Book Nook – Summer Reading

Best Day Ever!

by Marilyn Singer (Author) Leah Nixon (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

A sweet dog-loves-kid/kid-loves-dog story, in which the kid uses a wheelchair, from an award-winning children’s poet and talented debut illustrator. This playful puppy thinks she’s having the best day ever! She’s so happy to be out with her friend, she doesn’t even realize that she’s being a little naughty. But then he scolds her, and suddenly–Worst. Day. Ever. Will puppy be able to make amends and turn their day back around? Join an exuberant, boundary-pushing pup and her exasperated boy in this reassuring story about unconditional love and the challenges of trying to always be on your best behavior.

This Is a School

by John Schu (Author) Veronica Miller Jamison (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

A school isn’t just a building; it is all the people who work and learn together. It is a place for discovery and asking questions. A place for sharing, for helping, and for community. It is a place of hope and healing, even when that community can’t be together in the same room. John Schu, a librarian, and former ambassador of school libraries for Scholastic, crafts a loving letter to schools and the people that make up the communities within in a picture book debut beautifully illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison.

An Elephant & Piggie Biggie-Biggie-Biggie-Biggie! (Elephant & Piggie Biggie #4)

by Mo Willems (Author)

Series: Elephant & Piggie

From award-winning, best-selling author and illustrator Mo Willems comes a bind-up of five Elephant & Piggie adventures that celebrate friendship. This bind-up includes the titles: My Friend is Sad; I Love My New Toy!; Pigs Make Me Sneeze!; A Big Guy Took My Ball!; and My New Friend is So Fun!

Wondering Around

by Meg Fleming (Author) Richard Jones (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

What do you wonder when you wander outside? This lyrical picture book reveals the creativity and curiosity that comes from exploring the outdoors.From mysterious footprints on a forest path to mystifying reflections of water on sand, nature has a way of making us curious. Wondering Around is a deliciously woven celebration of how wondering about one small thing in nature can lead to infinite discovery.

Bisa’s Carnaval

by Joana Pastro (Author) Carolina Coroa (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Discover the sights and sounds of Brazil through the eyes of a young girl and her great-grandmother as they share in the excitement of Carnaval! It’s time for Carnaval and Clara cannot wait to celebrate her favorite holiday with family, but especially with her great-grandmother. Even if Bisa can’t attend, Clara knows the Carnaval parade will still be special. Costumed lovingly by their bisa, everyone takes to the street for the annual parade. But even among all the colors, costumes, music, and dancing, something is missing . . . or is it someone? With lush, lyrical text and bright, colorful illustrations, this book takes readers to one of the most exciting holidays of the year and reminds us that no matter who or where you are, love is always worth celebrating.

Perfectly Pegasus (Not Quite Narwhal #2)

by Jessie Sima (Author) Jessie Sima (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Series: Not Quite Narwhal

A lonely pegasus looks for the perfect friend in this sweet and adorable picture book companion to the bestselling Not Quite Narwhal! Nimbus has always lived among the clouds. She’s a pegasus, after all, and the sky is where she belongs. She is one of a kind. And when she wants a friend, all she has to do is look up–and talk to the stars. Only…they don’t really talk back. The clouds don’t, either. And sometimes, being the only pegasus can be a little…lonely? So she decides to find a fallen star to make a wish on–and wishes for friends who are just like her. Along the way she meets a Unicorn named Kelp, and a host of other creatures…who might just open her eyes to something other than what’s up in the sky.

Investigators: Braver and Boulder (InvestiGators #5)

by John Patrick Green (Author)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Series: Investigators

The InvestiGators’ latest case has our sewer-loving secret agents between a rock and a hard place in InvestiGators: Braver and Boulder, the latest chapter in the hilarious New York Times bestselling adventure graphic novel series from John Patrick Green. The InvestiGators are having a hard time keeping a low profile with their new headquarters being a giant robot towering over the city! How can they be SECRET agents if everyone recognizes them?

But with their ears to the ground, Mango and Brash hear mysterious rumblings about BOULDER BUDDIES…are they just the latest fad or part of a mob-run scheme? And could a rocky relationship from the InvestiGators’ past be trembling beneath the surface?

Aaron Slater, Illustrator (Questioneers)

by Andrea Beaty (Author) David Roberts (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Series: Questioneers

An uplifting story about the power of art, finding your voice, and telling your story even when you’re out of step with your peers from the #1 bestselling creators of Sofia Valdez, Future Prez and Ada Twist, Scientist! Aaron Slater loves listening to stories and dreams of one day writing them himself. But when it comes to reading, the letters just look like squiggles to him, and it soon becomes clear he struggles more than his peers. When his teacher asks each child in the class to write a story, Aaron can’t get a single word down. He is sure his dream of being a storyteller is out of reach . . . until inspiration strikes, and Aaron finds a way to spin a tale in a way that is uniquely his. Follow Iggy Peck, Rosie Revere, Ada Twist, Sofia Valdez, and Aaron Slater on all of their adventures! Add the picture books, chapter books, and activity books starring The Questioneers by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts to your family library today.

Falling Short

by Ernesto Cisneros (Author)

Reading Level: 4th – 5th Grade

Ernesto Cisneros, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Efrén Divided, is back with a hilarious and heartfelt novel about two best friends who must rely on each other in unexpected ways. Isaac and Marco already know sixth grade is going to change their lives. But it won’t change things at home–not without each other’s help. This year, star basketball player Isaac plans on finally keeping up with his schoolwork. Better grades will surely stop Isaac’s parents from arguing all the time. Meanwhile, straight-A Marco vows on finally winning his father’s approval by earning a spot on the school’s basketball team. But will their friendship and support for each other be enough to keep the two boys from falling short?

The Last Mapmaker

by Christina Soontornvat (Author)

Reading Level: 4th – 5th Grade

From Christina Soontornvat, the visionary and versatile author of two 2021 Newbery Honor Books, comes a high-seas adventure set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world.

In a fantasy adventure every bit as compelling and confident in its world building as her Newbery Honor Book A Wish in the Dark, Christina Soontornvat explores a young woman’s struggle to unburden herself of the past and chart her own destiny in a world of secrets. As assistant to Mangkon’s most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman–and in a kingdom where the status of one’s ancestors dictates their social position, the truth could ruin her. Sai seizes the chance to join an expedition to chart the southern seas, but she isn’t the only one aboard with secrets. When Sai learns that the ship might be heading for the fabled Sunderlands–a land of dragons, dangers, and riches beyond imagining–she must weigh the cost of her dreams. Vivid, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, this tale of identity and integrity is as beautiful and intricate as the maps of old.

Egg Marks the Spot (Skunk and Badger #2)

by Amy Timberlake (Author) Jon Klassen (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th – 5th Grade

Series: Skunk and Badger

Buried in the heart of every animal is a secret treasure.

Badger’s is the Spider Eye Agate, stolen years ago by his crafty and treasure-trade-dealing cousin, Fisher. Skunk’s is Sundays with the New Yak Times Book Review. When Mr. G. Hedgehog threatens to take the Book Review as soon as it thumps on the doorstep, Skunk decides an adventure (“X Marks the Spot!”) will solve both their problems. Badger agrees, and together they set off for his favorite campsite on Endless Lake.

But all is not as it seems at Campsite #5. Harrumphs in the night. Unexpected friends. Then Fisher appears, and Badger knows something is up. Something involving secrets, betrayals, and lies. And a luminous, late-Jurassic prize.

In a volume that includes full-color plates and additional black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott medalist Jon Klassen, Newbery Honor author Amy Timberlake takes readers on a second adventure in the new series reviewers have called an instant classic, with comparisons to Frog and Toad, Winnie-the-Pooh, and The Wind in the Willows.

Good-Bye Stacey, Good-Bye (Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novel #11)

by Ann M Martin (Author) Gabriela Epstein (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th – 5th Grade

Series: Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novel

A brand-new Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adapted by Gabriela Epstein! Stacey McGill is moving back to New York! That means no more Stoneybrook Middle School, no more Charlotte Johanssen, and worst of all… no more Baby-sitters Club. Stacey’s friends are crushed when they hear that Stacey’s moving, especially Claudia. Stacey is her best friend. What kind of going-away present is good enough for someone so special? And how will the BSC go on without Stacey?