One kid – Two Jobs! The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi

Lynn: Some background here. I spent my career in a district with a very large ELL population. We’re not big – 7000 kids but 1200 of them are English Language Learners. Over 33 different languages other than English are spoken in our kids’ homes.

SO, I am familiar with searching for resources for our kids, their teachers, AND their families, and there hasn’t been a lot out there. I am heartened by what is being written lately! But, having said that, this extraordinary book touches a chord that will be so deeply heard by kids like ours across the nation. Children are often more capable of learning a new language than their parents, and they are frequently called upon to interpret for them. It is a fact of life in schools and towns in our country, and it puts an immense burden on these students.

Olivia Abtahi nails the issue with her new picture book, The Interpreter (Kokila/Pengin Random, 2025), and while she does it with humor, the truth of it is anything but funny. As she says from the first page, ” Some kids had one job: to be a kid. Cecelia had two.” The young girl in our story loves helping her parents and doing this important job. But it is hard to be this grown-up “professional” interpreter AND be a kid! It is exhausting – and maybe she should have said something earlier. The resolution is hopeful and offers other helpers out there, with parents realizing that their child needs to be a child too.

This is getting long, but I don’t want to leave without highlighting the brilliant illustrations by Monica Arnaldo. Created with watercolors and crayons, Arnoldo uses color masterfully. Pay attention to the color of the speech bubbles, the color green that dominates in the over-reliance on Cecelia in an adult role and in the exaggerated perspectives on the end papers. This is a very kid-appropriate book, but the depth offered in both text and illustrations takes it to another level. I hope the committees are watching this one because it is stellar. Please note too that Cecelia’s oversized green suit waxes and wanes as her responsibilities alter.

This is a book that will speak to so many kids and that librarians and teachers have been wishing for. A must purchase, whether your population is non-English speaking or not.

A Touch of Fun Helps the Learning Go Down – in The Iguanodon’s Horn

Lynn: If you describe a book as being a terrific educational book, most kids will RUN the other way! Happily, for all of us who hope kids will love science and learning, there are a lot of deeply educational books that are so much fun that kids will demand to read them over and over – even in the summer! Sean Rubin’s The Iguanodon’s Horn (Clarion, 2024) is a wonderful example of such a treasure. That it is about dinosaurs is a special bonus.

Author/illustrator Rubin examines a critically important issue in this appealing book: how does scientific thought work? In a time when so many people disdain science and the scientific process, this understanding is crucial for humankind. Rubin uses a child-favorite subject to illustrate the topic and kids will learn so much and hopefully come away with a firm grasp of the fact that science is a process that never ends.

In 1822 – not THAT long ago – Mary Ann Mantell was strolling the beach with her husband and she stumbled over a curious bone. Her husband shared the odd bone with other scientists and they concluded it came from something unusual, which they called an Iguanodon. As they found more bones, they wondered what a whole iguanodon would look like. Their guesses were wildly wrong as were the many scientists who tried to solve the puzzle. As more bones were found and more information gained over the years, theories about Iguanodons – and dinosaurs in general – changed drastically.

Rubin fills his pages with a glorious array of the many ways iguanodon’s appearance changed over time as scientists gained more information that altered their ideas. Full of comedic details, the illustrations are a delight that will entrance kids for hours. Rubin used graphite pencil, digital and physical watercolor washes, and paint splatter to great effect. Author Endnotes provide more information about what is featured on each page and is as much fun to read as the book itself. Rubin concludes the book with challenges to young readers to think about how what we know about the Iguanodon and other dinosaurs could change in the future.

The book’s overall appearance is an irresistible kid magnet and is sure to fly off the shelves. I think kids will absorb the important teaching of the book while enjoying every page! This is a must purchase for libraries, STEM classrooms, and for little dinosaur-enthusiasts everywhere.

Want to Escape? Try The Zebra’s Great Escape!

Lynn: Many of us may be looking for books about escapes, good over evil, and with touches of humor, now more than ever.

Katherine Rundell’s latest, The Zebra’s Great Escape, (S&S, 2024), is a perfect example, her first for a younger audience, and it is a delight. Longer than the usual picture book, this is divided into 3 parts, which makes handy stopping points for a younger child’s bedtime reading. But who will want to stop???

Meet Mink, a child who doesn’t believe in bedtimes. Out late playing, she meets a baby zebra and discovers he and all animals can talk through colors and feelings in her mind. When the baby begs for help, Mink takes him home where he tells her his story of his parents being stolen by an evil man and taken away in a cage. Gabriel, for that is the zebra’s name, has been searching ever since.

Mink, with the help of the grumpy dog next door and other nearby animals, discovers the zebras are being held in a faraway country house by an evil man, Mr. Spit. They are off to the rescue.

Rundell uses words with magical skill. She respects her young readers and her vocabulary choices are challenging but the meaning is made clear through context. The story is paced to increase the readers’ engagement and suspense and she provides a terrifically evil villain they will love to hate. The conclusion is delightfully satisfying.

Enhancing the story are Sara Ogilvie’s illustrations, which have a slightly Edward Gorey feel to them. She uses digital and hand-drawn illustrations, rich colors, and details with a perfect humorous touch.

The entire package is a delight and one that is bound to be read over and over. I missed this one when it came out but please grab this for a your own great escape.

Rebecca Stead Takes on Change

Lynn: Change is hard for most of us. For young children it is especially difficult as they often aren’t old enough to really understand why change is happening. And importantly, kids seldom feel any power to affect those changes that seem so overwhelming. I think many adults are feeling that same helplessness in these chaotic times.

Award-winning author Rebecca Stead makes her picture book authorial debut with a book about change and how one small family addresses it. Anything (Chronicle, 2025), is guaranteed to go straight to a reader’s heart, young or old, and to offer one way to take on something out of our control.

A young girl narrates her story of a day in a new apartment where her Dad has a chocolate cake waiting. He says it is a birthday cake for the new apartment and tells her she can have three anything wishes. “A rainbow for my room,” is the first wish, she tells him, and colors appear on the white pages for the first time as he paints a huge rainbow on the wall. The girl saves her wishes for a bit, but she makes silent wishes all related to going back to their old apartment, none of which come true.

Stead’s beautifully understated and authentic prose makes it clear that both the father and the child are regretting the change and both are working hard at protecting the other. The father’s actions are so understanding of the child’s feelings and his imaginative responses so wise, especially to the big Third Wish. The resolution will be satisfying to young readers and bring tears to adults.

The powerful partner to Stead’s evocative writing is Gracey Zhang’s artwork. Plain white backgrounds are the ideal backdrop for the small vignettes and full-page drawings. Zhang uses ballpoint pen and gouache to great effect. The scratchy sketches have the feel of a child’s crayon drawings and are deeply expressive despite the simple lines.

This is a powerful book that will speak to so many and that stays in the reader’s hearts and minds. Anything makes a terrific read-aloud and discussion starter, both in a classroom or in a family struggling with changes of their own. This is a must purchase!