Platt’s jaunty rhymes chronicle a group of kids’ efforts to save a local flock of turkeys from becoming dinner in this message-forward Thanksgiving book about “our friends of beak and feather.” Kids worried about the fate of a farm’s googly-eyed fowl enact a plan to disguise the threatened birds. Dressed as “Auntie June” with a string of pearls, astronaut “Beak Aldrin,” and a “sparkly unicorn,” the turkeys each miss detection. Finally, the enterprising youths wheel a suspiciously turkey-like “Farmer Byrd” around to deliver a transparent message: “All out of turkeys this year!” Crayon-like detailing gives Cleland’s over-the-top digital renderings a grade-school vibe as expressive children of various skin tones gleefully pull off their ruse. Luckily, all seem to agree: “Vegetarian-style meal?/ Think that has some great appeal!” Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Boston Weatherford and Morrison reteam for this joyful celebration of food, family, and tradition. Rhythmic lines describe Big Ma and Pops rising at five a.m. to begin preparations for an intergenerational Black family’s unspecified gathering. As relatives trickle in from all directions, everyone lends a hand. A warm, saturated color palette evokes the cozy chaos of a bustling kitchen, while layered details create a sensory feast on every page. Adults catch up while children revel in the delicious commotion as a refrain reads, “Tastes like home when family meet;/ a bond so warm, so strong, so sweet.” After the slicing of a turkey, and a heartfelt prayer shown from a bird’s-eye view, the family assembles to enjoy one another’s company. The joy lingers long after dessert across this soulful tribute to legacy, love, and familial gatherings. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Warmhearted quatrains from Tawil Kenyon applaud Thanksgiving’s many attributes in this appreciative seasonal picture book. Opening lines take a repeat form, describing the holiday variously as a “harvest,” “recipe,” “tradition,” and the like: “Thanksgiving is a family,/ our compass when we roam,/ a place we know we’re welcome/ because family means we’re home.” From morning to evening, Lugo’s earth-toned paintings tell a parallel story, following figures as they gather produce, prepare food, and offer remembrances for “people who we miss.” An overhead portrait highlights the eventual feast’s bounty and the fellowship of those partaking. Meanwhile, verse reorients around values, highlighting the day as a time for “kindness,” “forgiveness,” and “blessing.” Characters are depicted with various abilities and skin tones. Craft instructions and a pumpkin soup recipe conclude. Ages 3–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

“Friends celebrate everywhere,” declares Colleen’s polished ode to Friendsgiving—“a day to discover you are not alone.” On each spread, active verbs relay the moment’s events, as friends “travel,” “prepare,” “gather,” “feast,” and more, and accompanying free verse articulates the day’s hallmark attributes. Cranberry reds, buttery yellows, and arrayed shades of purple give Sandoval Herrera’s collage-like artwork a merry vibe as holiday scenes unfold: figures of varying abilities and skin tones observe a city parade, feast, and watch and play football before, finally, when “bellies and hearts are equally full,” they embrace goodbye. The creators affirm the importance of camaraderie with this radiant portrait. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Spare verse from Litwin affectingly builds to convey autumnal priorities, from food- to community-gathering, in this companionable picture book. A creaturely opening establishes the theme, spotlighting a sleek-nosed red fox and fluffy-tailed squirrels (“Gather acorns. Gather seed./ Gather all young mouths will need”). Eventually, the animals converge, and rhyming prose shifts to human-centered, with figures who “gather, cuddle, hug, greet.” It’s at this moment that Finkeldey’s wispy gouache and acrylic ink renderings shift from yam-colored outdoor scenes with the occasional blue accent to cerulean domestic spaces with rust accoutrements. Naturally, a feast is enjoyed by the group, pictured with skin of varying blues. Simple closing lines tie together animalian and non-animalian threads, articulating the way seasonal change unites species: “Gather outside. Gather in.// Cozy time can now begin.” Ages 3–7. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Set against a backdrop of a snow-capped city apartment building, Goodman uses folk-style character and scene designs to visually enliven Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” As the traditional rooftop commotion stirs a child from sleep, the youth moves through a jam-packed apartment to greet the “right jolly old elf.” And this Santa is elfin in appearance, sporting pointed ears and fingers, and grasping a long, elaborate pipe. Santa moves through domestic panels tied together with a twisting red ribbon, embarking on a whirlwind of giving for children and mice, asleep and awake alike, across the building. Stylized acrylic gouache illustrations burst with charming details—from the art on the walls to the sweeping city landscape—that give the pages an air of lively late-night holiday bustle. All characters are portrayed with brown skin. A reproduction of the full poem concludes. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

In Bradley’s color-saturated reworking of Clement C. Moore’s classic poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” an awakened child narrator heads downstairs to “seek out the truth and put things to right” about Santa Claus. At story’s start, a darkened living room is illuminated by a tree, a garlanded fireplace, and an ornamented wreath. Upstairs, four children, portrayed with brown skin, slumber “all nested close, snug tight in our bed,” the protagonist dreaming of elves engaging with a pink landscape filled with lollipops. After Santa’s arrival wakes the youth, a subsequent encounter reveals the figure, “his cheeks like hot cocoa,” whose presence offers a moment of happy kinship: “Who’d imagine that Santa could look just like me.” Though character designs can feel inconsistent, jovial reworked lines and chalky-hued digital illustrations leave a warm impression throughout. Characters are portrayed with arrayed skin tones and detailed hair textures. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Side-splitting silliness ensues as Rex riffs on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in this rollicking holiday read. The story begins simply, with the protagonist’s true love gifting a partridge in a pear tree. The next day, though, three more birds, including a second partridge and pear tree, arrive—with more to follow. “You’ve probably heard the song they wrote about me,” the speaker wryly states before a spread shows the worried-looking, pale-skinned figure surrounded by a crowd of cows, dancers, milkmaids, and pipers. When the group follows the protagonist on a family visit (“You don’t all have to come! I’m just visiting my mom!”), the subject discovers that what seems like an embarrassment of burdensome gifts could be a boon. And when the ensemble inadvertently starts a parade, the raucous event inspires joviality and selfless actions that reverberate throughout the protagonist’s community, echoing the original song’s rhythms as further hijinks unfold. Carefully sketched, energetic visuals alternate between comics-style panels and full-bleed spreads of the chaos. After the unwitting recipient embraces the troublesome presents’ potential to generate further generosity, a final plot twist further amps up the comedy, resulting in a fresh, truly uproarious Christmas yarn. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this comprehensive picture book, Dobbs and Mendoza share the history and lore of the flower known as both poinsettia and flor de nochebuena. The book begins with the Nahuas, who called the plant cuetlaxochitl and used it for medicinal and decorative purposes. Centuries later, during Spanish colonization, the flower appeared in a religious folktale about Pepita, a humble child who experiences a Christmas miracle. Following Mexico’s independence, U.S. ambassador to Mexico Joel Roberts Poinsett, an amateur botanist, sends cuttings of the plant back home, where it is named after him. Landscape-dominant digital illustrations are sprigged with the subject’s often-red bracts, while factual lines alternate with reiterative lyrical phrases, building to an inspirational takeaway: “Once you find... beauty, make it flourish, then give it back to the world.” Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A contextualizing history and timeline conclude. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Animator Podesta deploys economic pacing and sitcom humor in this cozy mid-1950s-set graphic novel debut. Twelve-year-old Virginia Kay and her father struggle to connect following her mother’s recent death. During the duo’s move from Arizona to Colorado three days before Christmas, Virginia meets a reindeer that inexplicably flies away, leaving behind a glowing compass. Upon arriving at their new home, her aunt Frances tries to lift Virginia’s spirits by decking the halls to the nines. Though Virginia isn’t feeling particularly festive, she bonds with chipper tween neighbor Benny Alvarez, with whom she shares the secret of her reindeer encounter and the glowing compass. Enlisting Benny’s older sister, the new friends embark on an adventure to reunite with the creature—and, perhaps, scrounge up some holiday cheer for Virginia and her father. Conflicts with zealous game hunters, suspiciously cheerful mall employees, and overworked Continental Air Defense operators inject hijinks into a story of family, trust, and imagination’s power to uplift during life’s bleakest turns. Flat coloring and simple backdrops emphasize the characters’ emotive facial expressions and fluid movements across illustrations that sparkle with vintage holiday-TV-special charm. Characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer March Soloway, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink