Staff Picks - Kids

Created on November 30, 2021, 6:59 pm

Last Updated June 9, 2023, 11:54 am

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Feast for your eyes! Have fun roaming the pages of Ponti's delectable birthday-cake-building, nonsense punning, gargantuan tale of rich excess featuring his iconic chicklets. A playful picture book with a world deep enough to return to again and again. - Theodore R
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Violet is having a tough year. She started middle school, is worried about keeping her friends, and she has to move. On top of that, she has a ghost in her room and she feels sick and tired all the time. A lovely and empathetic story about life changes and long term illness. - Michelle M
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Everyone certainly has heard about the underground railroad - but ever heard about enslaved people fleeing to swamps and the wilderness? This junior fiction book is told from the perspectives of young people caught up in slavery in the US. A terrific read for everyone. - Todd P
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Petra and her family are chosen to leave Earth and repopulate the human race on another planet. When she wakes hundreds of years later, she discovers that the new generation has purged Earth's memories. She is the only one who remembers. Can her stories save the human race? - Karen G
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Adia Kelbara is a twelve year old orphan struggling. Her aunt and uncle believe she is an ogbanje, a demon-possessed child. She's afraid they're right so she flees to the Academy of Shamans. There she learns a shocking secret. Will she be able to save her country? - Karen G.
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Skeletown volume 1
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With bold, bright illustrations and only two words in the text, this bilingual book features mischievous characters out to have fun and explore opposites. Best when read aloud to experience the ways in which vocal intonation and emphasis can change the meaning of a word. - Sarah D
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The Tea Dragon Society, an Eisner Award-winning book, is the coziest of cozy fantasy stories. This graphic novel for kids features a heart-warming cast of wonderfully diverse characters, the joy of found family, and the cutest drawings of dragons you will ever see. - Sarah D.
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No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever is a fun picture book which teaches that the joy of homophones can result in two sentences sounding the same, but meaning very different things. Amusing illustrations accompany each sentence to bring the differences to life. - Sarah D.
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After her parents' deaths, Maria arrives in the United States by way of Pakistan and Bangladesh with a reputation for being...prickly. With some extra care, perhaps she (and the abandoned garden she finds) can grow in this modern retelling of The Secret Garden. - Andrea W
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This super fun, interesting book about four famous Americans who loved to road trip in the early part of the 1900's. Full of wonderful illustrations, actual photographs of their many adventures, and facts about each of these accomplished men. This is non-fiction at its best. - Michael N
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Creepy history, travel, adventure, and ghosts! Cassidy is able to cross the "veil" between the world of the living and the world of the dead. A trick which gets dangerous when she travels with her parents as they film a TV series about the world's most haunted cities. - Chrysalis C
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Owl diaries volume 17
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Eva can't wait for the Woodlandstock Music Festival! It's the event of the year. But when one of the bands drops out, it's cancelled. Can Eva start a band and save the festival in time? A fun read for the emerging reader. - Karen G
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Fluffy McWhiskers is dangerously cute. She's so cute that everyone who sees her literally explodes. With everyone around her exploding, she's very sad and lonely. Her quest to safely make a friend will have readers exploding in laughter and requests to read it again. - Jennie R
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This might not be an obvious title for a librarian but this book is delightful and gives a big shout out to libraries, books and fun active kids. - Mike N
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What kind of scary stories do foxes tell? The yellow disease...Mr. Scratch...the witch with the silver claw... Each interlocking story reads like a folk tale, but describes a very real threat to the fox heroes. Did you love "Watership Down" or "Charlotte's Web"? Try this! - Charlotte M
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Margaret knows nothing about her life prior to arriving as an infant to the Elysian convent on the tiny island in the kingdom of Albion. When former Queen Eleanor is banished to the island, Margaret befriends her and learns much about her identity, past, and future. - Sarah C
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Sailing Day is coming soon to Sanlangita. Teams of brave sailors will attempt the dangerous sea crossing to the mysterious mountain rumored to be inhabited by a paradise of plants, fish, and … monsters. Life is hard for Lalani and her mother. How will she survive the trip? - Stephen H
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In this Young Reader's edition, Johnson describes how the developments surrounding glass, refrigeration, sound, cleanliness, time and light have shaped our current world. Learn how 19th century train routes impact the current time zones and other ways that we got to now. - Sarah C
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Pri Das ia an Indian American teen whose mother keeps secrets about her past; Pri wants to learn about India, but her mother refuses to talk. When Pri discovers a magical red pashmina scarf that transports her to India, will her mother's secrets be revealed? - Carol S
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It's the night of the big dance and everyone should be dressed up and ready to party, right? Seven different middle schoolers narrate this tale filled with drama, crushes, frenemies, and one high stakes prank. Will the dance be the best or the worst night ever? - Nico P
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