Helen Plum Library

"The only good thing about Sofia's mom sending her to live with her abuela is that finally Sofia and the sea will meet face-to-face. The sea has always called to Sofia, even when she and her mom lived in a big city nowhere near its shore. That's how Sofia always knew she was a mermaid--that, and the fact that the sea and its creatures are much easier to understand than people. Like her mother, who is sending Sofia away instead of her barracuda of...

Ivan has been happily living in a wildlife sanctuary, with his friend Ruby next door in the elephant enclosure, frequent visits from his canine friend Bob, and his mate Kinyani by his side. And in the happiest turn of all, Ivan and Kinyani have welcomed a set of twins to their family!

In this love letter to Cairo, Egypt, a young child is sung a lullaby by her great-aunt who paints a vivid portrait of the ancient city as the child drifts off to sleep

"Daniel tells his class about the family and friends he loves. He draws pictures to show while he talks about each one and their special memories together, from playing cars with Miss Elaina to Dad Tiger putting Daniel up on his shoulders"--

Busy Betty has always been busy. Every day she wakes up with a million questions and a billion ideas! And today she has an amazing idea: she's throwing her mom a birthday party. Shhh . . . It's a surprise! Then Betty and her best friend, Mae, have the best idea of all: What if they threw Mom a circus surprise party?! It will be the greatest day in the history of the universe! Everything is perfect until Betty realizes oh, no! Mom's birthday isn't...

"Dolores Madrigal has the amazing ability to hear things that are very far away, from across the whole Encanto she calls home. But one morning when she wakes up, she doesn't hear something she usually does. But what? To find out, join Dolores and her magical Madrigal family as they team up to solve a mystery in this sweet and silly story set in the world of Disney Encanto!"--

"Three families meet up in front of their high-rise apartment building, all with the same idea. The children can't wait to stimp-stamp-stomp through the muddy puddles until their boots overflow -- then snuggle with the grown-ups on the couch as their soggy socks dry"--

"This moving tale introduces the youngest picture book audience to a girl who misses her grandmother-whom she calls Tata or Tatita, as is traditional in many Spanish-speaking cultures-and yearns to spend time with her. But Tatita is not here any more. The spare, striking illustrations make it ambiguous whether the girl misses her tata because she lives in a faraway place, is ill, or has passed on. Yet this gorgeous, deceptively simple book's ending...

"Karen is having her first sleepover! She and her friends are going to tell spooky stories, bake cookies, and raid the refrigerator. But then Karen and Nancy get into a big fight, and Karen doesn't want Nancy to come to her party. A new girl, Pamela, comes instead and she isn't any fun. What is Karen going to do?"--Provided by publisher

For Hương, life in Saigon, Vietnam is mostly normal--at least, as normal as it can be while a war is going on. But when her family decides to take the last flight out of the country to build a new life in America, Hương worries about missing her home. Through new friends and old traditions, Hương learns that no matter where we go, the smell of home and the taste of love can be found anywhere, as long as we have our family. In this timely and...