Mr. Barsin's Toy Emporium — Lois June Wickstrom

Wickstrom offers the reader an interesting, unusual, and carefully delineated range of characters....a story full of wonders that nonetheless manages to present some mysteries for those who visit the emporium and find the magic door that leads to a garden that simultaneously exists in spring, summer, fall and winter. Some of the vocabulary will be challenging, but the somewhat complex syntax offers wonderful opportunities for an adult reader to animate the story while reading it aloud to kids. BookLife Prize 2021