Expert booksellers and librarians share their top picks for young readers. Check out what our experts are reading this October!
It Began with a Buzz
Written and illustrated by Shiva Delsooz
Owlkids Books, 2025
IL: Ages 4-7 RL: Grades 1-2
A constant buzzing sound plagues a young girl and she is the only one who can hear it. The relentless noise clouds her thoughts and makes her feel “very alone.” An ever-present big bumblebee pesteringly flits and flies on every page, illustrating the intrusive impact it has on the child’s life. A doctor makes a diagnosis of tinnitus, but offers no cure. Spare first-person narration cuts to the heart: “It seemed hopeless.” Through a serendipitous discovery of a music box, the creative girl finds a way to cope that provides relief as well as joy.
Shiva Delsooz brings her exuberant, emotionally resonant artwork and her own experiences growing up with hearing loss and tinnitus to this buzz-worthy picture book about resilience.
Recommended by Linda Ludke, Collections Management Librarian, London Public Library
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Messy Perfect IL: Ages 13 and up RL: Grades 8-9
In an effort to assuage her guilt over an incident from the past, Cassie joins forces with the students from a neighbouring public school to form an underground Gay Straight Alliance, a group that she knows will be very important to many students from her own conservative Catholic private school. Insisting that she wants to be a good ally, Cassie is secretly struggling to accept the truth about herself and what that will mean. Will acknowledging the thing that she keeps trying to bury about herself mean that she will no longer be the perfect student, daughter, church-goer that she has tried so hard to be?
As she continues to try to be the person everyone else wants her to be, she wrestles with big questions about faith and forgiveness, family and friendship, and how to be true to yourself and embrace imperfection... in oneself and others. Boteju provides readers with a thoughtful, nuanced exploration of these topics and more. She raises insightful, meaningful questions and doesn't provide pat answers but instead offers heartfelt and relatable grappling with these questions. Many readers of a wide range of ages will identify with Cassie's unrealistic expectations of herself, as well as her profound desire to feel seen and loved for who she is... in all her messy, complicated imperfection.
Recommended by Lisa Doucet, Manager, Woozles Children's Bookstore