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Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru’s Famed Scientist and Potato Expert

Sara Andrea Fajardo, illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal (Roaring Brook)

“Playing an epic game of paka paka con la papa, potato hide-and-seek,” agronomist Alberto Salas travels the Andes searching for threatened wild potatoes whose “superpowers” might lend themselves to new cultivars. Melding playful language, a clear conservationist message, and lush illustrations, Fajardo and Martinez-Neal underline the importance of “a childhood game, helping to feed the world.”

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Cranky, Crabby Crow

Corey R. Tabor (Greenwillow)

The stoic corvid at the center of this cleverly paced picture book sits on a telephone wire, rejecting other animals’ friendly overtures (“KAW!”) until a sudden signal kicks off a startling, high-octane plot turn that works out flawlessly for the good of all. Bone-dry humor and delightful visual surprises distinguish this wildly entertaining read.

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Don’t Trust Fish

Neil Sharpson, illus. by Dan Santat (Dial)

This laugh-out-loud animal guidebook send-up starts innocently enough, with an image of a dairy cow appearing alongside a simple description of mammalian characteristics. But after bold type declares, “This is a FISH.// DON’T TRUST FISH,” Sharpson and Santat push ever further into conspiracy territory to create a rapid-fire comedy of piscine paranoia.

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Downpour: Splish! Splash! Ker-Splash!

Yuko Ohnari and Koshiro Hata, trans. from the Japanese by Emily Balistrieri (Red Comet)

Ohnari and Hata tell the story of a young person’s encounter with a summer rainstorm. As a scorching day gives way to a downpour, text renders elaborate, enthusiastic onomatopoeia in bright yellow type whose size conveys volume. It’s a dazzlingly energetic work that voices the joy of perceiving a storm as a part of the world that’s very much alive.

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Every Monday Mabel

Jashar Awan (Simon & Schuster)

Each Monday—“the best day of the week”—Mabel wakes up early, grabs a bowl of cereal, and drags a chair to the driveway to await the garbage truck. Mabel exudes the unshakable enthusiasm of a die-hard fan for this “best thing in the world” in Awan’s sprightly picture book about a vehicle that proves a worthy object of communal adoration.

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Fireworks

Matthew Burgess, illus. by Cátia Chien (Clarion)

In limpid prose and sunny, softly stroked spreads, previous collaborators Burgess and Chien follow two children through a hot city Fourth of July. Across this joyous summer idyll, the creators capture with onomatopoeic eloquence the day’s sensations and establish the children’s time as free, expansive, and bursting with plenty of opportunity to savor sounds, sights, and “summer on our skin.”

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For a Girl Becoming

Joy Harjo, illus. by Adriana M. Garcia (Norton)

In deeply loving lines, former U.S. poet laureate Harjo follows an Indigenous family gathering to welcome an infant. As Garcia’s muralistic paintings trace the baby’s maturation, refrain-like text offers suggestions for moving through the world. Underlining values of family and interdependence, this is a profoundly tender blessing of a book for anyone in a place of becoming.

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Island Storm

Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith (Holiday House/Porter)

Two children embark on an unaccompanied escapade to “see/ the sea before the storm” in this thrilling picture book. As the youths nudge each other forward, Floca and Smith capture the burgeoning storm’s energy and, when the sky opens, the children’s dash toward home. It’s a splendid story about a shared exploit—and a dynamic portrait of nature and volition unleashed.

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The Keeper of Stories

Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illus. by Selina Alko (Simon & Schuster)

Deliberately paced text joins collage and multimedia images as Kusin Pritchard and Alko recount the 1966 fire at New York City’s Jewish Theological Seminary Library and the subsequent volunteer effort to save its books. Readers are pulled into the desperate fight to rescue irreplaceable treasures throughout a work that emphasizes the crucial work done by libraries, and by communities and individuals, too.

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Lena the Chicken (but Really a Dinosaur!)

Linda Bailey, illus. by K-Fai Steele (Tundra)

Convinced she’s descended from mighty dinosaurs, fierce fowl protagonist Lena is vindicated when she goes full terrible lizard after a predator infiltrates the chicken coop. Gloriously goofy illustrations by Steele and theatrical dialogue from Bailey imbue Lena with delicious levels of gravitas across a triumphant telling that delivers important observations about honoring one’s nature.

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Let’s Be Bees

Shawn Harris (Holiday House/Porter)

In Harris’s riotous readaloud, a caregiver and a child sit down with a book. “Let’s be bees,” its text begins, and a page turn later, two insects hover above the humans’ clothing with a “BUZZ!” The conceit gains momentum as the duo become birds (“CHIRP!”), trees (“RUSTLE!”), and more in this endearing celebration of voice that invites joyful mimicry of the natural world—and of the protagonists themselves.

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On Our Way with Mr. Jay

Chelsea Lin Wallace, illus. by Thyra Heder (Holiday House/Porter)

Kicking off Wallace and Heder’s School Heroes series, unshakably cool bus driver Mr. Jay travels his daily route as digital clock numbers count down the minutes until the 8:05 start of school. Starring a beloved adult who brings everyone together with attentive care, this jubilant picture book uses tightly scanning rhymes and lavishly energetic visuals to hail its school-commute VIP.

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Our Lake

Angie Kang (Kokila)

Kang debuts with a fully felt story about siblings returning to a cherished location: “Brother is taking me up to swim in the lake like Father used to.” When the younger sibling hesitates before diving in, Father’s reflection materializes on the water’s surface, giving way to a kind of reunion and creating a place where “we are all together.”

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Papilio

Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou Musser (Viking)

Across distinctive but coordinated sections, Clanton, Tabor, and Chou Musser depict the stages of a black swallowtail’s life in this lively collaboration. Protagonist Papilio is introduced as a yellow egg who, after hatching into a wide-eyed green caterpillar, becomes a chrysalis, then a newly minted butterfly. With a light touch, the creators convey a wonderful sense of growth, optimism, and change.

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A Place for Us

James E. Ransome (Penguin/Paulsen)

Centering an unhoused child and caretaker, Ransome’s wordless story follows the two from school pickup to school drop-off. Together, the figures navigate a bustling metropolis, making their way to a fast-food restaurant, a library, and then to a park where they spend the night on a bench, all depicted in spectacularly composed images that brim with abiding love and care.

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Popo the Xolo

Paloma Angelina Lopez, illus. by Abraham Matias (Charlesbridge)

A journey through the Indigenous Mexican underworld ends in rest and remembrance in Lopez’s arresting debut, with luminous art by Matias. “Nana is surrounded by the love of family, but following a long day, it’s Popo, Nana’s tiny Xoloitzcuintle, who awakens her” and accompanies her through the Nine Levels of Mictlān in this tale of change and comfort.

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So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story

Anne Wynter, illus. by Jerome Pumphrey (Clarion)

“How would you dress/ after so many years/ of mending your clothes with rags?” begins Wynter in this question-oriented look at Juneteenth’s past and present. Aptly exclamatory lines (“Oh, how you would dress!”) respond, while Pumphrey’s thickly stroked illustrations visualize historical scenes that move forward in time. It’s a smartly rendered tribute that converses with history’s resonances.

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Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave

Drew Beckmeyer (Atheneum)

Beckmeyer views the history of life on Earth from within a cave via a conversation between a stalactite and stalagmite whose back and forth, and steady growth toward one another, continues while earth-shattering—and life-ending—events occur outside. The premise of a bond that lasts eras and epochs poses all kinds of possibilities, here pursued with wit, curiosity, and sparky energy.

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The World Entire: A True Story of an Extraordinary World War II Rescue

Elizabeth Brown, illus. by Melissa Castrillón (Chronicle)

Brown’s quietly propulsive narration conveys escalating, life-and-death urgency as Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes performs an extraordinary feat of moral courage during WWII: haunted by the frantic, growing crowds gathered at his post, he violates orders, signing thousands of visas for refugees fleeing Nazi forces. Castrillón’s sweeping compositions convey the tide of events and the protagonist’s steadfast, heroic defiance.

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Your Forest

Jon Klassen (Candlewick)

In this gentle board book, an entry in the Your Places series, Klassen positions familiar elements of a forest landscape against a blank white backdrop, offering each to the reader like a gift (“This is your sun. It is coming up for you”). As the setting coheres, lulling rhythms and interactive language give readers a place to watch over and return to whenever they like.

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