh.

This is a story of an acorn told in the style of The House That Jack Built. It starts out with the treehouse that Jill built and follows the acorn with different animals. The acorn is eventually planted by the squirrel and grows into a big tree that holds the treehouse that Jack built. The text is lyrical and rhyming and includes fun to say words like Hullabaloo and Pee-ew. The illustrations are bright with the landscape is in various shades of green and the animals are cartoonish. The human characters in the book are white.

What do you do if you work at a zoo? You might brush a hippos teeth, tickle a tapir, or pick up panda poop. Each page of this informational book looks at what zookeepers do for different animals at the zoo. Each page has an illustration in cut and torn paper collage, a simple statement in large, colorful font and 2-3 sentences describing what they do for that animal. The back matter includes a short bullet point list of what zookeepers do, zoo pros and cons, a zoo timeline, a list of the world’s top zoos and facts about the animals featured in the book.

This story tells of the life of Mohammad Alaa Aljareel. Alaa stayed in Aleppo as the destruction of war in Syria forced many to flee. A caring man who worked as an ambulance driver, Alaa was struck with condition of the many cats left behind by fleeing families. By providing them food and water, Alaa soon was caring for more cats than he could manage. Through local and international support, Alaa established a home for abandoned cats where they are safe and loved. In the last few years, Alaa has also extended his shelter to include other animals and created playgrounds and an orphanage for the children of Aleppo.

An touching story of the power of love and the impact one good person can have on the world even amidst devastating circumstances. Alaa’s life is an inspiration.

The book begins with a letter from Mohmmad Alaa Aljareel in both English and Arabic.

David is starting his first day at a new school and he’s worried about making friends. When recess arrives, David heads out with a pocket full of rubber bands. He searches the children engaged in a variety of recess activities; tag, hide-and-seek, reading, video games, and hopscotch for someone who would play elastic skip with him. Finally he approaches a girl who responds to his question and asks how to play. So begins David’s first friendship at his new school. The next day, David runs to recess with his friends to chant and jump elastic skip.

A first day of school book that tells the story of fitting in, overcoming shyness, taking chances, and finding friends. By sharing something special to himself, David forges new friendships.