Great New Children’s Books for Younger Readers
Title: Etta Extraordinaire
By: Ahmed, Roda
Published: 2023
Suggested ages and title descriptions are from the publisher or each item's library catalog record.
Ages 4 to 8
Born to be a star, Etta prepares for her big performance in her school's talent show, but when she gets pre-show jitters, her loving family helps her through it so she can shine in the spotlight.
Title: What's New, Daniel?
By: Archer, Micha
Published: 2024
A curious little boy explores his neighborhood, finding out what is new with his friends and neighbors.
Ages 3 to 6
Title: Words Are Magic!
By: Avant-Garde, Zaila
Published: 2024
Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Zaila Avant-garde teaches young readers about the joy of learning new words in this Step 1 leveled reader.
Ages 3 to 6
Title: I'm Going to Build a Snowman
By: Awan, Jashar
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A young child sets out to build the best snowman ever.
Title: The Walk
By: Bingham, Winsome
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
As a little girl accompanies her grandma on a walk to the polling station, members of their community join and the grandmother explains the importance of their journey.
Title: I Help
By: Cepeda, Joe
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
When a boy finds a canteen in his garage, he finds his superpower--helping everyone, from the postman to the local birds.
Title: Oh, Olive!
By: Cho, Lian
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Presenting Olive Chen! The most magnificent and brilliant artist in the whole wide world! Her parents are also artists--serious artists--who paint prim, proper, perfect shapes. They know Olive has the talent to follow in their footsteps. But Olive likes to smear, splatter, splash, and even lick. With a brush in each hand, Olive cascades through town with her friends in tow, painting what she wants to, what she feels--until she reaches her parents' pristine art museum...
Title: Ploof
By: Clanton, Ben
Published: 2023
Ages 2 to 5
Ploof is a puffy cloud who's a little lonely -- but now you're here, and the fun can begin! Can you help Ploof overcome their shyness? Play pretend? Make Ploof laugh with your funny faces, find their hiding spot, give them a high five! Full of imaginative and interactive fun, each page of this perfect book for preschoolers offers a chance to play.
Title: Dim Sum Palace
By: Fang, X.
Published: 2023
Ages 3 to 7
Liddy is so excited about going to the Dim Sum Palace tomorrow with her family that she can't sleep. So when a delicious smell wafts into her room, she hops out of bed, opens her door and steps into . . . an actual palace of dim sum!
Title: We Could Fly
By: Giddens, Rhiannon
Published: 2023
Ages 6 to 9
At a sparrow's urging, a young girl feels a mysterious trembling in her arms, a lightness in her feet, a longing to be free. Her mother tells her that her Granny Liza experienced the same, as did many of their people before her. Perhaps it's time, Mama says, to slip the bonds of earth and join the journey started long ago. To hold each other tight and rise.
Title: Remembering
By: Gonzalez, Xelena
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
On Día de los Muertos, a family prepares an ofrenda for their favorite furry family member, remembering all the ways that their beloved pet brought love and comfort to their lives.
Title: Rock Your Mocs
By: Goodluck, Laurel
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
In this happy, vibrant tribute to Rock Your Mocs Day, observed yearly on November 15, author Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Tsimshian) and artist Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw) celebrate the joy and power of wearing moccasinsand the Native pride that comes with them.
Title: Desert Queen
By: Gopal, Jyoti Rajan
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
This picture book biography in verse follows the life of beloved Rajasthani drag performer Queen Harish, known as the Whirling Desert Queen of Rajasthan. Lit by an inner fire and propelled by a family tragedy, Harish defied the gender conventions of middle class Indian life, battled discrimination and intimidation, and eventually grew up to dance with Bollywood movie stars and on stages across the world.
Title: Mama's Sleeping Scarf
By: Grace-James, Nwa
Published: 2023
Ages 3 to 7
Chino loves the scarf her mother ties around her hair at night, and takes it on endless adventures during the day as a reminder of the ones she loves.
Title: The Concrete Garden
By: Graham, Bob
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
After a long, cold winter, doors finally open, and children spill out like candies from a box. Amanda is the last one out of the apartment building, with a carton of chalk in her hands. On every inch of the pavement outside, the children draw pictures of flowers and trees, mushrooms and snails, and a few very unexpected things.
Title: When I Wrap My Hair
By: Grant, Shauntay
Published: 2024
This joyful, inspiring and powerful love letter to hair wrapping ties together past and present as it recognizes and demonstrates how knowledge is passed through generations.
Ages 4 to 8
Title: I'm From
By: Gray, Gary
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Early morning wakeups and homemade pancakes, Raucous bus rides and schoolyard games, Family games and bedtime rituals... These are the small moments that shape a child's day. I'm From is an invitation into the vivid world of one small boy, a poetic account of all the people and places and things that shape who he is and define where he is from.
Title: A Walk in the Woods
By: Grimes, Nikki
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A grieving son follows a treasure map his late father left him through the woods they used to explore together.
Title: My Block Looks Like
By: Harper, Janelle
Published: 2024
A picture book that recognizes the beauty of the bodegas, subways, and playgrounds that characterize everyday life in the Bronx and pays homage to the ways that its residents have shaped pop culture through music, visual art, and dance.
Ages 4 to 8
Title: Yukie's Island: My Family's World War II Story
By: Kimura, Yukie
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
When Yukie Kimura was eight years old, her family lived on a tiny island near the coast of northern Japan, where her father was a lighthouse keeper. Her days were filled with adventure and nature: collecting seagull eggs to bake cookies, finding fresh seafood on the shore, and digging for fossils in a cave. But it was also 1945, the final year of World War II. Then, during one sunny weekend, bombs are dropped.
Title: Ride Beside Me
By: Knisley, Lucy
Published: 2024
A mother and son hop on their bike for a ride through the neighborhood, joining friends and neighbors along the way.
Ages 3 to 6
Title: Afikoman, Where'd You Go?
By: Levington, Rebecca Gardyn
Published: 2024
When a playful piece of matzah scampers away and hides during the seder, all the children in the family, and even the pet dog, search throughout the house to find it.
Ages 4 to 8
Title: Chef Edna: Queen of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis
By: Melvina, Noel
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Edna loved to cook. Growing up on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, she learned the value of fresh, local, seasonal food from her Mama Daisy, as well as how to measure ingredients for biscuits using coins and to listen closely to her cakes to know when they were done. Edna carried these traditions with her all the way to Manhattan, where she became a celebrated chef, cooking traditional French food in her signature Southern style and introducing the world to the flavors of her home.
Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Title: See Otto Say Hi!
By: Milgrim, David
Published: 2024
Otto does his utmost to befriend a bird.
Ages 3 to 5
Title: Baking with Mi Abuelita
By: Mora, Julissa
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 6
It's Papi's birthday! Which means it's time to get in the kitchen and bake the traditional family cake - Tres Leches! Together, we'll measure the ingredients and when some of it sticks to the pan, no worries! Abuelita is there to save the day. The family is working together on this special tradition, just like Papi did with Abuelita when he was young!
Title: River of Mariposas
By: Ortega, Mirelle
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A young girl dreams of a time when the land and sky belonged to the mariposas amarillas, or yellow butterflies, and tries to re-create their glory with paper and glue.
Title: My Grandfather's Song
By: Phung, Nguyen Quang
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Long ago, my grandfather came to this new land ... Before it became his home, the jungle was the land--full of awe-inspiring animals, lush trees, and endless water. Still, Tí feared the unknown. He didn't feel brave or capable, but Grandfather stood by his side, reminding him that the world around them is big, wonderful, and ready to welcome them into its song...if they're willing to listen
Title: Salma Writes a Book
By: Ramadan, Danny
Published: 2023
Ages 6 to 9
Salma is going to be a big sister! She's determined to be the best sister ever, so she sets out to write the ultimate guidebook to siblinghood. But the more Salma learns about siblings, the more confused she gets, especially since her mama is fighting with her own brother, Khalou Dawood, about who he loves. Can Salma figure out what it means to be a good sister before the baby arrives?
Title: Pass the Baby
By: Reich, Susanna
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A delightful meal with a big extended family becomes a free-for-all when one particularly excitable baby joins the fun.
Title: There Was a Party for Langston
By: Reynolds, Jason
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A celebration of Langston Hughes and African American authors he inspired, told through the lens of the party held at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1991.
Title: A Letter for Bob
By: Rogers, Kim
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Ever since the day Mom and Dad brought Bob home from the car dealership, Bob has been a part of Katie's family. Bob has taken them all over, from powwows to vacations to time spent with faraway family. Bob has been there in sad and scary times and for some of the family's most treasured memories. But after many miles, it's time for the family to say goodbye to Bob...
Title: The Real Story
By: Ruzzier, Sergio
Published: 2023
Ages 3 to 6
When Cat asks Mouse how the cookie jar broke and where the cookies went, Mouse tells Cat implausible story after implausible story.
Title: Angela's Glacier
By: Scott, Jordan
Published: 2024
Ages 4 to 8
A girl grows up visiting Snæfellsjökull, the glacier near her home, but when preteen life throws her off-center she must reconnect with her icy old friend.
Title: Bhangra Baby
By: Sehgal, Kabir
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Bhangra Baby learns to step, hop, twist, and jump as he moves to the rhythm of the dhol.
Title: The Artivist
By: Smith, Nikkolas
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Motivated by the realization of global inequities, a young boy embraces his dual identities as an artist and activist, becoming an "Artivist" to make a difference by using his viral mural as a catalyst for positive change.
Title: Do You Remember?
By: Smith, Sydney
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
Tucked in bed at a new apartment, a boy and his mother trade memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp when a rainstorm blew the power out. Now it's just the two of them, and the house where all those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favorite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined
Title: Keyana Loves Her Friend
By: Tarpley, Natasha Anastasia
Published: 2024
When Keyana reunites with her best friend who moved away, she learns how to deal with changes to their playtime routine.
Ages 4 to 8
Title: The Blue Pickup
By: Tripplett, Natasha
Published: 2024
Ju-Girl's favorite days are the ones spent with Granddad in his garage, fixing cars and hearing stories about his old blue pickup. Granddad used to drive the blue pickup all over the island, bringing happiness to many. And now it just sits in the driveway. One day, Ju-Girl asks Granddad if he'd ever fix it, and he's unsure at first. But the pair soon finds out just what it takes to restore the memory of the blue pickup and to create new stories along the way.
Ages 4 to 8
Title: Prak Fills the House
By: Washington, Donna L.
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
This retelling of "The Three Little Pigs" stars a spirited pig as she outsmarts her older siblings in a friendly competition
Title: Zora, the Story Keeper
By: Wilkins, Ebony
Published: 2023
Ages 4 to 8
A young Black girl and her aunt celebrate the wonder and magic of their family's legacy through storytelling.