January 2025

Let’s start the year off by dreaming big and setting massive goals that get us excited to get out of bed every day! I love this book. One of my favorite maxims that Massimino offers: the odds are against you – do it anyway.

Subtitled “How a House-Painting, Drug-Running DEA Informant Built the Machine That Rules Our Lives,” how can you NOT pick up this book? Fascinating true story that reminded me a lot of Catch Me If You Can (only this one really happened).

Beautifully-written collection of short stories that highlight how every day matters.

It really bothers me to see so many depressing and negative books offered to teens and young adults. Higgs chronicles his experiences as a global educator and missionary in poems that uplift and inspire – the perfect book for the start of the new year.

This title is meant for adults, but I’d rather see younger people read it to explore possibilities BEFORE problems occur. When acclaimed naturalist Sy Montgomery and wildlife artist Matt Patterson arrive at Turtle Rescue League, they are greeted by hundreds of turtles recovering from injury and illness. Endangered by cars and highways, pollution and poachers, these turtles—with wounds so severe that even veterinarians would have dismissed them as fatal—are given a second chance at life. The League’s founders, Natasha and Alexxia, live by one motto: Never give up on a turtle. But why stop at turtles? Encouraging and heart-warming read.

Seventeen-year-old Ellen Sung just wants to be like everyone else at her all-white school. But hers is the only Korean American family in town, and her classmates in Arkin, Minnesota, will never let her forget that she’s different. A great coming-of-age story about finding the courage to speak up and raise your voice. Why not you? Why not now?

In this beautifully written Grimm fairy tale that is perfect for tweeners, Snow and Rose live with their mother in a small cottage in the woods, where they meet and befriend a gigantic bear. But a Huntsman stalks their bear friend, and a Little Man seeks to enchant the sisters. Can they find a way to save their bear and themselves?

Follow parents, grandparents, and a wide array of kids throughout all the seasons as they learn about the meaning of love.

Great read aloud to allow children’s imaginations to run free, as readers will constantly ask themselves what’s in Grandma’s mysterious room. Kids have a great time guessing as you read together.

Nobody in the world actually enjoys reading aloud, do they? Impossible! Author Max Greenfield and illustrator Mike Lowery present a side-splitting picture book that's sure to have kids shouting for repeat read-alouds.