10 New Picture Books About Rocks, Seeds, Soccer, and Everything in Between

Another, by Christian Robinson
Illustrator Christian Robinson is so talented, he could tell a story with his mouth closed. Robinson, who won a Caldecott for his book Last Stop On Market Street and a Coretta Scott King Award for Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, returns with Another, a charming, word-free adventure in an upside-down world. As a young girl sleeps, her cat keeps watch and an illuminated portal opens in the wall. Out of it emerges a cat identical to the girl’s cat except this other cat wears a blue collar instead of a red one. When the blue-collared cat snatches the red-collared cat’s red toy mouse and takes it with him to his world, where everything is just a tiny bit different, the girl and her cat embark on an all-night chase.

Dave’s Rock, by Frann Preston-Gannon
Frann Preston-Gannon adds a few words into the mix in her follow-up to Dave’s Cave, but uses them sparingly with hilarious results as she tells the story of the leopard-skin clad, bearded Dave, who loves his rock. He gets into a rock superiority contest with fellow caveman Jon, but eventually they work together to invent something out of their rocks…that is not quite as impressive as the two-wheeled scooter the animals observing their antics create.

The Home Builders, by Varsha Bajaj and Simona Mulazzani
Keeping with the animals-are-builders theme, this gorgeous book gives credit to all the busy beavers, burrowing foxes and moles, and twig-gathering eagles hard at work creating their own shelters. “Do you see the homes?” Bajaj writes, inviting the reader to look underneath the earth, inside trees, and in the water to find snug animals. “Beds in leaf piles, dens snug and warm, lodges on ponds, shelter from storms.”

Seeds Move!, by Robin Page
Sure, animals are pretty great at building their homes, but seeds are nature’s real stunners of ingenuity. Seeds might seem inert, but in fact engage in all kinds of maneuvers to get themselves planted in a good spot. Robin Page’s vibrant illustrations and clear, detailed text show how seeds make their move, from sticktight seeds catching a ride on a passing raccoon, to exploding cucumber seeds ejecting from their pods, to coconuts traveling on ocean waves to find just the right deserted island to set down roots in.

The Amazing Idea of You, by Charlotte Sullivan Wild and Mary Lundquist
Charlotte Sullivan Wild’s charming book posits that seeds are containers for ideas. “Hidden in this apple,” she writes, “is the idea of a tree wrapped tight in this shiny seed.” She goes on to explore what other things contain ideas—from an egg harboring the idea of a bird to a tadpole carrying within it the notion of a frog. But the best idea of all is the child who is reading this book. “What ideas are hidden inside of you?” Sullivan Wild asks.

The Whole Wide World and Me, by Toni July
In this pure, cheery, spring-bright picture book illustrated with vibrant paper cutouts, the big idea inside of a child laying in a field of flowers is that she is a part of the whole wide world of nature, “like a pebble that rolls down a mountain” or “a leaf that floats from a tree.”

Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert, by Stacy McAnulty and Deborah Hocking
Sometimes kids don’t want to think about big ideas, or even focus on the task at hand, as Max illustrates in this book, a continuation of the series featuring chattering, distracted young Max. “I know a lot about soccer,” Max says. “I’ve been playing it for a long time—almost three weeks.” His mom, driving to the field while he says this, gives the reader the side-eye. Max loves everything about soccer—including the dandelions in the field, the snack break, and posing for photos—except actually kicking the ball. Sometimes the clouds are much more interesting than the wide-open goal that stretches before you with the ball perfectly positioned for a score, right?

The Happy Book, by Andy Rash
Just like Max, all kids are great at figuring out what makes them happy and what doesn’t. The always hilarious Andy Rash studies the shifting emotions of a boy (“one happy Camper”) and a (happy-as-a) clam. But when Clam bakes a friendship cake to share with Camper, and Camper eats the entire thing, Clam takes a visit to The Sad Book, where he hangs out with the sad trombone in the rain. As the friends negotiate their feelings, they move on to The Angry Book, The Scared Book, and finally The Feelings Book, where they can finally express all their emotions.

Bear Needs Help, by Sarah S. Brannen
One emotion kids experience a lot of before they master each skill is frustration, and so they’ll identify with the bear protagonist of this book. As the day dawns in the Arctic, a polar bear sets out across the ice in his set of four red tennis shoes. He’s just got one problem—one of the shoes is untied, and everyone he asks for help, from the seals to the arctic hares to the lemmings, seems to dart into the ocean or scatter away. Finally, a pair of birds has enough patience to help bear…with a problem that is different than the one suggested by his untied shoe.

The Cat Who Lived with Anne Frank, by David Lee Miller, Steven Jay Rubin, and Elizabeth Baddeley
Few stories are as vital to tell each new generation of children as that of Anne Frank, the beloved teenage diarist who perished in the Holocaust. The authors of this book have found a fresh way to tell her story to young children, through the experience of Mouschi, the cat who lived with Anne in the Secret Annex above the factory, where they had to maintain perfect silence during the day to avoid being discovered. The book includes short excerpts from Anne’s diary about Mouschi and other subjects, and Elizabeth Baddeley’s illustrations are stark and evocative. Mouschi, who carries on roaming the town after Anne is taken away, serves as a messenger of hope that this story will move new readers to ensure that what happened to Anne never happens again.