Ice cream has been a favorite food in the United States since the 1700s. In the 1800s, an ice cream maker was invented – it allowed people to hand-crank the ice cream inside a bucket of ice, mixing the ingredients until they slowly froze.  Today, there are electric ice cream makers, and huge ice cream factories make almost a billion gallons of ice cream in the U.S. every year! However, (according to our friend Google) you can actually make ice cream without an ice cream maker (electric or otherwise), if you have a few simple ingredients plus ice, salt, and two plastic bags. Here are some great books about making and enjoying ice cream in celebration of National Ice Cream Month 2023. Yum! Read More

In celebration of National Ice Cream Month 2023, here are some of Jazzy’s favorite books about ice cream. Read More

Dolly Parton began singing professionally at age 10, and has gone on to write and perform almost 3,000 songs. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly founded the Imagination Library to give books to children ages 0-5 years. Since 1995, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 200,000,000 books to children! In honor of World Music Day 2023, learn more about musicians like Dolly Parton, Jimi Hendrix, Selena, and “V” from BTS, by checking out these great books: Read More

Celebrate World Music Day 2023 with these wonderful stories that revolve around music. Read More

Learn about the meaning behind the other colors of the Pride flag in Our Rainbow by Little Bee Books, and celebrate Pride Month 2023 with these great titles about important moments and people in LGBTQ history. Read More

In celebration of Pride Month 2023, here are some of Jazzy’s favorite books that encourage us all to be proud of who we are. Read More

When we think about cheetahs, the idea of these wild cats forming friendships with dogs seems extremely unlikely. But cheetahs can become anxious, particularly when interacting with humans in a zoo environment. The San Diego Zoo solved this problem by introducing one of their cheetah cubs, Arusha, to a Golden Retriever named Anna, and the animals became best friends. Arusha and Anna eventually became animal ambassadors, meeting thousands of visitors at the San Diego Zoo, and other cheetah/dog friendships soon followed. Here are some great books about unusual animal friendships to help celebrate National Zoo and Aquarium Month 2023: Read More

In celebration of National Zoo and Aquarium Month 2023, here are some of Jazzy’s favorite books about animals living in zoos and aquariums. Read More

JoEllen McCarthy champions the power of read alouds and explores her vision for this work for teachers, families, and students in her book, Layers of Learning: Using Read Alouds to Connect Literacy and Caring Conversations. JoEllen believes there is no tool more powerful than a picture book and sharing stories can promote a love of oneself, a love of learning, and through a heartprint framework reflect limitless possibilities for both! She demonstrates the ways we can layer our academic and affective standards using books as our coteachers for lessons in reading, writing, and life! To invite conversations to do this work, you can check out her ever changing “unlist of books.” This will help to shift your thinking from that book… to books that….” because beyond the books, some of the most important lessons we can teach are often those led by children, stirred by a read aloud. Read More

All tortoises are turtles. But not all turtles are tortoises! Tortoises like to live on land, while most turtles like to live in water as well as on land. Tortoises are shaped a little differently than most turtles, because they have thicker back legs and shells that are dome-shaped. And tortoises are herbivores (vegetarians) while most turtles are omnivores – they eat both plants and animals.  Celebrate World Turtle Day 2023 with these wonderful nonfiction books about turtles (including tortoises)! Read More