New years are for new beginnings and maybe — at the risk of sounding Pollyannish — a return to the camaraderie and goodwill missing from our lives for far too long. In that spirit, here are three new releases from Candlewick to remind your rookie readers that compassion and fellow feeling are all around us, even when it takes some searching to find them.

Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham. Tiny, fire-breathing Scratch may be invisible to everyone else, but he’s a constant companion to Ellie for years and years. Yet as the girl grows older, her attention shifts to big-kid things. As her thoughts of Scratch begin to fade, so does the winged creature himself. The now “fully grown, house-trained, affectionate dragon” worries he’ll never find another child to love. But then he spots young Sam…

I Am a Bird by Hope Lim (author) and Hyewon Yum (illustrator). “Every morning, I fly like a bird on Daddy’s bike.CA-CAW! CA-CAW! I sing like a bird on the way to school. CA-CAW! CA-CAW! People wave and smile, and the birds sing back.” But then the exuberant little girl notices an old woman walking by who’s solemn and stern. “Where is she going? Why doesn’t she smile and wave?” Maybe, just maybe, the woman is off to visit some feathered friends of her own…

The Boy Who Loved Everyone by Jane Porter (author) and Maisie Paradise Shearring (illustrator). Preschooler Dimitri adores everybody, and he never misses a chance to say so. “I love you, Liam,” he tells his new playmate. “I love you, Berthe,” he says to the lunch lady. “I love you,” he coos to the class guinea pig. But why is nobody saying “I love you” back? Well, Mom explains, there are lots of ways for people to show they care. Just because they don’t say it doesn’t mean they don’t feel it!

comments powered by Disqus