Picture Book

The House That Floated / Guojing

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The House That Floated
By: Guojing
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: September 16, 2025
Publisher: Random House Studio
Dates Read: December 21, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

A wordless children’s picture book about saving a house on a cliff after the ocean’s water levels rise.

I haven’t read wordless children’s books too often, though I have read wordless, and nearly wordless graphic novels quite a few times. They are absolutely a different style of reading. There’s nothing really tying you to the characters except what’s happening in the scene around them.

As a kid, I think this would be the book I would have picked up and “read aloud”, inserting my own narrative and dialog, and then be proud of the story I just “read” to my parents.

Overall, beautiful and detailed snapshots of the story that doesn’t need any words to help move it along.

The Bakery Dragon and the Fairy Cake / Devin Elle Kurtz

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The Bakery Dragon and the Fairy Cake
By: Devin Elle Kurtz
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book, Fantasy 
Number of Pages: 40
Published: October 7, 2025
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Dates Read: December 21, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Ember is in charge of the bakery while the baker takes a trip, so when a fairy princess swoops in asking for a cake, Ember does everything he can to make one, even though he doesn’t know what a cake even is. He’s only ever baked bread, how hard can it be?

But when every attempt hits the fan, Ember begins to lose faith in himself to be able to do it, because if he doesn’t figure it out soon, all there will be is a pile of baked disasters.

I loved the first Bakery Dragon, so I knew I was going to have to get my hands on the second one. Obviously, I wasn’t disappointed.

As a librarian myself, I loved how they went to the library to do research and find recipes. 

Visually, this book is bright and vivid with beautiful pages of scenery. Ember is the cutest dragon.

Overall, anyone who enjoyed the first one will also love and enjoy the follow up book.

John the Skeleton / Triinu Laan, Marja-Liisa Plats (Illustrator), Adam Cullen (Translator)

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John the Skeleton
By: Triinu Laan, Marja-Liisa Plats (Illustrator), Adam Cullen (Translator)
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 64
Published: October 1, 2024
Publisher: Yonder
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

When he retires, John the skeleton is adopted by elderly couple Grams and Gramps. On their farm he finds himself in amazing adventures with the two and their grandchildren.

This is a playful, older children’s picture book with unique, detailed pictures with a color pallet of pink, dark gray, and white. The adventures Grams and Gramps have with John the Skeleton are funny and imaginative. 

There’s a subtext in the story of both keeping humor/fun in your life, even at an older age, and accepting death.

Overall, a fun, silly read that could open the door for more imagination.

This Year, a Witch! / Zoey Abbott

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This Year, a Witch!
By: Zoey Abbott
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: July 15, 2025
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

A little girl has been every cute and adorable thing you could imagine for Halloween – but this year, she’s putting a stop to it and being the scariest, spookiest thing out there… a witch!

With just a little help from her dad, the little girl prepares hard for new costume. She works on her hair, brews, spells and enchantments, and the power to petrify! But, what happens when the night finally comes and she sees herself in the mirror?

A sweet story with vibrant, colorful pages about growing up and learning independence – and how asking for help doesn’t mean you don’t have any.

Aggie and the Ghost / Matthew Forsythe

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Aggie and the Ghost
By: Matthew Forsythe
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 64
Published: August 19, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Aggie is very excited to live on her own and have peace and quiet. Unfortunately, her new house comes with a ghost, who disturbs everything. Fear not, Aggie has a list of rules. But the ghost doesn’t like playing by the rules and challenges Aggie to an epic game of tic-tac-toe.

The art of this is unique and quirky. 

The overall story for kids is really how to adjust and live with someone who maybe drives you up the wall, and that maybe, when they live, you will miss them.

Cat Nap / Brian Lies

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Cat Nap
By: Brian Lies
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 48
Published: September 30, 2025 (1st Published January 1, 2025
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

A mixed media children’s book about when a cat’s nap is disturbed by a mouse, a chase ensues through time, art, and history.

This is a wonderfully crafted book where this cat comes alive in nine pieces of art throughout history. 

Those who love art and art history would love reading this to their littles. But, I found I enjoyed it myself as an adult with no children. I especially like the behind the scenes in the back of the book about how all the pages were made.

Evelyn Witch Gets a Pet / Beth Ferry, Charles Santoso (Illustrator)

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Evelyn Witch Gets a Pet
By: Beth Ferry, Charles Santoso (Illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 32
Published: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Dates Read: October 20, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Evelyn Witch has everything a witch needs, except a pet! She can only afford the mystery pet, which opens to be a plain white egg. Now, she must wait for it to hatch!

As a librarian, I loved that Evelyn went to the library to research things she didn’t know. I also loved her ambition to help get her egg to hatch. She was doing everything she could think of to finally meet her pet!

The overall moral of this story is patience of course – Evelyn does everything she can think of to speed up the hatching, but once she realizes she just needs to wait, the egg finally hatches!

This story has eye-catching illustrations, fun, rhyming lines, and a spunky, eager child who just wants to meet her pet.

The Tiny Chef: and da mishing weshipee blook / Rachel Larsen, Adam Reid, Ozi Akturk

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The Tiny Chef: and da mishing weshipee blook
By: Rachel Larsen, Adam Reid, Ozi Akturk
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: September 15, 2020
Publisher: Razorbill
Dates Read: October 20, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

From The Tiny Chef Show comes a storytime adventure about Tiny Chef and his hunt to find his missing recipe book.

I didn’t become a fan of Tiny Chef until recent months, so I am a bit late getting my hands on a copy of this book to read from the library. I could hear Tiny Chef through the pages, so it was a fun read for me (because sometimes you do need to read it aloud to understand what Chef’s saying).

One of the fun things I like about Tiny Chef is that he is so relatable and even though he’s tiny, he’s still got big emotions. We can all learn from Tiny Chef.

Overall, any lover of Tiny Chef will love this book and anyone who hasn’t met Tiny Chef, this is a good little place to start.

Spooky / Sally Anne Garland

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Spooky
By: Sally Anne Garland
Genre: Children's, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: August 5, 2025
Publisher: Sunbird Books
Dates Read: October 20, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

When a family moves into a new house, they quickly realize they’re not alone. With patience and care maybe their new housemate will come out of the shadows.

What an adorable children’s book about not only moving into a new house and the adjustments that come with that, but also the adjustment that comes with a new furry member of the family.

This is adorable artwork, but also – the cat carrying around its little toy mouse in its mouth was the most adorable thing.

I know this is a children’s book, so maybe I am thinking too much into this for a children’s book, but I want to know what Spooky was doing before the family moved in, because it mentions the house had been empty for a while. It only really takes the family a day to figure out that there’s a cat in their house and to start leaving it food and water, but that still means they were all alone for a bit!

Overall, this is adorable and any cat lover will love this but this is also a good story about adjustment and patience for children.