Books

2020 Newbery and Caldecott Awards

Today’s the big day! The ALA (American Library Association) announced the 2020 John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott awards. I’m excited because I really like the Newbery and Caldecott book picks. And, both the Newbery and Caldecott book winners are on my best of 2019 book lists: Imagination Soup’s Best 2019 Middle-Grade Chapter Books & Graphic […]

45 Favorite Diverse #Ownvoices Picture Books

As you know, I love sharing picture books with children. Reading aloud picture books to kids builds important literacy skills and develops a love and appreciation for stories. And those of you who are long-time Imagination Soup readers know that I deeply value diversity in the literature I share with children. Recently, I’ve also come […]

Fantastic New Chapter Books, January and February 2020

Ready for a batch of new January and February 2020 chapter books? I have recommendations for you in realistic, paranormal, fantasy, historical fiction, and science fiction. In other words, there’s something for everybody. (Let me also add that I honestly can’t pick one or two favorites from this list because they are all really […]

OwnVoices Historical Fiction Chapter Books

Discover amazing historical fiction chapter books written by OwnVoices (#ownvoices). If you aren’t aware of this term, OwnVoices signifies when an author of a marginalized group writes a fiction story about a character in that same marginalized group. When a reader asked me to share a list of diverse, historical fiction chapter books written […]

Books for Tweens Who Love Animals

A friend of mine recently asked me for book suggestions for a reluctant tween reader who loves animals. Since many of you have or teach children ages 8 – 12 who might also like animals, reluctant or not, you’ll want this list, too. I have several posts with ideas to help reluctant readers. But one […]

Download a Reading Bingo Game for Your Kids and Students

Over the winter vacation, we watched the Harry Potter movies along with a BINGO game for each one. It gave me an idea to make my own bingo game for you all to encourage your kids to read more books. But before I tell you about the game, I want to give you some context… […]

Help Classrooms Buy More Diverse Books with DonorsChoose

Disclosure: I’m partnering with DonorsChoose to bring you this information. Will you help support DonorsChoose classrooms who need funds to build culturally relevant and diverse libraries? This is such a wonderful cause for your end-of-the-year giving. Help DonorsChoose Classrooms If you click through to the Imagination Soup DonorsChoose page, you’ll see just how many classrooms […]

32 Picture Book Reviews for December 2019

The year in picture books isn’t over yet…That is to say, there are more wonderful books to read that you might not know about yet. See what I mean below! 32 Picture Book Reviews for December 2019 This Is A Sea Cow by Cassandra Federman FUNNY What a giggle-worthy story! A little girl named Cassandra […]