By Kashmira Sheth; Illustrated by Nicolo Carozzi

Taking Flight tells the story of three refugee children from different parts of the world.. All three leave all they have ever known, face an exhausting journey only to end up living in a tent at a refugee center. Finally they move on to their new home with hope for a better future. Chesa from Tibet, Karim from Syria, and Yanna from Ukraine remain nameless until they reach out and name themselves to the children at their new school. Through those new friendships, they come to see the similarities between themselves and the people around them. They feel like they belong. Incredible illustrations reinforce the feelings of sadness, exhaustion, fear, and finally hope faced by refugees.

Highly recommended for all libraries.

Written by Ruth Spiro; Illustrated by Teresa Martinez

A young girl and her mother are on a trip to visit a space center. Along the way the young girl explains the concepts behind flight and the difference between airplane and spacecraft flight. Science books for children often struggle with a balance of keeping concepts simple enough to understand yet detailed enough to provide accurate details. This book accomplishes this beautifully with some engaging humor thrown in. Added to that, this is a young girl explaining the concepts which makes it a wonderful example of the importance of understanding audience in informational writing.

The illustrations show the girl and her mother throughout their trip as well as embedded labeled diagrams explaining aerospace concepts. Back matter provides a variety of spacecraft and their purposes and a glossary. This book is part of a four title series How to Explain.

Written by Naomi McIlwraith; Illustrated by Onedove

This book is an invitation to come along to the Great Gathering Place with the Cree people. When you arrive, the gathering gives thanks to “our Grandfathers, Sky and Buffalo”. One thank you after another, associating the world around as family reinforces the interconnectedness of the natural world. This book then gives guidance to all that whether you agree or disagree to always be gentle, always be generous, always be kind, and always love. Part of each phrase is translated in Cree with pronunciation provided. Illustrations merge everyday surroundings and activities with personified natural elements.

This is a perfect book to share in November to offer a Native perspective around Thanksgiving time.

We All Love is another thoughtful and lovely work by Julie Flett. There is a slow thoughtfulness to her books that makes a nice antidote to the often chaotic media that greets many young kids today. Flett’s illustrations are charming, and there is enough detail in the images to keep kids engaged without overstimulating them. The message of love can be felt on every page. The dedication at the beginning and author’s note at the end make this message even more powerful and clear.

The book features a few words in Cree, and the back matter provides additional terms and information about the Cree language. There are tips and pronunciation guides, but not a phonetic guide for pronouncing the words, so adults unfamiliar with them should practice the pronunciation prior to reading aloud.

This would make an excellent read-aloud for preschool and kindergarten-age kids, and young children will enjoy looking at the variety of animals found throughout.

Sundust is a remarkable book. Peña’s illustrations are captivating, with primarily muted colors but also splashes of neon pink on every page. The desert habitat is vibrant and alive, and you can feel the characters’ love for it as they wander through in search of something they saw fall from the sky on the title page.

The text and story feel like a poem about the adventure, creatures, and beauty of the desert, and the magical elements of the book somehow feel natural as well. As soon as I finished, I flipped right back to the start to go on the journey again, and I know kids will do the same over and over again. It’s a book teachers could use when studying habitats or poetic devices, but it would also just make a fantastic read-aloud. I believe any elementary-aged student, from kindergarten to fifth grade, would find this book highly engaging, and it would be a fantastic addition to any school or home library.