July has been a busy month. School may be out, but even though I have been “on vacation,” my days have been filled. We have been building an addition on our house and it’s finally progressed far enough to move furniture (And books! So many books!) which also involves lots of sorting and de-cluttering. Combine that with some family issues, houseguests and plans for a week-long teacher workshop next week and I’ve had my hands full. Fortunately, I was finally able to get another bookstore visit in and explore some more wonderful new picture book releases– many of which are by authors I already know and love. I rarely go into this with a theme in mind, but yet again they seem to have coalesced into some commonalities. Each of them is about being in a new place and all the nervousness/change that can bring. Enjoy!

Continue reading →