This moving tale introduces the youngest picture book audience to a girl who misses her grandmother, whom she calls Tata or Tatita, as is traditional in many Spanish-speaking cultures and yearns to spend time with her. But Tatita is not here any more. The spare, striking illustrations make it ambiguous whether the girl misses her tata because she lives in a faraway place, is ill, or has passed on. Yet this gorgeous, deceptively simple book’s ending makes it clear that no matter what, your tatita lives in your heart, and you can always hold her in your memory.
Emotions
The Grand Hotel Of Feelings
Welcome to the Grand Hotel of Feelings, where all kinds of feelings come and stay. Every guest has unique needs. Anger, for example, is very loud and needs plenty of space to scream and shout. Sadness speaks in a small voice and occasionally floods the bathroom. Gratitude likes wandering about in nature; you never know when she might come and sit by your side. Some feelings are big and some are small, some are fun and some are tricky, but no feeling is ever turned away. At the Grand Hotel of Feelings, there is room for everyone!
A Room Of Your Own: A Story Inspired By Virginia Woolf’s Famous Essay
Illustrates the many ways to claim a space for oneself–as not all rooms require four walls and a roof to think, to dream, or to be.
The Cot In The Living Room
Night after night, a young girl watches her mami set up a cot in the living room for guests in their Washington Heights apartment, like Raquel (who’s boring) and Edgardo (who gets crumbs everywhere). She resents that they get the entire living room with a view of the George Washington Bridge, while all she gets is a tiny bedroom with a view of her sister (who snores). Until one night when no one comes, and it’s finally her chance! But as it turns out, sleeping on the cot in the living room isn’t all she thought it would be.
The Knight Who Said No!
Ned the knight always does exactly what he is told, but when a dragon swoops into town, he decides for the first time to say no.
Ruby Finds A Worry
A young girl’s sense of adventure and exploration vanishes when she discovers a Worry that grows and grows until she learns how to get rid of it.
Why Do We Cry?
This sensitive, poetic picturebook uses metaphors and beautiful imagery to explain the reasons for our tears, making it clear that everyone is allowed to cry, and that everyone does.
Why Do We Cry? has been discussed in My Take/Your Take for October 2020.
With A Star In My Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero
A novel in verse about the life and work of Ruben Dario, a Nicaraguan poet who started life as an abandoned child and grew to become the father of a new literary movement. Includes historical notes.
The Balcony
From internationally acclaimed illustrator Melissa Castrillon comes a magical story of how a girl’s garden in her new home changes her life and the lives of people all around her.When a little girl moves from her home to an apartment in the city, she takes her pretty plants with her and one by one they grow and bloom and change both her world and the world all around her as she makes a new friend. When your heart is open, the world is full of possibilities.
Little Mole’s Wish
Little Mole has no friends since moving to a new home so he molds a snowball into a bear, wishing that it will come to life.