Little Library Bookshelf is a curated list of books around a theme or topic curated by a local librarian. This month Aleece Michalak from the Round Lake Area Public Library helps us go on vacation and travel to wondrous new worlds all with out leaving home.
Looking for an adventure to a new place? How about learning about a different culture? Well look no further than these great books.
Books to Transport you to Another World
Authors: Queen Rania Al Abdullah and Kelly DiPucchio
Illustrator: Tricia Tusa
Who would have thought that it would start with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Of course it started there but didn’t end there. Salma and Lily were friends and they did everything together, even eat lunch together but what they had for lunch was completely different from the other. Lily always had peanut butter and jelly and Salma always ate a hummus and pita sandwich. Each thought the others lunch was gross but of course they never told the other person what they were thinking. One day they had a huge fight over their sandwiches. However, the friends decided to try each other’s sandwiches and realized how great their friend’s lunch was in the end and they make up and become the best of friends again.
This is a great story about how people can like the same things (swings, coloring and jump rope) but be different at the same time. Lily is use to her peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Salma is used to her hummus and pita sandwich. Both girls think their lunch is normal and they learn to try new things and new cultures at the same time. This is a great lesson that teaches kids and adults that just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s not wonderful at the same time. You also don’t have to like it but you won’t know unless you try.
Illustrator: Gabi Swiatkowska
Yoon is a girl that moved here from Korea and is taught how to write her name in English since she will soon start school. However, Yoon does not like how her name looks in English; she prefers the way it looks in Korean. She feels that her name, which means Shining Wisdom in Korean has lost its meaning when written in English. When she starts school her teacher gives her a piece of paper to write her name however Yoon decides that she will write cat, then bird and finally cupcake. Until finally she realizes that different is still good and finally writes Yoon.
This is a great story on how a girl from Korea is learning English as well as learning to find herself in a country she is unfamiliar with. She eventually makes friends and accepts that her name, even in English still means Shining Wisdom. She learns to accept herself and believe that while America is different she is still the same Yoon that she was in Korea and the people around her will like her for who she is.
Author: Aaron Becker
A little girl just wants to play but everyone seems too busy to play with her but then she finds a red crayon in her bedroom and draws a door that opens up to another world full of color and wonderful things. Throughout her journey she spots a purple bird and by following the bird it takes her on more adventures and more wonderful sights to see. The bird takes her to a door much like her own but this one is purple. When she emerges from the door she is back in her own world but meets a boy with a purple crayon that is looking for his bird. (You actually see the boy with the purple crayon at the very beginning of the story).
This is a wonderful wordless book that transports readers on an adventure to a different world. Readers can tell their own story about the journey that the girl goes and on and come up with ideas of where the girl is and once she meets the boy where they will go to next. This is a great book for kids and adults of all ages.
*This is a wordless picture book that is the first book in a trilogy of picture books (continue the journey in Quest
Illustrator: Lee White
Everything in the Arctic is a shade of white in the winter. Blue-white, yellow-white, silver-white, sometimes gray and when it’s winter it is very dark and there is the question of where the color went. One night a little girl believes her grandfather is keeping a secret from her so she follows him outside in hopes of finding color along their journey. They finally come to a stop and they wait with darkness all around in order to see the beautifully colorful Northern Lights.
This is a wonderful story about winter in the Arctic. Within the white that is very visible there is still hope that color will come and the darkness of night will disappear. This is a simple story about the Arctic and the people that live there. While their culture is not explained it is very visually depicted and children will be able to understand the different lifestyles that are shown in the illustrations. Also the images of the Northern Lights is something that kids will enjoy. This is a great story for all ages.
Author: Rob Gonsalves
Each page begins with imagine a world. This is a great beginning for kids to put themselves within the pages and imagine where each page will take them. After reading the text you may see the pages differently too. What you once thought as a single image may become completely different after looking at the page more carefully.
The wonderful illustrations really transport you to a different place with each turn of the page. When observing the pages closer throughout the page seem to become something different altogether. Houses turn into people’s faces and books become buildings. This is a great book for older kids that may understand the illustrations better than younger ones.
There are many other books about different cultures and places to explore. Looking for more? Check out your local library for more great stories as well as the fairy tales and fables section at your library. Some classic tales that we have grown to love are told differently depending on the country that has passed down the tale from long ago. Which retelling is your favorite? Take Goldilocks and the Three Bears for example there is a new book called Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas
Find these books and more at “As Seen on Little Lake County” on Pinterest
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