This book never gives the reader a clear cut definition of what a dinosaur was, either in the front section entitled “What is a dinosaur?” or in the glossary. Though the book is divided into three sections: The world of the dinosaurs, Triassic and Jurassic, and Cretaceous dinosaurs each section is somewhat abstract / random  in delivery of the information, but intermediate aged readers will still be pleased. An example, on pages 40-41 it is stated that Compsognathus means “Elegant jaw”. The page shows the teeth of five different animals ( Megalosaurus, lion, Troodon, human, and T.rex)  but not the tooth of a Compsognathus.  Should the reader draw the conclusion that meat-eating teeth are all pointed, so the Compsognathus’ were, too?

On pages 16-17 it states, ” We know of about 540 kinds of dinosaurs, but as many as 900 kinds might have lived, or perhaps more.”  The words ‘may’, ‘might’, and ‘probably’ are found through this book.

On the plus side, this book does separate the Triassic and Jurassic from the Cretaceous periods in chronological order. It shows a wonderful two-page spread photo of the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. And it devotes 4 pages of photos mixed with text to SUE the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found.

The book’s text ends with, “Recent technology and new fossils are giving us fresh information all the time. What will we discover next?” (p 74-75)

Very little new information, if any, was found in this book, perhaps that was all saved for the ‘free digital book’ download.

Young readers, especially boys, will enjoy this rousing story of dinosaurs playing football. Its big and action packed!

The two top teams are playing in the Mega Bowl at the Lava Dome: the Greenblade Snackers verses the Redscales or the Green Bay Packers vs. the Red Skins or the herbivores vs. the carnivores. You take your pick.

Author Lisa Wheeler and illustrator Barry Gott have done their dinosaur homework in selecting the actual dinosaur names (46 in all) to play on these two DFL teams.

The rhyme flows quick and fast as the Greenblade Snackers play the Redscales in this evenly matched game. Which team will win? I won’t tell.

Arctic Ocean- if you are thinking ice, snow, and cold – you would be correct, but there is so much more! Intermediate grade students will be introduced to some of the wonders of this region in 6 short chapters.

Chapter 1  “The Ocean at the Top of the World”. Location is shown on a round map looking straight down towards the North Pole, truly giving the reader a feel for its relationship to North American, Europe, and Asia. The Arctic’s summer temperature is 29 F meaning the ocean water closest to land is thawed while ice still exists over the central portion.

Chapter 2 “Natural Resources” is broken down into three sections dealing with food , energy, and transportation. Food includes fish, seal, walrus, and whales. Energy includes oil and natural gas especially from Prudhoe Bay. Transportation includes two shipping routes which are difficult but shorter than other world transportation routes. And weather forecaster for Europe and Eastern United States.

Chapter3 “The Ocean Below” reveals the shallowness of this ocean, its wide continental shelf, and two mountain ranges.

Chapter 4 “Arctic Ocean Life” covers phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish (cod, halibut, capelin, & herring), whales, land mammals, and  invertebrates (clams, crab, worms). Food webs are mentioned.

Chapter 5 “Arctic Explorers” begins with “ancestors of the various Arctic peoples”;  Greeks – 300s B.C.; Vikings -A.D. 800s; Europeans- 1500s;  as well as, Nansen of Norway who studied the actual ocean, and later 20th century studies by the Soviet Union, Canada, and United States ( 1937, 1958, 1990s, 2001).

Chapter 6 “Current Issues in the Arctic” covers pollution from oil, chemicals, and nuclear waste; overfishing and hunting; loss of ozone layer; global warming; and all of these working together causing endangered species.

The pictures are cute.  The story is sweet.  The best part is that the book in interactive.  There are places throughout the book where you stop and choose.  I liked it!

This book has great pictures.  It’s easy to read, and very informative.  The whole subject is a little frightening.   Through out the book there are interesting facts about snakes.  The list of dangerous snakes in the front of the book, with the locations where those snakes can be found was interesting.  There are amazing stories of people’s experiences with snake bites.   The book teaches you what to do if you are ever in the situation where you have been bitten by a snake.  I found the book held my attention.

The pictures are nice.  It moves along quickly, and is an easy read.

I’m certain some people will like it.  I don’t really care for it.  It seems to deal with a girl moving from being a girl to a teen.

It does have an easy to read rather pretty font.

At the end of the book is a number of questions that address being silly.   Reading the book to a group, and then exploring the open ended questions at the end of the book could be a fun and thought provoking experience for a group.

Basic science for young children with fun experiments to help teach the concept.  The illustrations are very good and help make the book more enjoyable and fun.

There is a section in the back for parents and teachers to help in using the book for teaching children about physical sciences.

Very nice book

This book has a broad over view of space history and the future.  The book stirs up all the excitement about space we had years ago.  The pictures are fantastic.  Very good book.  There is a timeline that is well done.  Table of contents in the front and glossary in the back.

This is a fun way to learn about animals.  This is the World Animal Games-WAG for short.  There are several different categories that have four contestants, each a different animal from around the world. It tells about the animals in a new way.  The pictures are good and the Facts are fun. This book makes you think and learn.  The elementary students love this book.

This is an encyclopedia with entries on cat people, dog people, succubus, demons and werewolves from all over the world in life, literature and film. Each entry is followed by a list of sources.  There is an entry on Enkidu, the world’s earliest recorded manbeast. There are entries on Bella Legosi’s Dracula and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There is an entry on Navajo werewolves, or “skin walkers.” Considering the abundance of books and movies about vampires, werewolves and demons in the last several years, this is sure to find an audience in a high school library.

The story of Quincy Moves to the Desert is told from Quincy, the horse’s point of view. His best horse friend, Beau, tells him that they will travel from New York to the desert of New Mexico.  Beau is older and more experienced than Quincy, who is also new to the farm.  Beau narrates the trip with information about different breeds of horses in different states.  They all seem to be doing something different and unique.  Luckily  a map is included in the story and a wonderful website!  http://www.quincythehorse.com/

This book demonstrates how the tongue is not the only tasting organ, but that different species have different ways of tasting.  These different ways include feet, tentacles, skin and legs.  What is pretty amazing are the numbers of taste receptors different species have, usually many more than humans.  The content of this book is fine, but if there had been actual high resolution photographs included, rather than illustrations, this book would have rated a recommend.

Taking a trip to the pumpkin patch?  Don’t go without first reading this story-in-rhyme count down book on the whole field trip experience.  Start with counting down from 20 name tags…17 orange things on the bus…12 pets in the petting zoo…11 bees are making honey (I’ve never seen a hive that sparse.)… three bites of pumpkin pie…one pumpkin song to sing.  And what well known count down song do all adults know?…99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall…of course!  (Twenty Pumpkin Pies on the Wall)   Bright and lively illustrations complete with corn maize and tractor wagon ride, will appeal to the the kindergarten and first grade crowd.

Aunt Amarga, the last witch on earth, is afraid that some of the secrets of the lives of witches will be lost if she does not hand over the Witches Handbook to to her niece and nephew.  “What is a witch or a warlock?  begins the handbook, but then  the flow quickly shifts from a question format to a rather large section (most of the book) on describing famous witches and warlocks from fairytales  (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and Merlin) in “tongue in cheek” fashion.  Twice as many Unknown Witches and Warlocks are described using sophisticated humor.   Switch back to question format for “When were there more witches?”  Shift again to a discussion of brooms and flying styles, witches and animals, potions and spells, Halloween and the witches’ sabbat.  Back matter includes a a word search, riddles, spot the seven differences, and spell-removing pancakes.  I think this book misses its intended audience with it’s more adult word choice, and pages and pages describing unknown witches and warlocks.  The lack of flow and odd mixture of content reminds me of what might be thrown into a witches caldron…a little this…”eye of newt”…and a little of that…”toe of frog.”  Whimsical and colorful illustrations are charming and kid appealing.

Large sized, nonfiction book, with quality photographs make this book about alligators, a winner.   Basic information about habitat, birth cycle, and thankfully a world map locating them on our planet, and included in this book.  In the back an index, glossary, and Fact Hound internet sites exist.  In visiting this site, there was age relevant additional information about this animal.  This is a really nice extension for students wising to research more information about this animal.

Recommended for elementary  libraries.

Very Large photographs make this book a great addition to a library.   This would make a good read out-loud book, shared with a whole group.  The book is organized to be read as an interactive game.  The picture of an animal’s habitat on one side, and four photos of animals on the other.  There is a hint to help the reader (s) guess which animal lives there.

This would make a great support book for a science unit on animal habitats.

Top quality photography in this non-fictional book with information about the smallest bats and the biggest bats.  Sandra Markle’s narration of information is also top quality.  This information book may be read successfully by students on about a 4th grade reading level.

This book come with additional captions, a map of where the species live (thank you, this is crucial to global awareness), vocabulary terms, additional information, and websites in the back.  Recommended.

Apparently mermaids are just like fairies, except they live in the sea.  Jasmine and her four friends hear the story of a lovestruck mermaid named Aroona who fell in love with a human.  Aroona made the decision to leave her mermaid life behind and become human in order to be with her true love.  On her way to meet him, she stopped to get her treasure chest full of jewels, and was caught in a terrible storm.  She was never seen again and her true love left with a broken heart.  The legend goes that there is a scale trail which leads to where Aroona left the chest.  The mermaid friends think it would be fun to try to find the treasure, and so off they go exploring.  They find a shiny scale trail which leads to a mermaid holding a chest.  However, it’s just Jasmine playing a trick on them.  They didn’t think it was funny and left.  However, Jasmine discovers some old scales and follows them and finds the real treasure chest.  Before she can get back home, a storm comes up and traps her.  Meanwhile her friends feel bad that they left her alone with a storm brewing, so they go to find her.  They do and everyone is safe and the jewels end up in the Underwater Garden.  Oriented towards young girls, they will enjoy reading about the mermaids.  Simple story, simple dialogue, simple pictures, but enjoyable.

I cannot figure out if I like this book because it is so well written or because of a parental point-of-view.  Like most typical third-graders, Zeke and his friends and classmates are addicted to monitors, be it TV or video games.    Much of their conversations and sayings stem from TV show characters or video game characters; not too many original thoughts swirling around.  Their teachers challenge the students to not watch TV nor play video games for one week–the most cruel punishment ever!  And what delighted me was that the parents supported it!  (I really think that’s the most unrealistic part of the story.)  Kids found that they actually enjoyed playing with friends, family interactions, and learning how to entertain themselves.  Behavior improved as well as grades, all because of no TV.  I’ve often tried this at my home with my three sons, but it was my husband who couldn’t tear himself away from ESPN.  And there it went–poof!  If he could do it, so could they.  This story is humorous as well as the illustrations.  I’m interested to see if kids read and like this book and actually take this message to heart.

This is a very up to date book about the state of Washington, and interesting facts about it’s people, places, and products.

It is easy to read, has nice pictures, and clearly written facts about the state.

Nice addition to our geography collection.

This is a simple interesting explanation of how we obtain the material for, and then make a car.  It has detailed actual photos of the processes taking place.  The font is easy to read, with a simple vocabulary young people can understand.

The book is interesting and informative.

This story is creative and fun.  It teaches a lot about the fun of using your imagination.  I liked the way the boy with t he box includes everyone, even the boy who was showing off.

The font changes when the characters are talking, however the choice of font style is somewhat hard to read and fairly small in places.

The pictures are interesting and unique.

This is a good read for children!

This story is lots of fun.  It would be a fun “read out loud” book with a group.  The pictures are colorful and cute.  The story has easy to read font in vocabulary young readers could read fairly easily.  I enjoyed this story.  The end is cute.

This would be a great book to read to a class of children.  The final word of each thought is extra large print; making it easy for a group that was being read to to read and say together.  The story is light and funny.  The story makes the best of a bad situation.  It’s a good lesson in not letting problems get you down but just getting up and doing your best.

I think the children would enjoy the rather slap-stick things that happen to the teacher in this story.