Just Because takes place at bedtime, with a child wondering, “Why is the ocean blue?” Rather than reaching for a scaled-down version of a scientific explanation, the father chooses a poetic one: “Every night when you go to sleep, the fish take out guitars. They sing sad songs and cry blue tears.” The text is sparse and the illustrations rich, offering a slow, meditative read perfectly suited to spurring on the kinds of outlandish conversations that are the upside of all that inquiry. With Barnett’s wit and Arsenault’s signature blend of whimsy and gravity, light and darkness, readers big and small are invited on a voyage through dreamy scenes of childlike imagination.

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Anne Renaud’s The Boy Who Invented the Popsicle is a delightful book that follows the story of Frank William Epperson, inventor of the Popsicle. The story begins with a glimpse of his life as a young boy growing up in Northern California, where his curious mind was given free rein. His childhood dream of becoming an inventor led Frank to various projects, from creating a small vehicle to perfecting a series of fizzy drinks – the latter eventually leading to what we know as the Popsicle (originally called the Epsicle). Interwoven within this narrative are informational pages with small-scale science experiments to perform at home. Among them, readers will find fun activities that range from a simple oil-and-water mix that shows the molecular difference of liquids to an actual frozen treatmaking experiment that displays how salt lowers the freezing point of ice and allows sugary mixtures to quickly solidify. With excellent pacing, the complexity of the story’s science increa es as the plot advances.