machines

A Bundle of New Board Books

| Tasha
Cover image for Baby Botanicals Series by Jillian Miao, illustrated by Riley Samels. Cover features a blue and orange bird on a wooden block looking at a worm in the dirt under yellow and orange flowers.

Baby Botanicals Series by Jillian Miao, illustrated by Riley Samels

  • Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers
  • Publication Date: February 10, 2026
  • Reviewed from pdf provided by publisher
  • ISBNs: 9780593519028 & 9780593419042

From loss and a cancer diagnosis comes this lovely pair of board books in a new series. Written to reflect the walks the author takes with her daughters as well as her mother’s love for gardens, these two board books shine with wonder and a joy at gardens and nature. The first book, Good Morning, Garden!, takes small children directly into the garden, under the earth and getting their hands dirty. The second book, Peekaboo, Flowers!, focuses on the beauty of the blooms and the butterflies they invite. With bright and fresh illustrations and simple words, these board books are just right to help welcome spring. 

Just right for a springtime snuggle outside. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Cover image for Breathe a Rainbow by Julie Koon, featuring a smiling cloud over a rainbow with falling raindrops in different colors.

Breathe a Rainbow by Julie Koon 

  • Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
  • Publication Date: April 28, 2026
  • Reviewed from copy provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9781419780431

This board book uses calming strips to encourage small children to take a breath. Each double-page spread offers both a mood and then a new breathing exercise to do while running your finger over each strip. The strips are offered in a variety of shapes and textures from ribs to dimples to stars. A rainbow design is offered if you feel like a thunderstorm, a flower if you are stuck in the mud, an ocean wave for whirling worries. Filled with bright colors and very effective tactile moments of calm, this board book will work well in public library settings. 

Take a breath with this meditative board book. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Cover image for I Am Here by Kim Hyo-eun, translated by Aerin Park, featuring a child seating in the grass under a blue sky looking at a worm.

I Am Here by Kim Hyo-eun, translated by Aerin Park

  • Publisher: Scribble
  • Publication Date: May 5, 2026
  • Reviewed from pdf provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9781964992419

Told in the most basic of words, this gentle board book starts with the baby looking up at the sky. They are under the sun, under the clouds, under the rainbow, under a bird. It moves closer. They are under their mother’s hat and then under their mother in a carrier. The book then turns, and looks at what is beside the baby. There is Grandpa, a cat, ants, a leaf, a stick. Finally, there is me! Smartly crafted, this board book shows the meaning of under and beside while exploring a baby’s world. Children will love seeing similar things around themselves as they and their family look around too.

A quiet baby-sized adventure. Appropriate for ages birth – 2.

Cover image for Lawn-Mowing Day! By Breanna Carzoo, featuring a skunk with a manual mower, a raccoon riding on a mower, and a fox with a push mower.

Lawn-Mowing Day! By Breanna Carzoo

  • Publisher: Little Simon
  • Publication Date: March 3, 2026
  • Reviewed from copy provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9781665973472

The first in a new series of board books, this one focuses on lawn mowing. Three big-eyed animals, a fox, skunk and raccoon find that the grass has grown too tall. Time to mow the lawn! There are all kinds of equipment to use, each with its own prep and sound. Then you can make shapes with the stripes in the lawn. When you are done, smell the cut grass. Then take a nap, play some more and wait for the grass to grow tall again. Filled with a lot of energy and a joy for doing a job well, I don’t know of another board book about mowing the lawn. 

Sure to be loved by little ones with their own toy lawn mowers. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Cover image for Now I See series by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, featuring a close up of two eyes under a yellow hat.

Now I See series by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

  • Publisher: Tundra Books
  • Publication Date: April 7, 2026
  • Reviewed from NetGalley e-galley
  • ISBNs: 9781774886694, 9781774886656, 9781774886731 & 9781774886779

This new board book series from two major children’s book creators is a reason to celebrate every season. With one volume per season, the books are simple enough for even the smallest child to enjoy. Barnett keeps his language limited, sharing small elements of a child’s world, including a cat, a red wagon, a sweet treat and a perfect hat. Klassen’s illustrations keep it simple too with a wry sense of humor that shows how each season differs even as Barnett’s words repeat from book to book. 

A small triumph perfect for small children. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Review: Machines Go to Work in the City by William Low

| Tasha

machines go to work in the city

Machines Go to Work in the City by William Low

This is an inventive look at machines, combining it with large flaps to open and questions to engage.  Low looks at one machine after another that works in the city and then asks a question about it.  The questions are not simple either, this is not a book that talks down to its young audience.  Instead you have to think a bit.  Do the garbage men go home after picking up the garbage?  Can the crane operator still work when the building grows taller than the crane?  Is the airplane ready to leave when the passengers are on board and the baggage is loaded?  Little listeners get to turn the flap to learn the answer and the reason. The answer is given with a quick explanation and then the book moves on to the next machine. It’s just enough information for a preschooler to really enjoy.

Low has created a brisk pace here, never lingering too long and offering exactly the right amount of information.  This makes the book very readable, something that can be happily shared at bedtime unlike a lot of nonfiction vehicle books.  More information on each machine is offered at the end of the book, complete with labeled parts.  Those are pages that young truck fans will linger on.

Low’s illustrations are richly colored.  The painted textures add to them with some pages having individual bricks done solely in texture alone.  At other times, the sleek metal stands out. 

A great pick for your own little machine fan or for public library shelves.  Don’t let the flaps scare you off, they are large and just as durable as a regular page.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Village Garage

| Tasha

 

The Village Garage by G. Brian Karas

Follow the activities of the workers from the village garage as the seasons change.  In spring, the workers are cleaning up sticks, creating mulch, and washing the trucks.  In summer, they are fixing the roads, picking up garbage, and mowing the grass.  They even deal with the effects of a summer thunderstorm that takes out a bridge.  In autumn, they suck up the leaves.  In winter, work is slower until the snow starts and then they wish for spring to come again.  The book mixes the interesting tools and machines the workers use into the story.  Readers will learn what the machines are called and what they do.  This is a rare book that reads beautifully but also has lots of machinery for children to learn about.  Too often they read like lists of tools rather than stories.

Karas perfectly captures small town life along with garage work.  The use of the seasons to frame the story works particularly well with the seasonal nature of their work.  Karas’ art is friendly and also has that same small town feel and a genuine enjoyment for the machines themselves.  Karas incorporates women and people of color throughout his illustrations.  The book offers great sound effects to read aloud, which children will happily help with.  Chains rattle, the leaf truck sucks noisily.  He also weaves a nice sense of humor throughout the book with small touches. 

Ideal for machine story times, this book will also be a great addition to seasonal stories.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from book received from Henry Holt.

Also reviewed by 100 Scope Notes.