Month: March 2026

Tilted Sky

Sophie Rosen , ,

Emei, Yao. Tilted Sky. Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2024.
Eleven-year-old Bai Jian’s mother abandoned him when he was a baby. Now he lives with his frequently absent father, who drops him off at a boarding school and disappears. His father’s former girlfriend says she cares for him and his mother reappears, saying she cares for him, too. But whom can he really trust? This extraordinary coming-of-age novel translated into English by Kelly Zhang, a first-generation Chinese immigrant to Canada, is highly recommended for mature readers 11 to 16 years old.

“I’m not so sure…that everyone’s got the exact same chances” (2).

“I used to blame myself for being a burden….But one day, I stopped beating myself up when I realized that none of it was my fault” (13).

“I…secretly celebrated my twelfth birthday on my own….It was time to wave goodby to my childhood” (165).

More books set in China

More books for young adults

More books about kids who have to take care of themselves

Goldfinches

Sophie Rosen , ,

Oliver, Mary. Goldfinches. New York: Viking, 2026.
A poem to greet spring by the life-giving American writer, Mary Oliver. Exquisitely illustrated by Melissa Sweet, whose delicate artwork and scientific details carry readers into a new realm of wonder. Accompanied by a lengthy afterword, this picture book is most highly recommended for everyone – 9 to 90 years old – who loves nature.

“Have you ever been so happy in your life?”

“One more thing I want to mention before the pages actually begin. Writing poems, for me but not necessarily for others, is a way of offering praise to the world.” from Long Life: Essays and Other Writing (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004)

More poems turned into picture books

Poems to read and memorize

Write your own poems

Dedushka

Sophie Rosen ,

Spaeth, Katerina. Dedushka: Memories of My Grandpa and Ukraine. Mankato, MN: Paw Prints Publishing, 2025.

Kharkiv is the setting for this story by a Ukrainian American artist remembering her childhood in Ukraine’s second largest city, with more than one million residents before the Russian invasion. Chatting with people on the streets, preserving food from the garden for the winter ahead, watching the news on television, dying Easter eggs using red onion skins…. Katerina and her grandfather do everything together. He is her best friend. And this tender memoir honours their love for each other. Accompanied by two recipes – for Easter bread and dyed eggs – and an author’s note, glossary, and numerous photographs, this picture book is recommended for readers and listeners 5 to 14 years old. 

More picture book memoirs

More stories about grandparents

More stories set in Ukraine

 

Cobweb

Sophie Rosen , , ,

Morpurgo, Michael. Cobweb. London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2024.
The Napoleonic Wars ended on June 18, 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Thousands had died. But one French drummer boy survived. Scots Guardsman Matthew Clay, who kept a diary of his experiences on the battlefield, rescued him. Inspired by this history, Morpurgo’s tells the story of a drover’s dog leading cattle to market in London where he meets two soldiers and befriends a young French drummer boy. Beautifully illustrated by Michael Foreman and well-designed with widely-spaced lines of print, this inspiring novel is highly recommended for readers 8 years old and up. 

More historical novels

More stories of war 

More dog stories 

More stories told from unusual – or multiple – points of view

My Father’s House

Sophie Rosen ,

Javaherbin, Mina. My Father’s House. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2024.
Many years ago, Muslims and Jews lived peacefully together in Iran. When Cyrus the Great, in 539 BCE, said the Jewish people, who had been taken into captivity in Babylon, could return to Judea, many returned. But some decided to stay in the Persian Empire and over 2,000 years later, a sizeable Jewish community still thrived in the city of Isfahan. In this autobiographical picture book, little Mina visits the city with her father, chats with her father’s friend David, enjoys a picnic, explores a mosque, and returns to her father’s childhood home to share a meal with her grandmother. She falls asleep thinking of her father’s words: keep exploring and learning for the whole world is your home. Gently cheerful illustrations by Lindsey Yankey and a lengthy author’s note and glossary help to create a heart-warming and hopeful story highly recommended for readers – and listeners – 5 to 12 years old. 

More stories set in Iran

More picture book memoirs