Echo by Adam Rex is a funny and smart book about friendship and learning to accept disagreement. Junior loves hearing how great he is, especially from his echo. But when a new neighbor disagrees with him, Junior learns that friends don’t always have to agree—and that’s okay.
With humor and bright illustrations, this book is great for teaching kids about respect, listening, and admitting mistakes. It’s perfect for classroom discussions about social skills and friendship.
Home is a touching and beautiful picture book by Newbery Medal winner Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long. This book explores the many ways we can think about “home”—not just as a place, but as a feeling.
The text is poetic, helping readers see that home can be a sound, a smell, or a moment with someone you love. It can be a family sharing a meal, a grandparent fishing, or even nature itself. The pictures are full of emotion, showing many different types of homes and families.
This book is a great way to start classroom discussions about what home means to each student. It encourages empathy, reflection, and appreciation for both differences and shared experiences. The rich language also makes it useful for lessons on poetry and descriptive writing.
Home is a warm and thoughtful addition to any classroom library, perfect for building community and making students feel seen and valued.
The Monarch is a beautiful picture book about the amazing journey of the monarch butterfly. Written by Kirsten Hall and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, this book uses fun, rhyming words and bright, colorful pictures to tell the story.
Students will enjoy following the butterfly as it flies through the sky. The words are simple and poetic, great for reading out loud. The pictures show nature in a soft, gentle way that keeps young readers interested.
This book is a good way to teach about butterflies, their life cycle, and why we need to protect them. It also helps children care about nature and the world around them.
The Monarch is perfect for lessons in science, reading, and art. It’s a lovely and meaningful book to add to your classroom.
The Most Magnificent Team is another book by Ashley Spires about a girl and her dog who want to build something. But when they get to their favorite spot, they find the neighbor and her cat are already there! So they decide to work together.
At first, it seems like a great idea. But the two girls work very differently. One likes to move fast and just try things. The other likes to measure and plan. Soon, they start to get frustrated.
This story shows that working as a team can be hard, but it’s also worth it. The girl learns that mistakes are okay and teamwork takes patience. With funny pictures and an important message, this book is a great way to learn about trying your best, not giving up, and working together.
Chalk the Walk is a fun and happy book about two kids who use chalk to make art on the sidewalk. As they draw, more people from the neighborhood join in. Everyone works together to make something beautiful. The words in the book rhyme, and the pictures get more colorful as the story goes on. The drawings show how art can bring people together. This book is great for young kids. It shows how a simple piece of chalk can help you use your imagination and have fun with others.
Girls on the Rise is a powerful picture book by Amanda Gorman, the famous poet from the presidential inauguration. Her poem celebrates girls for being brave, strong, and kind. It shows that girls are amazing on their own—but even stronger when they support each other.
The pictures by Loveis Wise are colorful and full of life. They show girls from all over the world being proud, bold, and hopeful.
This book is great for young readers. It’s easy to understand, fun to read out loud, and reminds all girls that they can do great things—together.
Reviewed by OHS student, Rory C.
This intense thriller novel is one that will surely keep readers on their toes and wondering what is the real truth.
Harlow Ford has spent her whole life running with her mom, Cora, never truly knowing what they are afraid of. As they wound up in a car accident and are faced with tragic decisions, Cora tells Harlow to never stop running before she dies, forcing Harlow to make a choice; keep living in secrecy, or finally face the truth?
The eye-catching mystery is great at keeping you wondering if what they are saying is true. You never expect what the next page may hold for you. In addition, the wonderful atmosphere and setting of the novel embraces the readers completely. It feels as if you are inside of Harlow’s mind and feeling it with her.
I like the plot of the book. At first, I thought it would not be that interesting or surprising but as I went on, it did shock me a little.I was not expecting the ending or all of these hidden twists and that was pretty exciting. The characters were also well-developed. They were not good or bad but just human. It was great to see characters who truly feel human and are well-rounded people. I dislike how the book is paced. It felt as if the first 3/4 of the book were the same thing over and over. Obviously, it is a mystery so they cannot hand you the answer to everything right away. But, I felt like this was a little excessive. Harlow kind of only had the same knowledge the whole time and it got very repetitive. The story itself is intriguing but the pacing makes it a little less enjoyable. It was almost like a dump of information once we got to the end and it made sense but it was still annoying.
If you like thrillers and horror, I would recommend this book. It encapsulates you completely and brings you into the atmosphere of the novel.
The book Bunny Hop by Sarah Hwang is a Ready To Ready Pre-Level One book about a pink bunny on an adventure to find food, eat all the food, and feel the effects of all that food on the bunny’s tummy!
The illustrations, also by Sarah Hwang, really make this book. I love the cute style of the pink bunny and the feelings the illustrations convey when the bunny eats different foods. Such an expressive bunny with so few lines! I think kids in kindergarten will enjoy this book, although I think some of the words will be quite challenging for them. For a Pre-Level One book, words like sour, healthy, and squishy will give them a hard time. However, the sentences are short enough that, with adult support, the student will be able to read it independently after a few repetitions.
This illustrated picture book about loving books, baking and friendship by Blanca Gómez is fabulous. The illustrations are simple yet each page contains so much that each time you read it you’ll notice a new title on a book spine, a picture in a frame, the time on the clock. In this book two friends, Bookie and Cookie love to hang out together, but never at Bookie’s house/page. You see, Bookie lives on the left hand page and Cookie lives on the right hand page! The line: “I don’t like what I don’t know” is such an important conversation starter for kids – model thinking outloud with: “This makes me wonder if I have ever felt this way. Have you?” And start the conversation with kids about why we might be afraid of what we don’t know, and how we handle it.
This amazing friendship story is beautiful, real, and funny. My own children quote Bookie and Cookie often and get so excited when they see the very recognizable cover in stores and libraries around town.
If you want a great friendship story, beautiful art that gives Christian Robinson vibes, and a read aloud with great conversation starters, then this is the book for you.
Stop that Mop! is a Ready to Read Level 1 book focusing on the short o sounds in words like mop, slop, and stop. The colors, movement of characters, humor and repetition in the story lines make this a perfect Level 1 book. The pages are set up with 1-2 story parts on a page, mimicking a early graphic novel style without defined boxes. The characters are illustrated with alot of movement and are very inviting to young readers with the colors and expressions.
The words are repetitive and simple, helping the reader gain confidence as they go. The key words are presented in both capital letters and lowercase, helping the reader with letter identification.
This book will be a great addition for our Kindergarten and early first grade readers.
