Booklist calls EVERY MONDAY MABEL by Jashar Awan a “joyous little book” in its fifth starred review

Every Monday Mabel.

By Jashar Awan. Illus. by the author

2025. 48p. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (9781665938150). PreS–Gr. 3

This joyous little book celebrates how garbage trucks move, how they sound, and how they work, all from the perspective of a little girl who thinks they’re the best thing ever. Little Mabel’s story carries a lot of suspense: we don’t know why she is so excited about Mondays until the truck makes its noisy appearance midbook. Mabel has blocky-looking legs, black circles for eyes, a black slash for a mouth, and pigtails that stand straight up like furry antlers, yet she manages to look adorable and expressive. We see her prepping for what’s going to happen this particular Monday by taking a bowl of cereal and a chair out to the family home’s driveway. And then comes a roar and a honking, and “the best thing in the world” appears—a garbage truck. The digital illustrations and lettering capture the enormity of garbage trucks with their clanging sounds, flashing lights, and shining hubcaps, contrasting huge lettering for the garbage truck’s appearance and actions and tiny lettering for Mabel’s awed reactions. Mabel isn’t alone in her appreciation; the final pages expand out to other kids looking out of windows, thinking that Monday is the best day ever.

— Connie Fletcher