This is a humorous graphic interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s How the Camel Got his Hump.  It tells the story of a lazy camel, relaxing in an oasis in the Howling Desert of India.  When Ox and Dog and Horse discovered camel and how he was not helping with the work on the farm, they tried to convince him to join them.  Despite their efforts, camel just said “Humph!”  So the desert Djinn came down and punished the camel by giving him a humph (now pronounced “hump”) from which to live off so he could work for 3 days at a time without taking a break to eat.  Camel to this day remains crabby and uncooperative and embarrassed by his hump.  This is one in a series of four remakes of Rudyard Kipling’s tales.  The other titles are How the Elephant got his Trunk, How the Leopard got his Spots, How the Rhinoceros got his Skin.

Our students love craft books and this one takes items which might otherwise end up in the trash and demonstrates how to turn them into treasure.  There are seven projects, each using items and supplies commonly found around the house.  The instructions are clear and simple, with photographs for each step of the project, including one of a sample finished product.  The emphasis on recycling is also positive for our young people.  I expect this book to circulate frequently in our school library.

I LOVED this darling picture book!  The story is about an adorable bird named Blue who woke up one morning to an “egg” landing in her nest.  The setting is Central Park, NY, with children having a snowball fight below her tree.  Blue welcomes Egg but decides they must find her mother.  They search high and low but no one claims the missing “egg”.  Blue and Egg settle into a fun life of adventure around New York City until spring comes and Egg mysteriously starts to shrink.  Blue tries everything to help, but alas one morning wakes up to Egg missing and a puddle below her nest.  She discovers in that puddle a beautiful pink flower which she promptly plants, deciding that Egg must have simply bloomed.  The illustrations are colorful cut-paper and the reader will delight in all the wonderful details.  This would be a fun read aloud for elementary.

This is a great book!  It is a simple description of what an amphibian is.  The illustrations are funny and creative.  The book makes you laugh while learning. It is written in clever rhymes.  Very good for young science students.  There are questions in the back to help with your understanding.

This is a cute poem about a family”s love for a baby.  Each family member reaches in some way that relates to the baby.

It’s a story that makes you feel love.

I enjoyed the peaceful happy feeling shared in this book.  The pictures are beautiful.

This would be a good gook for young readers wanting to get into chapter books.  The end is a fun turn around for children.  The story is meant to have a element of suspense, but is not too much for small children.

The pictures are fun and colorful.  The details of the story make it come to life.

This book is written as a poem.  It is fun and colorful.  This would be fun to read to younger children and to find the rhyming words.  It is a cute quick read just for fun.  It’s full of rhyming words.

This book has instructions for 10 simple engineering projects that girls might particularly enjoy.  Each project has a very specific material list and most would require a quick and inexpensive trip to the hardware store.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow and a scientific explanation is included with each project.  A glossary, index and table of contents makes the book easy to navigate and there are resources listed for further research.  Encouraging girls to explore the field of engineering is important in our increasingly technologically oriented world.  I think this book will be a great resource for the annual middle school science projects as well.

Do you know what was Thomas Jefferson’s most delightful work…beyond architecture, inventing, founding the University of Virginia, and being the third president?…His thousand-foot-long vegetable garden.  In this school garden story, a classroom teacher replicates Thomas Jefferson’s annual neighborhood pea growing contest.  The winner was the person with the fastest growing seeds…serving their “sweet as candy” peas at a celebration party.  Two girls research agricultural practices to help their individual pea crop grow the fastest and experience the ups and downs typical of scientific experiments.  The author weaves historical and agricultural information into this lighthearted story without being overly didactic.  The charming watercolor illustrations show a class of multiracial students, however, the boys are depicted as “goof offs” (sticking out a tongue at someone, taunting a girl with a worm) in the periphery of the illustration, while the girls are doing the serious work.  Wonderful Afterword in the back matter explains more about Jefferson and his contest. Bibliography , Websites, and Page Notes included.

You are the main character of this book with a decision to explore the Alaskan wilderness, Australian forests, or the Cascade Mountains… or explore all three! You may encounter bears, cougars, and other wildlife. Your decision making will determine whether you survive or not. You may need to decide what to eat and not to eat, stand up to a cougar or play dead. Do you build a shelter or look for help? Once the reader comes to an end, it is easy to turn back the pages and try a different choice. This book is great fun!

As the law states, Grace gets her bar code tattoo the day of her 17th birthday, although Eric, her crush, warns her against it. It appears that Global-1, a large corporation tracks people through a tracking device injected with the bar code. Grace, the daughter of the bar code invention, goes home to find that Global-1 is tracking her, forcing her to run and hide with Eric who is part of Decode, an underground organization who is battling Global-1. Members of Decode set out to do what they can to fight against Global-1 while trying to save people from a world wide devastating tsunami. This is the third book in the series, although it reads well as a stand-alone.

Charlie, short for Charlotte, is the daughter of a king who is slowly going mad.  Ever since her mother, the queen, left in the middle of the night six years ago, the king has been lost and Charlie has been left on her own.  A nasty housekeeper who thrives on punishing her, locking her in her room, denying her room, education, and cleanliness is a character you’re sure to hate.  Left to her own devices, Charlie sneaks around the castle learning all the hideyholes and gossip.  She hears that the people are ready to revolt and overthrow her father, so she decides to go to the prime minister.  It appears he is the reason for her mother’s disappearance and also has plans to groom Charlie to become queen as soon as he kills the king.  It’s up to Charlie to set things right.  This book is aptly titled as the castle is full of shadows and secrets, and snappy dialogue.  Renner shows strong characterization and a believable plot with lots of action and twists and turns.  A great story without having to resort to magic.

This book was so full of interesting facts about tornadoes through history.  The glossary words are not only found in the back, but also on the pages they are used to help increase understanding as you read.  The pictures give you a feel for what tornadoes can do.

The end of the book gives good advice to prepare and keep safe through such and experience.

This is a great book to learn about the amazing power of weather.

Good read!

This addition to the hugely successful series is delightful.  Packed with thirteen Aesop fables, the majority of which are well known, such as The Lion and the Mouse, Hoberman has added a few of the lesser known…The Dog in the Manger and The Peacock and the Crane. The repetition and rhyme is the perfect support for reluctant readers.  Begin with humor and witty characters, add a theatrical element plus Emberley’s energetic illustrations and this title begs for wide appeal. 

This book consists of a conversation between a little apple tree and God.  The tree is not satisfied with itself as it is and wants stars in it like the big oak trees.

the pictures are colorful and fun.

the book was just OK.

This is a cute book that uses the fun song with the same name,”Little bunny Foo Foo.”   Every one loves the song and the book is very cute.  I love the pictures.

The author focuses her tale on Susan B. Anthony’s act of civil disobedience when she illegally voted in the 1872 presidential election.  Susan believed that the new law, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which included rights for all citizens, obviously meant women.  She was arrested, tried and fined $100.  The story ends informing the reader that she never went to jail or paid her fine.  The Author’s Note provides the bigger picture of this women’s life long journey (over 48 years) to pass a women’s suffrage amendment.  She died at age 86, thirteen years before Congress finally passed such a law.  Her motto throughout…”Failure is impossible.”  Being well researched and written in moving free verse with vibrant painted illustrations makes this a great choice for read alouds.  Back Matter includes a Selected Bibliography and primary source images.

This series of Blastoff! Readers, level 1, provides young readers with nonfiction books in a simple format.  Warthogs are wild pigs.   The bumps, or warts, on the sides of their heads provide protection during skirmishes with each other or predators.  Each spread contains two sentences in large font and a large, colorful, well-chosen photograph.  Nonfiction books to read for further information are mostly written at a similar level.  One, a fiction story, is written at a higher level.  The Factsurfer internet site has some good pictures and videos of warthogs, but the reading level is higher than first or second grade.  Good basic introduction to nonfiction for young readers.

Written for young readers, a description of what gazelles look like, what they eat, and where they live is given.  Gazelles have an odd behavior called”pronking” where they leap into the air, arch their backs, then land on all four feet.  This may be a message to others to stay away.  Each spread contains two sentences in large font and a large, colorful, well-chosen photograph.   Books for further reading are mostly written at a similar level.  the factsurfer internet site provides information at a middle elementary reading level.  Young readers will need assistance but should enjoy photos and videos.  Good basic introductory to nonfiction for young readers.

Patricia MacLachlan has written a prequel to the Boxcar Children mysteries to provide an explanation of how Henry, Jessie,Violet, and Benny began their adventures.  The style and gentle tone of the story behind the four children living on their own flows well with the other Boxcar children stories by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  Taking place on their farm during the Great Depression, Mr. and Mrs. Alden provide a home for the Clark family who’s car has broken down during a blizzard.  The families develop fond friendships and everyone is sad when the Clarks continue their journey in the summer.  Shortly afterward, a catastrophe sends the Alden children on the beginning of their adventures.  The personalities of each child comes through along with the love and support the four children have for each other.  Robert Dunn’s soft pencil illustrations complement this new addition to the series.  Resources used by MacLachlan, acknowledgements, and internet sites are found in the back of the book.  Boxcar Children fans will appreciate having a probable beginning to all the mysteries and adventures of the Alden children.

This is one of a series of seven books on colonial America written for elementary aged children.  Each chapter in “Families” focuses on various aspects of life – work, school, prayer, play, meals, slaves, and Native Americans.  Words to know are in bold font of a different color and are also defined on the page.  Occasional side bars compare colonial times to modern days.  “Did You Know” boxes add more information.  Books for further reading are written at a similar interest level and provide projects and activities .  Websites provide a wide variety of information that help bring the past to life.

Jam-packed with fascinating information, maps, photos, colorful illustrations, brief primary sources, and fact boxes, this book provides readers with a detailed look at life in the 1600s.  A variety of people from many countries settled in colonial America for several reasons.  Life was hard, clothing mostly unsuitable, homes drafty and dark, and work seemingly unending.  Celebrations provided times to gather for fun and relaxation.  The text is written at a 4th – 5th grade reading level and provides clear, factual information in a pleasing format.  Other books in the series are: The Cold, Hard Facts about Science and Medicine in Colonial America, The Dish on Food and Farming in Colonial America, and The Real Story about Government and Politics in Colonial America.  This set will assist the reader to step back in time to get a realistic look at life 400 years ago.  Books for further reading, glossary, internet sites, index, and a primary source bibliography are found in the back of the book.

Interesting, and sometimes amazing, defenses by a variety of animals are presented in simple sentences.  They are accompanied by on-page definition of terms.  Terms are also found in the glossary along with the pronunciation.  A “fierce fact” provides additional information.  Close-up photographs are large, colorful, and well chosen to illustrate each animal’s mode of protection from predators.  Recommended books to read more about survival techniques are written for a similar age group.  Facthound internet links are appropriate for elementary aged children.  The title alone is sure to attract readers.  This is a great introduction to the sometimes amazing defenses in the animal kingdom.  Glossary. index, books for further reading, and internet sites are in the back.

A brief and simple introduction to ten monsters and creatures from legends is presented in this 32 page book.  Each has a page with a quick definition and illustration.  Fact boxes connect several creatures with literature as well as providing additional information.  Highlighted terms are defined on the page as well as in the glossary.  Information is skimpy but may encourage one to seek further information.   The layout contains large illustrations that are colorful and eye-catching.  This short book on mythical beings is sure to attract reluctant readers.  Includes glossary, books  for further reading, a facthound internet site, and index.  Publisher kid’s site provides related games and activities.

This short book covers alot of information–everything you wanted to know about energy, and then some.  Using aliens as the ‘spokespeople,’ this book covers the different forms of energy, where they come from and what they are used for.  Also covered is using and saving energy and taking care of our earth.  Broken into four chapters, each chapter cleverly portrays science concepts in ways that young students will understand.  This book should be included in every science kit which teaches about energy.