February Library Book Haul: Children’s Books We Read in February

Our local libraries are open again after almost a year and these are the children’s books we checked out and read this month.  Keep reading for children’s book reviews.  Great book ideas for toddlers, emerging readers, and independent readers alike!  

Almost a year ago, I had what I thought was a great series idea for Live Well Play Together – our favorite library books each month.  If you missed that post, be sure to check it out, here.  

We love the library.   Ever since I became a stay-at-home mom almost 5 years ago, the library has played an integral part of our family’s weekly schedule.  

We were at our local story time events at least once a week and we had library books in almost every room of our home.  

Did I mention that we love our library?  

And then everything closed.  We kept those books I posted about a year ago for many months while our local libraries, along with everything else shut their doors due to the pandemic.  (Thankfully, we really loved so many of those books!)

Eventually, our libraries began to open – but only for online holds and outdoor, scheduled book pick ups.  It was okay, but if I’m honest, it just was not the same as taking the kids to the library and allowing them to choose their own books.

That’s why we did a great big happy dance over here when we got the first email to tell us that our libraries were re-opening for in person visits.  

Story time has not resumed, our visits are expedited, and the comfy couches and reading corners have disappeared.  But the books!  

The shelves and shelves of books are there and my boys have loved it.  

I’m excited for new read aloud material and the boys have been spending significantly more time independently reading and flipping through books.  

So today, we are breathing new life into our book haul series.  I love seeing what others are reading, and I hope this will provide some fun children’s book recommendations that you might be able to enjoy in your home, too! 

Our February Library Books

While I love a good, curated children’s book list, this is just a list of what we read in February.  

I do try to make sure that we pull books that represent diverse characters. Other than that, I just let the kids pull books they are excited about and we go with it.  

Board Books we Read

Vegetables in Halloween Costumes, by Jared Chapman – Yes, it’s a Halloween themed book and the boys did not even care.  We’ve read two of the other books in the Vegetables series – Fruits in Suits and Vegetables in Underwear. So when the boys saw this book, they put it in the bag.  

It’s a silly story about Carrot’s search for the perfect Halloween costume, fun for Halloween (or for a laugh). 

This is a Book of Shapes by Kenneth Kraegel – A silly book about shapes.  The books starts of like most basic concept shape books.  “This is a circle.  This is a square.”  

And just when you think that’s all there is, you’ll flip the page to something totally nonsense – “This is an emu pushing a pancake wagon down a hill.”

This had both my 5 year old and my 3 year old laughing.  It was fun to read together because it actually does help reinforce shapes, but the non-chalant and unexpected silly pages kept us all engaged and laughing the whole time. 

My Little Super Hero Word Book – A quick read that focuses on character traits and introducing characters from DC Justice League.  My middle son is into super heroes these days, even though he has not watched any of the shows or movies, he enjoyed this book.  It was just okay to me.  

Beginning and Leveled Readers

Beginning readers and leveled readers are fun to me. The boys always love finding characters that they recognize. 

Pinkalicious Fairy House and Pinkalicious and the Amazing Sled Run, by Victoria Kann – both fun stories based on the television show, Pinkalicious.  

The boys enjoyed reading about the fun adventures of Pinkalicious.  I like Pinkalicious because she is always looking for the good in a situation, she’s curious and adventurous, and she is a good friend and a good big sister to her younger brother. 

Blaze’s Big Race, by C. Ines Mangual and Zeg and the Egg, by Mary Tillworth – both of these are based off of Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines, which is a favorite show around here. 

These are fun character books and both of my boy enjoyed them. 

If there are favorite characters that your kids are into, finding beginning reader books with those characters is a great way to get them excited about reading.  

Velociraptors (StoryBots), by Scott Emmons – this level 1 science reader is perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners.  My dinosaur loving boy really enjoyed this one!  

It’s full of rhyming words and engaging illustrations that allow readers to take a peak into the world of velociraptors with Netflix’s StoryBots characters.  

Wakanda Forever, by Julia March – another super hero book, this one about Marvel’s Black Panther.  Again, the boys have not seen the movies, but they have the action figures and they enjoyed reading about Black Panther.  

This book is less of a story, and more of a fact book about different aspects about Wakanda, Black Panther, and related characters.  A good read for kids into these super heroes.  

Children’s Non-Fiction Books

Both boys enjoy non-fiction books, but my oldest does especially.  Some of his favorite subjects these days are animals, science, engineering, and space.  

First up in this group are these animal books from the Seedlings series.  There are more than 100 books on a huge range of topics in the overall Seedlings series, but our favorites are the animal books.  

The books we read this month were:  Mice by Lori Dittmer, Jaguars and Hummingbirds by Quinn M. Arnold, and Chipmunks by Kate Riggs. 

I highly recommend all of these books plus the others in the series.  The photos are beautiful and the text is easy to read and understand for young children.  These books are a repeat check out over here.   

I wasn’t kidding when I said that my oldest was really into science and engineering.  This month, he chose 3 out of 4 books from The Invention Hunters series by Korwin  Briggs.  

This is a new series to us, and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  

They are a bit on the longer side, so I think more for young elementary.

The Invention Hunters series follows a quirky bunch of inventors as they travel the world in search of the world’s best inventions.  They find themselves in some pretty funny places and take readers along as they learn how things work!

The books we read were: 

• The Inventions Hunters Discover How Electricity Works
• The Invention Hunters Discover How Light Works
• The Invention Hunters Discover How Machines Work

Picture Books that Made us Laugh Out Loud

Next up on our list are the books that made us laugh out loud.  Both boys LOVE reading books that are full of silly characters or non-sense situations.  

We read each of these books over and over again and never stopped laughing. 

Llama Destroys the World, by Jonathan Stutzman – this is another repeat check out for us.  Llama is a quirky llama who loves cake (maybe too much) and loves to dance. 

Readers get to follow Llama on a week full of mishaps and mistakes that all started from a giant piece of cake.  Will Llama learn his lesson in time to save the world?  

Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse, by Jonathan Stutzman – this one was new to us, but just as fun as the first Llama book.  In this books, Llama finds himself in a mess and needing help to clean up.  

So who does he call?  Alpaca, of course!  Alpaca loves to clean up.  Seeing how helpful one Alpaca is, Llama has an idea to replicate Alpaca … again and again and again until chaos once again ensues.  

Follow along to see if Llama can fix his mistake! 

The Blobfish Book, by Jessica Olien – a solid mix of deep sea ocean facts and silly interruptions by a seemingly misunderstood Blobfish, also known as the “ugliest fish in the sea”. 

Little Green Donkey, by Anuska Allepuz – The boys actually got a bigger kick out of this one than I expected.  

Little Green Donkey tells the story of a little donkey who eats only grass.  Despite his mom’s best efforts to get him to eat something different, he only eats grass.  It’s so tasty, why would he stop?  

Everything is going fine for Little Donkey until he sees his reflection in the watering hole and realizes that he has turned…GREEN?!

He will eat something different he decides!  And after rejecting many yummy foods, he tries carrots…and he likes them!  

Will it be enough to change his picky eating ways?  

This book was not only funny to read, but it prompted good conversations about the importance of having a healthy, varied diet and all the ways that different foods can be good for our bodies.  

If the S in Moose Comes Loose, by Peter Hermann – this book follows Cow who is determined to get his friend Moose back after the S and E in his name came loose, causing Moose to vanish. 

Cow determines he will need to find glue: G L U E to fix Moose, but finding those letters turns out to be a wild ride.  What happens when you change just one letter in a word? 

Cow finds out and it is fun for kids of all ages to read together.   

Children’s Picture Books

These are books that my middle, dino loving boy picked out and read over and over this month.  

Doris the Bookasaurus by Diana Murray – My favorite story of this bunch.  Doris LOVES books.  She is always reading books.  Her brothers do not share her enthusiasm for reading, however, and would way rather her join them in playing.  

This begins to change though, when Doris shares a book about Pirates with them.  Soon, they are all reading together and using their imaginations to recreate scenes from their books.  

Diggersaurs Explore by Michael Whaite – This was a fun, rhyming book that combined construction trucks and dinosaurs with a fun treasure hunt.  In this story, the Diggersaurs make an exciting discovery in their digging – a new dino that they had not seen before.  

This one was fun to read – a repeat over here!

Marlo and the Dinosaurs by Christopher Browne – A book mostly without words.  Marlo and the Dinosaurs features a dog, Marlo, who wakes up from a nap and wanders into a jungle.  

Except this jungle is full of dinosaurs.  It’s very strange indeed.  

This was great for our 3 year old since he was able to look at all the pictures (there are some hide and seek elements throughout).  

It’s also a fun book to read with older children to encourage them to create their own story using the pictures.  

Lorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away by Ketch Secor – This books was so good!  A sweet story about family and music as Lorraine and her Pa spend their evenings playing music together.  That is, until a terrible storm comes through and they cannot find their instruments.  

With some help from her Pa, Lorraine learns to find the music within herself.  Everything about this books is wonderful.  The special bond between Lorraine and her Pa, the rhythm and rhyme of the text that make it lovely to read, the illustrations.  All of it.  Loved this one. 

Saturday by Oge Mora – This book had long been on my hold list after reading Thank You, Omu, also by Oge Mora.  (Highly recommend, by the way.)  Saturday is a beautifully illustrated story about a mother and daughter and their special Saturday routine.  

But this isn’t just any Saturday – it’s a special Saturday that they have been looking forward to.  But when their plans start to go awry, the daughter reminds her mother of the most important part of Saturdays – being together.  

This story is so sweet and a great reminder for all of us as when we get rattled when things don’t go as planned.  

A Visit to Grandad: An African ABC by Sade Fadipe – A Visit to Grandad was one of the featured books at our library in February and my oldest chose it because it “could help teach [his brothers] their letters.”

I thought it was a really fun alphabet book.  I loved that it told a story in addition to simply sharing the letters.  

A Visit to Grandad tells the story of the main character, Adanah, who visits her grandfather in Nigeria during her school break.  It is full of bright, engaging illustrations that show different aspects of African culture.

Night Job by Karen Hesse – Night Job was another sweet parent/child story.  This time about a father and son.  Night Job is told from the young boys’ perspective as his dad lets him come to work with him on Friday night as he cleans the local school- while the rest of the city sleeps.  

I loved so much about this book.  The special father/son bond.  I loved the fact the reminder that together is a good way to be.  And I loved celebrating the important work that the boy’s dad did to take care of the school.  

That’s a Wrap

And that my friends, is what we have been reading over here.  

Actually, I don’t think we had a single dud this month with our library books, which is a tiny bit surprising given how quickly the books went into our back without a second glance, in many cases.  

(Did I mention we were excited to be back at the library?!)

What are you reading with your children this month?  Any new (or old) favorite books?  

Tell me below in the comments; I’m always looking for fun new books for the boys.