At Jersualem’s Gate offers poetic meditations on what people involved in the events leading to Christ’s resurrection might have thought and felt. At Jerusalem’s Gate: Poems of Easter by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by David Frampton. Eerdmans, 2005. 48 pages. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 8-10 Recommended For: Ages 6 and up At Jerusalem’s Gate begins with the triumphal entry we now call “Palm Sunday.” A free verse poem presents the story from the perspective of an observer. From there, poems move through the Pharisees and Sadducees plotting about Jesus to the Passover, Gethsemane, Jesus’s betrayal, all the way to the cross and finally the resurrection. Much of this book…

Editor’s Note: Are there any animal lovers in the family? Gladys Hunt can recommend nine–count ’em, nine–recommendations for a classic story involving not one, but three, plucky porkers. You Can Do Anything With a Pig      Originally published on the Tumblon website, July 19, 2009 I counted nine different versions of the story of The Three Little Pigs in print today. There may be more that I don’t know about. I’m not sure whether the story needs all this help or whether the artists and storytellers are bursting with creativity and know the basis of a good tale when they hear one. Or whether they are short on original plots The…

Where does music come from and how many ways can you make it? Before Music broadens the reader’s horizons on the origin and creativity of people who can’t help delighting in making interesting sounds and music. Before Music: Where Instruments Come From by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Madison Safer. Harry N. Abrams, 2022. 88 pages. Reading Level: Picture books, Ages 8-10, ages 10-12 Recommended For: Ages 8-10, ages 10-12 We all have some familiarity with music that comes from a piano, guitar, flute, violin, and numerous other instruments. We also have some sense about the ways music is produced (striking, strumming, blowing, and bowing). But have you ever wondered…

A glorious story of heroism in which a mother’s deep love for her children shines brightly. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien. Aladdin, 1986. 240 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended For: Ages 10-12 There are many famous mothers in literature: Mrs. Alcott, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Weasley, Ma Ingalls, and others. My favorite happens to be the tender, courageous Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with an ordinary concern for feeding her children and finding a way to move them out of danger’s path from their winter home into a safe place for spring. But her youngest son, Timothy, is too ill to be moved…

I Did It!, winner of this year’s Geisel Award for early readers, charmingly illustrates a common childhood experience: trying and failing. I Did It! by Michael Emberley. Holiday House (I Like to Read Comics), 2022, 40 pages. Reading Level: Easy Reader, ages 3-5 Recommended for: ages 4-6 Every child—and every adult, for that matter—knows the frustration of trying and failing. I Did It! follows a loveable creature of uncertain species through a series of mishaps, as he (assuming the gender) tries to participate in the fun activities of his friends. Said friends combine animal and mechanical characteristics, but all are cute and friendly and helpful as our hero tries to…