Almond by Allen Say; illustrated by Allen Say. 2020. Illustrated with charcoal, pastel, and photographs. Published by Scholastic Press.

Brief summary: A New Girl arrives at school and shares her beautiful violin talents. Almond can imagine the flight of the bumblebee getting faster as her new classmate gets better practicing every day. Almond asks her mother what her talent could be since the only thing special about her was her long hair. Almond’s teacher announces that there will be a class play where Almond will play Rapunzel.

As Almond is pretending to be a princess in a tower, she can hear the New Girl below play her violin with a new song. Almond finally realizes what her talent is by the compliments she receives after the play. It was not her hair that was special, but her imagination to pretend to be different things.

Comments: I think this is a great book to share with young readers to help them examine and figure out what they are good at doing. Everyone has something that they can do well.