How I Found:  Oliver Jeffers is rad.  If he has a new book, it must be mine.  With an artistic style all his own matched with stories both witty (This Moose Belongs to Me) and heart-wrenching (The Heart in the Bottle), he has the power to both entertain and engage the reader in a thought-provoking journey.  Here We Are is no exception as the narrator explains both where we are in space and what it means to live, and be humane, on Earth.  
Why You Might Read:  Whether it's to your children, or not, this book puts our Earthly existence in perspective.  Jeffers takes the feeling of looking into the infinity of space and puts it between your hands--a mighty responsibility, but one the narrator seems to trust each of us with.  If only we'd trust each other just as much, that too would be rad.  

How I Found:  I have always been drawn to art and artist's inspiration.  My poetry is often inspired by artwork, so when I came across A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline who in turn was inspired by Andrew Wyeth's painting Christina's World, I was immediately pulled into the work.  A novel that reveals who Christina and the artist are with fragmentation and flashback builds the world of a farm girl crippled in childhood who longs for all of the experiences the world has to offer but finds most of them come right to her doorstep.
Why You Might Read:  Kline paints with the vivid strokes of her words reminiscent of both Emily Dickinson and Willa Cather who also comment on rural isolation and play a role in Christina's growth.  Christina becomes a woman in fits and starts and finally realizes, "The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance" which she finally finds when Andy finishes his greatest work--an inspiring comment on what we all seek to find and, hopefully, in turn, seek to give.