The best books we borrowed from the library last month
The library is my go-to activity for filling time or changing attitudes (especially mine). It’s too hot to play outside? Library. Everyone is cranky? Library. The house is messy? Library.
We visit the library at least once a week, and I’ve made a small practice of sharing my kids’ favorite library books on Notes—partly for me to track authors or themes the boys are loving, and partly because I love sharing book recommendations for young readers. At the library the other day, I handed off a copy of Murray the Knight to a girl and her grandma looking for early reader chapter books. I mentioned the Mercy Watson series in passing to a mom looking for books in the same section, and when I checked out a Princess in Black book for my four-year-old, the mom behind me in line gushed about how much her girls love the series.
As much as I enjoy swapping grown-up book recommendations, for now, children’s literature holds a prominent place in my reading life and my daily conversations, so today I'm sharing a list of library books my boys loved / requested multiple times / carried around the house / giggled at, and memorized.
** = personally recommended by our friend and favorite children’s librarian, Miss Victoria.
Favorite library checkouts from June 2026
The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde by Shannon & Dean Hale
Puffins! by Maria Gianferri
**The Outermost Mouse by Lauren Wolk
Bug on the Bus by David Catrow
Chez Bob by Bob Shea
Carol and the Pickle Toad by Esmé Shapiro
**When Beavers Move In by Alison Pearce Stevens
**Bothered by Bugs by Emily Gravett
Mega Predators of the Past by Melissa Stewart
**Odder: An Otter’s Story by Katherine Applegate
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