BOOK MARKED
New Year, New Books
12 Books To Inspire Your Kids To
Develop A Reading Habit
BY THERESA WANG, EARLY LITERACY
COORDINATOR, D.C. PUBLIC LIBRARY
PICTURE BOOKS
‘The Undefeated’
By Kwame Alexander,
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
A love letter to black life in the United
States, this poem highlights the unspeak-
able trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of
the civil rights movement as well as the grit,
passion and perseverance of some of the
world’s greatest heroes.

‘A Stone Sat Still’
about friendship and taking care of pets.

When Dragon finds a stray cat, he brings it
home and learns to take care of it through
many silly mishaps.

‘Harold & Hog Pretend for Real’
By Mo Willems and Dan Santat
Can the friendship of Harold and Hog, a
carefree elephant and a careful hog, survive
a game of pretending to be Mo Willems’s
Elephant and Piggie?
By Brendan Wenzel
In this brilliant companion to the
Caldecott Honor-winning “They All Saw
a Cat,” the author tells a moving story
about how different perspectives and
the passage of time can turn a seemingly
ordinary rock into a site of infinite pos-
sibility. Young children are introduced
to concepts like color, size and time in
easy-to-understand ways.

‘Ariba: An Old Tale
About New Shoes’
By Masha Manapov
Marcus’s joy over his new pair of shoes
reminds his grandfather of an old story
about a boy named Ariba who has the most
unusual relationship with an extraordinary
pair of shoes.

YOUNG READERS
‘King & Kayla and the
Case of the Found Fred’
By Dori Hillestad Butler,
illustrated by Nancy Meyers
Trying to communicate with his human
owner (and detective partner) can be frus-
trating for King, a golden retriever, as he
uncovers clues in a missing dog case.

‘Dragon’s Fat Cat’
By Dav Pilkey
The endearing blue Dragon is back in best-
selling author Dav Pilkey’s humorous story
44 Washington FAMILY JANUARY 2020
MIDDLE GRADE
‘Mighty Jack and
Zita the Spacegirl’
By Ben Hatke
Jack and Lilly have befriended dragons,
battled giants and even earned the loyalty
of a goblin army. So when they meet Zita
the Spacegirl, fresh from her interplane-
tary travels and seeking their help to face
a new threat, they’re more than ready for
another adventure.

‘Look Both Ways:
A Tale Told in
Ten Blocks’
By Jason Reynolds
A National Book Award finalist, this wick-
edly funny yet poignant novel weaves
together 10 stories (one per block) about
the different directions a walk home from
school can take.

‘Twinchantment’ By Elise Allen
In a kingdom where potentially-magi-
cal beings are outlawed, princesses Flissa
and Sara have had to pretend to be one
person since they were born, trading off
royal duties like attending balls and mak-
ing friends with other nobles. But when a
magical attack puts their mother’s life in
danger, they must break the rules to save
her with the help of a brave servant boy
and his kitten.