Today is the BIG DAY!! It is Read Your World Day! To celebrate we get to share our last Read Your World review for 2026! The book is Raven's Gift: A Feathered Flight of Faith by Claire Annette Noland and illustrated by Desiree Cordon. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8 and is a Christmas book. But before I tell you about this fun book, let's tell you about Read Your World Day!
I love books that share what life is like in different cultures. Today I get to share one that allows us to learn about the Nomad life in Somalia. The book is Suuban's First Day: A First Day of Herding Story by Shugri Salh and illustrated by Àlàbá Ònájìn. It is recommended for ages 3 to 6.
I love books that just make me happy and make me think. Today I am sharing two newly released picture books that do just that. Each is creative and gives a different point of view. They are both recommended for ages 4 to 8. The first book is Crouton: One Cat's Adoption Story by Kristine A. Lombardi.
Can you believe it? Read Your World Day is almost here!! The celebration is this Thursday!! Have you signed up for the virtual party yet? Today we are sharing a diverse young adult book as part of the special day! The book is the first in a series of two books. The book is Standard Models: Ordinary Gods: a Comedy About a K-Pop Group and Their Fans by Diana Huang. It is recommended for ages 12 to 18.
Valentine's Day is less than a month away. One of the things I love about Valentine's Day is the love! It is a day about love of different types. Last week we shared a roundup of books about family love. Today we have books about different kinds of love and Valentines. Our first book is Llama Llama Loves His Teacher by Ana Dewdney and illustrated by JT Morrow. It is recommended for ages 3 to 6.
We have been back to school for a couple of weeks now and Hazel has been back for one week. Even college students seem to be heading back now. Today we have two books for young readers that are educational or school themed. They are both humorous! We will start with the educational one. It is Our Solar System! A Stellar Neighborhood by Stacy McAnulty and illustrated by Stevie Lewis. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
When Hazel was young, we discovered beautiful books by and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. I remember the year Hazel received The Lion & the Mouse by him for her birthday. She was so excited as it was one of her favorite books ever! He also illustrated The Talking Eggs which is a Black American Cinderella story. Today I get to share a new picture book released this week by his granddaughter! She shares a bit of her own story growing up with her famous grandfather. The book is Two Artists, Grandad and Me by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. It is recommended for ages 3 to 7.
How is life different in New York City and Alexandria, Egypt? There are different languages, customs, foods and so much more. Today's book shares how one boy's life is different in both countries where he lives when visiting his grandparents. This review is for Read Your World Day! The book is Zamzam by Karen Leggett Abouraya and illustrated by Susan L. Roth. It is recommended for ages 5 to 9.
Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in order to provide an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Today is the holiday to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a time to reflect on his words and work as well as a time to volunteer and help others. For me I am taking time to reflect on our country and where we are. I am also sharing an amazing picture book that is being released this week that honestly made me think of Dr. King's words. As we see in the news and on our social media that American citizens are being arrested by ICE for not having proof of their citizenship on them, I feel it is an important time to think about the work and words of Dr. King. Our president has created a country of fear and racism with his ICE officers and is spending more money on ICE than most things. This scares me. I am scared for people of color. I am scared for women. I am scared for the LGBTQ+ community. I am scared for America. The hostility that is just growing more and more is getting to a breaking point. This is very scary and it makes me wonder if the United States will survive. I have decided not to focus on the news and awful stories around me but to look for hope and joy this year. Joy is my word for 2026. So with that thought I am going to share with you a beautiful picture book called Let It Shine! A Celebration of You by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Tequitia Andrews. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
Winter is in full swing. There is even talk of a storm hitting here this weekend. My mind is thinking spring already!! Spring when there are new baby animals. Many lower elementary classes hatch some type of eggs in the spring. Have you ever wondered about how a bird hatches from an egg? Most kids wonder this at some point. Today we are sharing a new non-fiction picture book that shares how a gosling gets out of the egg. The book is How to Hatch: A Gosling's Guide to Breaking Free by Sara Holly Ackerman and illustrated by Galia Bernstein. It is recommended for ages 3 to 7.
Can you believe Valentine's Day is only a month away? It seems time to start spreading some love and I think our society needs it. Today we are sharing three new picture books that share about family love. One was even released this week! We will start with that one which is Apapacho Love by Cynthia Harmony and illustrated by Erika Meza. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
Lunar New Year is in February this year. In Chinese astrology 2026 will be the year of the fire horse. Many countries celebrate the lunar new year, but we often hear about the Chinese culture. Today we are sharing three new picture books that share a bit of Chinese culture celebrating different holidays: Lunar New Year and Ghost Festival Month. Lunar New Year begins February 17 and ends March 3 with the Lantern Festival. Our first book is about a young girl traveling with her mother back to her mother's childhood home for the lunar new year. It is We Always Had Wings by Jess X. Snow. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
It is January and that means #ReadYourWorld Day is coming!! This year I am one of the book reviewers once again. I believe I may have missed one year but have been reviewing books for almost every one of the fourteen years! Today we are sharing our first book for the 2026 day. It is Lorena and the Magic Mocha Mirror by Valerie Williams-Sanchez. It is recommended for ages 6 to 8 and the second edition is Dyslexia-friendly! Before we get to our review, we will share a bit about Read Your World.
Being back at school this week has been trying. I have been exhausted most nights and haven't been able to share books and more much with you. Today I am going to share a newly released book that is perfect for the winter and animal lovers! It is Arctic Adventure: A Tundra Tale by Jyoti Rajan Gopal and illustrated Alexandra Cook. It is recommended for ages 3 to 6. After the review there is a roundup of arctic animal crafts to go with the book.
Have you ever noticed that the majority of picture books about hair are about Black people? Have you ever wondered why? My guess is the discrimination that happens to Black people around their hair. According to the CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair) Coalition's 2023 Workplace Research Study, over 20% of Black women, aged 25-34, have been sent home from work over their hair. And according to the 2021 Dove and CROWN Study for Girls, 45% of all Black girls say they have experienced hair discrimination. When you think about commercials for hair products what race do you see? Hair products are different for different races because hair between races is very different.
As I mentioned previously, my word for 2026 is JOY. I decided to make a Joy Journal. Well actually it is a journal for my words of the year. I picked up a journal with blank pages at Dollar Tree. I also got a bigger sketchbook at Five Below to use for my explorations in joy. When I was reviewing my posts from the past, I found this one sharing the book Joy in Every Moment by Tzvia Gover. I pulled it off my shelf and have started reading it daily and trying some of the mindful exercises in it. I use my journal for this as well as ones I think of. On the first page of the journal, I wrote down all my words of the year with the date. One of the mindfulness exercises was to take time to define what joy means to me. I did this in my journal. It is not a formal definition but words I think of when I think about what joy means.
New Year's Eve is almost here. To celebrate New Year's Eve one things about a countdown, fireworks and noisemakers, as well as a toast and special food and activities to keep everyone awake and entertained until the ball drops. New Year's Day is full of rest, brunch, resolutions and visiting. How do you celebrate with your kids? Over the years we have found some fun age-appropriate ways to celebrate with Hazel. New Year's is a special holiday for us because of her birthday. But even without her birthday around New Year's, I feel the start of a new year as a special restart for everyone. There are so many different ways it is celebrated around the world and even some different times of the year. Between the many countries that celebrate the lunar new year (this year it begins February 17, 2026) and the Jewish culture that celebrates Rosh Hashanah and of course the teachers who "celebrate" with a new school year. For this New Year's Eve I pulled together old posts, features from Sharing Saturday and asked fellow bloggers for ideas for you!
Each year I take time to reflect on the past year and look towards the new one. I reflect on my word for the year and pick one for the new year. My word for 2025 is hope. I knew with the change of the president I was going to need some hope to survive the year. I will say that our country is in total chaos, but it is not as bad as I worried it would be. It saddens me to see the history he has destroyed with his upgrades but that is for another time. I picked hope for 2025 so I could keep my hope and try to focus on the positive sides of things and the positive that I hoped for.
Are you a Stranger Things fan? I haven't watched it yet. It is on Hazel's and my list of shows to watch but with her at boarding school we don't have enough time to watch everything on the list! However, it is all the radio morning show I listen to has been talking about for a couple of months. They are on Season 5, and it is the final season. The second volume of Season 5 dropped last night! Apparently in the first episode of Season 5, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle is the center of the plot, and Episode 6 is called "Escape from Camazotz." Camazotz is a planet that is controlled by IT in A Wrinkle in Time. When copies of A Wrinkle in Time or A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel were offered for review as well as sharing as part of the Stranger Things drop, I jumped at the offer. I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was younger and bought the entire boxed set for Hazel when she was younger. One of my favorite devotionals was written by Madeline L'Engle or at least it consisted of pieces of her writing. Needless to say, I am a fan! Today we are sharing A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeline L'Engle and adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson. It is recommended for ages 8 to 11.
The last few weeks have been a bit crazy at school. We finished our first semester on Friday. I finally have some time to craft more, but Hazel is also home for break, so a lot of my evening time at least is spent with her. I have four amazing products to share with you that are perfect for paper lovers and paper crafters. They make amazing gifts as themselves or for you to make gifts for others! We will begin with a book that literally is called Book for Paper Lovers: Color Your World by the Editors of Flow Magazine. There is no suggested age on these products today due to them being for adults however this one definitely works for kids who can write and create!
