| In this month’s issue of Kids Kaleidoscope, find children’s books championing topics like mindfulness, respect, empathy, cooperation, and more, including a picture book with three starred reviews!
Plus, our roundup of recent accolades features a whimsical YA graphic novel, a colorful celebration of geometry, and more titles from indie children’s presses.
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Clara and her family are forced to leave everything behind in this poignant but hopeful story of forced migration, told through the eyes of a young refugee. Every day Clara and her family walk a long way. But Clara hopes someday soon their journey will end, and she can put down her backpack and find a safe place to stay.
My Home Is in My Backpack has received three starred reviews—Kirkus Reviews calls the book “both poignant and buoyant,” while Publishers Weekly highlights the “arresting graphite and digital illustrations.” BookPage’s starred review adds, “A superb book that evokes empathy for families facing forced migration, examining the topic in an accessible way for children.”
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Sky Luck
by Erica Lee Schlaikjer, illus. Dagmar Smith
Blue Dot Kids Press • September 2025 • 9798989858866 • Ages 3-7 • iPage
On a dark night, friends gather to watch for shooting stars. One by one they point out flames streaking across the sky—except for one boy. He sees an airplane, the Milky Way, a full moon, but no shooting stars. Frustrated by his bad luck, he wants to give up, until his uncle shows him that luck can exist in many forms.
Kirkus Reviews calls the book a “quietly lyrical invitation to understand how rewarding it can be to simply look up. A celestial insight, simple but profound,” while Booklist deems it “an inspiring picture book about gratitude and counting your lucky stars.” Publishers Weekly praises the illustrations, noting, “Smith uses multimedia techniques for a dreamy soft-edged effect that echoes the sky’s luminosity.”
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Cat loves to play on Bennett’s roof. But it’s also Mouse, Fox, Squirrel, Owl, and many other animals’ favorite place. A parade of creatures arrive on Bennett’s roof and try to stake a claim on it, but before long disaster strikes, and the animals must learn to cooperate to make things right.
Kirkus Reviews calls Bennett’s Roof “an attractive tribute to collaboration,” noting, “the value of teamwork comes through easily.” A Spanish-language edition, El tejado de Benito, is also available.
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It’s Time to Lend a Hand
by Ceporah Mearns and Jeremy Debicki, illus. Nuria Muro Gio
Inhabit Media • September 2025 • 9781772275797 • Ages 3-5 • iPage
Siasi is always reminded by her parents to help others. In Inuit traditional values, helping others keeps the community strong and healthy. Whether it’s helping her father with the fishing nets, making sure her little sister stays safe on her bike, or just helping to keep the house clean and tidy, Siasi find that helping others can be fun!
It’s Time to Lend a Hand incorporates the Inuit principle of Inuuqatigiitsiarniq: respecting others, relationships, and caring for people, and includes an Inuktitut glossary.
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★ “This geometric primer is an immaculately balanced combination of geometric information, ‘I spy’ elements, and interaction. The pale backgrounds and consistently clean lines make the different elements pop, whether depicted in bold, light, or variegated shades.” — Kirkus Reviews
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| | Quiet Crossings
by Vivi Partridge
Conundrum Press / EMANATA • October 2025 • 9781772621136
★ “Debut creator Partridge leverages fantasy allegory surrounding death and grief in this reflective and heartfelt speculative graphic novel. . . . A profound meditation on grief and letting go.” — Publishers Weekly
“Partridge’s slim, quietly meditative volume offers readers only whispers of exposition, predominantly showing rather than telling. . . . Adorably rascally mushroom creatures—seemingly present for comic relief—add charm, but the book also explores deeper and more serious themes, such as loss, death, and grief.” — Kirkus Reviews
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★ “Heikkilä infuses her compelling narrative with an important, though never heavy-handed, message about balance in relationships as she explores what happens when generous souls swallow down their irritations and resentment. A triumphant blend of humor and horror, perfect for teaching and scaring by turn.” — Kirkus Reviews
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“This tender novel explores themes of friendship, struggling with identity, and mental health care. . . . Set in Ireland, this story about self-acceptance and friendship is universally relatable.” — Booklist
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| | Come Back Out, Mole!
by Alicia Acosta, illus. Alessandro Montagnana
NubeOcho • October 2025 • 9788410406506
“A wonderful message will encourage readers to look around at the happiness they can enjoy, and it will particularly resonate with those dealing with anxiety like Mole’s. . . . This will allow for excellent discourse about worrying.” — School Library Journal
“Children will enjoy the characters’ silly postures, the outlandish scenarios, and the potty humor. . . . A lighthearted look at common fears and the rewards of bravery.” — Kirkus Reviews
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Consortium’s Fall/Winter 2025 Children’s Catalog
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