By Joan Bransfield Graham
Illustrated by Tania Garcia

Fun, accessible concrete poems and bold, vibrant artwork celebrate the many shapes and forms of our planet Earth. Perfect for National Poetry Month and Earth Day!

The Earth’s crust shakes, water swells, lava flows, and glaciers advance. In this ingenious picture book, the landforms created by Earth's powerful forces are examined through compelling concrete poetry. From canyons to volcanos, archipelagoes to hoodoos, take a tour of the many fascinating forms and features of our awesome planet.

This book has so many great curricular hooks and is a wonderful way to bring science and language arts together!

By Laura Obuobi
Illustrated by Olivia Duchess

In a Sierra Leone dust storm, ballet swooped into Michaela Mabinty DePrince’s life and never let her go. After her adoption brought her to the United States, ballet continued to be the consoling hand that guided Michaela, filling her with joy and hope. Over time, Michaela’s love for ballet only grew, and with it her dream of becoming a professional dancer.

However, there were peers who told Michaela she didn’t belong in the ballet world, that her skin and vitiligo made her too different. But ballet had stirred in Michaela a faith and determination that would help her turn her dreams into a reality.

This inspiring picture book biography teachers perseverance, passion, and following your heart.

By Molly Golden
Illustrated by Paola Escobar

The Velveteen Rabbit has been treasured by generations of readers. Here, for the first time, is the story of how this beloved character came to be.

As a child, Margery Williams lost the father she adored and had to move to a city far away. She found solace visiting the animals in a wild and wonderful park near her new home, and in her toys—toys that became real to her. As an adult, she watched her children use their own imaginations to work through difficult times, and, inspired by their play, she wrote The Velveteen Rabbit.

This gorgeously written and illustrated story of Margery’s life will resonate with anyone who’s ever wished their beloved toys would become real—and those who believe they already are.

Pair this book with The Velveteen Rabbit for a storytime for older audiences or to introduce writing units, encouraging students to pull inspiration from their own lives.

By Lindsay Moore

With bodies home to hollow bones and weighing about the same as a handful of sand, Arctic terns are designed for flight. And fly they do. These remarkable animals migrate an astonishing 18,000 miles—from pole to pole and back again—each year. Along the way they encounter danger, weather, other migratory animals, and a wide range of ecosystems and habitats. Because they chase the sun, ornithologists speculate that the Arctic tern enjoys more hours of daylight than any other animal on Earth.

As she did in her acclaimed picture books Sea Bear and Yoshi and the Ocean, Lindsay Moore combines a poetic, highly readable, science-rich text with gorgeously rendered watercolor paintings. Readers will be swept away by the beautiful and graceful terns, the spectacular landscapes and seascapes they traverse, the sheer magnitude of their journey, and the awesome mysteries of nature. A terrific choice for use in science and language arts curriculums. Includes extensive back matter.

By Patricia Morris Buckley
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

High above the ground, generation after generation, Native workers called skywalkers have sculpted city skylines, balancing on narrow beams, facing down terrifying heights and heartbreaking loss. These skywalkers who dared to touch the heavens have built a legacy of landmarks all over the North American continent—and even today, there are Native Americans still climbing up among the clouds, brave enough to walk the sky.

With impactful and illuminating prose, Patricia Morris Buckley (Mohawk) tells the soaring story of the remarkable skywalkers, whose bravery and tragedies are warmly captured in moving watercolors by award-winning artist E. B. Lewis (Lenni-Lenape).