Biographies for the primary level are becoming more prevalent.  I was impressed by the Table of Contents in this series which appeared to cover a wide range of interesting aspects in the life of Maurice Sendak.  Each “Chapter” (actually a two-page spread) answered a question…”Who Is Maurice Sendak?…Where Did He Grow Up?…What Did He Do Before He Was a Writer?”…and so forth.  However, after a closer look, I was disappointed in how very little information was actually included in the text…or how some, not so interesting information, was taking up prime real estate on the page.  (“He worked and studied hard for four years.”)  Where the Wild Things Are was mentioned in five of the nine “Chapters”!  Authors sometimes don’t realize that primary students can absorb a little more “meaty” information than what is being presented.  Timeline, Glossary, Find Out More and Index are all included in the Back Matter.

Life is full of times when everything does not go as planned.  Tallulah knows that she is an excellent ballerina.  She is attentive in class, following her teacher’s exact instructions.  Her younger brother, on the other hand, goofs off a lot and  has to sit in the time-out chair.  When she and her brother audition for The Frog Prince ballet, to her horror, her brother is chosen for a major part at being the frog and she is NOT the princess, but a lady-in waiting.      Eventually she accepts the situaltion and helps her brother with improving his part in the ballet.  This does not go unnoticed…and the story has a happy ending with she and her brother playing the leads in the next ballet, Hansel and Gretel.  This story rivets children who can identify with such difficult, real-life situations that build character.  The numerous water color illustrations are charmingly soft and beautifully support the flow of the story.  Reading this title makes me want to add more Tallulah  books to my collection.

The text grabs the reader from page one.  “Find the Truth!”  You are given a challenge, as you read along, to discover which of two statements about the solar system are true or false.  Immediately the mind is engaged.  Packed full of interesting informational text and  exquisite photos, this True Book series is a winner for all of the elementary levels.  The page layouts have wonderful visual appeal.  I can see students returning to this book again, and again, to explore all that is there.  Back Matter includes Resources (Books), Organizations and Web Sites, Places to Visit, Important Words, and Index.

This Natural Wonders series is designed to support primary and early readers with non-fiction, landform topics.   Each two-page spread presents a big, colorful and quite amazing photo on the right…with a simple three sentence text on the left.  Students learn the basics of how glaciers are formed and how they move.  Two famous glaciers are featured such as the one at Canada’s Banff National Park and Malaspina Glacier in Alaska.  How people are affected by glaciers is at the conclusion.  Having a three-year-old granddaughter, I appreciate less wordy non-fiction texts, however, I felt that this title errored on the side of too little information.  The book is over in a heartbeat…and she is wondering…is that all?  The biggest asset to this title is the photographs, which are spectacular for visual literacy.  Back Matter includes Glossary, Read More, Internet Sites, and Index.

There are now over 30 Horrible Harry books in this series and author Suzy Kline is keeping them current with the times. This time the theme is dealing with bullies.

South School will soon be having a book fair. Each classroom has the incentive to read more books before the book fair begins because for each book read the reader will have his/her name entered into a drawing for a free book from the book fair. Now the plot thickens when third graders are given the chance to become members of the School Safety Patrol.  Harry does not make the safety patrol, but Mary, and his friend Doug do. Mary soon becomes overly zealous in her duties as a Safety Patrol Hall Monitor.  Warnings are no longer given for first offensives, but citations are to the point where Doug, her partner, feels she is becoming a bully.  Students are having a difficult time getting to and from the library unscathed with their book fair raffle tickets when Mary is on duty. Then on top of that, Doug sees Mary offer to deposit students’ tickets for them, but before she does, Mary erases the back of the ticket and writes something in ink on the back of each ticket. Could Mary be stuffing the raffle box with tickets from other students with her name on them? Doug and Harry try to catch Mary at her game before they report her to the teacher.

Mary learns a lesson by being giving a warning, not a citation, by an older safety patrol member, when she runs in the hallway on her week-off from safety patrol.

Then, when Mary wins the classroom drawing for the free book from the fair book, Harry and Doug discover Mary has been neatly rewriting the students’ names on their tickets and not her own name, as they had thought.

“Many animals and plants live and grow in rivers. This book looks at how they need each other to survive.” (p. 5) Basic ‘food chain’ vocabulary and information is given throughout this book in large font, where there is more picture than text per page (usually  60% /40%). Vocabulary includes: producers, consumers, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predators, prey, scavenger, decomposer, and food web.

One aspect where this book is different is that it gives examples of river food chains from three different rivers each on a different continent. A photo of the river is given on the left page with descriptive text information opposite the right page with its four smaller photos linking the plant and animals in the food chain together with arrows. The rivers include the Amazon River in South America, the Severn River in Europe, and the Limpopo River in Asia. The concept of ‘food web’ is then described and pictured for an unnamed North American river.

Coca-Cola is a true piece of Americana which is known around the world in over 200 countries. Little did I know, it began as a medicine to relieve headaches. John Pemberton was a doctor and pharmacist prior to the Civil War. Approximately 20 years after the Civil War, he developed Coca-Cola. At first, approximately 40 years,  Coca-Cola was only available for sale by the glass at soda fountains. In 1909, under the Pure Food and Drug Act “the government thought Coca-Cola contained too much caffeine...In the end, Coca-Cola reduced the soda’s caffeine content by half.” (p. 20) This book makes no mention of Coca-Cola ever containing cocaine.

This book kept my attention, I couldn’t put it down! Coke is so familiar and yet its history is so unknown.

Contains: Timeline, Catchphrases, Glossary, Websites, and Index.

Ricky and his robot buddy are inseparable, and have been late for dinner too many times. As punishment, they are not allowed to watch TV that evening. This turns out to be good fortune because on planet Venus, Victor Von Vulture produced a spell and sent it through the television hypnotizing everyone to obey the Voodoo Vultures. The vultures were ordering everyone to bring them all their food. Have no fear, Ricky and his Mighty Robot are here to battle “flip-o-rama” style. The reader gets to flip through a few pages to view the action. The illustrations are bold, colorful and bright. This is a great beginner reader chapter book

Ricky is so happy to have a new flying friend in the Mighty Robot! Ricky didn’t have to worry about bullies anymore, and his robot could even help him with his homework. However, on planet Mercury, Mr. Mosquito made a swarm of mutant mosquitoes to take over the planet earth. Have no fear, Ricky and his Mighty Robot are here to battle “flip-o-rama” style. The reader gets to flip through a few pages to view the action. The illustrations are bold, colorful and bright. This is a great beginner reader chapter book.

Ricky is a little mouse who has no friends and has bullies bothering him all the time. In a secret cave, Dr. Stinky created a Mighty Robot to use to rule the world. When the robot entered the playground at Ricky’s school, Dr. Stinky ordered the robot to destroy the city, but the robot refused to hurt anyone. Ricky helped destroy the robot’s remote controller, and the Mighty Robot and Ricky became good friends. However, Dr. Stinky made an over-sized lizard to destroy the robot. The lizard and the robot battled, but in the end, Ricky’s Robot saved the day. The final battle is demonstrated in “flip-o-rama” style. The reader gets to flip through a few pages to view the action. The illustrations are bold, colorful and bright. This is a great beginner reader chapter book.

This compilation of seven stories are all are based on the theme of a doorway. Some of the stories are mysterious, some of them are thought provoking with unique twists.Each story is approximately 16 pages and represents the works of the following authors: Kazu Kibuishi, Jason Caffoe, Jen Wang, Faith Erin Hicks, Steve Hamaker, and Johane Matte. Bold illustrations are in full color and have been created by the individual authors.

Mr. Putter and Tabby is a spinoff of the Henry and Mudge series, popular with beginning readers.  In this edition, Mr. Putter and Tabby, his cat, his neighbor Mrs. Teaberry and her dog Zeke, go to the public library for story time in which you read to your pet.  Bringing their pets with them was a great idea and the story time was a success.  Simple story, no conflict.

Tony Baloney has the best of intentions of getting along with his older sister, but she drives him crazy when he is helping to clean up.  She feels the need to tell him exactly what to do.  He has an accident with the glitter, which causes an argument, which causes their parents to ground them, which causes them to miss a big school event that night, one that they had both been looking forward to.  After some grumbling and sibling revenge, they learn to work together and make up.  This is a good-feeling story, especially how Tony Baloney has his favorite stuffed animal whom he talks to and who talks back, which is shown in blue type.  It’s also great to see kids excited about going to school for Books and Buddies.  Plus the kids make up on their own.  There are lots of good things in this small book.

Escape from Future World has a very limited audience, typically boys in first or second grade.  Superman is a familiar action figure and if this is what it takes to get them reading, then so be it. The brief summary on the reverse title page pretty much sums up the whole story:  Superman and Cyborg are sent into the future by evil villain Brainiac and they figure out how to escape and destroy him.  Simple drawings, simple text, simple story, not much excitement.

The Story of Spider-Man, a level 2 reading book, is quite the step up from a level 1 reading book, many more multi-syllabic words.  The story is told in basic simple sentences, but the story itself is much more complex and actually tells how Peter Parker became Spider-Man as well as solving a crime.  The illustrations are also more complex to go along with the story.  Those who love Spider-Man will love this book.

Very seldom do I recommend a book based on a Marvel Super Hero character, but This is Spider-Man is a great beginning to read book and hooks young readers, especially boys, into reading.  Macri uses repetitive words and most are single syllable; the illustrations are clean and clear and depict the text.  Young children familiar with Spiderman and beginning to read will eat it up.

A whisper is heard, and so a star comments about the whisper, as well as the moon, the sun, clouds, the sea, and the earth, each determining a characteristic the whisper will have. This caused all the animals to search for the wonderful whisper and inquire who might have all the amazing attributes. As it turns out, the wonderful whisper is the reader. This sweet story has many examples of similes. The illustrations are beautifully painted.

Ever since Birdbrain scored the lowest score on the Quiz Wiz TV show, he is out for revenge. He created the Zombie Zapper that turns smart chickens into zombies so, at last, Birdbrain could be the smartest chicken around. Soon zombies are found around every corner. No worries, Gordon Blue, also known as Kung Pow Chicken, and his little brother Egg Drop will save the day with the help of their friend, Annie who is know as Beak Girl. This book has a fun play of words and colorful, silly illustrations!

A young Japanese-American girl named Mitsi is sent off to a containment camp located at the Puyallup Fairgounds in Washington State during World War II. While at the camp, she keeps in contact with her dog, Dash, who she could not take to the camp with her. She hopes to be reunited with Dash at some point in time. During her stay at the camp, her family is slowly splitting apart due to other relationship. The contact with her dog keeps Mitsi’s hope of reuniting her broken family alive.
This is an emotional novel that keeps the reader turning the pages to learn how Mitsi deals with the problems of the camp. The characters are well-developed where the reader is able to make a connection with them. This book is highly recommended to those who enjoy World War II historical fiction books.

— Kellyn S.

When Pearl searches her closet for warm clothes, she tumbles into the Underwater Kingdom.  She finds it strangely quiet.  She discovers all the princesses gathered around an injured princess, washed in on a tidal wave, from their enemies in the Reef Kingdom.  Pearl tells them they must care for her and give her plenty of rest.  Although her wounds begin to heal, Princess Velvet’s eyes remain closed.  Pearl reads her stories and brings various corals to decorate the room.  One day Pearl asks her to open her eyes so she can return home.  Slowly Velvet looks at Pearl.  She had been worried because a look from a Coral Princess can turn enemies into stone.  Pearl assures her they are friends, not enemies.  She escorts Velvet home and they are greeted by the Coral Princesses – with open eyes.  As a thank you, they give Pearl a lovely coral pearl as a token of friendship.  The artwork in this simple story will appeal to all princesses.  There is a “pearl” embedded in the front cover.  At the end of the book, the reader is invited to touch the pearl and whisper their own pearl of wisdom by which to live.

Pearl is invited to the Underwater Kingdom to celebrate her birthday.  The sea princesses give her a beautiful pearl necklace.  Everyone is impressed, especially Princess Amethyst.  On their way to the party, Pearl accidently drops the necklace.  Unnoticed, Amethyst quickly picks it up and puts it in her own pocket.  At the Coral Castle, they play games and eat delicious snacks.  All at once, a magician appears stating he makes things appear and disappear.  In his hands he has Pearl’s necklace yet he returns it to Amethyst!  Ashamed, Amethyst rushes to return it to Pearl saying she just wanted something beautiful for herself.  Pearl tells her it looks pretty on her and that she can borrow it any time.  All she has to do is ask.  The artwork in this simple story will appeal to all princesses.  There is a “pearl” embedded in the front cover.  At the end of the book, the reader is invited to touch the pearl and whisper their own pearl of wisdom by which to live.

Eleven year old Anna’s former teacher and her husband have been approved to adopt a child from China.  As an Asian, Anna gets to accompany them to help with translation and the baby.  She is excited because she hopes to see the orphanage from where her little sister was adopted and to immerse herself in Chinese culture.  At home, Anna is one of two Asian students.  In China, she does not stand out at all.  To help raise money for the orphanage, Anna and friend Andee, make fortune cookies.  Andee surprises Anna with a gift of paper fortune cookies to open each day of the trip.  Anna has a journal to record her observations and ideas for her oral history project.  This book has unexpected depth dealing with adoption, being a minority, adjusting to middle school, and families.  A pronunciation guide for Chinese word and phrases is at the beginning of the book.  Words are listed in order of appearance.  A recipe for fortune cookies is in the back.  Black and white illustrations are a perfect match for the story.  This is a sequel to The Year of the Book and The Year of the Baby.  Coming soon is The Year of the Sisters.  They chronicle Anna’s life beginning as a 4th grader, although they are enjoyable even if read out of order.

Alice, the dragon, introduces dragons to the dragon-illiterate.  From the beginning, she says dragons are not real.  She then goes on to say they are famous, have treasure, come from eggs, are smart, almost indestructible, live all over the world, and like to eat humans.  Full page color illustrations are delightful.  None are scary.  Not all look or act the same as different cultures hold varied beliefs.  Alice is charming even as she ends the book with a plan to eat the reader!

In this Inuit folktale, long ago Walrus once had fancy, spiraled tusks which he used to uncover tasty clams.  Jealous of his ability to gather and eat so many clams, Raven cast a spell on the ocean to trap Walrus.  Frozen in place, Walrus was trapped with part of his tusks and head above the surface.  Raven teased and tormented Walrus while little critters nibbled him from below.  Enraged, Walrus heaved himself out of the ice, straightening his tusks and reddening his eyes.  He lunged after Raven who hastily scrambled far, far away.  Walrus left the coast preferring to live out at sea.  Artwork is in blues and browns and reminiscent of wood cut prints.  While stylized, it is a good match for this Arctic folktale.

Twins Sydney and Simon are hoping to enter their window-box flowers in the neighborhood flower show.  A heat wave creates all sorts of problems – the window swells shut, they can’t water the flowers, and the flowers are wilting.  Using STEAM thinking (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), the twins learn how to successfully solve their problems.  They hypothesize, seek advise from others, observe, make predictions and connections, and test.  Many scientific facts and procedures are explained and creatively illustrated as these two purple mice use each category of STEAM.  A glossary of many terms in included.  This is a great resource to explain STEAM and describe the process of the scientific method.