Jilanne Hoffmann's Blog

Sometimes a book gets lost in my queue, surfaces late in the year, and then quickly gets shoehorned into my PPBF line-up. Such is the case with PENCIL, a marvelously-illustrated, wordless picture book. I don’t know if it was the author-illustrator’s idea or the publisher’s, but I appreciate that they included suggestions on how to read a “silent” book.

The word “silent.” Hm. Take a moment (perhaps a few moments) to think about their word choice. The instructions ask you to create a quiet space and then go through the book without talking for the very first read. Let the child(ren) turn the pages in silence when they’re ready.

For those used to noisy read alouds or at least filling the room up with explanations about what’s being viewed in a wordless picture book, this first pass could be a bit unnerving—and exciting! How will kids respond to the images? Maybe they will want to go through it again in silence. Maybe they will eager to discuss what they’ve “read” in the pictures. Whatever the case, be sure to take your time. This book is a memorable experience. Here’s the first page.

Illustration ©Hye-Eun Kim

What is this?! A pencil being sharpened? What do those pencil shavings look like? Feathers? Leaves? Teardrops?

Illustration ©Hye-Eun Kim

The pencil can no longer be seen, but we know it’s above the page, still being sharpened. What’s happening at the bottom? And are those shavings starting to look like something else?

The answer is yes, those shavings are starting to look like a plant. And on the next page turn, we’ll see that plant and a final trickle of pencil shavings falling. What are we to make of this?

Page turn. Here is our answer.

Illustration ©Hye-Eun Kim

A forest! One that grows and grows and grows to fill the pages over the next three spreads. And with that lovely forest come a host of animals—birds, dear, foxes, and more.

But suddenly the birds scatter to the sky as the trees appear to be blown by a fierce wind. But it’s not a natural wind. Is it a visual representation of harsh, loud sound?

Yes, the trees are being harvested, leaving nothing but stumps. A soot-spewing truck carts them away to a polluted city and a factory. A factory that makes—

Pencils! Pencils of many colors that are destined to line a beautiful art supply shop…where a little girl is shopping. She selects a green pencil while she stands right next to a canvas showing the forest that was cut down to make pencils. The little girl takes her pencil to the stump-filled forest and begins to draw trunks and tree limbs above the stumps, making new trees. She draws and draws, as animals cluster nearby watching. When she’s completely redrawn the forest, it fills with animals.

How does it end? I’m not going to tell you! But it’s brilliant.

What can this all mean? Did the child draw this story? Does the child somehow redeem human consumption in the end? How can that pencil in my hand suddenly feel like a treasure and a curse at the same time? Art is beautiful! But the materials we use to make art must come from somewhere, right?

This book is sure to foster deep conversations with older readers, and perhaps with younger ones, as well. Maybe we should use paper and pencils conscientiously, so we’re not wasting resources. What about every material item we buy or make? Should we reduce what we consume in general? There’s so much food for thought in these pages.

Kim’s finely drawn illustrations in pencil and marker are printed using soy-based ink on acid-free, wood-free paper. A perfect touch. Highly recommended!

Activities:

Think of ways you can reduce waste when it comes to paper, pencils, and other art supplies. How can you reduce other kinds of waste (including food) at your school or at home?

If your community has a tree-planting or habitat restoration program, organize a school volunteer day to work on a planting or restoration project.

Make your own book, using this video from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as a guide. Then draw your own wordless story inspired by PENCIL. Maybe you could draw it from the pencil’s point of view. Or maybe the tree’s point of view. Or one of the animals. You decide!

Title: PencilAuthor/Illustrator: Hye-Eun KimPublisher: Toon Books (Astra Books for Young Readers), 2025Themes: trees, consumerism, artAges: pre-K to adult

QUICK REMINDER: Time is running out to preorder THE OCEAN’S HEART (official release date is March 3!) and get three raffle tickets you can put toward 1, 2, or 3 out of 7 awesome prizes. Click here to see my previous post for details. Just let me know you’ve preordered and where you’d like to place your tickets!

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post Pencil – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

This week I’m putting a book in translation, Arthur’s Cat, written and illustrated by Johan Leynaud, into the PPBF spotlight. The cover image shown here doesn’t convey the tactile nature of the strategically-placed spot gloss of that oval window. The face of the cat in the window draws the eye. Is it a look of wariness? Alarm? Longing? There is definitely a feeling of distance. That cat is on the other side of the window, after all. And one subtle detail is intriguing: the title provides the cat’s identity only in relation to Arthur.

Fittingly, the story starts with wordless joy on the front end papers. This must be Arthur.

Illustration ©Johan Leynaud

The look on Arthur’s face. The leap of joy. The alarm on the cat’s face. Oh, my. What’s going to happen next? It can’t be good, can it?

When the narrative starts, the cat is finally named. (Note that the names, Arthur and Zeffo, are printed in blue throughout the book. WordPress won’t allow me to isolate color for single words here.)

Text/Illustration ©Johan Leynaud Translation: Sarah ArdizzoneOne thing's for sure...

Arthur adores his cat!
He's wild about Zeffo—
we're talking best friends—
and he wants to hold him every day.
But Zeffo? Not so much.

Those sly illustrations add so much subtext to this narrative. Arthur is way-over-the-top in his eagerness to be with Zeffo. That towering pile of chairs and Zeffo’s aloofness shows us the truth. And the ironic line “Not so much” is sure to bring a smile of awareness about the nature of cats…but maybe this story isn’t “just” about cats and how young children tend to overwhelm them in their eagerness to be friends. Maybe it’s about something more?

Text/Illustration ©Johan Leynaud Translation: Sarah ArdizzoneStill, Arthur would like to read him

a few stories...

The narrative and illustrations continue to conflict. Is this really “a few stories”? Do those piles of books show that Arthur may be overdoing it? And as Arthur’s hand reaches out to pet Zeffo, we see that Zeffo sublimates from being asleep next to Arthur to being asleep on a pile of books. Arthur’s reaching hand comes up empty, his look of surprise evident.

Arthur’s eagnerness to do everything with Zeffo escalates, brushing, playing dress-up, playing outside and inside, and feeding the fastidious cat…who continues to avoid Arthur’s grasp. Until…

Text/Illustration ©Johan Leynaud Translation: Sarah Ardizzone

This, my friends, and the next spread, showing Zeffo alone with a sad face, too, is the dark night of the soul for their relationship. Zeffo has escaped outside to wait for time to pass so “the sadness can shrink” and “Arthur’s heart can heal. So his hand can open without trying to hold tight.” There’s a marvelous spread from Zeffo’s perspective, where he’s looking back at the house from the yard and seeing a bandaid being placed on a crying Arthur’s arm as he stares out the window into the night, perhaps wondering how his “best friend” could have cause him so much pain.

Over the next few pages Arthur learns to give Zeffo space, freedom to approach or turn away, freedom to share in the fun and get into trouble together. Freedom to “almost let himself be petted” and maybe to leap away, leaving Arthur a little lonely, “his eyes damp with doubts…” But that freedom can also bring them closer, as Zeffo then willingly approaches for a rub, while a wiser Arthur lets him walk away. Only one word appears on the last spread, showing Arthur and Zeffo together, yet apart. The sentence from the previous page reads: “These days, Arthur and Zeffo love each other…”

Page turn: “…freely.” is printed in the same blue as their names. A perfect final touch.

So yes, this is a great book to teach kids about being gentle with pets instead of torturing them with too much or the wrong kind of attention. STILL, it has a much deeper layer: Smothering friends or loved ones with unwanted, constant attention is a surefire way to get hurt, physically and/or emotionally. So watch for cues and give them the space they need when they need it. A good way to maintain true friendship.

This marvelous book releases on March 10, 2026.

Activities:

What clues can you see in the illustrations that show Zeffo doesn’t like all of Arthur’s attention, clues that Arthur ignores until he gets hurt, both physically and emotionally? Watch this video about personal space from Twinkl Teaching Resources. Has a friend or family member ever told you to leave them alone? Were your feelings hurt? Did you think about why they may have said that? What can you do to give others the space they need? Are there times when you want to be left alone, too? How can you tell or show a friend or family member you want to be alone without hurting their feelings?

If you have a pet, was there ever a time when they let you know they didn’t like your attention? What did you do? Check out the Los Angeles Public Health Department’s information on pet safety and health that will help you learn how to safely care for and show your pet love.

Check out the Humane Society’s recommendations for kids and pets.

Make an origami cat that won’t mind if you smother it with love.

Title: Arthur’s CatAuthor/Illustrator: Johan LeynaudTranslator: Sarah ArdizzonePublisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2026Themes: social skills, pets, setting boundariesAges: preschool through elementary school

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post Arthur’s Cat – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

When creating a picture book, an illustrator brings many of their own ideas to the table. But when creating nonfiction, it’s also important for them to adhere to the truth.

I wanted THE OCEAN’S HEART to be set in Monterey Bay, so (through the editor) I gave Khoa Le six pages of links and detailed information about the sea creatures found in the bay and where different species would appear in the water column (depth), parceled out by spread. I even made sure that the larger species migrating through the bay, like humpback whales, would be seen at the time of year in which the story is set. Here’s the first page of the document.

But it was up to Khoa to depict the drama of the perilous journey for the species she decided to include on each spread. Realistically, she had to be allowed a little leeway for scale, since zooplankton sizes range from microscopic to longer than a blue whale. I think Khoa masterfully addressed this by playing with perspective.

Yet there was another vital element that she brought to this project—her love for the ocean. Love that illuminates every page. Please check out Khoa’s post and amazing photos and videos of some of her night and daytime dives. There are even two magical photos of her swimming with a mama humpback whale and her baby!

Khoa’s Post: making THE OCEAN’S HEART

Sending an ocean of gratitude across the Pacific to Khoa Le in Thailand! I cannot thank her enough for all she did to make this book so beautiful!

PREORDER RAFFLE: Check out the cool prizes!

The post The Ocean’s Heart – Khoa Le’s Perspective appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

Under cover of darkness, it’s a race to eat before being eaten!

The publisher of THE OCEAN’S HEART, Lerner/Millbrook, is based in downtown Minneapolis. I can’t imagine living and working there right now while trying to maintain the kind of focus it takes to produce a beautiful book. So I’m doing my best to give THE OCEAN’S HEART a boost for its release, and would greatly appreciate it if you could share information about this giveaway widely.

Preorder THE OCEAN’S HEART before March 3 and win some fabulous ocean-themed prizes, including:

Preorders through Noe Valley Bookstore will receive a signed copy of THE OCEAN’S HEART, bookmarks, and stickers.

But everyone who preorders from ANY shopping site (including Noe Valley Books) and then emails me or DMs me on IG, BlueSky, or Facebook will receive three tickets toward a raffle. Please let me know where you’d like to use your tickets. Example, if you’d really like to win THE RADIANT SEA, specify that you’d like all three of your tickets to be used toward that prize. Or you could spread them out over three different prizes.

PRIZE 1: A signed copy of THE RADIANT SEA!! See more of the book’s interior on this blog post. It was co-authored by Steven Haddock, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute marine biologist who reviewed every aspect of THE OCEAN’S HEART. His book is an engaging, fascinating, and exquisitely beautiful look at what lights up the sea. And the photos (many of them his) are stunning! It turns out that most sea creatures make or refract different kinds of light in their efforts to find a mate, evade predators, or capture prey. You don’t have to read a word to appreciate the beautify of this book, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you found yourself immersed in its pages for hours. Its retail price is $55.

I this book!

PRIZE 2: Although octopus larvae are considered zooplankton, once they reach adulthood, they become bottom dwellers. And this psychedelic bottom dweller is GORGEOUS! The laser cut wooden pieces include a variety of sea creatures and other unusual shapes. The colors are rich, and the quality of the cuts well done. It comes in a lovely wooden box with a laser cut octopus image in full color on top. I assembled this puzzle just as I was finishing the final proofread of THE OCEAN’S HEART. For me, it was the most difficult, but also the most rewarding to assemble, of the three higher-count puzzles shown here. Its retail price is $45.

500 piece wooden jigsaw puzzle –
Mys Aurora’s Octopus

PRIZE 3: Like octopuses, anemones start life as zooplankton, before settling on the ocean floor. Many of you have seen them in tide pools, but the variety of anemones in this puzzle is astonishing! My photo doesn’t do them justice. I assembled this puzzle while waiting to see the final cover of THE OCEAN’S HEART. Its retail price is $29.

New York Puzzle Company’s Sea Anemones, 1000 pieces

PRIZE 4: Finally, jellyfish!!! The critters that remain zooplankton throughout their lives. This puzzle was the one that set me off on finding others with ocean themes, but once again, my photo doesn’t do it justice. The colors are quite rich but a little more earth-toned than the octopus or anemone puzzles. This one is also a bit easier to assemble than the previous two, because it has a white-margined border and a nametag for each jellyfish shown. It comes in a cylindrical container, and its retail price is $25.

Cavallini & Co.’s Jellyfish, 1000 pieces

PRIZES 5+6: Mudpuppy’s Ocean Life puzzles are specifically designed for kids, but great for the whole family. I am giving away two of these puzzles. A vibrantly-colored assortment of sea creatures, this puzzle’s unusual whale shape adds to the fun! Its retail price is $18.

Ocean Life, Mudpuppy, 300 pieces

PRIZE 7: A 30 minute AMA, or virtual school visit, including Q+A, bookmarks, and stickers. I would love to chat with you or with you and your students! Anyone who wins this prize can gift it to a teacher or librarian, if they’d like.

So there you have it, folks! I’m sorry that I can only ship to U.S. destinations. Looking forward to sending these out into the world, like newly born zooplankton, along with THE OCEAN’S HEART!!!

Let me know if you have any questions!

The post The Ocean’s Heart – Preorder prizes! appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

This week’s picture book selection is bound horizontally, meaning the pages flip upward as it’s being read. The publisher wanted to evoke the feeling of reading Chinese ink paintings and calligraphy hung on scrolls. A lovely choice, although I would like to note that Hsu-King Liu is from Taiwan.

Text/Illustration ©Hsu-Kung Liu
Translation: Rachel Wāng Yǔng-Hsīn

The first spread introduces the reader to Little Monk. He has lived in the temple since he was born, meaning he’s an orphan, although we don’t know why.

Text/Illustration ©Hsu-Kung Liu
Translation: Rachel Wāng Yǔng-Hsīn

Little Monk goes about his daily tasks and, as he gets older he discovers he can’t learn to read. But he doesn’t get angry or upset when others laugh at his disability.

Time passes. And then it starts to rain. Little Monk doesn’t go about his outdoors tasks. Instead Old Monk invites him inside to write calligraphy. Old Monk chooses the character for rain. And slowly, bit by bit, as Little Monk traces the character he feels himself becoming calm.

Text/Illustration ©Hsu-Kung Liu
Translation: Rachel Wāng Yǔng-Hsīn

From that point on, whenever it rains, Little Monk finishes his duties and then finds his way to Old Monk’s calligraphy room. But he never learns to read or write anything else. As he grows into Big Monk, some still tease him about his disability, but he doesn’t let it bother him.

Then drought comes to the land, and people from the city want the monks to come and pray for rain. So the monks dutifully pack up and make the long trek from the monastery. Big Monk packs all of the calligraphy he’s written over the years, each page containing only the single character for rain.

When they arrive, everyone is too busy praying, performing rituals or arguing to notice. The monks take out their prayer books, but Big Monk cannot read, so he takes out his sheets of calligraphy and sees in each one the particular memory that preceded its writing. He has so many papers, he’s “flooded with memories.”

A memory of the first time he overheard how he was an orphan, the time he taught Junior Monk to write the character RAIN, the time he wrote RAIN in grief after Old Monk passed away, and the time when he was sad that children had “pelted him with rocks.”

Text/Illustration ©Hsu-Kung Liu
Translation: Rachel Wāng Yǔng-Hsīn

His memories bring tears that drop on the papers before he raises them up in offering to the heavens. They swirl high into the sky…and raindrops begin to fall. Everyone rejoices. The monks celebrate in quiet joy and then slowly return home.

Does this event change Big Monk’s life? No. He returns to the same daily tasks. And each night, he writes the same character for rain.

So, what should we make of this? What a fantastic discussion question for kids! (And adults)

I thought about how those of us in publishing think that achieving the goal of getting a book published will change our lives. Sometimes things do change, especially for those who win major awards. But after the excitement of the achievement wears off, we are left with the dailiness of tasks. Often the same ones. We take out the garbage, pay the bills, get groceries, etc…But for those of us who love writing, the dailiness of sitting with pen in hand (or laptop on table) is a comfort, a part of life. A meditation. A way to capture memories or to process old ones through art.

Then I read the author’s note, which reveals the multiple layers he discovered in this story. First, how writers process their own emotions through the written word, and offer them up to the reader. Those words then stir emotions in the reader that may be similar or different from those of the writer. So each word, each book brings a different gift to every reader.

But this book is also about how someone with a disability should not be given short shrift. To each their own abilities. To each their own pace.

The author also asks a religious/cultural question: If a monk cannot read religious scripture, can they still be a monk? My answer to this question is that anyone who leads their life with an open heart, like Little/Big Monk, and performs other tasks as part of this particular religious life, should be considered a monk. After all, each of his single characters for RAIN is truly a prayer.

Which leads me to calligraphy and how, unlike a Times New Roman typed letter, calligraphy is art. Each character captures and reflects the writer’s heart, the emotion at the moment of creation (writing). But how it is then absorbed and transformed by the viewer cannot be controlled or predicted. So much to think about!

This beautifully illustrated book in earth-toned watercolors and ink is sure to spur different levels of discussion across all age groups, including adults. One last thought: I love how the end papers first tell the story of the baby arriving at the monastery and then end with the grown monk looking up at a rainy sky. Perfect bookends to this multi-layered story. There’s still time to preorder, as it releases March 3!

Activities:

Pair this book with That Always Happens Sometimes by Kiley Frank, illus. by K-Fai Steele. Each book provides a perspective on a learning disability. How are the two books different? How are they similar?

Learn how to write the word HUG in calligraphy using this Youtube Video by the Happy Ever Crafter.

Watch a five-minute video of Thich Nhat Hanh’s calligraphy (mindfulness) practice.

Title: Little Monk Writes RainAuthor/Illustrator: Hsu-Kung LiuTranslator: Rachel Wāng Yǔng-HsīnPublisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2026Themes: learning disability, bullying, BuddhismAges: Elementary school and older

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post Little Monk Writes Rain – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

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Many people think that board books are “tossed off” in minutes, meaning that anyone could write them. Perhaps some of them are….but I know for a fact that months of research and cross-verification went into this book. Tanis scoured reams of science literature for examples to depict (as she had done with the two previous books in this series). All three books include verified, field-observed interactions or behaviors. And then she had to whittle down her findings, deciding which examples made for the best illustration possibilities while letting the story lead the rhyme, instead of the other way around. So you see, this nonfiction board book (like her previous two) is a labor of love.

Beautifully illustrated, with gentle rhymes that mimic the wave action of the sea, LOVE UNDER THE SEA is a lovely addition to bedtime or anytime exploration of the wonders of the ocean.

Puffins canoodle….

Text/Illustration ©Katy Tanis

pufferfish make art, humpbacks splash, baby sea horses leave papa’s pouch to explore their new deep world, an octopus protects her eggs, belugas and a narwhal blow bubbles together, those fabulously frilly nudibranchs embrace life in style…

Text/Illustration ©Katy Tanis

…clownfish (Nemo!) clown, sea otters and gray whales hang out in the kelp forest, and the coolest luminescent critters light up Twilight Zone (I’m kinda partial to this luminous spread.)….

Text/Illustration ©Katy Tanis

…before the book ends with those dazzling inhabitants of coral reefs.

I love that the animals shown are also named in each spread, so kids (and adults) know what they’re seeing. Naming leads to caring, peeps! But Tanis also offers additional resources (link below in activities), including a field guide, to help extend the learning for kids and their caregivers.

This, my friends, is a fantastic intro to the sea for the preschool set, and a terrific addition to an ocean-themed storytime read aloud.

Activities:

Check out these tips for finding nudibranchs in tidepools.

Download Tanis’s field guide.

Discover the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Learning at Home” resources for PreK.

Print coloring pages provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Title: Love Under the SeaAuthor/illustrator: Katy TanisPublisher: MudpuppyThemes: ocean animals, love, STEMAges: Preschool

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post Love Under the Sea – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

I am smitten by the women of science who stayed the course, no matter the obstacles thrown in their paths. And I am smitten by this book about Cecilia Payne, the woman who discovered “the stuff of stars.”

Cecilia’s story begins with her as child, a child who observes the world in all of its intricate detail. This is the thread that pulls the reader through the story.

Text©Laura Alary Illustration ©Yas Imamura

Cecelia spies a tiny orchid in the orchard behind her house. She recognizes it from her mother’s description and from pictures she’s seen from books. Her mother tells her it’s impossible, that this flower doesn’t grow in England. But Cecilia trusts what she knows is right.

Text©Laura Alary Illustration ©Yas Imamura

It turns out that Cecilia isn’t like most other children. She’s good at “seeing hidden things” and instead of wondering about stars, she wants to know about them. What are they, really? She wants to spend hours collecting and drawing plants, use chemistry to investigate the world, and choose a book about fungi as a prize award. Cecilia doesn’t care if no one understands. She just knows that she wants to know!

And when she ends up at Cambridge, she discovers astronomy, and fills notebooks with observations and questions. Questions that lead her to earning a key to the observatory library. Despite her abilities, she’s still an outsider, because she’s a woman. So she makes her way to Harvard, where there are other women who are just as keen as she is about the stars. But Cecilia brings with her a special capability, knowledge about atomic chemistry that helps her solve a mystery.

However, when she reveals her findings, a leading astronomer tells her she’s wrong. And for the first time in her life, she doubts her findings.

Text©Laura Alary Illustration ©Yas Imamura

This, my friends, is every scientist’s dark night of the soul. They lose faith in their own findings, because they’re told they’re wrong by a group of scientists or a leading scientist whom they revere.

But Cecilia doesn’t spend her time wallowing in self-pity. She continues her work…and a few short years later, the very scientist who told her she was wrong publicly admitted that she was, indeed, right!

Cecilia goes on to become the first full female professor at Harvard and reminds her students to trust in themselves and their work. To stand by what they know is right. Such an inspiring story for all students who work hard to make new discoveries and who may be told they’re wrong at some point…until they or others prove them right. Believing in yourself, and continuing to do your work despite the naysayers, is an important lesson for us all.

Yas Imamura’s rich, but often dark, color palette that runs throughout her illustrations in watercolor and gouache is fitting for astronomy and the natural world. And Alary’s narrative, focusing on Payne’s powers of observation, curiousity, and self-trust, is engaging and well-paced. A two-page author’s note; a timeline for Payne’s life; a science-related timeline that provides context for Cecilia’s discovery; a context-setting spread that offers additional information about Harvard’s “computers” who were women, background about Harvard and Cambridge, and Cecilia’s additional contributions; and a spread describing Payne’s honors and awards and resources for further reading, round out this well-told story.

Activities:

Pair this book with The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Aimée Sicuro. How are the two women’s stories similar? How are they different? What are the similarities and differences in the ways these two authors approached their subjects?

Check out these different experiments (like splitting sunlight into a rainbow) you can do with a prism at the Wonders of Physics offered by the University of Wisconsin. Here’s a YouTube video by Elearnin explaining the concept for older kids and a different YouTube video by Kid Science for younger kids.

Practice your own powers of observation by keeping a nature journal. Whenever you’re in your yard, a park, or elsewhere in nature, take the time to watch, look, listen, and feel what’s going on around you. Do you wonder what makes the wind? the waves in the ocean? Do you wonder why the sky is blue? why owls can fly so silently? What questions do you have about our world, and how can you go about finding answers?

Title: The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of StarsAuthor: Laura AlaryIllustrator: Yas ImamuraPublisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2026Themes: STEM, astronomy, Cecilia Payne, believing in yourself Ages: Elementary school

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

It’s 2026, and time to start celebrating the new books we’ll be seeing in 2026! Let us hope that spring will bring less turmoil in our world. Today’s featured book is about the Persian New Year, celebrating the return of spring—and Uncle Nowruz.

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Anyone ready for spring, or am I too early? Well, I’m always ready for a fresh start, because I love the sense of possibility, the anticipation that something new is coming. And this adaptation of a traditional Persian folktale about welcoming spring feeds that feeling nicely.

Text & Illustration ©Rashin Kheiriyeh

Nane Sarma lives in a village in Iran, and she happens to be the “grandmother of winter, who loved to wrap herself in a wool blanket.”

Well, Nane Sarma is awaiting her old friend, Uncle Nowruz, who will arrive to announce the coming of spring. But she only knows this secondhand, because she always manages to miss his visit.

Text & Illustration ©Rashin Kheiriyeh

And over the next few pages, we figure out why. She wears herself out with the preparations (even though her grandchildren help her)—the cleaning, the collecting of the seven symbolic items for the table, shopping for new clothing, treating her grandchildren with saffron flavored ice cream, and making sure she looks her best for Uncle Nowruz’s arrival.

But there’s a stir when they see that they’ve missed finding hyacinth for the table, and it’s too late to do anything about it! Nane Sarma’s grandchildren console her while she prepares food for the traditional dinner. They assure her that he will still come! But as they wait, Nane falls into a deep, exhaustion-triggered sleep.

When Uncle Nowruz finally arrives, only her grandchildren are awake to welcome him, but he leaves a sprig of hyacinth in her hair to let her know he’s been there. I love that tender moment.

No matter what, spring, the season of renewal, always comes. Kheiriyeh’s illustrations create vibrant market scenes that exude energy during all of the preparations. And the fun childlike drawings on the endpapers that signify winter at the front and spring at the back are appropriate bookends to the story.

While reading this, I felt like spring had already arrived….but I tend to be influenced by joy-filled narratives, LOL. Come, Spring! I beckon your return!

Activities:

To welcome spring, draw a picture of what the season of renewal means to you. Include things that you do to celebrate the end of winter.

Help your parent or caregiver plant a garden at your home or in a community garden, or help teachers plant a garden at school.

Pair this book with another new February release, The Cabbage Seed’s Colossal Secret by Karen Greenwald, illustrated by Alejandra Ruiz. Discuss how generosity and caring fosters joy in both stories.

Title: Welcome, Uncle Nowruz!: A Persian New Year’s StoryAuthor/Illustrator: Rashin KheiriyehPublisher: North/SouthAges: Elementary schoolThemes: spring, New Year, Persian culture

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

The post Welcome, Uncle Nowruz! – Perfect Picture Book Friday appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

I meant to post this before the transition, but it got lost on my To Do list! Taking a break to soak up a little holiday spirit, spend time with my family, and recharge before 2026 arrives! I am sooo excited about the release of:

In other news, I was thrilled to find 10 boxes of books in storage, all waiting to be placed on my new bookshelves (with lighting that has not yet been finished). I opened them before touching any of the double-shelved multitudes on our sagging IKEA bookshelves throughout the house, and was horrified to find that the stored books smelled musty. Mold contamination!

(image: Wikimedia Commons, Martin Delisle, cc-by-sa-2.0)

and not the tasty kind….

Ironically, the worst case was a mold-edged book about the Okavango Delta that I’d received from a place we’d stayed in South Africa and then carried on our travels through Botswana and Namibia. A book about the Okavango, a river that disappears into the Earth instead of the ocean! How fitting….

And that book was snuggled in cardboard next to those related to philosophy, science, history, literature, literary theory, biographies, travel, etc. After inspecting (yes, under the dust jackets and along the edges) and packing them all back up in a panic (while wearing an N95 mask and gloves) and researching mitigation strategies for hours, I decided there was only one that was not replaceable (should I want to replace any of them): my 120-page seminar paper from a literary theory class on Walter Benjamin I’d taken while earning my MFA. I’d written it in the style of Benjamin’s Arcades Project. And yes, I’ll be replacing Benjamin’s book.

I cried, but ultimately I decided that we —my husband who volunteered to build a plastic-walled decontamination chamber involving a commercial dehumidifier, odor control with charcoal and kitty litter, and mold spore HEPA filtering, plus the manual cleaning that would follow— didn’t have the time, the space, or the resources to save several hundred books that have been in storage for ten years. So it was an emotional good-bye after the initial joy of anticipating their lives blooming once again on my shelves (instead of that blooming mold). Life goes on….

HEADS UP! – Websy Daisy has redesigned and moved my website to Siteground. Due to Jetpack and WordPress weirdness and migration to a new host, followers may have been dropped. If you find you’re not receiving my Perfect Picture Book Friday posts, please re-follow on this new site! It will still be the same URL. My apologies for the inconvenience.

I hope you have a peaceful, rejuvenating winter break! See you later in January, 2026!

The Last Bookstore in L.A….I hope it never has mold issues….

The post Holiday Hiatus, Website Renovation, & Mold! appeared first on Jilanne Hoffmann.

Today, let’s talk about the carbon cycle…..snooooooze….wait! What I mean is, let’s talk about things blowing up, dinosaurs, and burping. Better?

It’s hard to grab kids’ attention when veering off into subjects that are seemingly unrelatable and dessicated as fossils. But those who write STEM for kids often have to do just that.

Enter Melissa Stewart and Marta Álvarez Miguéns’ new book:

*

Let’s take a look at this brilliant high-interest first spread.

Text ©Melissa Stewart Illustration ©Marta Álvarez Miguéns

You’ve probably heard of atoms. They’re the

tiny particles that make up almost everything we

know in the Universe (including you).

Atoms never disappear. They just keep on

moving from object to object and creature to

creature as time goes by.

Want to know more? Then fasten you seat

belt, and get ready to join a carbon atom on its

incredible journey over billions of years.

Now, this vibrant, engaging illustration that includes dinos, whales, sloths, outer space, volcanoes, and other colorful flora and fauna—along with the idea that humans are just recycled particles (like plastic bottles, only organic)—draws me in immediately.

Stewart then explains where the moon came from and how oxygen and carbon start to hang out together on Earth where some pretty hot things are then happening…

Text ©Melissa Stewart Illustration ©Marta Álvarez Miguéns

KABOOM!

A volcano erupted, thrusting tons of ash and

gases—including the CO2 team—high into the sky.

Finally, the carbon atom was heading off on a new adventure.

And oh, what adventures it has! Wandering as CO2 through all kinds of air, foggy, rainy, snowy, and floating over bogs and mountains and lakes…until one day it gets sucked in by a leaf! Where its then yanked apart to build a larger molecule, glucose, and becomes part of that leaf. Well, I’ll be you can guess what happens next.

A dinosaur comes by for a snack, eats the leaf, and the carbon becomes part of a sugar molecule that enters a cell in its leg. So when the dino goes walking, that sugar molecule breaks apart, creating the energy the dino needs to move. But what of the carbon? It soon finds a couple of oxygen to hang out with and gets exhaled as CO2.

The sequence progresses in entertaining ways….until there’s a nod to a roll of toilet paper. Ha! Of course! But this particular CO2 molecule is destined to become part of a bottle of maple syrup that’s then eaten one morning before “you” head to school. You use up a little energy on your way to school, and then at some point during the day, that CO2 molecule does what comes naturally…..

Text ©Melissa Stewart Illustration ©Marta Álvarez Miguéns

A blast of gas suddenly erupted from your stomach.

It thrust the CO2 up and out of your body, sending the

carbon atom off on yet another amazing adventure.

Where do you think it might go next?

And that, my friends, is how you keep kids engaged, how you make the statement “we are all stardust” real to a kid. Heck, it makes it real to ME, too! And once you’ve got a reader’s curiosity aroused, there’s no telling where it will take them. The book is rounded out with four spreads of back matter, including a wall with factoids written as post-it notes, a description and illustration of the carbon cycle, notes about fossil fuel and the climate crisis, an author’s and illustrator’s note, and plenty of resources to find out more.

I am in love with a carbon atom (well, really that cute little CO2 molecule with spindly arms). Kudos to Melissa Stewart and Marta Álvarez Miguéns for creating such an engaging STEM read!

Activities:

Title: From BAM! to BURP!: A Carbon Atom’s Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU



Author: Melissa Stewart



Illustrator: Marta Álvarez Miguéns



Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2025



Ages: Elementary school



Themes: carbon cycle, STEM

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.

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