January's Picture Book Recommendations 📚

Some favorites to request from your library 😊

Hello!

Get your keyboard and library card ready, because here’s a full list of some great picture books that your family can read together this month. They’re generally ordered by age level from youngest to oldest, but they’re all intended to be enjoyed by every member of the family.

All links are to a YouTube reading of the book so you can take a peek before you reserve it from your library.

Little Oink, Little Pea, and Little Hoot are adorable tales by Amy Krause Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace about young cuties who struggle to do what their species is known for. Books like these help your kids know that you see their discomfort with things they don’t like to do, but sometimes we have to do things we don’t like…and we don’t have to do it alone.

Extra Yarn, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, is a beautiful story about choosing to love and use your talents for good.

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola is a very re-readable favorite to get your family ready for National Spaghetti Day on January 4th. There’s a whole series, if you love it and find yourself addicted (which is likely.)

Jan Brett is the queen of sweet wintry stories. Her illustrations are just delightful. Brightly summarized many of them; I particularly like The Three Snow Bears, which is an Inuit retelling of Goldilocks.

One Snowy Night by Nick Butterworth and illustrated by Mick Inkpen is a family favorite about meeting the needs of others. Percy’s woodland creature friends are soooo adorable.

The Journey trilogy by Aaron Becker is truly epic, but get this: it doesn’t have any words. The gorgeous art tells the whole story. In these three books—Journey, Quest, and Return—you escape to other worlds full of adventure, danger, and…I won’t give any more away.

Show Way is a beautiful true story by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Hudson Talbott that exemplifies bravery and resilient love that endured through multiple generations. It’s excellent.

The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren is a Scandinavian legend about a little gnome who cares for farm animals in the winter. It’s a fairy-tale that might shape its readers to be a little more tender-hearted.

Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier is an excellent book for MLK Day (January 16th) that shares some beautiful quotes and backstory from one of America’s greatest heroes.

The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino and Jon Nelson explains all about snow. The details make it more enjoyable for older kids.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian is a true story about a unique, misunderstood boy who wanted to study and share the majesty of snowflakes. He ended up becoming a pioneer in microphotography and you might be able to find one of his books at your library.

If you want more booklists for wintertime, Can We Read? and Read-Aloud Revival are a gold mine of ideas.

And if you’re looking for teens or a family read-aloud? January is a great time to read The Hobbit graphic novel adaptation by Charles Dixon or The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition with pictures by Jemima Catlin. We’ll be sharing some Hobbit meals, quotes, and activities at the end of the month.

I hope this helped!

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts

P.S. Here’s some solidarity if your library’s website is straight out of the 90’s like mine is 😅 It feels so clunky and inefficient to reserve books from such an outdated website, but, well, I’m just grateful that we can.