Books for each Month

Looking for the perfect book for each month? I’ve got you covered with 10 nonfiction picture books that fit perfectly with celebrations, commemorations, and historical events. Each book also comes with free resources, teacher guides, and a dedicated project where kids can share the great things they do.

2021

January

Jan. 12, 1969 Charlie Sifford wins Los Angeles Open; this is the second tournament Charlie Sifford wins after becoming the first Black golfer on the PGA Tour. Learn his story in CHARLIE TAKES HIS SHOT, HOW CHARLIE SIFFORD BROKE THE COLOR BARRIER IN GOLF, a Silver Eureka winner and Picture This honoree. Illustrated by John Joven. (Albert Whitman & Company). The project for this book is We Helped Them Take Their Shots; kids share how they’ve included someone or invited someone new to play or be part of their group. A new paperback edition of Charlie Takes His Shot was released Sept. 1, 2021 from Albert Whitman.

Jan. 14, 1929 Dashrath Manjhi born. Read the true story about a man who spent 22 years chiseling a path through a 300-foot mountain so kids in his poor village could get to school on the other side and the sick could get to a doctor. MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN is a South Asia Book Award winner, Anne Izzard Storytellers Choice winner, Sakura Medal finalist, Junior Library Guild pick, Silver Eureka winner, Picture This and Greenwich Reads Together pick. Illustrated by Danny Popovici. (Creston Books/Lerner Books) The project is Move Your Own Mountain. Kids from all over are sharing how they are moving mountains by doing kind things for others. The book is available in Braille from the National Braille Press and in many other languages around the world through Room to Read.

January 15, 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. born in Atlanta, Georgia. MARTIN & ANNE, THE KINDRED SPIRITS OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND ANNE FRANK tells the parallel stories of these two great spirits, both born in 1929, who met hate with love and left us with words that inspire us today. A Notable Book for a Global Society (Creston Books/Lerner Books). Illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg. Creston Books/Lerner Books. The book is also available in Chinese and in Braille from the National Braille Press and on the 2022 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award list and has been featured on the Hamilton Reads program of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Jan 18 Martin Luther King Jr. Day

February is Black History Month

This is a great time to honor Charlie Sifford with CHARLIE TAKES HIS SHOT, Dr. King with MARTIN & ANNE and Black artist Laura Wheeler Waring, who achieved her dream of seeing her portraits of great Black Americans on museum walls, with BEAUTIFUL SHADES OF BROWN, THE ART OF LAURA WHEELER WARING, a Silver Eureka honoree, a National Council for the Social Studies and School Book Council Notable, a Towner Book Award finalist and A Mighty Girl book. Illustrated by Felicia Marshall. Creston Books/Lerner Books. The project is Paint Your World. Kids share artwork of themselves, families and communities so we can celebrate how beautiful everyone is.

In addition, you’ll find reproductions of Waring’s paintings of great Black Americans in the back of the book that would also be great subjects to study for Black History month: Marion Anderson, W.E.B. DuBois, Jessie Fauset, Alice Dunbar Nelson, James Weldon Johnson and Harry Burleigh.

Feb. 7, 1812, Charles Dickens is born in Landport, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. DEAR MR. DICKENS, which debuted October 1 2021, is the winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award, a 2022 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, a Chicago Public Library Best Informational Book for Young Readers, Tablet Magazine’s list of Best Jewish Children’s Books, A Mighty Girl book and received a starred review from School Library Journal. It’s the true story of Eliza Davis, a Jewish woman who wrote to Charles Dickens, criticizing his creation of Fagin in Oliver Twist, and asking him to create more sympathetic Jewish characters. Illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe. Albert Whitman & Company. The project is DEAR…, encouraging kids to write letters to people in positions of influence, as Eliza did, asking them to take an action that makes things better in their community.

Feb. 11. Thomas Alva Edison is born on this day in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. Learn how a boy who learned differently and grew increasingly deaf changed the world.

Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day! Check out Valentines for All, Esther Howland Captures America’s Heart, the true story of Esther Howland who created and ran the first Valentine card company in America, and have kids try creating their own hand-made valentines with their own poems as Esther did. Illustrated by  Monika Róża Wiśniewska.

This is the true story of how an enterprising woman helped establish a tradition that Americans still observe today.When Esther Howland first saw the fancy valentine her father brought home from England, most Americans thought Valentine's Day was a waste of time. But through the card, Esther felt how much her father loved her. Could she help others express themselves in the same way?

March is Women's History Month

These eight books, all true stories of women who changed the world, are on the A Mighty Girl book list: THE QUEEN AND THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE, BEAUTIFUL SHADES OF BROWN, FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, KATHARINE LEE BATES AND THE INSPIRATION FOR “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL,” DEAR MR. DICKENS and A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE, THE STORY OF HENRIETTA SZOLD, FOUNDER OF HADASSAH; VALENTINES FOR ALL, LILA’S JACK-O’-LANTERN and MAMA’S YEAR WITH CANCER.

ELIZABETH FREEMAN, FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, a chapter book from Core Knowledge about the woman who is responsible for Massachusetts becoming one of the country’s first free states, is about a strong woman, too!

March 15-April 15 is Deaf History Month

Great timing for the true story of William Hoy, the Deaf baseball player who introduced signs for safe and out so he could play the game he loved, in THE WILLIAM HOY STORY — Deaf History Month overlaps with the start of baseball on April 1! The project for this book is Hoy for the Hall. Join the kids who are writing letters asking for William Hoy to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where he’d be the first Deaf player honored there. The William Hoy has been on many state reading lists, including Texas’ 2X2 List. The book is available in hardcover and paperback in English, in Japanese and Korean, in Spanish as an ebook, and debuting in Swedish in Fall 2023.

March 13-14, 2025 PURIM. Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah during Purim of 1912. Learn more about Henrietta and Purim in A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE, THE STORY OF HENRIETTA SZOLD, FOUNDER OF HADASSAH. Illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg, from Creston Books/Lerner Books/Kar-Ben Publishing. A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE is a Sydney Taylor Notable, a National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council Notable, A Mighty Girl Book, has received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly and made Hadassah Magazine’s Books for the Kinderlach list. The project is HEAL THE WORLD, encouraging kids to share things they do to make things better for others.

DEAR MR. DICKENS also features a woman, Eliza Davis, who can be compared to Queen Esther. Eliza Davis, like Esther, spoke up to a powerful person — in Eliza’s case that was Charles Dickens — and asked him to write fairly about her people.

March 28, 1929, Katharine Lee Bates, poet, professor, and suffragette died on this day in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Learn about the woman who wrote “America the Beautiful” in FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, KATHARINE LEE BATES AND THE INSPIRATION FOR “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL”. The project for this book is For Spacious Lines. Kids are sharing their ideas of how we can make America more beautiful by making it more fair, just and kind. FOR SPACIOUS SKIES is being translated into Braille by the National Braille Press and will be the NBP’s June Book of the Month.

April 1 National Poetry Month

A perfect time to study Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote the poem “America the Beautiful” and gave it to America as a gift. FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, KATHARINE LEE BATES AND THE INSPIRATION FOR “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL”.

April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Later this month, April 21, 2021 is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Remember the legacies of Dr. King and Anne Frank, who died as a teenager in the Holocaust, in MARTIN & ANNE.

May is Jewish American History Month

Jewish American History Month overlaps with the May 11, 1888 birthday of Irving Berlin, who was born in Mogilyov, Russia (now in Belarus) and arrived in the U.S. at the age of five, where he would go on to compose 1,500 songs including “God Bless America.” Learn about how Irving blended melodies of his Jewish heritage with the sounds he heard in America to create a sound that became America’s soundtrack in IRVING BERLIN, THE IMMIGRANT BOY WHO MADE AMERICA SING (Creston Books/Lerner Books). This is a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable and a National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council Notable.

Also for Jewish American History Month, consider National Jewish Book Award, Sydney Taylor Honor and Junior Library Guild selection DEAR MR. DICKENS and A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE, THE STORY OF HENRIETTA SZOLD, FOUNDER OF HADASSAH, another Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable and National Council for the Social Studies Notable with starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. Learn about Jewish traditions in COUNTING ON SHABBAT, a rhyming board book about Shabbat, counting and kindness, that encourages kids to visit seniors and write them letters of cheer, presented with lots of interactive fun. Plus, new for this 2025, A TEDDY BEAR FOR EMILY—AND PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, TOO, the story of the Jewish immigrant family that created “Teddy’s Bear” in 1902 to thank the kind President Theodore Roosevelt.

May 16, 1887, Laura Wheeler Waring born in Hartford, Connecticut. Her story is told in BEAUTIFUL SHADES OF BROWN, THE ART OF LAURA WHEELER WARING (Creston Books/Lerner Books)

May 19, 1744 Queen Charlotte is born in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Her story is told in THE QUEEN AND THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE, QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S GIFT TO ENGLAND (Albert Whitman & Company). Queen Charlotte was married to King George III, the king during the American Revolution. This kind queen who loved children, supported expectant mothers, encouraged musicians and artists, introduced the first Pomeranians to England, and boycotted sugar in a stand against slavery, is also the queen that has been popularized in the popular Bridgerton series on Netflix.

May 23, 1862 William Hoy is born in Houcktown, Ohio; May 1903. His story is told in THE WILLIAM HOY STORY, HOW A DEAF BASEBALL PLAYER CHANGED THE GAME (Albert Whitman & Company)

June 2, 1922 Charlie Sifford born in Charlotte, North Carolina (CHARLIE TAKES HIS SHOT)

June 12, 1929 Anne Frank is born in Frankfurt, Germany (MARTIN & ANNE)

June is Pride Month. RAINBOW ALLIES, THE TRUE STORY OF KIDS WHO STOOD AGAINST HATE is the true story of kids in Natick, Massachusetts who stood up for neighbors that were victims of a hate crime and showed them they were loved. Illustrated by Izzy Evans. Published by Beaming Books.

Jul 4 Independence Day; July 4, 1895, the day “America the Beautiful” is published in The Congregationalist. Read all about the creation of that poem in FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, KATHARINE LEE BATES AND THE INSPIRATION FOR “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL” (Albert Whitman & Company), available in Braille from the National Braille Press as of June 1, 2022. July 4 is also a great time to remember Irving Berlin, who wrote “God Bless America,” and gave all the royalties to the Girl and Boy Scouts of America. Learn more about him in IRVING BERLIN, THE IMMIGRANT BOY WHO MADE AMERICA SING.

July 18-Aug. 17 is South Asian Heritage Month in the UK. Read the true story about a man who spent 22 years chiseling a path through a 300-foot mountain so kids in his poor village could get to school on the other side and the sick could get to a doctor. MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN is a South Asia Book Award winner, Anne Izzard Storytellers Choice winner, Sakura Medal finalist, Junior Library Guild pick, Silver Eureka winner, Picture This and Greenwich Reads Together pick. Illustrated by Danny Popovici. (Creston Books/Lerner Books) The project is Move Your Own Mountain. Kids from all over are sharing how they are moving mountains by doing kind things for others. The book is available in Braille from the National Braille Press and in many other languages around the world through Room to Read.

July 21, 1938 Morris Michtom is born in Russia. Morris, who shares a birthday with his daughter Emily (born in 1895), helps create Teddy’s Bear, with the help of his wife and Emily’s mother, Rose, to thank President Theodore Roosevelt for his kindness in 1902. You’ll find their story in A TEDDY BEAR FOR EMILY — AND PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, TOO, releasing in March 2025.

Aug. 12, 1859, Katharine Lee Bates is born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. (FOR SPACIOUS SKIES)

Aug. 17, 1828 Esther Allen Howland, the heroine of Valentines for All, Esther Howland Captures America’s Heart is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. The true story of the woman who created and popularized Valentine’s Day cards in America.

Aug 20, Charlie Sifford wins 1967Greater Hartford Open Invitational. This is a pivotal scene in CHARLIE TAKES HIS SHOT.

September

End of September through October. It’s time for the World Series! Celebrate with the story of the great Deaf centerfielder, William Hoy, who introduced the signs of safe and out to baseball so he could play the game he loved. Click on the link below to see the real William Hoy, age 99, in the Cincinnati Reds stadium where he threw out the first ball for the World Series in 1961.

https://mobile.twitter.com/cammillerfilms/status/1097574123071569921?lang=e

October: Getting ready for Halloween? Share Lila and the Jack-o’-Lantern, Halloween Comes to America. This historical fiction story tells the true history of how Irish immigrants brought their Halloween customs, including carving jack-o’-lanterns, to America when they fled the Potato Famine in the 19th century. Illustrated by Anneli Brey. Albert Whitman.

October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. MAMA’S YEAR WITH CANCER, co-authored with Shayna Vincent, and illustrated by Wazza Pink, explores the impact of a parent's cancer diagnosis on a child’s daily life, while offering kids ways to help loved ones on their recovery journey. This poignant and true story follows a child who watches her mother go through the pain and distress of hospital stays, surgery, and chemotherapy. She helps her mother by sharing jokes, crafting get-well cards, and giving hugs, and she tries to be understanding when they can’t do all the things they used to do. Finally, after a year of treatment, her mother gets to ring the bell that means she is better.

President Theodore Roosevelt, for whom “Teddy’s Bear” was named was born October 27, 1858. Learn about the immigrant family who created this beloved toy to thank a kind president in A Teddy Bear for Emily—and President Roosevelt, Too. Illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe.

December:

Dec. 10: President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt for whom the teddy bear is named in A Teddy Bear for Emily, is awardedThe Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.

December 21, 1860, Henrietta Szold is born in Baltimore, MD (A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE, THE STORY OF HENRIETTA SZOLD)

Dec 25 Christmas Day (THE QUEEN AND THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE, QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S GIFT TO ENGLAND), the true story of the kind queen who introduced the first Christmas tree to England in 1800.

Dec. 25, 2024-Jan. 2, 2025 Hanukkah. DEAR MR. DICKENS, a book about how letters from a determined woman, Eliza Davis, helped Charles Dickens change for the better, much as his own Ebenezer Scrooge did after being visited by the Ghosts of Past, Present and Future in A Christmas Carol.

Also for Hanukkah, a new middle grade anthology of 16 Hanukkah Stories, including one by me, shows the diversity of the Jewish experience around the common theme of Hanukkah. Starred review from School Library Journal. Edited by Henry L. Herz. Published by Albert Whitman.