Category: Children’s

Miguel’s Community Garden by JaNay Brown-Wood & Samara Hardy

This smart, sweet book had all my kids crowding around to learn and argue about plants, fruits and vegetables! It definitely brightened up our dreary winter day, and I’m hoping it’ll help nurture a seed of interest in gardening come the spring! Miguel’s Community Garden tells the tale of our eponymous young hero, who heads …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/02/miguels-community-garden-by-janay-brown-wood-samara-hardy/

Eggs From Red Hen Farm: Farm To Table With Mazes And Maps by Monica Wellington

I am just wildly in love with Monica Wellington’s American folk art style throughout the pages of this wonderfully interactive children’s book. It can sometimes be a struggle to get my younger kids to sit with me for the duration of an entire tome, but my youngest especially was thoroughly engaged by the clever art …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/01/eggs-from-red-hen-farm-farm-to-table-with-mazes-and-maps-by-monica-wellington/

The Casagrandes #2: Anything for Familia by The Loud House Creative Team

As much as I’ve enjoyed the chaotic fun of the Loud House comics, based on the hit show airing on Nickelodeon, I must say that I found this spin-off Casagrande volume much easier to consume, probably because the main cast wasn’t quite as ginormous as in the LH books! Granted, several of these stories have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/24/the-casagrandes-2-anything-for-familia-by-the-loud-house-creative-team/

The Nightmare Brigade #1: The Case Of The Girl From Deja Vu by Frank Thilliez, Yomgui Dumont & Drac

Back when I had far more free time than I do now, I kept a dream diary and tried to practice lucid dreaming, in order to better understand my day-to-day existence and how my subconscious dealt with my issues (and, I’ll admit, to pinpoint when I had those weird prophetic dreams that often come across …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/22/the-nightmare-brigade-1-the-case-of-the-girl-from-deja-vu-by-frank-thilliez-yomgui-dumont-drac/

The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel & Sean Rubin

It’s 1933 and America is in the grip of the fourth year of the Great Depression. Little Muriel is enjoying the springtime cherry blossoms in the Tidal Basin, a free activity that keeps her mind off of how little food her family has even on ordinary days, much less as Passover draws near. Spying an …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/11/the-passover-guest-by-susan-kusel-sean-rubin/

Watercress by Andrea Wang & Jason Chin

I feel like a bad Asian for not leading with this book for February, so Happy Year Of The Tiger, all! Hope your Lunar New Year celebrations have been aces, marking the start of a prosperous year! Watercress is an autobiographical chapter from author Andrea Wang’s life, detailing the time when her Chinese immigrant parents …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/09/watercress-by-andrea-wang-jason-chin/

I Hop by Joe Cepeda

This book is such a breath of fresh air for early readers and, especially, for the people who love them. Perhaps I just haven’t been reading the right books with my kids, but most of the books written for this market tend to feature either really smarmy or really annoying characters, often repeating things (as …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/04/i-hop-by-joe-cepeda/

Bright Star by Yuyi Morales

A whitetail fawn wakes up in the Sonoran desert as this gorgeously rendered picture book opens. Her mother doe gently and lovingly nudges her into awareness of the beauty of the desert world around her as they travel, searching for food and water. The fawn is encouraged not only to look at, listen to and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/02/bright-star-by-yuyi-morales/

Magical History Tour #7: Gandhi, Soldier Of Peace by Fabrice Erre & Sylvain Savoia

I’ve found the Magical History Tour series to be incredibly intelligent and moving to date, but I did not expect to cry quite as much as I did while reading this seventh installment, and particularly over the life and times of a figure who’s become so familiar, I almost take for granted that I already …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/26/magical-history-tour-7-gandhi-soldier-of-peace-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/

The Smurf Tales Vol 3: The Crow In Smurfy Grove And Other Stories by Peyo

This latest volume in Peyo’s translated oeuvre certainly shows how far we’ve come since the days when borderline offensive jokes about Smurfette were considered, if not outright hilarious, then certainly acceptable consumption for young children. Behold how in the 50 or so intervening years, the Smurfs universe has acquired an entire other village of female …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/11/the-smurf-tales-vol-3-the-crow-in-smurfy-grove-and-other-stories-by-peyo/