Read With Conina

When Grandmas Cook by Margot Mustich & Alette Straathof. Pub date: Nov 5, 2024

“When grandmas cook for us, they make us happy. And that makes them happy.” This picture book shows a worldy perspective of grandmothers and what they enjoy cooking for their families, showing the differences by exploring eight different countries — Mexico, United States, Brazil, Italy, Ukraine, Nigeria, South Korea, and India. In each of the countries, the book details a specific recipe that is popular there, showing the ingredients laid out, with each ingredient name written in both English and that country’s language. The beautiful watercolors capture the characters and food across each double-page spread, adding a sense of warmth and closeness. This diverse book pays special attention to each culture, making sure they are represented properly through both the words and art. “Wherever they love — and whatever language they speak — when grandmas cook for us, they’re saying ‘I love you’ in their own special way.”

Clara’s Curiosity & Her Foxy Friends by Karen Belenger- Richmond & Paul Mathews. Pub date: Nov 12, 2024

In the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, this book is about young Clara, who looks out her window one morning to see a large gray fox in her yard. With another look, more foxes appear. “As I feel the sun warm my cheek, I turn to look again. What do I see? Oh! Two baby foxes, and the big gray fox staring at me!” The story details Clara learning more about the foxes and watching how they live in her yard. The art is beautiful, with vivid colors and a strong use of shading. Each page captures the beauty in nature. The rhyme scheme is inconsistent and only present on some pages, so when read aloud, the pace and flow are uneven. However, this book for lovers of nature and foxes continues to be engaging with more information about foxes at the end, as well as a spread available to draw and write about the animals readers see in their own back yards.

Our Wild Garden by Daniel Seton & Pieter Fannes. Pub date: Feb 4, 2025

Siblings Poppy and Ali live with their parents in a house with a small, tidy garden that their parents put effort into keeping kempt. However, there isn’t much for the siblings to do or enjoy in their yard. After learning about rewilding at school, “They start to dream about letting the wild into THEIR garden and all the adventures they could have.” Slowly, their parents add to their garden, creating a havitat for birds, bugs, and wild animals. After adding a pond and making their yard vecome a meadow full of grasses, sticks, and wildflowers, there are more animals nearby than ever. Each double-page spread shows the beauty of nature through portraits of animals and plants. The many shades of brown and green present in nature are on full display. Though the number of animals present on some pages isn’t realistic for a backyard, the book does share the benefits of rewilding, and it procudes information at the end on how it can be done.

Goats Afloat by Lezlie Evans & Julia Patton. Pub date: May 6, 2025

Five little goats want to bring their granny flowers and a cake for her birthday, but when they see a troll blocking the bridge, they decide to go by canoe. The goats prepare, making their cake, “They grated and stirred, and it never occureed, that a trip doen the river was highly absurd.” The five goats teavel the river halfhazardly past a beaver’s dam and through rapids. When the cake topples over, the goats have to think quickly and decide what they should do next. The digital art is rendered in a painterly look, with deep, rich colors adding depth to each page. The art adds to the humorous tone of the book with fun drawings and silly signs seen in the journey. The words are occasionally arranged in different ways to add to the illustrations and story, guiding readers’ eyes in specific directions. As the goats make it to granny’s, they learn what she wanted most for her birthday — and that it isn’t the best idea to judge a troll based on appearances.