Seattle Staff Faves 2021: Kids
Every year we ask our staff across the system for their favorite books published in a given year. Enjoy this list of some of our favorites for kids - some with staff annotations, and others with annotations from Kirkus, unless otherwise noted. (Created November 2021)
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Too Small Tola
SHORT CHAPTER BOOK / Tola, a young girl who lives with her grandmommy and siblings in Lagos, Nigeria, learns that she doesn’t have to be big to make a difference. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Someone Is Missing!
* LOCAL AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR * SHORT CHAPTER BOOK / Who says cats and dogs don't get along? A snobby cat and a good-natured dog team up—sort of—to solve the mystery of a missing classroom pet in this playful illustrated chapter book told in letters. (publisher)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Bodies Are Cool
NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK / A bustling celebration of body positivity that lovingly features bodies, skin, and hair of all kinds. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Mighty Inside
*LOCAL AUTHOR * CHAPTER BOOK / In this gentle historical novel about finding your voice, an African American teen struggles with a stutter in 1950s Spokane, Washington. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
GRAPHIC NOVEL / “There once lived,” the tale begins, and it ends quite satisfactorily with “happily ever after.” In between, two heroic adventures are linked together, each complete with difficulties, brave rescues, kindnesses, and magical coincidences. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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What You Don't Know
LONGER PICTURE BOOK / GRAPHIC NOVEL / A visually rich story that speaks truth to power for LGBTQ+ kids and their families and allies. (Kirkus)
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: Available
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Rissy No Kissies
PICTURE BOOK / A young bird, warm and lively, can’t bear kissing. This is an artistic gem for consent discussions, sensory-processing contexts, and anyone who champions children’s agency and bodily autonomy. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Playing the Cards You're Dealt
CHAPTER BOOK / Spades is as much a game of partnership and trust as it is about cunning and trash talk, but when the deck seems stacked against Anthony, he’s forced to consider what it means to be a good card player as well as a good (young) man. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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The Legend of Auntie Po
GRAPHIC NOVEL / In a late-19th-century Sierra Nevada logging camp, a Chinese American girl spins tall tales and dreams of a better future. (Kirkus)
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: Available
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Sunday Funday in Koreatown
PICTURE BOOK / Kim explores universal experiences, in this case bad days, while highlighting the comforts and joys of Korean culture, her signature bright and colorful cartoons drawing attention to all the small, delectable details of Koreatown. (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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