Sandwiches come in all shapes and sizes, containing vegetables, meats, cheeses, and sauces of all kinds. They can be hot or cold, round or square, piled high, or squished flat. August is National Sandwich Month, and what better time is there to celebrate these delicious creations? This book list includes titles for readers ages 8-12, especially those with a love of all things sandwich-y. Some books include recipes for sandwiches that readers can make themselves with little to no adult supervision; other books share the love of sandwiches though stories of characters who enjoy their own yummy versions of this familiar meal. Best of all, these titles are sure to whet the appetite of readers of all ages.
Contributed by: Mary Lanni

	The Bear Ate Your Sandwich By: Julia Sarcone-Roach A guilty dog relates how a bear wandered out of the forest, became lost in the city, and consumed an unattended sandwich before returning home.
	Cool Sandwich Food Art: Easy Recipes That Make Food Fun to Eat! By: Nancy Tuminelly Kids love to play with their food! This title introduces readers to sandwich food art through cool and visual recipes. Young food artists will learn how to present and garnish with a variety of foods. Each kid-tested recipe, from a turkey hippo hoagie to a grilled cheese bugwich, includes step-by-step instructions and how-to photos. Tools and ingredient lists are also provided, but creativity is encouraged. There’s nothing ordinary about this cookbook!
	The Do It Myself Kids’ Cookbook By: Laurie Goldrich Wolf Presents fifty recipes that children can prepare on their own that do not involve cooking or cutting, covering such categories as sandwiches, salads, dips, snacks, and drinks.
	Fish and Fowl: Easy and Awesome Sandwiches for Kids By: Alison Deering Illustrated by: Bob Lenz Anyone can make a great sandwich! That’s the beauty of America’s favorite food. And thanks to this fully illustrated cookbook, kids who don’t eat red meat can easily assemble and eat a variety of delicious sandwiches at any time of the day. With fun factoids and sandwich trivia—plus regional specialties—this truly is the ultimate guide to what takes place between the bread.
	Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich By: Adam Rex Being a monster isn’t all about frightening villagers and sucking blood; monsters have their trials, too. Poor Frankenstein’s cupboard is bare, Wolfman needs some household help, and it’s best not to get started on Dracula’s hygiene issues. What could be scarier? Nineteen hilarious poems delve into the secret lives of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bigfoot, Godzilla, and others. In a range of styles that pay homage to everyone from Charles Schulz to John James Audubon, the monstrously talented Adam Rex uncovers horrific and clever truths that you won’t want to miss.
	Grilled Pizza Sandwich and Other Vegetarian Recipes By: Kristi Johnson Provides fun and unique vegetarian recipes, including grilled pizza sandwiches, easy cheesy potatoes, and spaghetti salad. Includes easy instructions and a helpful tool glossary with photos.
	Grow Your Own Sandwich By: John Malam This book shows the reader how to grow tomatoes from seeds and then turn them into a delicious sandwich.
	Honest Pretzels and 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & up By: Mollie Katzen Provides step-by-step instructions for a variety of recipes, arranged in such categories as “Breakfast Specials,” “Soups, Sandwiches & Salads for Lunch or Supper,” and “Desserts and a Few Baked Things.”
	Lunch By: Victoria Parker Read Lunch to learn how to make healthy food choices during this midday meal. Different photos show healthy and unhealthy lunch options, while simple text explains why some choices are better than others. A lunch foods quiz concludes the book.
	More Meat, Please! Delicious Sandwiches for Meat-Eating Kids By: Alison Deering Illustrated by: Bob Lenz Anyone can make a great sandwich! That’s the beauty of America’s favorite food. And thanks to this fully illustrated cookbook, kids can easily assemble and eat a variety of delicious sandwiches whenever they choose. With sandwiches built for breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus fun factoids, sandwich trivia, and regional specialties, this truly is the ultimate guide to what takes place between the bread.
	On-the-Go Schwarmas and other Middle Eastern Dishes By: Nick Fauchald Illustrated by: Ronnie Rooney Go on an adventure by cooking your own Middle Eastern dish! From popping pepper hummus to tasty tabbouleh, these kid-friendly Middle Eastern dishes will bring everyone to the table.
	Tasty Sandwiches By: Jennifer Larson Are you ready to make your own tasty sandwiches? You can be the chef with these easy-to-follow recipes for dishes such as the banana dog, black bean veggie burger, sandwich on a stick, and grilled apple and cheese. You’ll find simple drawings of important steps as well as photographs of the finished dishes. This book also provides key information, such as an equipment list, a technique list, safety tips, notes on special ingredients, and more. What are you waiting for? It’s time to get cooking!

Poems are one of the most beautiful and enjoyable forms of human writing. Poems express feelings of joy, sorrow, love, and wonder. In a celebration of World Poetry Day, this collection of books of poems introduces readers aged 7-12 to the world through poems. Using this style, even reluctant readers can access the stories they tell because of the shorter sentences and lyrical rhythms. The books in this list include both fiction and nonfiction to provide a subject for each unique reader.
Contributed by: Mary Lanni

	Beastly Verse By: Multiple Authors Illustrated by: JooHee Yoon Poetry and children belong together, and for a long time, the music and playfulness of verse wove itself through children’s days and lives. Beastly Verse aims to help return the wonder of poetry to children’s lives through sixteen exquisitely illustrated poems, four of which have the surprise and pleasure of being foldouts. Consisting of playful as well as powerfully memorable poems, Beastly Verse transports the reader into a richly worded world of tigers, hummingbirds, owls, elephants, pelicans, yaks, snails, and even telephones! A playful romp through verse, rhyme, and gorgeous images, this book carries children into the poetic realm in a way that is not only fun and inviting but inspiring as well! Representing poems from Anonymous, as well as some lesser well-known poets, this volume also includes poems from Lewis Carroll, William Blake, Robert Desnos, Hilaire Belloc, William Cowper, Christina Rossetti, and D.H. Lawrence. Both short and long, these poems can be read and reread, committed to memory, and enjoyed all life long. JooHee Yoon is an illustrator and printmaker committed to the art of bookmaking.
	Bigfoot is Missing! By: J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt Illustrated by: Minalima A poetry collection about cryptozoological creatures (the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, etc.) from around the world, written to allow the design of the book to disguise the fact that the collection is poetry.
	Explore Poetry! By: Andi Diehn Illustrated by: Bryan Stone Introduces the many different forms of poetry while delving into a variety of literary techniques such as personification, metaphor, and alliteration, and includes creative writing exercises designed to reinforce language arts skills.
	Feel The Beat: Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing By: Marilyn Singer Illustrated by: Kristi Valiant Marilyn Singer has crafted a vibrant collection of poems celebrating all forms of social dance from samba and salsa to tango and hip-hop. The rhythm of each poem mimics the beat of the dances’ steps. Together with Kristi Valiant’s dynamic illustrations, the poems create a window to all the ways dance enters our lives and exists throughout many cultures. This ingenious collection will inspire readers to get up and move!
	Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife By: Sarah Tuttle Illustrated by: Amy Schimler-Safford A poetic book highlighting everyday nature. The perfect blend of science and poetry, Hidden City demonstrates that nature can thrive anywhere, even in highly populated areas. In this graceful collection of poems, skyscrapers serve as perches for falcons, streetlights attract an insect buffet for hungry bats, and an overgrown urban lot offers shelter to both flora and fauna. Hidden City also includes engaging supplementary materials, which provide scientific information about the animals and plants featured in the book. Coupled with beautiful collage illustrations, the poems in Hidden City offer readers the perfect reminder to notice and care about their environment.
	Life Doesn’t Frighten Me By: Maya Angelou Illustrated by: Jean-Michel Basquiat Maya Angelou’s brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves. Angelou’s strong verse is matched by the daring vision of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose childlike style reveals the powerful emotions and fanciful imaginings of youth. Together, Angelou’s words and Basquiat’s paintings create a place where every child–indeed every person–may experience his or her own fearlessness.
	My Daddy Rules the World By: Anita Hope Smith A picture book of poems that celebrate fathers from a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor-winning poet.
	Night Guard By: Synne Lea Illustrated by: Stian Hole This poetry collection explores important concepts, such as friendship, fear, and loneliness.
	One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance By: Nikki Grimes Illustrated by: Cozbi E. Cabrera In this collection of poetry, Nikki Grimes looks afresh at the poets of the Harlem Renaissance — including voices like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more writers of importance and resonance from this era — by combining their work with her own original poetry. Using “The Golden Shovel” poetic method, Grimes has written a collection of poetry that is as gorgeous as it is thought-provoking. This special book also includes original artwork in full-color from some of today’s most exciting African American illustrators, who have created pieces of art based on Nikki’s original poems. Featuring art by Cozbi Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Nikki Grimes, E. B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon. A foreword, an introduction to the history of the Harlem Renaissance, author’s note, poet biographies, and index makes this not only a book to cherish but a wonderful resource and reference as well.
	Orangutanka: A Story in Poems By: Margarita Engle Illustrated by: Renee Kurilla All the orangutans are ready for a nap in the sleepy depths of the afternoon–all except one. Written in a series of linked poems in the tanka style, an ancient Japanese form of poetry.
	Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry By: Vern Kousky Otto the Owl doesn’t fit in because he would rather recite poetry than hunt mice.
	What is Poetry?: The Essential Guide to Reading & Writing Poems By: Michael Rosen Illustrated by: Jill Calder Over many years as a working poet, Michael Rosen has thought a great deal about what poems are, what they can do, and the pleasure that comes from writing and reading poetry. In this invaluable handbook, he shares this knowledge and experience in book form for the very first time. Starting with a detailed analysis of a number of classic poems, he offers a real writer’s guide to writing and performing poems, as well as a wealth of technical information and tips. He then takes a fascinating look at a selection of his own poems and explains how and why he wrote them. Complete with an appendix of poets and useful websites, and beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Jill Calder, this is the only guide to poetry children and teachers will ever need.

A Year of Nature Poems
By: Joseph Coelho
Reviewed by: Greg Romaneck

The power of nature to inspire is a pronounced reality that typifies the work of a wide range of artists. One need only think of the poetry of Robert Frost, Thoreau’s essays, or the beauty of Van Gogh’s paintings to realize the inspirational capacity that exists in the natural world that surrounds each of us. In A Year of Nature Poems, Joseph Coelho takes his readers through a year of seasons via a poem a month. Each poem is both personal and universal in terms of its scope. A simple memory of bringing frogs home from a ramble to watch them grow in a household aquarium stands in contrast to the bitter realities of global pollution that threatens that very creature. Likewise, standing outside in a virginal snowfall, amazed by the hushed beauty of the landscape, offers the writer inspiration and a realization that what the snow covers includes not only the terrain but our lives as well. Coelho writes in a lyrical way while simultaneously offering both poetic relief and environmental lessons that strike home. These nature poems are amplified by the beautiful color illustrations produced by Kelly Louise Judd. Readers are advised to finish each poem and then take some time studying the illustrations. The visual simplicity should be savored as there are lessons in each image that can be quite moving. Readers with any interest in poems drawn from naturalistic experiences will savor this work and return to it time and again.
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