A Starlit Trip to the Library - Andrew Katz - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Andrew Katz
ILLUSTRATORS: Juliana Léveillé-Trudel and Joseph Sherman
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: September 6, 2022
RATING: 4.5 stars.

A cute story, a sweet girl, plenty of animals, lots of adventure and a special library – all ingredients for a perfect children’s picture book!

Julia is camping out with her forest friends. As the stars begin to twinkle, it is time for the most anticipated event – Storytelling by the firelight. Unfortunately, Julia discovers that she has forgotten her book at home. Just in time, Bertrand Bear comes sailing down the river, and together, Julia and the animals embark on an informative and a fun adventure, that includes learning about the constellations, saving one of the animals’ flower crown, and of course, a trip to the library with the coolest night librarian!

I was surprised to see how much the authors have been able to pack within this little picture book. While it is of the standard length, there is so much of action and adventure. Plus, there is some information about constellations, which adds to the educational factor.

This is a sequel to “How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read”. The characters thus show a great familiarity with each other. Of course, this doesn’t make any difference to the understanding of the story – it works perfectly as a standalone. But boy, would I love to get my hands on the first book!

There are a couple of difficult words such as ‘scintillating’ and ‘scavenging’. But I suppose these can be explained to little readers as this is meant to be a bedtime readaloud book. There are about 4-6 sentences per page and the text takes only a fourth or a fifth of each page. The rest has the illustrations. So there is plenty for kids to look at while their accompanying adult narrates the story to them. The illustrations deserve 10 stars. My digital version was such a delight, with full-coloured pages and vibrant artwork. The physical copy must be a treat for little eyes!

Recommended for little ones who want to embark on a magical adventure before bedtime. The book will suit ages 3-7.

My thanks to Chouette Publishing, CrackBoom! Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “A Starlit Trip to the Library”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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