Kites, kimchee (and books)

Can we read? No. 159

This is a gentle reminder that reading aloud doesn’t have to be perfect to matter. You raise readers through repetition, delight, connection, and the steady presence of books that draw them in, pique their curiosity, help them feel seen and loved. It costs zero dollars and the return is priceless — but nowhere does it say there is one way to do it, or that any of it requires perfection.

So here is your permission slip to make it your own. It doesn’t have to look like what anyone else is doing, it doesn’t have to look like you thought it was going to look — it doesn’t even have to look how you think it should look. (There are no “shoulds” here.)

That’s part of the magic. You can make it whatever you want and need to make it. So keep building habits, go easy on yourself (and your kids!), stay flexible, change it up whenever, choose books you and your children really love. The rest takes care of itself.

You’re doing so much better than you know.

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My Mom is Like a Kite by Lisl H. Detlefsen, illustrated by Nathalie Dion (2026)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

I received a copy of this book from Groundwood Books — all opinions are my own

Not gonna lie: I did not get through reading this book out loud the first time without crying, probably because I recognize on an intimate and painful level what it’s like to try to bail someone out of their sinking boat again and again, with only a little bucket — I’m extricating myself from that very situation right now.

And, also not gonna lie: Lisl is a dear friend of mine, which I guess I don’t have to mention, but want to, in the interest of full disclosure.

But this book is so beautiful, so necessary, and so unique. There are well-done titles about mental health and I’ve never come across one quite as lovely as this. Through a gentle — but still totally clear — metaphor, a little girl tries to understand a mother whose moods shift dramatically, soaring high like a kite some days, sinking like a boat on others. It’s such a tender, honest portrayal of living alongside a parent’s mental illness, while also learning that it’s not a child’s job (or anyone else’s job, for that matter) to keep that parent afloat.

In lesser hands, this book might be saccharine or even miss the point entirely — but Dion’s soft, deeply moving digital illustrations, alongside Detlefsen’s pitch-perfect prose, make this a powerful read. This is one for every home library where anyone struggles with depression or bipolar disorder, any classroom or therapist’s office. Every child deserves to see their painful experience named and held with this much care.

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Julio’s Magic by Arthur Dorros, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi (2005)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

This review first appeared in issue No. 123 — I’ve edited and updated it here

If you’re looking for an imaginative title that showcases a unique skill alongside touching generosity, look no further.

Julio, the son of farmers, wants to be a woodcarver like his elder friend Illuminado, and considers entering a local contest with a big prize. Illimando himself could badly use the prize money, but insists that he has never entered the contest because the only person he competes against is himself. He gives liberally of his time and talent, spending hours helping Julio see the animals inside the wood he’s carving. (Grifalconi’s intriguing mixed media collage documents this art form as well as the loving relationship between the boy and the old man.)

I won’t give away the ending, only say that Julio — and any reader — learns an enormous amount along the way: above all, that giving is far more important than receiving, and is the true prize, in the end.

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Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee by Nancy Patz, illustrated by Susan L. Roth (2007)

🍼 Babies & Toddlers (0–3)
🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)

This review first appeared in issue No. 100 — I’ve edited and updated it here

This bright, vibrant story — brought to life by Roth’s colorful collage, ink, and oil pastel illustrations — begins with a big sister listing off all the things her baby sister can’t do, but just when you think this might be one of those titles that focuses on all the negative feelings around having a new sibling, the older girl makes a shift, saying, “But babies get bigger.”

From there on out, she catalogs the ways she’s going to help her little one grow and learn — including a lovely image of the baby on her first birthday, “in her special dress,” a traditional Korean outfit worn on this occasion — and the things they’ll do, alone together, including eating kimchee.

This story carefully and cleverly handles what is often the biggest emotional event of a young child’s life with grace, style, and a whole lotta love. Highly recommended for toddlers and preschoolers, or any family with a new baby on the way.

Want more new baby books? Of course I have a booklist for that:

Children’s books about babies and new siblings

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How to Be an Animal Detective by Millicent Selsam, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats (1963)

📖 Independent Readers (6–9)
📚 Middle Grade (9–12)

This review first appeared in issue No. 107 — I’ve edited and updated it here

Let me say this right away: if you are anywhere, ever, and you come across a book by Millicent Selsam for sale, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, absolutely do not walk away from it under any circumstances: just buy it. That’s how good she was at writing “science discovery” books for children, and any nonfiction collection is immediately enhanced by having any of her titles on the shelf.

This is as true of How to Be an Animal Detective as any of her others — it’s chock-full of the kind of interesting, helpful information kids love, all of which is still true 63 years later. Focusing primarily on footprints and tracks — actions that Keats does an excellent job illustrating — this is a straightforward but totally engrossing guide to using observable clues (rather than, say, an actual sighting) to find animals and engage more deeply the world around us.

This is a great choice for elementary-aged kiddos, especially if you have a nature and/or nonfiction lover itching for information.

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Stardines: Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Carin Berger (2012)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Read-Aloud (all ages)

Fountain Lions, Slobsters, and Jollyfish could only be born from the mind of a terrifically great and talented poet, one who plays with language with such obvious delight. That person is Jack Prelutsky.

Like some of his other deeply inventive titles about made-up creatures — Scranimals and Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant both come to mind — the short poems here are surprising and unpredictable in their subject matter, but not in their skill. Prelutsky writes with both incredible silliness and craft, and his rhyming couplets are literal LOL funny.

Berger’s illustrations — miniature dioramas made out of such a variety of materials, it would take this whole review to list them all here — are whimsical, textured, and inventive. It feels as if together they handmade this whole book, assembled from scraps of their imagination — which, come to think of it, is exactly what a children’s book is.

This is poetry for children that lowers the stakes and opens the door to curiosity, goofiness, and fun — in other words, perfect for poetry skeptics and poetry lovers alike.

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Sarah