LibraryAware April 2025

Recent Releases

Rocket Ship, Solo Trip
by Chiara Colombi; illustrated by Scott Magoon

Exploring the complicated emotions of big firsts, this exciting picture book invites readers to blast off with Rocket as she embarks on her first solo mission to outer space and wonders if she can do it alone until she remembers Ground Control's words of encouragement.

More from this author: For more of Rocket's adventures, check out Rocket Beams, Lunar Dreams.

Sundays Are for Feasts
by Leila Boukarim; illustrated by Ruaida Mannaa

This summer Sunday, when Yasmine's family comes for lunch, Yasmine is making the hummus, but it's harder to make than she expects. Book includes a glossary of Arabic terms and a hummus recipe.

Also available as: e-book on Hoopla

Métis Like Me
by Tasha Hilderman; illustrated by Risa Hugo

Sharing all the ways they experience their Métis heritage, including enjoying traditional foods and sharing stories, dance, music and songs, a group of children help one child reconnect with their history, showing them it's never too late to learn, celebrate or become part of an often-overlooked culture.

Look for: An author's note at the end of the book gives more information about this specific group of Indigenous people of North America.

A Mischief of Mice
by Christie Matheson

Filled with fun collective nouns, this rollicking, rhyming nature-inspired whodunit joins a sleuth of bears and a whole host of forest animals as they follow the clues to find a missing mischief of mice.

Also available as: e-book on Hoopla

Short Dog, Long Dog : A Book of Opposites
by Anna Hrachovec

Knitted dogs find themselves in silly situations and funny positions, in a rhyming picture book with text that demonstrates the use of opposites to young readers in a sweet way.

More from this author: If you loved the cute knitted dogs in this book, you'll love the cats in Hrachovec's Catside Up, Catside Down: A Book of Prepositions.

Travel Around The World

Check out these books about people just like you living in different places and in different ways.

My Day with the Panye
by Tami Charles; illustrated Sarah Palacios

In the hills above Port-au-Prince, a young girl named Fallon wants more than anything to carry a large woven basket to the market, just like her Manman, but she realizes it's much harder than she thought.

Also available as: e-audiobook on Hoopla, read-along movie on Hoopla, and Wonderbook

Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chávez Taught Children to Make Music From Trash
by Carmen Oliver; illustrated by Luisa Uribe

In Cateura, Paraguay, a town built on a landfill, music teacher Favio Chávez teams up with a brilliant local carpenter to transform garbage into repurposed instruments for his students to fill the community with the sounds of a better tomorrow.

Also available as: e-book on Hoopla

Lolo's Sari-Sari Store
by Sophia N. Lee; illustrated by Christine Almeda

After recently moving to the United States, a young girl reminisces about her time spent helping her Lolo run his sari-sari store in the Philippines, and uses some of his wisdom to make herself feel more at home.

Reviewers say: "A lovely story fusing past and present, family lost and found, in memory and sensory experiences." (School Library Journal)

Flipflopi: How a Boat Made from Flip-Flops is Helping to Save the Ocean
by Linda Ravin Lodding and Dipesh Pabari; illustrated by Michael Machira Mwangi

Juma wants to go fishing with Babu Ali. But when they get to the beach, it's full of plastic waste and flip-flops washed up from the ocean. Juma thinks the flip-flop floating in the water looks like a boat, and that gives Babu Ali an idea.

Also available as: e-book on Hoopla

Contact your librarian for more great books for ages 0-8!

Handley Regional Library System
100 W Piccadilly St
Winchester, VA 22601
(540) 662-9041
https://www.handleyregional.org/