Before reading To Walk the Sky: How Iroquois Steelworkers Helped Build Towering Cities, readers may not know about the first Mohawk skywalkers: Native American and Canadian First Nations steelworkers whose skill and fearlessness built many engineering landmarks that stand today, such as the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. To Walk the Sky is a beautiful peek at the history and ongoing story of these brave and determined men.

Written by Patricia Morris Buckley, herself the descendant of a Quebec Bridge Mohawk skywalker, To Walk the Sky is full of history and information, recounting events such as the 1907 collapse of the Quebec Bridge, which killed 75 workers. While Buckley’s language is significantly more sophisticated than that of many picture books, she narrates like a storyteller and not a textbook. Buckley doesn’t shy away from the struggles, risk and devastation the skywalkers faced throughout the decades, but neither does she dwell on sadness. Matter-of-fact and serious, but with moments of poetry, Buckley’s writing rings with pride and hope for the legacy of these courageous workers. Closing out with the author’s own family history and glossary as well as material on the Quebec Bridge and the Mohawk people, To Walk the Sky provides not only an engaging story, but also a tribute and an education all in one.

Each thoughtful, evocative image from illustrator E.B. Lewis rings with pride and respect. Lewis’ soft watercolor images capture historical moments and current events with equal skill. Watercolor is the perfect medium for this topic, giving plenty of detail, but with a slightly blurred and timeless aura. Similarly, most of Lewis’ characters have vague features, reminding us how often these workers go unrecognized, fading into history. Lewis uses various perspectives to bring readers into this world. We look up at a blue sky crisscrossed by steel beams, and stand behind grieving widows in the aftermath of the Quebec Bridge disaster. We sit across from skywalkers, in imitation of the famous “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” photograph of workers eating as they sit on top of a steel beam during the construction of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. And we find ourselves in a haze of yellow, among the ruins of 9/11, an image that is both familiar and visceral.

To Walk the Sky is marketed for young audiences, though it is a little lengthier than your traditional children’s storytime book. However, this book will find a home in nearly every age group and setting, from families of steelworkers and proud descendants of the brave skywalkers, to middle grade students learning about Native American history. Above all, one hopes To Walk the Sky will find those imaginative little ones with their own big dreams of building something incredible.

Although she’s just a kid, Cecilia has two full-time jobs: elementary school student, and interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents. 

In her picture book debut, The Interpreter, Olivia Abtahi (Twin Flames) has crafted an empathetic, gently humorous look at what it’s like to be a go-to translator in immigrant and/or multilingual families. Fittingly, The Interpreter is itself a multilingual book: cleverly conceived watercolor and pencil-crayon artwork by Monica Arnaldo (The Museum of Very Bad Smells) separates out languages by color. Orange word bubbles are for Spanish, blue for English and pink for Farsi when Cecilia’s family encounters another kid-interpreter.

Cecilia’s life has become overwhelmingly blue and orange, to her and her friends’ consternation. She’s a plucky, considerate child who beams when her mom says, “What would I do without you?” But while it’s rewarding to explain her sibling’s medical treatments, ensure the hairdresser doesn’t cut mom’s hair too short, and assist dad with his driver’s license photo (“No smiling. / Sin sonrisa.”), it’s also exhausting. 

Not surprisingly, when a perceptive teacher inquires how she—just her, not her family—is doing, Cecilia loses her cool and releases her bottled-up frustration in a gloriously explosive double-page-spread: “I don’t want to run errands every day and wait at the DMV! I want to be outside, I want to play soccer . . . I want, I want, I want.” Her parents are shocked at her outburst, and then shocked at how Cecilia’s calendar has been overtaken by interpreting without their realizing. “I want to help,” Cecilia says,. “just not all the time.”

Abtahi does a stellar job of introducing the concepts of boundaries, self-advocacy and work-life balance while cautioning readers that being super-accommodating might result in being taken advantage of or overburdened, even by those who care about us. But asking for and accepting help can make things better for all involved: By the book’s happy end, Cecilia’s aunt and brother are pitching in with interpreting, she’s back to playing with friends and everybody is smiling—especially Cecilia.

Here is a sweet book for February—and every month of the year besides. This heartwarming celebration of the friendship between a baby on the cusp of becoming a toddler and her beloved feline marks the debut of talented author-illustrator Anden Wilder.

Scamp begins quite simply: “Scamp’s house had two cats: one black and one pink.” The text appears opposite the illustration of a plump black cat named Hector and a baby called Scamp in bright pink striped pajamas, the two sitting side by side. Scamp’s perky black pigtails do make her look like a cat, as does her ability to mirror Hector. Baby and feline stick out their tongues, lick themselves, claw at the couch and cuddle close. However, much to Scamp’s surprise, one morning she discovers she can stand up in her crib. Later, she pulls herself up to stand on two feet beside the coffee table. The wonders continue: At dinner, Scamp picks up her spoon! “Scamp was pretty sure cats didn’t hold spoons.” Scamp ends the day enjoying her bath as her perplexed companion looks on.

One of the special delights of the story is the complete absence of adults: Scamp and Hector are alone in their world. After this exhausting day, the two curl up in Hector’s cat bed. But Scamp later awakens to find Hector gone. After a fruitless search, she uses her newfound abilities to climb onto the couch and gaze out the window. And there is Hector, about to be caught in a rainstorm! Knowing that cats hate the rain, brave Scamp finds an inventive solution, and soon she and Hector are united once more. In the end, Scamp knows that while human, she still can play at being a cat whenever she wants—and she’ll always be a cat person at heart.

Wilder’s delightful text pairs perfectly with illustrations done in gouache, watercolor and colored pencils. Hector and Scamp, rendered in similar poses, grace hot pink endpapers. With its subtle humor and whiff of nostalgia about the inevitable passage of time, Scamp is likely to be kept on the shelf for years to come.

Throughout Ajay Anthonipillai’s life thus far, he’s dutifully adhered to his Sri Lankan parents’ rules. Their 16-item list, displayed at the end of Maria Marianayagam’s winning and inventive No Purchase Necessary, includes things like “Straight As only,” “No friendships with the opposite sex” and “No working while you’re in school.”

Alas, ever since Ajay started eighth grade at Bridge Creek Middle School, he’s been struggling. At his previous school, kids called him “Obnoxious Ajay” because of his relentless academic competitiveness. Now that he’s grown up a bit, he’s more interested in making friends than viewing classmates as rivals, but he’s unsure how to go about it. So, when popular bully Jacob Underson hints they’ll become buddies if Ajay steals a Mercury bar from Al’s convenience store, Ajay shocks himself by actually doing it . . . only for Jacob to laughingly reject his offering, leaving him defeated and guilty. “How was this my life? What made me so unlikable? This year was supposed to be a fresh start.”

Adding to Ajay’s misery, he gets a 79% in language arts class and lies to his parents about it, drawing his sister Aarthi’s disapproval. A classmate, Mandy, seems friendly, but he’s nervous around her, and she gets better language arts grades (old habits die hard). And that chocolate bar, sold during a 25th anniversary promotion? It’s the winner of Mercury’s million-dollar grand prize. But how can he—legally, morally—claim a prize from stolen candy?

Ajay secretly gets a job at Al’s so he can destroy evidence of his crime. But as he gets to know Al while contending with a cascade of ethical dilemmas, his guilt intensifies, not least because his family could really use that money. Is there any way to cash in without betraying everything they’ve worked for?

No Purchase Necessary is an entertaining, thought-provoking read rife with suspenseful twists and turns and well-drawn characters, and enlivened by the witty, appealing voice of its protagonist. Marianayagam perfectly captures the emotional, social and moral minefields of middle school, and will have readers rooting for Ajay to find happiness as he figures out which rules serve him—and which are meant to be broken.

Amber can’t contain her feelings for Nico any longer. They’ve been best friends for years, and though part of her wishes they could go back to easy conversations, nights playing video games and chill hangouts with friends, she can’t hold back how she really feels. So during their eighth grade beach trip, she confesses—and he says he reciprocates! But as the new couple jumps headfirst into romance, they find that relationships can be complicated, especially when it comes to first loves, changing friendships and, of course, high school.

Dreamover is a charming and surreal exploration of young love set during the early days of the internet, when teenagers still spent their summers at the beach and talked all night over instant messaging. Filled with charming illustrations that emphasize the youthfulness of its characters, this graphic novel brings readers back to the thrill, confusion and emotion of growing up.

In many ways, Dreamover is light and silly. Its characters get into good-hearted mischief, playing games, having sleepovers and teasing each other about their crushes. But the story isn’t afraid to step into the angst and confusion of teenhood, speaking to serious issues like jealousy, bullying and growing apart from old friends. The story centers on characters who are easy to feel for, like Nico, who’s teased for his relationship with Amber, and Drew, who starts feeling left out of their trio as Nico and Amber draw closer together. Readers are bound to see themselves—or their younger selves—in these characters as they ride the waves of love and friendship.

As Nico and Amber see how their relationship impacts other people in their lives, they must learn to decide what they value—and how they can maintain what matters even as the world and the people around them are changing. Perfect for those who are grown up and those who are still growing up, Dreamover is a nostalgic and thought-provoking experience.