Northampton Children's Staff Best Reads of 2024

"Pocketville is a small town, set in its ways, and the arrival of a stranger causes a stir. Monti the mole is stunned one morning to find Leo the lizard hogging his special reading rock. When Monti visits the bakery and the library, he learns that the last cinnamon roll has been purchased, and the book he was waiting for has been checked out. What's a fastidious mole to do? When Monti confronts Leo, the newcomer turns out to be agreeable in the extreme,...

"Wanting a canine companion more than anything in the world, Joy makes dogs out of whatever's at hand--seashells, snow--unaware that her perfect dog friend is closer than she thinks"-- Provided by publisher.

A child experiences a flower by seeing its colors, smelling its fragrance, and imagining tiny world within in.

Illustrations and easy-to-read, rhyming text celebrate bodies of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors, with different kinds of hair, eyes, spots, scars, and more.

"Ever since Oli found a pamphlet for a remote island commune as a kid, it's all she can think about. Now that she's nearing the end of high school, feeling frustrated with the mounting pressure to choose a career and follow a path she has no interest in, the desire to escape it all has been steadily increasing. Everything comes to a head when Oli's relationship with her best friend goes south and she claps back at a school bully with more than just...

Ruka meets two boys at the aquarium. All three hear the strange calls from the sea.

"Dorothy Weaver is an anxious 19-year old still living at home with her mother and failing a vocational art course when memories of a mysterious childhood event start resurfacing. Something about a meteor in the garden... Now, she and others have begun manifesting strange powers. Are these powers a gift or a curse? Psychic phenomenon or mass delusion? Either way, Dorothy is changing - but into what?" -- provided by publisher.

Factual as well as whimsical, and humorously illustrated, this is the first English-language publication of the answers given by one of Italy's greatest and most beloved children's authors to children's questions about animals, nature, technology, and culture. Gianni Rodari is widely regarded as the father of modern Italian children's literature. A firm believer in the great intelligence of children, he worked both as a teacher and a journalist. From...

After seven goblins try to steal it, the Rainbow is careful never again to touch the earth.

"Behind a hole in their basement wall, Chirri and Chirra discover a network of tunnels. Join them as they visit moles, discover caves full of glowing flowers, poke at the roots of growing plants, traverse a subterranean lake, and spend the night with a family of badgers!" -- Provided by publisher.