We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins - ESSENTIAL

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. PICTURE BOOK. Disney, JUNE 2018. $18. 9781368003551. 

EL (K-3), EL – ESSENTIAL

HIGH

Penelope Rex is nervous for her first day of school and things don’t get better when she discovers all of her new classmates are humans – and humans are delicious! She doesn’t want to eat them, but sometimes it is hard to control her T-rex impulses. Then one day Penelope finds out what it feels like to have someone find out you’re a tasty morsel. 

Higgin’s wry humor is full blown. You can choose to be offended by Penelope eating her classmates and then spitting them out, or you can revel in the delightful absurdness and embrace the message of not eating your classmates. It would be easy to turn this into a quick lessons about other ways we “eat” our classmates with meanness and sniping. Pair this with Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller to start the school year out right. Coming out in June – buy both books for your newly minted school teachers. 

Cindy, Library Teacher

Moon by Britta Teckentrup - ESSENTIAL

Teckentrup, Britta Moon PICTURE BOOK Doubleday Books (Random), 2017. $17. Content: G. 978-1524769666

EL (K-3) – ESSENTIAL

A beautiful rhyming read aloud, this book goes through the different habitats and animals that enjoy the moon.  In the desert, the forest, the arctic, the beach and the Savannah the animals all use the moonlight for different reasons.  For example, sea turtle hatch-lings use the moon to guide them to the ocean and other animals use the moon to hunt.  

This book has a cut out in each of the pages that shows the moon in it’s different phases, until you reach a full moon and then it starts again.  I love the adorable illustrations of the animals and their habitats.  The words are lyrical and they rhyme making this a fantastic read aloud (especially for bed time). 

Reviewer, C. Peterson.