Marguerite W. Davol (1928–2012)

Gorgeous illustrations, innovative design with the fold-out pages (although ours got nested incorrectly and I ended up reading a later page ahead of an earlier page). I love the tale of ingenuity, discovering the depths of one's own strength, and learning what's truly important.

Marguerite Davol tells the story of a Chinese scroll painter who is asked to help his village get rid of the dragon, Sui Jen who was awakened from a hundred years sleep. The artist Mi Fei goes to the mountain and uses his painting to complete three tasks that the dragon says would put him back to sleep. I loved the illustration in this book. The pictures fold out to bigger pictures. Grades K - 3.

Black, White, Just Right! is a story about a little girl who lives in a biracial home. She explains why she loves her life through activities that she and her parents do together. Her family tells her that no matter what, she is “Just Right” because she was made the way she is, and they wouldn’t change her at all. She is a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, but she is just right. The illustrations are wonderful because they directly correlate with the words. Children will be show more able to follow along because the book is pretty self-explanatory by the use of words and illustrations. This is a good book to read when learning about race in a classroom, or even the topic of family. Not all families are the same, so this would be a book to read with children, so that they can learn about families. show less

A charming little tale of how butterflies got their color. It's very cute story that I think would catch the interest of young students. It also has a lesson about the power of words. Students area able to learn about the beauty of silence in this colorfully illustrated book.