Bookbag:

Even in the busy buzziness of spring it’s good to take a break, sip a lemonade, share a book. These four books are perfect for on-the-couch sharing.

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Thank You, Moon

And if we happen to be reading after dark, “Thank You, Moon” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023; $18.99) by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Jessica Lanan will be a good starting place. Moon is the hero in this informative book. Each spread offers readers a lyrical description of the moon’s role on the left side and more detailed factual information on the right side. We learn that “The Moon’s gravity helps to keep Earth stable as it spins on its axis. Without that gentle tug, Earth would rock back and forth as it spins. Summers would be so scorching hot and winters so freezing cold that plants, animals, and other living things couldn’t survive.”

And turtle hatchlings find their way to the sea from their beach nests by orienting toward the moon’s light. Even dung beetles use the moon to navigate. Back matter tells us about the phases of the moon and more about the creatures that depend on the moon.

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How the Big Bad Wolf Got His Comeuppance

“How the Big Bad Wolf Got His Comeuppance” (written by Lisa Wilke Pope, illustrated by Arthur Geisert; Enchanted Lion, 2021; $17.95) will delight readers of all ages who love to pore over the details in illustrations. Such readers will love Arthur Geisert’s illustrations and will no doubt go back many times to the chaotic interior of Mrs. Pig’s home, the engineering feats of the resourceful pigs. (Geisert is a local hero, living in Elkader, Iowa, as does the author.) In this retelling of “The Three Little Pigs,” the wolf has not a chance of success. But his failures are so satisfying that we will read it again and again. This book might even spur readers to come up with their own versions of the three little pigs story.

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Kozo the Sparrow

“Kozo the Sparrow” (Clarion, 2023; $19.99) by Allen Say is a gentle story of love and tending from Say’s childhood. There were three bullies in Say’s school, and he always keeps his distance, but one day he encounters them while one holds a baby bird. They plan nothing good for the injured bird and one kid calls for a cat. Say offers them a horseshoe magnet, a spinning top, nine marbles and his father’s American baseball. Say is reluctant to part with a baseball that is not even his to trade, but he wants the bird. “The bird was still alive, and that made me forget how angry my father was going to be.”

He makes a drinking straw “beak” to feed the bird rice and water and names it Kozo, Little Boy. He feeds it every day and plays with it. “When Kozo heard my footsteps, he chirped and beat his wings until I let him out of the cage.” When Say’s mother opens the cage, the bird escapes out the window. But this is not the end of the story. The boy calls to the bird and the bird lands on his head. He takes the bird to school, worried that the other kids will frighten it. They do. As Say is taking the bird home in its cage the bullies show up again, threatening both Say and the bird. “I ran as fast as I could,/I ran as far as I could./Then I stopped.” No more words but we see the boy’s hand raised sending the bird to air-borne safety. This is a story of love and courage that we all will read again and again.

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When Rubin Plays

Rubin wants to play the violin in this story set in a small town in Bolivia. Gracey Zhang, author and illustrator of “When Rubin Plays” (Orchard, 2023; $18.99) says the idea came to her as an image of a boy playing violin for cats. The story itself began to take shape as she was driving in Bolivia and learned of its “long-established relationship with Baroque classical music.”

Rubin loves to play the violin, but his playing is not melodious in the traditional way. We are not told what the music sounds like, but it causes women to fall off chairs, toupees to fly off heads, and cats to come from all over. Chaos ensues. And when Rubin is done, “The crowd cheered.” There are so many ways to play in this world. So many ways to be. These books celebrate our diversity and our world.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin of Mount Vernon writes books for children.