picture books

  • 2025 Staff Faves: Picture Books

    2025 Staff Faves: Picture Books

    As the year draws to a close, we enjoy asking staff from across the library system to share their favorite Kids books of the year.  From picture books to chapter books, and from graphic novels to nonfiction – below are just a few of the Kids books published in 2025 that our SPL staff loved! … Continue reading

  • Miss Amanda’s Picture Books- Summer 2025

    Miss Amanda’s Picture Books- Summer 2025

    Summer is underway and hopefully you are taking advantage of the longer days and beautiful Seattle weather. If you haven’t picked up a Book Bingo card or your Summer of Learning gameboard, it’s not too late to start! Here are some new picture books for your summer reading that capture that summer feeling. Don’t Trust… Continue reading

  • Miss Amanda’s Picture Book Picks – January 2025

    Miss Amanda’s Picture Book Picks – January 2025

    Picture books are such a wonderful way to explore the world, and I am a firm believer that they can be enjoyed by all ages. Here are three new(ish) books that I recommend as we start the new year. Brown Girl, Brown Girl, written by Leslé Honoré and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera Honoré wrote… Continue reading

  • Exploring Food and Culture Through Picture Books

    Exploring Food and Culture Through Picture Books

    As a Children’s Librarian, I am lucky to get interesting opportunities that expand my concept of what books can do and be. Last year I was invited to a Roxhill Elementary School Family Night. As I set up my table with free books and Library swag, the coordinator came by and insisted that I eat… Continue reading

  • Spooky Picture Books

    Spooky Picture Books

    Fall means it’s time for a genre that I find delightful: spooky picture books! Even as an adult, I still enjoy reading picture books, and there is something especially fun about the ones that manage to be a little bit spooky. Here are some of my favorites, whether you are a kid or an adult! … Continue reading

  • Picture Books on Grieving the Loss of a Pet

    Picture Books on Grieving the Loss of a Pet

    I recently said goodbye to my dog, Al Pacino. His death was unexpected and far too soon. Al was a Chihuahua mutt with a heart of gold. All he needed in life were belly rubs and chunks of apple. Al was beloved by the children who came to my branch, too, ever since he starred in… Continue reading

  • Girl Power

    March is Women’s History Month. To celebrate, I’ve compiled a list of picture books from the last few years that feature amazing women that will hopefully inspire you and your children. Highlighted below are a few favorites that stood out from the crowd. Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott , by Mara… Continue reading

  • For the Dads

    For the Dads

    There are lots of feelings for people around Father’s Day – for me having lost my dad six years ago I can find it a little hard emotionally, but there is also a new way for me to celebrate this day and that’s for my husband and son. Rather then focus too much on dad… Continue reading

  • Gardening with Toddlers

    We made a small garden space for my kiddo to play in to get him involved in the growing of things. It’s still mostly dirt play and mud making, which is a delight, but by planting that seed I hope his love for gardening grows as he gets older. Here are a few books in our… Continue reading

  • Rockabye Ocean: Picture Books for Bedtime

    Water seems a well loved thing amongst little ones – splashing in the bath, stomping through puddles, and touching waves. With our own kiddo we often see him gravitate towards marine life like the dolphin screensaver on our tv or the marine animal bath toys that shoot water. That got me thinking about themed reads… Continue reading

  • Black History Month 2022: Picture Book Nonfiction for Kids

    This Black History Month, celebrate Black lives, history, art, and accomplishments with these recent outstanding illustrated nonfiction books for kids! Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston by Alicia Williams illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara Luminous illustrations and a lively, conversational writing style tell the life story of writer… Continue reading

  • Seattle Staff Faves 2021: Books for Kids

    We asked our staff across the system for their favorite picture books and chapter books published this past year — and what a tremendous response we had! Here is a sampling of staff faves, with a link at the end to 38 books for the  young readers in  your life. Book descriptions provided either by… Continue reading

  • Book picks from the author of ‘Growing Up Gorilla’

    Clare Hodgson Meeker’s new nonfiction picture book, Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together, is a  heartwarming true story about a baby gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo. When a mother gorilla walks away from her newborn, the staff at the zoo finds innovative ways for mother and baby (Yola) to… Continue reading

  • Cultivating Gratitude with Picture Books

    “What I have come to believe is that joy is the twin sister of gratitude.  I am most joyful when I am most grateful.”*          –Katherine Paterson, Newbery Medal-winning author Thankfulness doesn’t end with Thanksgiving. Enjoy these wonderful picture books celebrating gratitude! Gracias, Thanks by Pat Mora, illustrated by John Parra A… Continue reading

  • May Literary Holidays

    May is a great month for books. Let me give you the holidays to prove it. May is Get Caught Reading Month, which started in 1999 as a way to encourage the love of reading. Bonus: It can be a great time to read outdoors and make your reading visible to the world.  Children’s Book… Continue reading

  • Our Top 10 Children’s Picture Books of 2017

    Children’s Services Librarians from The Seattle Public Library have selected our ten favorite picture books of the year.  Though it’s a challenge to limit ourselves to ten titles (check out our longer list of favorite 2017 picture books), we all responded to the joy in these ten books – each is a celebration: of home… Continue reading

  • Favorite Picture Books of 2017

    The “Best Books of the Year” lists are out in abundance, and your Children’s Librarians from the Seattle Public Library are eager to share some of their favorite books of the year as well. Picture books will always be my favorite format for children’s books. There’s so much variety, so much invention, and they simply… Continue reading

  • Talkin’ Turkey

    What do you call it when it rains turkeys?  Fowl Weather (of course!) Most times, these ungainly strutting birds get no respect, not even as dinner’s main course. Take the Butterball Turkey Helpline—most new cooks are baffled by such a huge rotund bird for which large roasting pans and big ovens are required—as their many… Continue reading