A bumblebee, snake, squirrel, speckled toad, and more take up space in the “weedy garden” celebrated in this elegant picture book from sibling team the Renkls. Poetic, frequently alliterative second-person lines offer concise lyrical profiles: “If you’re a green hummingbird glinting and gleaming... you dance at the first glad glimpse of trumpet vine.” Immersive full-bleed spreads lend a diorama-like feel to jam-packed digital scenes that display vintage-looking species cut-outs and emphasize fauna’s natural camouflage. A goldfinch plays “hide-and-seek among the black-eyed Susans,” an earthworm tunnels “between the weedy roots,” and flowers keep a cottontail rabbit’s presence secret (“You push back leaves, nudge tufts of soft fur. While the hawk sleeps, you nestle your babies”). As more and more beings enjoy their treats (“Strawberries!”), a friendly message of creaturely community is conveyed to a final presented species—a pale-skinned human “child sitting still in the clover.” Back matter includes more about the highlighted animals. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Zephaniah’s assonant lines urge arboreal protection as Castrillón’s sinuous renderings memorably tell a parallel story of eco-appreciation and protest. Riffing on the title, opening lines establish a refrain, while a brown-skinned figure breathes deeply beneath the boughs of a magnificent thick-trunked deciduous specimen: “Leave the trees, please./ Because the trees/ work with the breeze/ to put all living things at ease.” First-person lines reveal a speaker’s intimate connection with a tree that is “one thousand/ and five hundred years old.” Vignettes crafted with swirling emerald and auburn lines see that individual befriending another child, graduating alongside them, and then gazing at a newborn who matures over subsequent pages. When a white X appears on the beloved tree’s trunk, text grows stern (“Trees make oxygen./ Let me say that again./ Trees make oxygen”), and the family successfully protests for a rallying takeaway in support of conservation. Background figures are portrayed with varied skin tones. An endnote discusses photosynthesis and means of protest. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Zippy rhymes hail the bounty that emerges from a community garden in this animated picture book. With welcoming lines, a youth addresses a potted plant: “It’s springtime! It’s green time!/ You need room to grow./ Your new home is waiting./ Ready? Let’s go.” With the sprout planted in a raised bed, the protagonist pivots to gardening instruction on a seemingly condensed timeline, applauding the role of pollinators and playfully introducing produce—from pea pods to carrots and more. When at last it’s time for a communal meal cooked from harvest at summer’s end, the child embraces a plant that’s grown into a gigantic sunflower. Gardening feels like a party in Escobar’s bountiful digital drawings. Figures, depicted with various abilities and skin tones, are consistently all smiles as they literally dance amid the garden’s abundance—a picture of plenty that vibes well with Spiro’s peppy lines. A glossary concludes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Mother trees get their due in this affecting tale with detailed and sensitive storytelling by Rosen. On regular forest walks with Momma, Sadie jots down observations in a notebook (its contents pictured for readers), and the pair discuss the connection they feel with surrounding flora: “We share breath with the trees.” One particular specimen—“a great two-hundred-year-old beech with a trunk like an elephant’s leg”—gives Momma the chance to educate about the way a mother tree “feeds the younger trees through their roots.” It’s a lesson that proves useful when spray paint announces loggers’ arrival and Sadie must consider what can be done for the beloved landscape. Gently shaded charcoal, watercolor, and digital artwork by Carpenter emotively presents the pale-skinned protagonist’s evident worry as their action becomes a prime example of how care—within and across species—can have an outsize impact. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

When a family’s beloved backyard tree must be felled, a bittersweet grieving process unfolds, which Kurpiel conveys with understanding in this sympathetic picture book of mourning and regrowth. “The tree behind our house had been talking all my life,” narrates the book’s pale-skinned, dark-haired narrator, establishing it as a living presence, friend, and protector. Washed in monochromatic hues, smooth, rounded, digitally colored sketches capture memories of adventure and relaxation beneath the tree’s verdant foliage. But as the trunk shifts to a steely gray, the tree confides in an expert, “It’s time.” In remembrance, the child gathers and then presses leaves, and soon a crew arrives, removing branches. The protagonist repeatedly counts the remaining stump’s more than 100 rings: “All I could see is what used to be.” Fortunately, time brings new growth and the opportunity to care for a sapling—a close that in coming full circle neatly emphasizes nature’s cyclical aspects. Characters are portrayed with various body shapes and skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

“Mucky, wormy, squirmy soil” takes the spotlight in Lerwill and Le’s appreciative scientific tribute. Presenting soil as “the world’s skin,” lively prose pivots to the life being supported, including “400 billion billion” worms, “thousands and thousands of other creepy-crawlies,” and “stringy strands of fungi.” Questions (“And what else lives underground?”) and ellipsis-capped statements support topic transitions (“Soil gives us our food too...”) as summary broadens out into hearty recognition of soil’s many jobs supporting ecosystems and human infrastructure: “Without soil, the world simply wouldn’t be the world.” Two backpack-clad, magnifying glass–wielding children—one portrayed with brown skin, the other with pale skin—loosely guide sunny visual storytelling, emphasizing curiosity-led exploration. Amid jewel-toned microbes, the kids sit atop a microscope; elsewhere, tiny critters illuminate a nutrient cycle. Throughout, rough-edged brightly chalk-like renderings suggest ecological diversity and abundance. The effect is an exuberant send-up to the “muddy, magical, marvelous miracle” underfoot. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

On a “long, hot day/ at the edge of the desert,” two children and their community plant trees in an earnest picture book that highlights efforts to create an uninterrupted swath of greenery, per back matter planned to stretch across 11 African countries. Broad stroked, flatly applied primary and secondary colors rendered in pencil, gouache, and digital techniques establish the sandy surrounds in which the foregrounded figures undertake their efforts. Plainspoken second-person narration speeds through the process, from digging holes to watering the plants, ascribing feelings of purpose and pride to participants: “They all knew they were making a difference to their world.” Closing spreads zoom forward as emerald smudges visualize the “bright future” planted by the community and the “laughter... food... safety” it offers. The result makes for a compelling call for greenification. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Dynamic folk art and dialogue-filled text tells a story of summer garden success in this bright-eyed book from Olson. Inspired by a city gardener offering “soil, plants, and seeds,” young Pearl determines to create a vegetable garden in her family’s yard: “some lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Plus a few other things.” Though neighbors and relations express some skepticism about the project’s feasibility, the protagonist commits to the endeavor, and “each day she watered and weeded, coaxing the plants along.” When it’s time to harvest, help is initially hard to come by until folks taste the food’s goodness. The next time Pearl asks for assistance, she gains an abundance of helping hands in the significantly scaled vegetable patch, and eventually the whole crew feast on a meal made from the abundant crops: fresh marinara and a green salad. Crisp black outlining, stylized figures portrayed with brown skin tones, and a mosaic-like garden of flattened forms combine to produce a portrait of community vibrancy that showcases how gardens can yield both food and fraternity. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Throughout this vocabulary-building tale, a child observes precipitation’s effects in the aftermath of a rainstorm. Bursting with varied-texture verdure, Lee’s lush mixed-media illustrations wordlessly set the scene over several spreads: while pale-skinned Grandma drinks a steaming brew, a brown-skinned child ventures into a yard, only to scamper in amid a visible downpour. Eventually, an initial line of text announces “THE RAIN IS OVER,” and the two begin exploring, with bolded words labeling their discoveries. “Get a whiff of that after-the-rain smell, Lucy! It smells like summer green,” Grandma declares about petrichor. As the exploration continues, Spicer Rice’s exclamatory dialogue helps introduce scientific concepts including evaporation, puddling, and humidity. The narration’s focus on inference-based definition seems primed to prompt discussion and close examination of the jungle-like artwork, which consistently captivates, mingling flora and fauna for an immersive experience. Further definitions conclude. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this intriguing biography, debut author Hudgins pays tribute to acclaimed editor Ursula Nordstrom (1910–1988), who shaped 20th-century American children’s literature with her unwavering belief that kids’ books “should be realistic and authentic so readers could see themselves in the stories.” Three chronological, easy-to-follow parts trace Nordstrom’s life, from her challenging youth as the only child of divorced vaudeville parents in New York City to her influential role as the head of the children’s department at Harper & Brothers. During her editorial tenure, Nordstrom championed groundbreaking books that faced opposition and censorship, including titles that highlighted the lived experiences of Black children and kids exploring various gender expressions. Engaging accounts of the subject’s professional collaborations with Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, E.B. White, and other notable creators offer a fascinating insider’s look into the development of beloved children’s books including Where the Wild Things Are and Charlotte’s Web. Insightful quotes from Nordstrom and delightful fine-line illustrations from Lewis (Dazzling Zelda) pepper this enriching work, which also features sidebars offering practical writing tips and advice on how to “Be Like Ursula” for both young readers and aspiring authors. Ages 10–14. Author’s agent: Rachel Orr, Prospect Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Agency, and Liz Nealon, Great Dog Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink