NEW Picture Books 2015

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Isn’t spring the best? I love helping my kids notice all that is magical about it! Here are my favorite newly published spring (and Earth Day-ish) picture books.

NEW Picture Books 2015

White Butterfly
A White Butterfly
by Laurie Cohen, Barbara Ortelli
“Sometimes butterflies are . . . ” begins this simple board book. It shows us amazingly illustrated butterflies that are “pink like candy” and “brown as the earth.” This is poetry in a board book and would make a lovely writing prompt or mentor text for your classroom.

Luke and the Little Seed
Luke and the Little Seed by Guiliano Ferri
“This boy has nice friends,” my daughter said after finishing. Luke’s grandfather gives him a seed that will turn into an exciting gift. When Luke gets sick, his friends help him water it and it turns into a huge tomato plant. A delightful and yummy gift!

Oak Tree
As an Oak Tree Grows
by G. Brian Karas
Follow the changes surrounding the oak tree who is planted by a boy in 1775. By 1850  the oak tree is surrounded by a farm and buildings in the distance. By 1950 there are more houses, cars, and electricity wires. When it’s 200 years old it’s a leafy home for many animals, birds, and insects. And then a lightening bolt hits the tree and kills it. It’s cut down. Next to the stump, a new oak tree grows. I love the illustrations and the glimpses into how much the world changed over 200 years. Beautiful!

Welcome to the Neighborhood
Welcome to the Neighborhood
by Shawn Sheehy
Meet the animals who build their homes in the forest. In this book, they will pop-up in true-to-life, earthy colors. Learn more about the Garden Spider, the Hummingbird, the Stickleback, and other neighboring animals.

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
See what’s happening both above and below ground as a little girl and her grandmother work in the garden from the beginning of the spring planting season until autumn gives way to cold snow. It’s an over-sized book with marvelous illustrations and juicy descriptions. “Down in the dirt, water soaks deep. Roots drink it in, and a long-legged spider stilt-walks over the streams.” Beautiful!

finding spring
Finding Spring
by Carin Berger
The paper collage illustrations in this picture book totally amaze me – they’re gorgeous. Maurice, a little bear, leaves his mommy sleeping in the den to go search for spring. Before he joins her, he mistakenly thinks that snow is spring. When he awakes, he finds the real spring — flowers and new growth.

Feathers
Feathers: Not Just for Flying
by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen
I think this nonfiction picture book actually has the perfect ratio of words to text! It’s informative without being an epic essay and the warm water-color illustrations are gorgeous. You’ll learn that feathers can shade, warm, protect like sunscreen, make high-pitched sounds. You’ll discover examples of birds in the wild with each feather fact. Honestly, I never appreciated feathers before this book. It’s so well-presented, it should be included in all classroom studies on birds.
 Enchanted Forest
Enchanted Forest Coloring Book by Johanna Basford
This is such a detailed coloring book — I still have yet to finish one page but it’s beautiful and while not technically spring-y, has lovely animals and flowers within. (Yes, it’s a coloring book for us big kids.)
new picture books for spring
KEEP READING:

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