I Dissent is a stellar biography of a highly accomplished woman as well as a concise introductory explanation of the role of the supreme court.

Ruth Bader was born in an era when a woman’s role revolved around the home and women were discouraged from pursuing careers. Through her actions she showed her disagreement and dissent to the limitation put on people because of their gender, religion, or race.  Yet even when she strongly disagreed with others, for example fellow Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, she showed that it need not stand in the way of friendship and respect.

The theme of dissent is a constant thread in the book.  Throughout the book, complicated concepts are explained in clear but simplistic text bringing the intricacies of our complex judicial system to level for early elementary students. Illustrations are lively and colorful and Ruth’s expressions reinforce her opinions and strength of her character.

Back matter includes photographs, a more thorough biography, notes on court cases referenced in the book, extensive bibliography and quotation sources.

Glow has page after page of stunning photographs of bioluminescence.  On a black backdrop, the large white text starts by introducing and defining the concept of bioluminescence.  While found on land and in the air, more than anywhere else, bioluminescence is found in the water.  The book continues with a simple explanation of the chemicals animals produce that creates the glow of bioluminescence.  Animals glow to hunt, to hide, to call for help, and lose an enemy, and so on.  The simple text is supplemented on each page with a more indepth scientific explanation of the animal pictured and the concept being highlighted.

End papers include an explanation of how the photographs were taken as well as a diagram of each creature featured in the book, highlighting where on the creature the bioluminescence occurs.  Scientific name, size, and location included.  Also contains a bibliography.

The combination of the large text with simple concepts and vocabulary and the small text with the indepth scientific explanations make this a wonderful choice for a mixed-age partner read.

Written in the form of undated journal entries, Max Crumbly is sure to be a hit with fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries.

After being home-schooled by his grandmother since kindergarten, Max starts his first public school experience as an eighth graders at South Ridge Middle School.  Finding a niche and fitting in was particularly difficult because Doug “Thug” Thurston goes out his way to make Max’s life miserable after Max threw up on his shoe in gym class.  Only the second week and Max has been stuffed in his locker for the second time.  Max then journals in the cramped locker until his crush hears him and unlocks the door.

After school with a three day weekend approaching Max is crammed in the locker once again with no one is likely to notice him missing until the next week.  Max finally busts out the back of his locker into a dank unused boiler room.  Thinking to escape through the ventilation system he overhears 3 burglars planning to empty the new computer lab.

Max’s misadventures are not resolved in this first book.  Maybe he’ll escape the school and outsmart burglars in book 2

Ashley Bryan uses a primary source document as the foundation of his moving picture book about the lives and dreams of slaves.  The document, the Appraisement of the Estate that occurred after the death of Cado Fairchilds.  Written in first person free verse, the book starts with Mary Fairchilds describing the estate and her plans to sell it after the death of her husband.  Her poem is followed by Bryan’s portrait of the 11 estate slaves superimposed on an image of the original appraisal document.  Each slave’s story includes a portrait, a poem about his or her life as a slave, and a poem and illustration of his or her dreams.  Bryan’s poetry highlights the cultural roots and humanity of the individuals listed in the otherwise unemotional primary source document.  The book ends with a transcription of the appraisal document leaving the reader with the powerful knowledge that the slaves would be sold, but not knowing what was to happen to them.

Anchored by a primary source document, this is a powerful book humanizing the slave experience.

Learning to share is one of the essential social skills young children need to master.  Just like with Bear and Hare, some kids find the concept easier than others.  Simple repetitive text and expressive illustrations make Bear and Hare Share! a good starting point for discussion around sharing.

Bear and Hare take a walk and see some neat stuff that they both want.  When Bear asks to share, Hare responds with a vigorous “Mine!” Bear doesn’t care and still shows his affection for Hare.  After their tug a war over a balloon pops the balloon, bear wanders out of the story.  Now Hare doesn’t care and heads off to a bee hive enjoy honey on his own.  When the bees chase him away, Bear is there to comfort him.  Reluctantly Hare offers to share his jar of honey.  The reader isn’t sure if Hare has really learned to share since the last page shows Hare holding the jar away from Bear rather than sharing.

Thick pages make the book easy for young readers.

The mysterious Theodore lives in a dark, quiet cave and all that can be seen of him is his eyes.  One after another, a bird, a wolf, and a tiger all disturb Theodore. He is not really hungry, however, so he tells each of them, “I will not eat you.”  Theodore is finally becoming hungry when, with a, “raaaar,”a boy gallops up to the cave on a stick horse . Theodore bellows, “Don’t bother me, pesky boy, or I will eat you.” When the boy does not go away, the snout of Theodore the dragon finally emerges from the cave.  A run through the woods leads to a fall and laughter.  It’s hard to eat someone when you’re laughing.  Now Theodore’s cave is still quiet, but Theodore is no longer hiding in the dark – he’s outside playing.

A fun story celebrating imaginative play.

Edward is a very particular pig. Whether at home, outside, or at school, he always avoid anything messy.  This means he also misses out on jumping in leaves, playing kickball in the mud, science experiments and art.  One day while organizing an art shelf rather than painting, the shelf falls and paint is everywhere!!  At first devastated, he finally embraces his messiness and the next day participates in art, science, kickball, and leaf jumping.  After all, he can always clean up afterwards.  The rather bland story line makes this an additional purchase for most collections.

As the rest of Botsburg powers down for bedtime, Bitty Bot breaks all the bedtime rules with his power tools; “Banging bolts and welding wing.  Clanging cogs and tubes and springs.” When his rocket is complete, he zooms through space to touch down on the moon.  There he takes in the sights and joins an alien party.  His battery is finally running low and sets off from the moon in his rocket.  Will he reach home and bed before his systems shut down?

Cute characters, rhyming text and fun language make this a creative alternative the standard bedtime story.

Once upon a menacing time, after their mother’s disappearance, Hensel and Gretel chose to empower themselves by learning ninjutsu.  When their father is also dragged away, they set off through the dark woods leaving a breadcrumb trail.  Caught off guard at the fox’s corn bread house, Hensel is also plucked up and shoved into a pen.  Greta then squeezes down the flu with ninja like silence and speed to snatch her mother out of the stir-fry pan while Hensel picks the lock to escape the pen.  The book ends with their vow to rescue, protect, and defend until bird-napping comes to an end.

Santat’s illustrations clearly portray both expression and motion.  This is the third title by these authors to pair martial arts with a retelling of a classic fairy tale.   A fun addition to any collection.

Best in Snow contains breathtaking winter photographs.  The sparse text powerfully describes the winter snow cycle. Starting with a freeze, a breeze and a cloud, the snow then sails and settle, shapes and dusts. Once the storm is over and the sun shines, the air warms and then the snow softens and melts. Until…another freeze, another breeze, another cloud. Back papers describes in more detail the science behind each poetic phrase and contains a further reading list. Use to support a winter theme or in a science unit focused on the water cycle.

Starting at age 2 when he could finally reach the seat, a young boy celebrates the litany of vehicles he has mastered.  Rhyming poetic first person text reinforces the joy and accomplishment the boys feels with each year and each new vehicle. The boy’s wide eyed glee can be seen on each page, whether running a big backhoe at 3 years old or plowing snow at 6 years. In each picture, the boy is accompanied by a turtle, pig, and penguin. Finally, at age 7 the boy has “got a bedroom like a parking lot,” and the reader sees and understands the imaginative play behind the story.  The continuation of his love of vehicles year after year culminates with his statement that, “when I grow up…. with any luck, I’ll drive a truck.”  A sure hit with young vehicle lovers.

Plants are stationary, right? Plants Can’t Sit Still invites the reader to discover the many ways that plants move.  “Plants can creep.  They slither underground or crawl through tall grass searching for the things all plants need.” The descriptive language and bright pictures will intrigue young scientists and encourage them to explore the world around them.  For older students, focus on the descriptive verbs (easily identifiable with enlarged colored font) and personification.  The back matter provides more detailed information about the plants pictured in the book, a glossary, and a More Information section.

Starting with a description of the caterpillar’s body, this book continues with chapters on where to find caterpillars, their food, what they do, and a labeled diagram.  Simple text and colorful photos often with captions make this a good option for young readers.  Magnified images show the diversity and beauty of caterpillars.  Both academic and content vocabulary are bold in the text and defined in the glossary. Also contains a Table of Contents and an Index.

A good size for small hands to hold.

An active boy named Scribble and his imaginary friend, a bird named Buttonhole share many things. As they talk and ask questions about the world around them, some of the answers Buttonhole shares are thoughtless stereotypes. “Elephants bang into things and are rude and loud.  They trumpet,” says Buttonhole.  Scribble greets the arrival of Dash, a quiet polite elephant who likes ballet with a smile, but Buttonhole is not so welcoming.  Only when Buttonhole and Dash realize that dancing is like flying do they join together in play.  Scribble and his friends then happily dance through the house on adventures;  The bath is a sea, the legs of a table a forest, and the couch becomes a mountain.

The quirky illustrations give the story a feeling of motion.  Grump the cat appears on each page with grouchy commentary distracting at times from the story line while in others focusing attention on the feelings of the characters.

An Australian import.

Cricket Song is an invitation to listen to the world around us.  A child falls asleep to the song of crickets.  The cricket’s song mingles with the “kreck” of frogs and leads to the poorwill and the fox.  The sounds of one creature leads to another until the story spans the water to another land where another child also dozes to the song of crickets.  The lyrical text flows smoothly from page to page, filled with examples of onomatopoeia.

Beautiful pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations lend the story a soothing feel.  The picture at the bottom of each page shows the two children’s’ houses on either side of the water.  Minute changes in the image from page to page shows the progress of the day yet at the same time unifying the characters and events in the story.

Together the text and images portray the diversity of the world around us as well as the sameness of our human experience.

Mr Pip, a monkey and Frederick, the famous actor are best friends.  On his birthday, Frederick receives numerous outrageous gifts from people all over the world, but is unable to enjoy any of them because Mr. Pip is clearly unhappy. Worried about Mr. Pip, Frederick takes him to vets all over the city.  When none of them can help Mr. Pip, Frederick leaves Mr. Pip with the Guild of Geniuses to determine why he isn’t happy.  After a week and many unsuccessful quirky solutions, Frederick returns to find Mr. Pip is still unhappy.  It turns out all Mr. Pip needed was a chance to present Frederick with his birthday present and the chance to spend some time together.  A rather awkward story, though amusing at times.

Nukappia lives with his adoptive parents in Ottawa, but spends his summers with his biological family in an Arctic Inuit village in northern Nunavut.   The story begins as Nukappia rises from a sleepless night at his Uncle’s house in town.  His uncle Angu will walk him to his grandparent’s annual camp along the shoreline.  As they walk, the reader experiences the Arctic through the eyes of the Inuit.  The dried seaweed can be a delicious soup or used in medicine, catching fish using a weir with kakivaks (traditional fishing spears) and digging for clams and jigging for sculpin through the ice.  As Uncle Angu shares his knowledge that “almost everything that can be found on the shoreline is useful as either a medicine, food, or helpful tool,” Nukappia’s excitement grows for their arrival in the camp.  His greeting with his entire northern family fills him with happiness.

Glossary of Arctic Plants and Animals includes Inuit, English and scientific names, photograph, description, and Inuit traditional uses.  Glossary of Landforms and Tools Used on the Shoreline include illustrations and descriptions.

Billy is a boy like any other except he wants to be a cheerleader.  No one seems to understand.  His family questions him and the kids at school laugh at him.  But Billy practiced and practiced on his own.  On the day of the big game, he cartwheeled, jumped, smiled and yelled.  And the crowd went wild.  The book closes by restating all the characteristic that make Billy a “boy” and then reaffirming he is also a cheerleader.  Text is simple with dialogue appearing in speech bubbles.  Illustrations are colorful and support the text.  The book introduces the concept of gender identity without clearly stating it.

Arms and hands are part of your body.  Your arms can lift and bend and your hands can touch and pick things up.  This simple text introduces the reader to body parts including how they work together and how they are similar to some animal body parts.  The book ends with a labeled diagram of the arm and hand.  Labeled parts include wrist, forearm, and biceps that are not mentioned in the text.  Includes table of contents, illustrated glossary, index, and link to crafts, games, videos and more.  The linked text and images on the Abdokids.com site support the text, but the external links are not age appropriate.

“This is the Baby, wrinkled and gray.  This is the Baby born today.” All the world embraces a baby elephant on the day she is born.  The earth supports, sisters cuddle, the herd trumpets, the lagoon baths, and the peacocks dance for the baby.  The rich language, repetitive phrasing, and sweet illustrations make this a lovely read.  Use as a mentor text for young writers to draw out descriptive language in their personal narratives.

Two children and their dog enter a cave lit only by their flashlight.  They climb and crawl as they face cold, bats, crawling things, shining eyes, and giant paws.  Finally, a light appears and the reader is hopeful that the frightened huddling characters have found a way out.  But it is only their dad telling them to find a quiet game because the baby is sleeping.  After some thought, the cave becomes a barn for the kids to ride their horses as they create a new, but not any quieter adventure.  A good choice to inspire imagination and creative play.

Created by the pair that gave us Some Bugs, Some Pets combines rhyming verse with mixed media illustrations to create a fun engaging read.  The repetitive “some pets” is followed by descriptive verbs and surrounded by colorful supporting illustrations.  This book makes a great read aloud and is sure to insight a lively conversation about both pets and word choice.

With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, titles featuring age appropriate engineering concepts are needed in our school libraries.  Making Machines with Pulleys is solid example, including informational text interspersed with images and diagrams.  The three projects provide hands on opportunities that directly support the pulley concept discussed on the previous pages.  Each of the projects has a difficulty level, introduction, materials, clear step by step directions, and a “What did you find out?” concluding section.

Includes Table of Contents, Fun Facts, Glossary, Find Out More, and Index.

Large font and colorful photos on opposing landscape pages is characteristic for Abdo Kids titles. These features make it a good choice for young non-fiction readers.  Table of Contents, More Facts, Glossary, and Index are standard features.  The inclusion of both academic and content vocabulary in the glossary add to this title’s positive points.

A good choice for young shark fans.

This informational text with large font and full page photographs on opposing pages has the basic features expected in a primary grade non-fiction text which would make this an acceptable choice to include in a collection.  Unfortunately, in a time when the national perception of police is racially charged, this book does not include images representing an adequate spectrum of our nation’s racial make-up.  Not recommended.