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Coco the Panda's Picks
9780545637084

Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton is one of my all-time favorites, even though there's not a single panda to be found in its pages. It's that amazing. Pinecone is a young warrior princess, and like any little warrior princess, she needs a mighty steed to ride into battle. And finally, on her birthday, her parents give her...a pony. A short, squat, flatulent little pony. But Princess Pinecone isn't about to let that stop her from proving herself the mightiest, if smallest, warrior in t

9780545865029

Peter Reynolds has worked on a lot of amazing picture book, and Word Collector is my new favorite. Jerome collects words, just like people collect stamps, or coins. Sometimes he doesn’t even know what they mean, but they look so wonderful he has to include them. One day, he realizes he can do so much more with them—he can use his collection to make something new and unique, and even share them with other kids. And as Jerome discovers, sometimes the most powerful words are also the simplest.

9780399554520

Can I Be Your Dog by Troy Cummings is a little unusual—it’s an entire story told through letters! Arfy just wants a home and someone to love, so he decides to write to all the homes on Butternut Street, one at a time. And one at a time, he’s turned down—one house has a cat with ‘dog allergies’, and another house turns out to be completely empty. But his letters don’t just reach those homes—someone else has seen his letters, and wants to take in Arfy just as much as he wants a family.

9781943200009

Believe it or not, we pandas can have some pretty big problems. And sometimes those problems seem to grow and grow until it’s too big for just one panda to handle. But this book has some stellar advice on how to deal with your worries. It doesn’t just remind us how to handle a problem—it points out that you can even be left with something good when you’re done! Mae Besom’s illustrations fit perfectly, and are just as engaging and memorable as the story itself.

9780763637842

This story is pretty much perfect—Panda’s word of honor. One day, a lion visits a library. No one knows what to make of it, but as Miss Merriweather points out, he’s not breaking any rules by visiting. (She does explain that running and roaring are not allowed.) After that, the lion comes every day. Until one day, the lion does break the rules—for a very good reason. But is that reason good enough for the librarians to let him stay?

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