WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD and two other fantastic children's nonfiction books

Batch #4 of Children's nonfiction books. (Interested in the other batches? Here are the links: #1, #2, #3)

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Wombats are Pretty Weird: A [Not So] Serious Guide by Abi Cushman

Greenwillow Books, 2023.

Gotta love a book that admits it is not so serious about an animal that is weird. "Wombats Are Pretty Weird is funny, kid-friendly, and informative, and features sidebars, comic panels, extensive backmatter, and a map. Acclaimed author-illustrator Abi Cushman’s nonfiction debut contains everything anyone could ever possibly want to know about wombats!" (Publisher)

I read this delightful and funny book to my grandsons, ages 6 and 3, and they both thought it was awesome. A few days later when I asked the three-year-old what he remembered about the book he told me with no hesitation, "Square poop!" There has got to be a direct line from humor to memory in our brains. If we laugh, we remember. Btw- Wombats do make square poop so it doesn't roll off the boulders when they are marking their territory.

Librarians, I know this is probably a niche purchase, since we don't have any wombats, like our friends Down Under, but I highly recommend you purchase it anyway. It is way too much fun to avoid.

My rating: 5 stars

The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around the Earth by Jung Chang-hoon

Blue Dot Kids Press, 2023.

"As our closest celestial neighbor, the moon touches on many aspects of our lives and has inspired interest from people across centuries. In The Moon Tonight, you can share that same sense of wonder through the eyes of a father-daughter duo as they learn the science behind the twenty-nine-day lunar cycle and the moon’s four phases: crescent, quarter, full, and new. With age-appropriate and easy-to-follow scientific explanations by astronomer Jung Chang-hoon paired with stunningly beautiful drawings by Jang Ho, this picture book offers families a reading experience that is both poetic and educational." (Publisher)

This is embarrassing for me to admit, but here goes. Until I read this little gem of a children's book, I didn't know that the phases of the moon always appear in the same location. For example the full moon always rises in the eastern sky. Overnight the moon hangs in the sky, and sets in the west in the morning. The first quarter moon rises in the east around noon and trails the sun all day. It hangs high in the southern sky in the early evening. At midnight, it sets in the west. If I ever thought of the moon's patterns, they were just random thoughts. I didn't know how predictive the whole 29-day lunar cycle was. I love it when I learn new information, even at my age, and it is always fun if it comes with cool illustrations and not that many pages to read!

The Moon Tonight is a perfect STEM classroom read or a bedtime story for little readers curious about where the moon goes and why!

My rating: 5 stars

An American Story by Kwame Alexander

Little, Brown and Company, 2023.

Poet Kwame Alexander asks How do you tell an American story? A story of struggle, a story of strength. A story of horror, a story of hope. A story of survival that must be told...the story of us!

How do you tell a story that starts in Africa and ends in horror?

The story of slavery is part of the American story and this story must be told.

It is more important than ever to tell this story to all Americans since some today think it is not a story worth telling. Or the story makes them feel bad. Or the story isn't their fault.

This delightfully colorful book is illustrated by Dare Coulter who used paints along with water-based clay and polymer clay which give the characters almost life-like features.

Kwame Alexander is a not-to-be-missed children's and young adult poet. If I see he has a new work published, I read it. I highly recommend this for young children, ages 4-8.

My rating: 5 stars.

-Anne