a story about Arnold Lobel
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Viking Books for Young Readers
(Penguin Random House)
pub. 9.23.2025
40 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author and illustrator: Emmy Kastner
Character: Arnold Lobel
Overview:
"Arnold Lobel was many things: a quiet observer, an avid reader, and the kind of man who kept a gorilla suit in his closet, just in case. Above all else, Arnold was an artist and a storyteller.
And he infused pieces of himself in the characters he created. This made sharing his books with the world scary sometimes—but his stories would go on to inspire and delight readers and live on in their hearts for generations."
Tantalizing taste:
"Arnold gave Frog and Toad the stories
from his own life.
He was a very good friend.
He knew what it meant to be generous,
to be lonely,
to worry,
to be thankful,
to celebrate…
and how difficult it was to eat just one cookie.
Arnold Lobel tenderly put his entire being
into the friendship of a frog and a toad.
His inside, out."
And something more: Emma Kastner in the Dear Reader section explains: "I didn't want to make this book. I was wildly intimidated by the thought of telling Arnold Lobel's life story … one cold October day, as I was watching my daughter play tennis at the YMCA, I set down the biography of Lobel I was reading and briefly closed my eyes. I thought, Arnold, am I going to make a book about you? I wasn't trying to actually ask his spirit. Maybe I was asking myself? Either way, that very instant, a woman sitting near me hit my knee and shouted, "Frog!"… I saw her pointing to the actual frog who was hopping toward me and then stopped at my feet! A frog? On the indoor tennis court? On a cold October day? That's the moment I gave up trying to fight myself from making this book and knew that I was meant to pursue it. What a tremendous honor it has been diving into Arnold Lobel's life and work. I am forever changed as an artist."
The First Woman to
Serve on the United States
Supreme Court
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Sleeping Bear Press
pub. 5.1.2025
40 pages
Ages 6 - 9
Author: Molly Golden
Illustrator: Julia Breckenreid
Character: Sandra Day O'Connor
Overview:
"On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to be a Supreme Court Justice in United States history. But who was Sandra Day O’Connor?
In the 1930s, it was hard to imagine any woman sitting on the highest court in the country, let alone a girl from a ranch in Arizona. At that time, girls (and women) were expected to learn how to keep house and cook meals. But even at a young age, Sandra knew she wanted a life beyond the traditional roles expected of women.
No one told Sandra what she could and couldn’t do. By challenging the assumptions of what women could and should do, Sandra opened the doors for others to do the same. Sandra Day O’Connor was the first, but her work ensured that she would not be the last!"
Tantalizing taste:
"Sandra cast the deciding vote in many important cases that helped protect civil rights, gender equality, religious freedom, and the environment.
Sandra believed people could learn from each other when they came together. She insisted all the justices meet for lunch once a week. Sometimes she sat in their ofice until they agreed to join."
And something more: The back matter explains that "After Sandra retired from the Supreme Court, she ... continued to avocate around the world for what she believed in: democracy, equal justice under the law, and the rule of law. She even carried a copy of the Constitution in her pocketbook."
The Story of America's First Female Smokejumper
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Viking Books for Young Readers
(Penguin Random House)
pub. 7.1.2025
40 pages
Ages 4 - 7
Author: Jessica Lawson
Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales
Character: Deanne Shulman
Overview:
"Deanne loved being outdoors.
With her family, she spent summers sailing the Salton Sea and backpacking the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As she grew older, her love of nature only grew. So when the heat rose each fire season and the blazes burned near and far, she noticed. Deanne knew she had to do her part in fighting the fires.
She spent years on woodland crews, clearing brush and branches that could make the fire spread, and on hotshot crews where she fought faster fires and took bigger risks, spending weeks in one-hundred-degree heat working twenty-four-hour shifts.
But what Deanne really wanted was to be a smokejumper, to jump from planes and parachute into dangerous wildfires that no truck could ever reach. To be the first line of defense. The only problem? There had never been a female smokejumper before.."
Tantalizing taste:
"She kept training,
to keep her body strong and ready.
She kept working,
joining a helicopter rappel crew
in Oregon.
She kept listening,
remembering voices of the smokejumpers
who believed in her
as much as she believed in herself."
And something more: Jessica Lawson in the Author's Note explains: "Deanne Shulman made national history by breaking into the ranks of all-male smokejumpers. Because of her efforts, the minimum weight requirement has changed to 120 pounds and the height requirement to five feet. Though Deanne often balks at being labeled a hero, she opened the door of opportuity for all women who work as wildland firefighters...
I've spent a great deal of my life in Colorado, where wildfires are an annual problem... I am incredibly grateful to people like Deanne, who fight on the front lines of wildfires to protect our livelihoods."
