Check It Out

Books recommended for young readers by Ilene Abramson, senior librarian, children’s literature, Los Angeles Public Library

It can be exciting to dig around in the dirt, as these books on archeology will show.

Preschool: “Teeny Tiny,” by Jill Bennett, illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Repetitive language and adorable pictures help make this teeny-tiny ghost story a teeny-tiny classic.

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Kindergarten to second grade: “Stone Girl, Bone Girl,” by Laurence Anholt, illustrated by Sheila Moxley

True story of Mary Anning, the 12-year-old who in the 19th century uncovered a 165-million-year-old fossil that helped accelerate the science of paleontology.

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Third grade: “The Bone Man: A Native American Modoc Tale,” by Laura Simms, illustrated by Michael McCarthy

Scary story about a giant skeleton that can be destroyed only by a brave child.

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Fourth grade: “Stories on Stone,” by Jennifer Owings Dewey

This is a folksy introduction to the rock art of the Anasazi culture.

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Fifth and sixth grades: “The Mystery of the Mammoth Bones,” by James Cross Giblin

Follow the adventures of 18th century Renaissance man Charles Willson Peale as he searches for the remains of an extinct animal.

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Seventh and eighth grades: “The Bone Detectives,” by Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Charlie Fellenbaum

When a body is reduced to nothing but a skeleton, the forensic anthropologist steps in to make an identification by DNA or dental clues.

Storytime

Some of the books to be read on KCET’s “Storytime,” weekdays at 12:30 p.m.

* “The Empty Pot,” by Demi

An emperor gives each of his children a flower seed to grow in a test of honesty. Themes: responsibility, nature.

* “The Grasshopper and the Ants,” retold by Margaret Wise Brown

While a grasshopper sings and dances all summer, the ants work hard to store food for winter. Themes: sharing, responsibility, music.

* “Going Home,” by Margaret Wild

Waiting to leave the hospital, Hugo is treated to visits from animals at the zoo next door. Themes: imagination, homesickness, friendship.

Book Events

Selected visits at Los Angeles Public Library branches.

* Wednesday: Erica Silverman, author of “Raisel’s Riddle”; 4 p.m., Woodland Hills Branch Library, 22200 Ventura Blvd.

* Thursday: Caroline Arnold, author of “Children of the Settlement Houses”; Granada Hills Branch Library, 10640 Petit Ave.