Primary (ages 6-9)

Material appropriate for primary age groups

Chee-Lin: A Giraffe’s Journey

Eighty years before Columbus, China sent ships to explore the world. The Chinese discovered many marvelous things, but one discovery stood out above the others: the chee-lin. This chee-lin was just a giraffe, but to the Chinese it was an omen of good fortune so rare that it had appeared only once before—at the birth of Confucius. In a storybook in which each page evokes the richness of far away places and long-ago days, James Rumford traces the chee-lin’s journey from Africa to Bengal to China, weaving a tale not just of a giraffe but of the people he meets along the way.

Jack Pine

Even though it is a short, gnarled tree, the Jack Pine still stands tall in the forest world.  It thrives in bad soil and is hardy enough to withstand wind and fire. Moreover, its scrubby branches shelter other trees, allowing them to grow. Jack Pine celebrates this tenacious tree through beautifully crafted text that’s as hard and knotty as the tree itself. In telling Jack Pine’s story, the book shows how the great pine forests contributed to America’s growth as a nation. Cybele Young’s exquisite 3-D collages depict the trees, farmers, and animals that lived in the 19th-century forest.

Wanda’s Freckles

Wanda has freckles. Lots and lots of freckles. They make her feel special, until the day in the park when a group of boys point, laugh, and tease her for having spots. All of a sudden, the freckles she’d liked become a problem. Wanda decides to make her freckles disappear altogether! At a time when there’s pressure to conform to someone else’s idea of perfection, this playful story has an important message: individuality and self-acceptance are to be celebrated. The ever-resourceful Wanda puts her imagination to work to try to come to peace with those troublesome freckles once and for all. The critically acclaimed author/illustrator team of Barbara Azore and Georgia Graham bring another Wanda adventure to life with humor and wisdom.

Akimbo and the Baboons

Akimbo is excited to have his cousin, Kosi, visit him on the game reserve where he lives, and when a visiting scientist invites the boys to join her when she studies a pack of baboons, they can’t wait to assist her in the bush. The baboons they find are fun to observe, but when a black leopard threatens the pack—and the scientist—Akimbo and Kosi are reminded that danger is ever present in the African bush. Alexander McCall Smith takes young readers on a safari to his beloved Africa in this perfect first chapter book, beautifully brought to life with illustrations by LeUyen Pham.

Man on the Moon: (A Day in the Life of Bob)

Presents a typical day in the life of Bob, the man on the moon, who rockets to work each morning, cleans up after the astronauts, and performs other duties before returning home for a bath and bed.

Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai’i

The mischievous, shape-shifting Pig-Boy gets in trouble with both the King and Pele, the goddess of fire, but always manages to slip away as his grandmother has told him to do.

Through Time: London

From a Neolithic camp to the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics, very few cities have seen as much history, innovation, and bloodshed as London. In this beautiful book, readers take an historical, geographical, and anthropological journey through London’s past through amazing artwork and detailed cross sections. From the earliest habitations to the Roman and Viking invasions, the Plague, Shakespeare, The Great Fire, right up to the Industrial Revolution, the Blitz, and more, readers will uncover layer after layer of London’s magnificent history and learn about the people who have called the city home.

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews during the Holocaust

When the Nazis occupied Paris, no Jew was safe from arrest and deportation. Few Parisians were willing to risk their own lives to help. Yet during that perilous time, many Jews found refuge in an unlikely place–the sprawling complex of the Grand Mosque of Paris. Not just a place of worship but a community center, this hive of activity was an ideal temporary hiding place for escaped prisoners of war and Jews of all ages, especially children.