In this moving picture book, Wallace and Turk limn the life story of artist and entrepreneur Marie Procai (1897–1994), focusing on her devotion to her culture’s credo that “as long as pysanky are decorated, there will be good in the world.” As a child in a Ukrainian village, Procai learns from her grandmother the Easter tradition of creating natural dyes for intricately decorating eggs to express “a story, a wish, a prayer, a gift.” Arriving in the U.S. in 1911, she settles in a Ukrainian community in Minneapolis and carries on the craft, eventually introducing and teaching it to expanding audiences. Melodic prose foregrounds Procai’s tender relationship with her grandmother, love of her native land, and successful endeavors in globally promoting pysanky and other crafts. Grounded in Ukraine’s national colors of yellow and blue, gouache, colored pencil, and resist illustrations are boldly patterned and bright, teaming with the rich narrative to create an immersive tribute to a figure and a traditional art form. Extensive back matter includes an author’s note. Ages 7–10. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Learning to appreciate impermanence is the delicate takeaway of Goldsaito and Imamura’s conceptual intergenerational tale. In the cold of early spring, young Yuna climbs a gnarled cherry tree and asks her grandmother when it will bloom. Hībāchan answers, “We wait for so long for the blossoms to appear, but then they fall so quickly. Mono-no-aware, ne?” The phrase, Yuna learns, is a Japanese expression celebrating fleeting loveliness: the blossoms “become more beautiful because you know they will soon be gone.” It’s a concept the child struggles to grasp until the cherry tree blooms during the spring when Hībāchan passes, the wind carrying away the blossoms until only one remains. Decisive-feeling gouache and watercolor brushwork is delightfully tactile, the windblown grasses and cherry blossom explosions conveying nature through texture and movement in a thoughtful picture book that considers multiple seasons of ephemerality. An author’s note concludes. Ages 6–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Per an opening note, Boswell invites readers to “see the glory and grace of King Jesus as never before” in this earnest exploration of the lead-up to Easter. On each spread, rhyming poems introduce the events and significance of Holy Week’s days, accompanied by Perez Garcia’s earth- and jewel-toned Biblical scenes. Ranging from Palm Sunday (“Jesus rode/ Upon a donkey seated;/ The humble Christ came into town/ With palms and praises greeted”) to Holy Tuesday (“People asked/ About God’s word and rules./ So Jesus answered and he used/ Great stories as his tools”) and through Resurrection Sunday, accessible lines weave the days into a cohesive work across this volume designed for holiday sharing. With their velvety texture, gouache and digitally finished images simultaneously create a visual journey, skillfully capturing a spectrum of candle light, shadow, and sunrise. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. More about each day and a note to parents conclude. Ages 5–10. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Curiosity and good cheer buoy this bursting-with-blooms outing in which a young rabbit, rejoicing at the change of season, inquires how other animals greet spring’s arrival. At each stop, Bunny and pals partake in an activity while acclaiming “Hooray for spring!” Piggy offers Bunny a festive handmade flower crown, an eastern-bluebird-like avian called Robin chases butterflies, and Otter and the Ducklings, attired in waterproof garb, invite Bunny to join in mud jumping and splashing. Stott’s exuberant vocabulary and pattern of short question-and-answer exchanges provide an engaging hook, and watercolor paint and digital ink illustrations create an anthropomorphic cast of nattily attired critters interacting with blossoming landscapes into which small creatures are tucked across every spread. The bright feel is sure to leave winter-weary readers eager to explore backyards, parks, and gardens as soon as the season turns. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

A narrative of nature’s rhythms twines with terms of venery and a seek-and-find vibe in this sprightly appreciation of spring. When a gray rabbit stops visiting a field to play, a concerned scurry of squirrels begin a search. They query all the neighbors, from a charm of goldfinches to a sleuth of bears, but none of the other critters seems to know the rabbit’s whereabouts. In pale, light-filled watercolors, round animalian figures are shown interacting in and around flower-dotted green hillsides, a smooth blue pond, and a tall old-growth tree all quietly teeming with life. Steadily building a seasonal freshness throughout, spare, often amusingly observational text from Matheson (“A banditry of chickadees sang/ a sweet song, but the squirrels/ thought they looked shifty”) provides a happy and appropriately seasonal solution to a mystery that may well inspire young naturalists to get outdoors and explore. A glossary of collective nouns concludes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

A kid “SO EGGCITED!” for an annual Easter event finds assisting a legendary being even better than enjoying a local competition in this brief adventure, a series kickoff. Young Alex, portrayed with brown skin and decked out in a blazer, bow tie, and sneakers, is ready to finally snag the winning trophy at the local Easter egg hunt. But when Alex’s overladen basket falls apart during the contest, it leads to a face-to-face encounter with the Easter Bunny, who enlists the youth’s help on a holiday mission: “The Bunny grabs the basket and my hand,/ then with a mighty flash,/ we take off at SUPER speed/ on a worldwide Easter dash!” Returning home just in time to see another child take first place, Alex decides that while finding eggs is fun, “it is so much better/ GIVING eggs to everyone.” Wallace keeps the holiday spirit high with humorous, energetic rhymes, while Bassani sets the fun in a pleasantly busy, bucolic neighborhood rendered in slick, Easter-egg-hued illustrations. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 3–8. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this high-spirited seasonal picture book, Kheiriyeh reimagines the Iranian folktale of Nane Sarma, who embodies winter, and Uncle Nowruz, the messenger of spring. Nane Sarma waits for Uncle Nowruz each year, but she always falls asleep before his arrival. This year, she invites her three grandchildren to welcome the messenger—and to help keep her awake until his arrival. But after cleaning the house, gathering symbolic items for the haft-seen table, shopping for new clothes, and fretting about a forgotten component, Nane Sarma is exhausted. When Uncle Nowruz arrives, the missing item in hand, he drinks saffron tea and eats pastries with the children, enjoys dinner with them, and gives them an Eidi before heading out to spread word of spring’s coming. Saturated illustrations rendered with crispness and care employ Persian iconography and motifs throughout a rollicking introduction to a favorite holiday that also serves as an ode to the changing of the seasons and the passing of time. Characters are portrayed with light brown skin. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

With a parent away, a child navigates preparations for the Persian New Year in this experiential picture book from mother-daughter collaborators the Ghahremanis. As the vernal equinox draws near, young Ariana collaborates with family members, portrayed with light brown skin, to assemble “an extra cool haft-seen” before Mom’s return. Ariana and Dad pick up an apple, garlic, and more at the store as text incorporates Farsi vocabulary, then paint eggs with blooms and stripes. In grandmother Nana’s kitchen, Ariana and Nana assemble baklava, and Nana tells the narrating protagonist more about the holiday’s significance and the celebrations of her own childhood. When Mom finally arrives, she is delighted by the haft-seen display, and the family shares in the joyousness of the special day. Dad’s encouragement and Nana’s anecdotes permeate dialogue-heavy pages, while gouache-on-vellum illustrations bring a fittingly handcrafted feel to this portrait of making a holiday. Back matter includes an author’s note. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this unflinching memoir, activist Dolma teams up with Hsieh to detail Dolma’s experiences growing up in late-20th-century Tibet under the control of the People’s Republic of China. Vivid language transports readers to the Kham region, where Dolma, 11, dreams of following a river that flows past her village, Pelbar Dzong, to escape from the pressure of her family’s financial strain and her community’s insistence that she perform traditionally female responsibilities, such as marrying when she turns 14. As the narrative unfolds chronologically, Dolma ventures beyond Pelbar Dzong, first on a pilgrimage with her father to Lhasa and later to continue her education as a Buddhist nun, which leads to her participating in the Tibetan independence movement against the PRC. Gruesome descriptions capture the torture, bodily injury, sexual and physical assault, and gun violence Dolma and other Tibetan activists endure throughout the independence movement. A contextualizing author’s note provides present-day information on the continued fight for freedom and human rights in Tibet. Ages 14–up. Agent: (for Hsieh) Claire Draper, Au Literary Management. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Skaters Dumais and Dungo present an outstanding celebration of skateboarding in this exuberant graphic novel that reflects on their friendship and chronicles the sport’s history. Both creators came of age in 1980s Southern California at the height of skateboarding’s popularity. Orange-hued flashbacks burst with kinetic energy and fluid movement as the collaborators recount their own introductions to the sport—a young Dumais gawks as a group of skaters “KICK PUSH KICK PUSH” past his house—and highlight the pastime’s beginnings dating back to 1959, when the world’s first mass-produced skateboard was manufactured. Alternating present-day events, conveyed in muted purple, follow adult Dumais as he packs up his childhood bedroom, with help from adult Dungo. Each found object unearths memories of their time spent skating. Thick line art and stark shadows make action-packed sequences pop across dynamic, frame-breaking and -bending compositions that reflect the exhilarating feel of a skate run. Passion radiates from every page of this educational love letter that emanates hope for the continued globalization and evolution of the sport. Extensive back matter includes tricks, photos, a glossary, and more. Ages 16–up. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink