Butler Bookshelf

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For this week’s Butler Bookshelf, we’re looking at some of the board books in our collection. Our feature pick is Like So by Ruth Forman and illustrated by Raissa Figeroa. A board book adaptation of the 2024 picture book, this story focuses on family and nature, accompanied by colorful images of a grandmother and her granddaughter.

Check out more board books below!

Like So
Ruth Forman
Illustrated by Raissa Figeroa
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Little Simon
Available now!

Hello, Sleep!
Illustrated by Ania Simeone
The Quarto Group/Happy Yak
Available now!

Mi Cielo, My Sky
Dori Elys
Illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Little Simon
Available now!

My Heart Knows Love
Yuli Yav
Illustrated by Sydney Hanson
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Little Simon
Available now!

Baby Loves Robotics!
Ruth Spiro
Illustrated by Kat Uno
Charlesbridge
Available now!

By the Pricking of My Thumbs: A Review of A Coven of Witches: Spellbinding Tales of Magic and Myth

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A Coven of Witches: Spellbinding Tales of Magic and Myth
Alexis Powell
Illustrated by Marina Vidal
Gibbs Smith
Ages 8-12
Available July 14, 2026

This collection of scary stories form Alexis Powell asks what it means to be a witch, through the lenses of folklore, mythology, and history. Whether they’re climbing on to ghost trains or being dragged into the spotlight of a circus sideshow, the characters in these stories come face to face with the otherworldly and unexplainable. Will they make it out of their encounters unharmed?

Mixing the imagined and the factual, each story is accompanied by a blurb explaining the real folktale, mythological figure, or event its based on. Powell takes inspiration from across time and space, pulling from sources from the Bible to 19th century New Orleans.

A Coven of Witches is well-suited for readers from scared-cats to hardcore horror fans, with each story receiving a “fright level” score out of three to serve as a guide for those who might want to skip the true spine tinglers. A wide variety of cultural perspectives allows anyone who picks up the collection to learn something new, regardless of their previous knowledge of witchcraft and mythology.

Butler Bookshelf

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Happy Tuesday! Today is all about the silly, so from hand puppet shark attacks, farm animal shenanigans, to pepperoni prehistoric creatures, there’s a little bit of goofiness for everyone here; giggle-enducing storytime guaranteed. Our feature pick this week is Loops, written and illustrated by Jashar Awan. Tying shoes can be a big deal! But with a little help & encouragement from one very determined friend, you too can learn to bunny-ear and loop and pull like a pro.

Check out some more silly picture books below!

Loops
Jashar Awan
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Available now!

No, I’m a… Shark!
Mike Henson
Illustrated by Ana Gomez
The Quarto Group / Happy Yak
Available now!

Sorry, Sammy
Scott Rothman
Illustrated by Tom Tinn-Disbury
The Quarto Group / Happy Yak
Available now!

Pizzasaurus
Tammi Sauer
Illustrated by Kyle Beckett
Random House Children’s Books / Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Available now!

The Case of Old MacDonald and His Farm
Mark Teague
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Beach Lane Books
Available now!

The Nature of Healing: A Review of To the Last Gram

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To the Last Gram
Shreya Davies
Illustrated by Vanessa Wong
Difference Engine
Ages 13+
Available May 12th, 2026

To the Last Gram follows eighteen-year-old Divya as she reflects on childhood insecurity and navigates her teenage years in a body that never feels quite right. What begins as an awareness of her weight quickly spirals into portion control and exercise obsession as Divya’s relationship with food—and herself—becomes more and more turbulent.

Shreya Davies approaches Divya’s coming-of-age story with a careful balance of honesty and tact, detailing the gradual descent into anorexia in a way that feels both deeply personal and painfully recognizable. What seems to linger most is the graphic novel’s understanding of food as something far more complicated & complex than just sustenance. Within Divya’s Indian-Singaporean upbringing, food is seen as love, ritual, and expectation; it’s something you can’t easily turn away from. That tension sits at the heart of the story, exploring Divya’s struggles in a cultural way, a narrative that’s seldom explored this carefully. Vanessa Wong’s illustrations carry that same emotional weight, their limited color palette and careful attention to the characters’ expressions highlighting just how quietly painful and incredibly nuanced disordered eating can be.

Although the story ends with hope, it never simplifies recovery. Davies leaves space for relapse, uncertainty, and for the ongoing nature of healing, being far from linear. To the Last Gram is unflinchingly honest and incredibly human: a resonant read that explores something sadly so many young adults face.

Butler Bookshelf

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Whether you’re planning on celebrating Easter this Sunday or just really love those chocolate candied eggs, the spring season is in full bloom (pun intended)… and hopefully sunny skies are to follow! This week’s Butler Bookshelf is full of spring-themed & seasonal reads to get you ready for April’s showers and May’s flowers. From nature-themed non-fiction reads to picture books of landscaping lawns and baby animals galore, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone here. Our feature pick is Goldfinches, a poem by the late, great Mary Oliver, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. The finches dazzle in color as they lay their eggs and weave their baskets, with a sweet and tender song. “Have you heard them singing in the wind, above the final fields? / Have you ever been so happy in your life?”

Check out some more springtime reads below:

How to Hatch: A Gosling’s Guide to Breaking Free
Sara Holly Ackerman
Illustrated by Galia Bernstein
Random House Children’s Books / Alfred A. Knopf
Available now!

Lawn-Mowing Day!
Breanna Carzoo
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Little Simon
Available now!

Goldfinches
Mary Oliver
Illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Random House Children’s Books / Viking Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Our Green Planet
Leisa Stewart-Sharpe
Illustrated by Kim Smith
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Beach Lane Books
Available now!

Welcome, Spring!
Apryl Stott
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Beach Lane Books
Available now!

It’s Better to Give: A Review of Just One Gift

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Just One Gift
Linda Sue Park
Illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng
HarperCollins/Clarion Books
April 7, 2026
Age: 8-12

The language arts assignment is deceptively simple: If you could give a gift, what would it be? The recipient must fall into the assigned category (family, friend, or ?), and the gift must not be something they have ever asked for. When Ms. Chang’s middle school ELA class begins to think through their assignment, they discover that the thought put into a gift can reveal as much about the giver as the receiver. And that their gifts highlight emotions, priorities, and community in ways that may never have been imagined.

Inspired by the Sijo poetry style of Korea, composed of three lines and thirteen to seventeen syllables, each response is its own short story of connection and meaning. In this companion to The One Thing You’d Save, Park’s choice to arrange the title into an assignment explanation, followed by individual student responses, provides natural pauses between chapters to digest the consideration that went into each gift. It also helps to delineate between student voices and highlight the self-consciousness, enthusiasm, and growing thoughtfulness of the middle school years. The simple pencil sketches from the book cover and select interior pages (available online) showcase Sae-Heng’s clear and imaginative style, bringing the students’ vision to the page like one might doodle in their assignment notebook.

A thoughtful exploration of the meaning, importance, and joys of gift giving for middle schoolers beginning to understand the ways their actions—big and small—can affect the world around them.

*Final art not included in the ARC.

Butler Bookshelf

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In this week’s Butler Bookshelf, we’re looking at a staple in any school library: graphic novels. Across fiction and nonfiction and covering multiple reading levels, these graphic novels appeal to a wide variety of readers. Our feature pick is Harper Sharp: Kid Detective by Jarrett Williams. The Young Inventor’s Fair is coming up, but someone at Starview Elementary is threatening to ruin it. Harper Sharp is sure he can crack the case, but can he juggle the mystery, working on his own project, and spending time with his friends and family? The clock is ticking, and Principal Toughcook is counting on Harper to find the culprit before the fair starts!

Check out more graphic novels below:

Harper Sharp, Kid Detective
Jarrett Williams
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

Oh Brother: A Graphic Memoir
Georgina Chadderton
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

Pizza and Taco: Go Viral!
Stephen Shaskan
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

Squirrel Lock Holmes: The Pet Rock Mystery
Ashley Belote
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

StEvEn & Parker: Dinos Are Forever!
Parker James
Ilustrated by Toonstar Studios
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Books for Young Readers

New Adventures: A Review of Unexpected Guests

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Unexpected Guests
Mariajo Ilustrajo
The Quarto Group/Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Ages 3-5
Available March 17, 2026

The mice have some unexpected guests — humans have moved into their house! They’re not too sure what to think, but when they start investigating, they discover that the humans come with all sorts of exciting (and delicious) human things. But when they push their luck and sneak back for more, they end up face-to-face with a human girl. Are humans everything they were afraid of after all?

Illustrajo’s charming mixed media illustrations bring life to the mice and their human counterparts, often playing with scale and contrast between the mice’s home below the floorboards and the humans’ home above.

This simple and inviting tale is engaging to read and packed with lots to look at. Young readers can enjoy the tale of adventure while keeping an eye out for recognizable household objects being put to unconventional uses by the mice.

Butler Bookshelf

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For this week’s Butler Bookshelf, we’re taking a look at middle grade fantasy. Full of magic, mythology, and mythical creatures, this selection has something for any reader who wants to venture beyond the fabric of reality. Our feature pick is The Aftermyth by Tracy Wolff. Penelope Weaver arrives at Anaximander’s Academy certain of her path — she and her twin brother, Paris, will be placed in Athena Hall, just like their parents and their parents’ parents before them. But on her first day, everything seems to go wrong, and Penelope isn’t claimed by Athena. Instead, she ends up separated from Paris and stuck in Aphrodite Hall, where parties are prioritized over studying, and everyone seems to think there’s no point in even trying to win the yearly hall contest. But as more and more strange things start to happen, Penelope learns that she has a lot to uncover about herself — and the history and mythology that Anaximander’s legacy is built on.

Check out more middle grade fantasy below!

The Aftermyth
Tracy Wolff
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Aladdin
Available now!

The Curse Breaker
Jen Calonita
HarperCollins Publishers/Clarion Books
Available now!

Lola Gillette and the Summer of Second Chances
Kimberly Behre Kenna
Between the Lines/Willow River Press
Available now!

Hilo Presents: The Mighty: (A Graphic Novel)
Judd Winick
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

Rialto
Kate Milford
HarperCollins Publishers/Clarion Books
Available April 14, 2026

A Stick (Or Princess) In The Mud: A Review of Her Muddy Majesty of Muck

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Her Muddy Majesty of Muck
Beatrice Alemagna
Astra Books for Young Readers / Hippo Park
Ages 5-8
Available March 31st, 2026

Little Yuki and her older brother Shen are far from friends. Yuki has big feelings, and Shen has little patience for her stomps and tears. One afternoon on the walk home from school, Yuki, in a fit of rage, flings their house keys into the sewer. When she climbs down after them, she comes face-to-face with the Muddy Majesty of Muck: an ooey, gooey creature made entirely of mud. The Muddy Majesty takes Yuki on a journey underground, meeting Boogers who love to be mean, and trekking to a museum of objects left behind by those who lost their tempers once, too. Along the way, the Muddy Majesty explains that the meaner Yuki becomes, the bigger she grows. Yuki feels like she’ll be stuck underground forever, but then she spots Shen, who’s come to her rescue. The siblings reconcile, Yuki feels her anger melt away, and although the Muddy Majesty has now shrunk, Yuki promises to come back and visit her soon—to make mud pies, of course.

Alemagna’s incredibly charming illustrations, created through an endearing and eclectic potpourri of gouache, collage, oil paint, and wax pencils, make Her Muddy Majesty of Muck just as delightful visually as it is in its storytelling. The dialogue is simple yet incredibly effective, and the humor—snarky Boogers attempting to read or bathe or don heels and a muddy princess who can’t stop dripping—will appeal to younger and older readers alike. Most importantly, the story’s message resonates: we shouldn’t let our feelings consume us. Anger, envy, and sadness can be messy, but with persistence and love and maybe a nice shower, even the muddiest of feelings can eventually be washed clean.