Protected: 7 Ways to Leverage Your ALEX Library (2025)
June 19, 20257 Books to Add to Your ALEX Library to Excite Readers
These Good Reads Are Elementary, Dear Watson
1
Brings Kids Together and Frames Inclusion
The Trouble With Giraffes
by Lisa Mantchev
Illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
(Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, Sept 2025)
As an educator, librarian, book creator, it's nice to find books that really reach readers and excite them. This book works on so many levels. PreK and K readers can even find and point to the various animals. 1-2 graders can learn a lot reading those repetitive lines "That's what friends do." As a middle kid, I certainly valued "meeting in the middle" a lot.
In a classroom where there were more behavior issues and challenges than students to sit between, the first book in this series, "Strictly No Elephants" really help me turn a classroom into a club house feel where "All are welcome" in one very exciting read.
Books like this are a blessing, plus you can add a giraffe activity with this text and you have a very engaging circle time or library reading event.
2
A Timely Big-Small Tale of Who Eats Who Introduces the Food Chain
Who Ate Steve
by Susannah Lloyd
Illustrated by Kate Hindley
(Noisy Crow, March 2025)
Gotta love science when it comes packaged as a Bird-Meets-Worm mystery story, it can be outright hilarious, quirky fun for little ones in the library. It definitely pokes fun at the food chain and choices.
This book also proves that edibles are not always about SIZE.
Marcel is a big.
Steve is a small.
When a small worm DISAPPEARS, all eyes turn to Marcel to explain? Do you know something about this? Will Steve be persuaded to return?!
Readers will enjoy solving this simple mystery!
3
When Big Performers Are the Readers Who See What the Main Character Does Not
The Amazing Augustus
by Tammi Sauer
Illustrated by Pauline Gregory
(Disney Hyperion, March 2026)
There's always one brave performer in every classroom, so bringing attention to Augustus and his big attention-seeking ambitions is perfect for our K-2 kiddlos.
"Augustus the squirrel is so busy praising himself that he winds up in the belly of a lion! This quirky, voicy picture book by beloved author Tammi Sauer is certain to have kids laughing as they realize well before Augustus that he is walking across a lion’s back. Kids love being smarter than the book, and this one takes the joke as far as possible—that is, literally inside a lion" (Amazon)
4
Readers Experience and Share the Benefits of Community Science
The Great Pollinator Count
by Susan Edwards Richmond
Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman
(Margaret Quinlin Books, April 2025)
Citizen scientists books like Winged Wonders by Meeg Pincus can be partnered with this book to show how we all have a tole to play in caring for our wild friends and wide-open spaces.
When Mellie joins the Science Club for the Great Pollinator Count, she gets partnered with Jason, the boy with zero interest in bugs.
Mellie hopes the school garden will attract even more pollinators than last year just like her friend Sylvie.
She shows Jason how to look for critters: honeybees, butterflies, and other insect pollinators among the plants. He hangs back. Does like it. Buzzy insects not his thing until he feels the benefits of being a community scientist.
5
Gotta Love Science Fascinating 'Grossologies'
From BAM! to BURP!
A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU
by Melissa Sweet
Illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens
(Charlesbridge, Oct. 2025)
Melissa Stewart dos not disappoint, especially when pointing out the quirkier side of nature and science.
Give her a topic and she will take kids on a wild ride! This time, on a carbon atom!
Any criss-cross bumper-sitting session will be met with amazing discoveries flipping through wonder!
When young Earth crashed into a smaller body called Theia, matter blasted through space, and the carbon atom was trapped deep inside Earth until a volcano erupted, thrusting tons of ash and gases—including the carbon atom—high into the sky.
Over millions of years, the carbon atom has been all kinds of things: plants and dinosaurs, eggshells, seashells, a lump of coal, and even a sheet of toilet paper!
BAM! And when it becomes part of a towering maple tree, then a drop of maple syrup, and ended up on YOUR pancakes, and inside your body, you let out a deep breath, and the carbon left your lungs and gets met up with a blast of gas and . . . it also becomes a huge BURP!
6
Compare-Contrast Two Different Worlds like Wet and Dry
7
Leaning into the Power of a Good Argument, er Discussion, on Superpowers
From BAM! to BURP!
A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU
by Melissa Sweet
Illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens
(Charlesbridge, Oct. 2025)
Next book in Esbaum's popular Superpower series features a Polecat.
"Polecat has a super cool superpower you'd probably never guess. Why?
Well, first, he's usually awake when the rest of us are sleeping! Second, he's NOT a baby skink, despite what everybody says, so he can do more than spray his predators. And, third, his superpower isn't something he normally shows to friends. But today, he's happy to show you (and one nervous porcupine) what it is!
After we get to know his, of course" (Amazon).
Like this titles, explore other wacky animal facts in Stinkbird Has a Superpower and Parrotfish Has a Superpower.
These Titles Prove a Good Book is a Good Book is a Good Book
Finding an engaging book for library time is easy with these book in hand. They will not disappoint. And they just might lead kids into the wonderment found in books everywhere!
