Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney. Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Ages 3-7

On a day when Max doesn’t feel like talking to anyone, he sits brooding on the front steps of his apartment building until he notices two sticks on the ground. They make perfect drum sticks, and as people in Max’s neighborhood pass by and say hello, Max responds by beating a rhythm with his sticks on something left behind by the previous passer-by. Primary and secondary colors brighten Pinkney’s sweeping scratchboard illustrations which are filled with rhythmic motions. Honor Book, 1994 CCBC Coretta Scott King Award Discussion: Illustration.  © Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Penny and Her Song by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow / HarperCollins, 2012.

Ages 4-7

Kevin Henkes’s debut titles for beginning readers are two easy chapter books featuring a mouse named Penny. Penny and Her Doll begins with Penny in the garden with Mama admiring the roses when a package arrives in the mail from Gram. Penny immediately falls in love with the doll inside, but agonizes over the course of the day about finding the right name for her. The answer turns out to be growing in the garden where Penny was when the doll arrived. In Penny and Her Song, Penny comes home from school with a song she’s made up in her head, but has to wait until dinner is over to sing it so she doesn’t wake the babies or disrupt the meal. When she finally shares her song, a grand time is had by everyone in the house. Both books feature terrific storytelling, including wonderful dialogue and charming illustrations. And both books are brimming with warmth.  © Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegacki. Illustrated by Qin Leng. Kids Can Press, 2014

Ages 4-8

Hana’s decision to enter the school talent show is met with derision by her older brothers. “It’s a talent show, Hana.” “You’ll be a disaster.” It’s true she’s only had three violin lessons. But on their summer visit to Japan, their grandfather, Ojiichan, played for them every day. Hana’s favorite was the song about a crow calling for her chicks. “Whenever Ojiichan played it, Hana would feel a shiver of happy-sadness shiver through her.” She also loved the way he could make his violin sound like crickets or raindrops. She practices every day for the show, and when the time comes to step onto the stage, the sixth violin performance of the night, she’s nervous but determined. She begins with three “raw, squawky notes” to mimic the caw of a crow, followed by a “the sound of my neighbor’s cat at night” as she drags the bow across the strings in a “yowl of protest.” Hana also makes the sound of buzzing bees, squeaking mice, and croaking frogs before taking a bow. Not everyone can be a prodigy, but in a warm, refreshing, beautifully told and illustrated story, loving what you do is enough of a reason to share it.  © Cooperative Children’s Book Center