Recommendations from the Children's Librarian: Non-Fiction and Poetry

Not sure what to read next? Overwhelmed trying to pick something off the shelves at the library? Check out some recommendations from our Children's Librarian, Emma! Don't forget - we're here to help you find the books you want. If you are looking for a book that's similar to something else you've read and enjoyed, trying to find recommendations for a hesitant reader, need help requesting a book from another library, or simply want a book suggestion, let us know!

Mirror, Mirror by Marilyn Singer (2010)

The incredible ability of author Marilyn Singer to create reversible verse is easily the most unique thing about this book. Not only does the poem read comprehensively forward and backward, but the meaning of the poem shifts completely! Singer cleverly constructed the poems to tell two different sides to popular fairy tales, including Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, and more. The reader begins by reading the first poem, told from the perspective of the heroes and heroines we know. This poem is written in a calming blue color. Then, the reader learns of the reverse poem, told from the perspective of the villain. This poem is colored in red, calling to its association with evil and darkness.

The warm and gorgeous illustrations have the appearance of old oil paintings. The illustrator, Josée Masse, expertly crafted the art to appear aged, using downward strokes to mimic varnish aging through time. Mimicking the split page of poetry, Masse complements the words by having illustrations split down the middle, showing the two sides to the story. His illustrations are not simply split in half, he blends the image together to create a more organic shift from one side to another. 

Readers can spend HOURS evaluating Singer’s words, and see just how clever she really is. Knowing the book is a reversible verse, readers can try to guess what the reverse version of the poem will be, while still working on reading the first poem! 

Can I Touch Your Hair: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters

Can I Touch Your Hair is a beautiful poetry book telling the story of Irene and Charles, two students who end up getting partnered together to work on a school project. The two students don’t know each other very well, and aren’t sure if they want to. Charles is Black, and Irene is white, and they aren’t sure if they can relate on anything! Assigned to write poetry, the two students decide to write on things that they know: their hair, shoes, church, family, etc. As they create the project together, they find many differences between the two of them, and more similarities than they thought. The two characters in this book are written by two different authors. Irene’s perspective as a white child is written by Irene Latham, a white author. Charles’s perspective as a Black child is written by Charles Waters, a Black author. The different perspectives of the characters told from the different perspectives of the authors makes this book not only unique, but incredibly valuable to all readers. 

The backgrounds start out as a blank white, with occasional background details added in. However, once the two main characters start to connect and understand each other a bit more, there become occasional breaks in this white format. The illustrators begin to add colored painted backgrounds, still void of heavy detail but giving the characters more warmth. The added colors highlight the emotional development of Charles and Irene, with colors of light pinks and eye-catching blues. 

As the story is told from the two perspectives of Charles and Irene, each page contains a poem from each child, with both visible when the book is splayed open. The characters flip-flop from the left page to the right page, but the readers can understand who is talking by looking at the relevant illustrations of the characters. Both children’s perspectives are told in free verse poetry and are mostly the same length. The two characters also have different fonts, showing the change in perspective to the reader. Through the eyes of Irene and Charles, children can learn from the fictional setup how people of different races can experience things in different ways. The book is a fantastic way to start a valuable conversation on race with children. 

A Face is a Poem by Julie Morstad (2024)

In this book, each page usually has around 2 short lines of text. Despite the short length of the words, Morstad beautifully wrote powerful lines that leave the reader thinking long after the book is finished. When read aloud, the poetry flows smoothly, leading to a relaxing experience for someone reading to children. The book asks many questions to the reader, such as “What makes a face?” or “Would we recognize each other if our facial features rearranged themselves?” Readers will see abstract renditions of a variety of faces throughout the book, some human and some not. Children can see faces change due to the passage of time, and how unique each face is, even regarding identical twins! Morstad creatively incorporated the brain’s natural ability to recognize and process faces quickly, even when the “face” isn’t really one at all! Children can enjoy finding faces in things such as clouds, potatoes, flowers, and the stars. 

The large pages of A Face is a Poem allow for the illustrations to really pop. The text is relatively small compared to the art, allowing for the reader to engage more with the illustrations. Mortstad’s use of different art styles throughout the book allows readers to spend a long time looking at each page. Children can be entertained by trying to find the differences between each character's face, and they are also encouraged to find what they have in common. The book shows children that every face is different, unique, and one-of-a-kind. Diversity is celebrated within the text and the art.

Summertime Sleepers: Animals that Estivate by Melissa Stewart (2021)

Summertime Sleepers dives into estivation, a state of dormancy like a "summer hibernation," where animals slow their metabolism, heart rate, and breathing to survive long periods of intense heat, drought, and lack of food. This is similar to how animals hibernate in winter but triggered by heat and dryness instead of cold. The back matter in this title has great additional information about animals that estivate, the difference between hibernation and estivation, resources, and notes from both the author and the illustrator. Each page focuses on a different estivating animal from all over the world. 

Brannen creatively included actual size references of most animals, or to-scale references for creatures too big to fit on the page. This added another level of interaction with the creatures that the readers wouldn't have experienced with just the regular colored illustration, no matter how beautiful and detailed they were. In each page she also includes a section of a journal, which contains information about the animal’s natural habitat, its scientific name, and the actual size of the animal. 

Stewart creatively formatted the book to have two pages each containing one half of a sentence, comparing two animals who differ in their estivating habits. When reading aloud, this helps to capture children's attention, as who knows what the other half of the sentence will be? An example of this formatting would be: “Some insects snooze in groups…” on the page about ladybugs, followed by the next page saying, “but others rest all alone” found on the page about solitary butterfly sleepers! There is additional text that explains further the estivating habits of each animal, but the story can be read without this. This would be useful in a group of younger readers who could read the narrative part on their own, and understand the entire story, while their adult assists them in reading the heavier informational text. Units about hibernation are commonplace in schools, but many children are unfamiliar with estivation. Seeing the front cover feature a familiar face to many children (a hedgehog) immediately invites children into learning more about the summer sleepers. 

Jumper by Jessica Lanan (2023)

This quaint nonfiction book shows the daily life of Jumper, a common backyard jumping spider. We see her interact with terrifying predators, tasty prey, and the interesting giant humans that roam her backyard home. The back matter contains additional information on Jumper’s anatomy, and how exactly she does the amazing feats we see throughout the book. Readers learn about Jumper’s paws, her silk, how she hears (without ears!), her 360 degree vision, and her incredible ability to jump. The anatomy of a jumping spider and the life cycle are covered as well, along with a glossary and an author’s note. The use of second-person pronouns is a unique trait of this book, allowing readers to be immediately invited into Jumper’s world.

The perspective within the book shifts quite often, from Jumper’s point of view to humans. In a creative one-time use of fold out pages, the reader is able to see through the perspective of Jumper, with her almost 360 degree vision. The majority of the text is smaller, leading the reader's eyes to focus on Jumper and her antics. But when Jumper’s ability to hear and sense vibrations comes into focus, the text changes size, color, and font, depending on what’s making the sound! The buzz of an insect's wings, the whine of a lawnmower, and the cry of a child are all shown differently, to artistically show the reader how Jumper hears everything.  

This book encourages the reader to become involved in nature, when appropriate, by observing, collecting data, and experimenting. This information is all found in the back matter, where children can learn how to find and identify spiders. There is also a plea to protect all garden spiders from harm, asking readers to not squish the spiders they come across. However, this plea is covered by the dust jacket, and in library books where the dust jackets are almost always taped on, it is unavailable to readers.