Category: Picture Book Review

Another Tongue

by Yevgenia Nayberg

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2026. 36 pages.
Review written September 23, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book explains simply to children what it’s like to move to a country where they speak a different language from the one you were born hearing.

Here’s how it begins:

This is your tongue. [Picture of a kid sticking out their tongue]

This is your mother’s tongue. [Picture of a woman holding a toothbrush and sticking out her tongue.]

The first language you learn is also called a mother tongue!

It is the first language you hear as a baby.

The book goes on to talk about how you learn all the words in your mother tongue.

Different countries have different mother tongues.

When you come to a new country, you may not understand the language at first.

Your ears may get tired of listening to the new language.

The new language may taste funny on your tongue.

There are amusing pictures with all of that, and collaged letters flying around the pages.

It goes on to talk about learning the new language, some words being easier than others, and often making mistakes.

But little by little,
the new words will
begin to make sense.

They will connect.
They will feel
like your own.

And from then on, you will be bilingual. Which means someone with two tongues!

What’s your mother tongue?

It’s all so simple, and by addressing the entire book to the reader, you feel the frustrations and triumphs of trying to get another language right. The pictures are imaginative, and the examples are silly (“Vampire State Building”), and it’s a delightful story about an abstract concept becoming understandable to kids.

Added later: I love the book all the more after looking up the author and discovering she’s Ukrainian.

nayberg.org
HolidayHouse.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/another_tongue.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Yulu’s Linen

by Cao Wenxuan
translated by Helen Wang
illustrated by Suzy Lee

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2026. 44 pages. Originally published in South Korea in 2020.
Review written September 30, 2026, from my own copy, sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

My favorite thing about this picture book is the luxurious feel of its pages. Let me explain:

Yulu’s Linen is about an eight-year-old girl who has been encouraged in her love for art since she was small. Her own father wanted to be an artist, but opened a fabric shop instead. He has gotten tutors and famous artists to teach Yulu, and now she is ready to make her first self-portrait.

When they go to the art store, the shopkeeper shows them a piece of the highest-grade canvas, already cut to portrait size.

It’s yu-lu-ma – rain-dew linen,” said the shopkeeper.

It was Yulu’s turn to smile. “That’s my name.”

The shopkeeper fetched the piece of rain-dew linen.

Yulu stroked it gently. “Dad, I like this one,” she said.

The canvas was originally ordered by a master in oil painting, but he moved away before picking it up.

Yulu happily takes the canvas home. She’s a little afraid to start painting, but she spends a week painting, and her parents are so happy with it, they invite their friends and Yulu’s art teacher to come see it.

But in the night, the paint runs and the painting is a mess.

Yulu does seven more tries, trying various things. Her mother throws away the canvas at one point, but Yuli recovers it. She’s determined. Apparently the canvas doesn’t want to be the background for a beginner.

With every try, Yuli drapes one of her father’s beautiful fabrics over the painting. But the final time, she tries something different.

And through the whole book, we only see the ruined paintings – until the final page, when Yulu’s self-portrait is smiling back at us.

This is an odd story. I’m not sure it has a message except persistence. But the art is beautiful and varied – with different angles on the painting and the characters in each scene. And the paper! I couldn’t find a note on what kind of paper they used, but it feels like linen, with even a feeling of a weave on the pages. The cover, too, is made of this luxurious high-fabric-content paper. It’s the perfect accompaniment to this story. I kept running my hands along the pages, and was haunted (in a good way) by the story when I closed the book.

It’s too bad this book isn’t eligible for the Caldecott Medal, but it should be eligible for the Batchelder Award, given to translated books originally published in another country. I’d love to see it on the list in January!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/yulus_linen.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

The Duck Can’t Sleep

by E. B. White
foreword by Martha White
art by Melissa Sweet

Quill Tree Books, 2026. 44 pages.
Review written October 5, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This little picture book is published for children, and I think children will like it, but in many ways its true audience is thoughtful adults who have ever experienced insomnia.

The text of the book is a poem that E. B. White published in The New Yorker when he was a young writer living in the city. His granddaughter writes in the foreword that he often went for a walk around the Central Park reservoir when he had something to think through.

This book tells about one of those strolls that happened at midnight – when he also found a duck awake and swimming around.

He has fun thinking about why the duck is up and about so late.

I wondered if he’d left his kind
Because of something on his mind.
A midnight sail to clear his vision
And help him reach some duck decision.

Eventually, he concludes that the duck simply can’t sleep. But the fun is in getting there.

And the illustrations by Melissa Sweet are what make this book pop. She’s poured love into them (see her picture book biography of E. B. White, Some Writer!), and each page is a beautiful work of art. The poem is simple and basically in a single setting, but she puts different angles and backgrounds on each page. I like the way you can tell it’s happening at night, but the subjects (duck and man) are lit up.

Will kids love it as much as I do? Try it out on your kids and tell me in the comments!

melissasweet.net

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/duck_cant_sleep.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Pufflings Fly Free!

A Rescue Tale from Iceland

by Colleen Paeff
illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2026.
Review written September 18, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Pufflings Fly Free! is a sweet picture book based on real events that happen every year in the Westman Islands of Iceland.

The book starts with a girl named Freya, the youngest in her family, going out late on a full-moon night on Puffling Patrol.

More than a million puffins come to the Westman Islands every year to breed. The parents leave their chicks – their pufflings – when they’re barely able to fly. Most of the pufflings make it to the ocean, where they live on the water, feast on fish, and their wings grow strong. But some unlucky babies accidentally end up on the land of the islands. There, the pufflings are vulnerable to cars, predators, and even starvation.

So – families like Freya’s go on Puffling Patrol. They capture frightened pufflings and place them safely in grass-lined boxes for the night.

Tomorrow they will check its health with a local scientist, then release the bird over the ocean. There, it will learn to fly and dive for fish, like all adult puffins. But tonight, it will stay at Freya’s house, safe from cars and cats and other kinds of danger.

Freya is good at spotting pufflings. But when it comes to catching them, she gets flustered when they flap and nip and can’t seem to hold onto them. Everyone else seems better at it than she is.

But when they’re almost done for the night, a little bird dives into the mouth of an excavator claw – an opening where only Freya can follow. This time, she speaks calming words to the puffling and to herself, and she gathers the baby up without fumbling.

The next day after the scientist checks and bands the birds, Freya gets to set her rescued puffling free to fly out over the water and grow strong.

Six pages of back matter give us more information about puffins and the Puffling Patrol. This is a lovely story packed with real-life facts that will make you want to visit Iceland.

colleenpaeff.com
lindaolafsdottir.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/pufflings_fly_free.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Wildspeak

words by Sangma Francis
pictures by Lexi Vangsnes

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2026. 36 pages.
Review written August 13, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Wildspeak is a wondrous and wonder-filled picture book about creativity and exploring the natural world.

We see a mother and two girls heading off on a nature walk. All three have brown skin, and a dog is happily bounding along with them.

In the wide, wide world with its wide, wide skies,
there are wild, wild words waiting to be spoken.

First, the book highlights some imaginative words that describe nature, like “dragonflies,” and “waterweeds.” But then they begin making up words of their own, like “Sunglitter,” to describe the scatter of light off water. And then they make a game of it:

“What’s the word for the shininess of pebbles underneath?” Cora asks.

It’s time for Wildspeak! On the next spread, they shout the words, “Stonelight,” “Bottomshimmer,” “Rockglisten,” and “Goblingems.”

And so the book continues. I’m not sure where they find so many different spaces for their nature walk – meadows, beach, mountain, forest – but in each space they highlight some existing wild words, and then make up new ones of their own.

For example, when a wave goes out and leaves sea stones drying in the sun, the girls call it, “Beachcrackle,” “Foamdry,” “Poolfizz,” and “Stonebreath.”

At the end of the day, they write their new words in their nature journal.

The end papers are fun, showing that nature journal, and including a taped-in glossary of some of the existing wildspeak words encountered earlier in the book.

This book is more for young elementary school kids than preschoolers – kids that can write down their new words. But preschoolers can get in on the imagination and wonder.

asangmafrancis.com
lexivangsnes.com
sourcebooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/wildspeak.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

When I’m a Moshom

written by David A. Robertson
illustrated by Corrie Hill

Tundra, 2026. 36 pages.
Review written July 9, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This beautiful, soothing, and inspiring book will leave you with a warm and happy feeling. It’s from the creators of On the Trapline, written after the death of the author’s father. Told from the perspective of his young son, it’s a wonderful homage to the boy’s Moshom (grandfather).

Each section is headlined by a word in Swampy Cree with the English translation in parentheses. [And I apologize – I put the Swampy Cree words with the correctly accented letters into this post, but my blog didn’t recognize those characters and when I came back to it, they’re replaced with question marks. Instead of getting it wrong, I will simply list what they mean in English.] Some examples are “teacher,” “love,” and “your home.” Then the text starts with these lines:

When I’m a moshom,
A long, long time from now, . . .

And we get gentle descriptions of the things the moshom will do with his grandchildren… “Because that’s what Moshom used to always do.”

When I’m a moshom,
A long, long time from now,
I will go to all my grandchildren’s activities,
Just like Moshom did.

Those activities will include dancing, swimming, gymnastics, playing hockey.

Because moshoms bring the best luck,
Especially when they watch their grandchildren play.

The child’s Moshom taught them things, like words in the Cree language. He did things with them. He told them stories. He showed them his community.

My favorite section is probably the one headed by the word for Love:

When I’m a moshom,
A long, long time from now,
I will tell my grandchildren I love them,
Just like Moshom did.

I’ll say I love you when I visit them,
And they’ll jump into my arms and knock the wind out of me.

I’ll say I love you when they visit me,
And I’ll swing them around in a great, big circle.

I’ll say I love you when they call,
And they’ll hug their phone tight to their chests.

When ever they say, “Moshom, I love you,”
I’ll say “kisâkâhitin.” I love you, too.

Because that’s what Moshom used to always do.

An incredibly touching book for talking with a child about their grandparents. What things will your child do when they are a grandparent?

darobertson.ca
corriehill.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/when_im_a_moshom.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?