This is an amazing and extremely interesting book.  There are lots of great cave photos.  The end of the book has a few pages with a chart listing and sorting many of the details and information in the book.  After teaching you about all the different things people study in caves, and people through history who have pioneered this research, they teach you how to prepare, and how to safely go caving.  The glossary has many words that will probably be new to young readers.  I would have liked to have seen a pronunciation guide on the words in the glossary as well.

This is a wonderful addition to our science collection.

This book is a nice overview of the Air Force.  It is full of large pictures and interesting facts about this branch of the armed services.  Each page has a small glossary box to define words in colored bold print for the readers.  I like that they are actually on the pages where the words are used.  The font is large and easy to read.  The vocabulary is great for young readers.

This is a nice addition to our collection of books about the military.

This is an uplifting inspiring book.  The pictures are pretty and colorful, and would hold children’s attention.  The book not only tells the brief version of Helen Keller’s life story, but has pictures of the ASL alphabet, and Braille alphabet.  The end of the  story has a sketch of her entire life, as well as information about all the dog companions she had in her life.  It is a good book, especially to help children understand the challenges of the handicapped, and would appeal to children who love dogs.

Nice addition to our collection.

This is a rather fascinating story about a girl’s imagination.  It has whimsical pictures of what she is imagining.  The story is an abstract version of how a creative writer gets their ideas.  I sort of enjoyed it.  The pictures were fun to explore.  This is a fairly quick read.  The vocabulary is more advanced, beyond a beginning reader.  It is a nice addition to our library.  I enjoyed how calm and pleasant it makes you feel.

This is a sweet fun story about a five year old and her grandfather.  Joone loves orange.  Grandpa says it is important to do things for other people.       Joone is a simple carefree girl.  The story and pictures are cute and fun.  I think young children would enjoy this story, and learn to serve others, and play creatively.

The font is fairly small, but easy to read.  There are a lot of early sight words in the text.  This story is a wonderful addition to our library.

It is a book children will love because it is so peaceful and makes you happy.

This story is a fun story for kids who love animals.  The story teaches great lessons in respecting others needs and feelings, as well as being responsible.  The end of the book has instructions for caring for a pet hamster.  It was a fun read with cute pictures.  A good choice for younger readers who want to start reading chapter books.  The font is large and easy to read.  The vocabulary is good for younger readers.

This is a story that teaches children to stand up for their feelings and needs by saying no when it’s appropriate.  It is a great book for helping children learn to be strong and independent of social pressure.

There are parent helps at the end of the book with insights into how children develop a good self image, with actual suggestions you can apply as they teach their child.

The pictures are colorful and simple.  The font is east to read, although the thought bubbles have a cursive, more difficult font for a young reader to read.

There is a typo on page 7 second paragraph, it says, “Jills hugs Hopper.”

This book has a lot of information about scorpions.  I learned that there are almost two thousand different kinds of scorpions.  But only about three dozen species can actually kill a person and only one lives in the United States.   The smallest is about one half inch.  The largest is up to eight inches long.

I wish the pictures were actual photos instead of drawings.

I like the pronunciation guide in the back.

This nonfiction book placed the vocabulary words at the BEGINNING of the book, instead of the end.  It’s after the fact at the end.  Appreciated is the no nonsense explanation of the anatomy, homes, and lifecycle of bees.  The photos in the book were exceptional.   Missing is a geography page where we can locate these creatures on the planet.  Also a scale of size would be nice, how about a page comparing it to a common house fly, ant, robin, etc. so that the students could practice compare and contrast. Also, this reviewer wasn’t able to get to the suggested website, http://readysetflow.org/activitysheets/index.html.  Additional purchase

The illustrations in this book are certainly eye-catching as they are contrasting colors and full of textures.  Some of the things that are being compared are beyond many students’ experiences and the large numbers are so random that in some ways it’s interesting and in others it’s not so much.  Who cares if the Empire State Building in New York is the same as 264 gorillas, which I doubt.  Unless you’ve even been to New York and experienced the Empire State Building, how would kids distinguish it from any other building?  Where we live buildings aren’t very tall due to earthquakes, so size is relative.  It seems it would make more sense if the size grew exponentially but it’s so random, like 1,226,880 peas in a manatee–really?

This version of Jack and the Beanstalk was first published in 1974 and has been retold countless times since then.  A disclaimer in the front states that this version is adapted from a book titled The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvelous Achievementsof her Son Jack, written in 1807.  The title is a mouthful.  In this version, Jack’s mother is sweeping the floor and finds a coin and sends Jack with it to market to buy a goose.  They don’t say they are poor and about to starve, nor do the illustrations show a poor, rundown home, but actually a well-equiped and furnished home.  He goes to the market and rather than getting a goose he falls for a peddler selling a magic bean.  The story goes as expected until Jack climbs up the beanstalk, the giant does his fe, fe, fo, fum, drinks and falls asleep.  There is no golden egg-laying chicken, no bag of gold, no singing harp.  Jack chops off the giant’s head and sends for his mother and they both live happily ever after.  This story is too gruesome and violent to read to the audience for which it is intended.  I won’t use it to compare to other stories, nor will I keep it on the shelf.

Rumpelstiltskin is a classic fairy tale with this version by Galdone being the standard to which others are compared. Rumpelstiltskin is the odd little man who appears in the straw room to help the unnamed miller’s daughter spin straw into gold.  The third time he helps her she agrees to give him her first child.  A year later he comes to collect his due.  He takes pity on her sorrow at giving up her child and allows her three days to guess his name.  If she cannot, he gets the child.   She sends a servant to follow him and he comes back with his name and she lived happily ever after.  Many versions have been written since this one was published in 1985.  However, this reissue has the same illustrations which are a little rough around the edges in comparison.  It is still a book that every school library should have in its collection.

The Trelawney family has it’s share of adventurers.  While in Ireland for his grandfather’s funeral, Tom discovers a packet of letters from an ancestor dated over 200 years earlier.  His ancestor was a soldier in India who had gotten his hands on some loot when the sultan was overthrown.  Afraid he is dying, he hides the treasure, a golden tiger encrusted with jewels.  Apparently others have found out about these letters and believe them to be a map to the treasure.  Tom convinces his rerckless  Uncle Harvey that the treasure is probably still where it was hidden, for why else would someone have killed his grandfather over it.  Tom and Harvey set out for India (without his parents knowing where he went) and have an adventure of a lifetime.  The characters are so real they come alive in the story.  The action is non-stop and the dialogue humorous.  The first book is also excellent and this sequel doesn’t fail to keep up.  I can’t wait for the next Trelawney adventure.

Green Lanterns- Hal Jordan and Kilowog are transporting Red Lantern – Razar for destroying a planet and all its inhabitants. Unbeknownst to the Green Lanterns a set of  evil invisible beings are aboard, too. These beings are there to get nourishment from the emotions of Razer, Hal, and Kilowog. Their invisibility causes confusion. Then they create copies of the people they are feeding off. As Green Lantern- Hal Jordan puts the clues together, he successfully defeats the invisible beings (shadows) by using extreme light.

Includes: Draw Your Own Hal Jordan, Green Lantern!, glossary, and 5 Visual Questions.

Reluctant older readers will enjoy this short 21 chapter fast-paced story. The chapters run from two to four pages in length.

“Way up north in the Arctic on the Hudson Bay, a huge polar bear lay quietly on the frozen sea.” [Introductory line] Elsewhere, 12-yr. old Jeremy must find a way to save his mother, Paula, who is now floating on an ice berg, after the ice she was taking core samples on for Global Warming Research Station broke off into the sea.

Don’t panic, panic kills remembers Jeremy.

Jeremy snowmobiles to the Inuit village seeking Felix’s father who can fly a helicopter to rescue his mother.

In the meantime, the polar bear has started swimming toward the iceberg Paula is on in search of a meal.

Who will get to Paula first, the polar bear or the helicopter. Don’t panic, panic kills.

Little Hippo is playing and pretending he is a firefighter.  He has a truck and rushes off to fight a fire.  He first encounters Big Hippo and gets stuck in the mud and needs help getting out.  He then runs into gazelle and gets stuck in the long grass and needs help getting out.  And so it goes, he rushes to help and ends up needing help.    A simple story and simple text, easy for young kids to understand.

Subtitled “A Story About Learning to Listen,” this reissue of a 1995 book teaches listening and social skills to young children.  Issued as part of a ‘new’ series ‘Laugh-Along Lessons,’ this book includes a free downloadable audio version.  After not hearing the directions, Buddy got lost and learned the hard way what happens to those who don’t listen.

This is a reissue of the 1985 book by Lester and Munsinger.  It has been updated to include a free downloadable audio version.  The book is subtitled “A Story About Taking Responsibility” and is appropriate to use for teaching social skills.  This is also a good example of teaching cause and effect, as one thing leads to another, and it is clear how it happened.  Now part of a series titled Laugh-Along Lessons, this story is funny while at the same time a teachable moment.

This book was originally published in 1986 as a children’s picture book.  This new version has the exact same story, but the book itself has been updated.  It is now part of a series titled ‘Laugh-Along Lessons.’  It is subtitled “A Story About Being Yourself,” and has a free downloadable audio version with the access information clearly labelled on the reverse title page.  The series gives teachers more direction towards books teaching social skills, plus allows for different kinds of listening, both at school and at home.  Lester’s and Munsinger’s skills still bring a smile to your face.

If crayons could complain, what would they say?  In this book, Duncan finds out.  In a series of letters written to Duncan by each color, he finds out that most of them aren’t too happy with how he is using them.  Very, very clever idea!  Each letter is written rather humorously and you can hear the ‘voice’ of the crayon.  Some colors complain that they aren’t used enough, or they are used too much.  Some just don’t like their color.  It forces one to really think about how we use color.  At the end of the story, Duncan colors a beautiful picture, using all the colors in a non-traditional way.  All ages will get a kick out of this book.

This Superman Adventures graphic novel begins with villain Livewire in a hospital bed listening to an evening radio talk show where the topic is women” should be at home, taking care of the kids and doing the laundry.” (p.5) Later, Livewire dialogues to Lois Lane, “so-o-o, I’ve decided to do a little community services. It seems to me our little community–the world community–has been dominated by men just a little too long…I’ve decided to do something about it.”  Now, Livewire has taken over the media around the world. Only women’s reports are allowed on air or in print. Livewire is eluding Superman’s grip. Superman has asked to borrow Lex Luthor’s electromagnetic pulse generator prototypes. Then Superman sets a trap for Livewire using Luthor’s equipment, but Luthor goes too far and zaps Livewire.

There are 5 short chapters in this book with the villain Mxy giving Superman and Metropolis a hard time. Superman is  flying, using his super-hearing, heat vision, X-ray vision, super-breath, and red laser beams from his eyes as he works to keep Metropolis safe from Mxy.

Chapter 1 finds Clark Kent in trouble from two unexpected losses of time including being late for work and going to a restaurant that is no longer in business, kicking Lois Lanes chair out from under her, and his hand ‘suddenly ‘ knocking a pitcher of water all over Lois. After Lois leaves,  “Mr. Mxyzpptlk, the magical and mischievous imp from the Fifth Dimension.” (p. 14) shows up to laugh at his pranks on Clark.

In Chapter 2, Mxy brings a humpback whale into existence, along with all the water,  inside a movie theater showing A Whale of a Tale. Then Mxy makes it so the citizens of Metropolis do not recognize Superman. Nonetheless, Superman continues his work to keep the citizens safe through to the end of  Chapter5 where Superman outsmarts Mxy at the carnival in the House of Mirrors because “To send Mxy back to the Fifth Dimension, Superman had to trick the pocket-sized prankster into saying or writing his name backward.” (p. 24)

Superman – The Man of Steel : Mxy’s Magical Mayhem is illustrated in two full page color illustrations per chapter in this Super DC Heroes book. In addition to that, are the big BLAMs, THUDs, SPLATTTTs, WHAMs and other sound effects mixed in with the rest of the regular sized story text.

After the story ends, there are 3 Discussion Questions and 3 Writing Prompts.

Nothing seems to go the right way for Danny.  To escape wrestling Bruiser, Danny runs for 7th grade class president.  Although he believes he has no chance of winning, things change and he wins!  Danny gets pressure from many sides to support various interests.  Much to his dismay, he begins to want to do a good job.  Eventually, he is able to hand over leadership to a truly appropriate person and resume his life on the side-lines.  The book is written in a similar format as Wimpy Kid or Big Nate.  Reluctant readers will seek out this series.