Bold and colorful paintings of animals and trees of the Kalahari Desert help tell the tale of friends Ostrich and Lark.  Ostrich and Lark spend each day together, wandering under the African sun.  Lark sings and flits as Ostrich remains silent.  One day, Ostrich surprises Lark and the veld by booming his own powerful voice.  Marilyn Nelson begins the book with a note about the !Kung San, one of the many indigenous people of South Africa.  The paintings are done by six members of the Kuru Art Project of Batswana.  Broad, colorful strokes in vibrant oranges, reds, greens, blues, and browns create vivid images which complement this simple tale.

What a fun introduction to rules and routines in a kindergarten classroom!  A little girl loves school and one day invites her mom to stay.  She is shocked when her mom enthusiastically joins in – blurting answers, being messy, not following expectations…  She constantly reminds her mom how to behave and be appropriate so all children can learn and share.  Mom admits that kindergarten is hard work and that she should probably stick to doing big-people jobs.  Her daughter gave her a hug and told her she was really good at being a mom – then gently reminded her to get in line so the class could be dismissed.  Mike Lowery’s expressive cartoon-style illustrations are a perfect match for the many classroom activities in kindergarten.

Lena Blackburne wanted to play baseball and become famous.  He played on many professional teams but was just an ordinary player.  He did, however, become famous.  As a coach, he learned that new baseballs were too shiny to throw and too hard to see.  Different methods used to break them in were unsatisfactory.  One day while fishing, he stepped into some soft, gooey mud that was slightly gritty.  He rubbed the mud on baseballs and let it dry.  When he rubbed it off, the baseballs had lost the shine and were not soft or smelly.  The “new” baseballs were easy to throw and see.  Lena Blackburne’s baseball mud mad him famous.  To this day, Lena’s mud is the only substance allowed on major-league baseballs.  Although Lena Blackburne never made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his mud did!  A short author’s note adds more information about the famous mud but not the secret to what makes it work.  Illustrations by Oliver Dominguez are large, colorful and depict the energy and emotions of the sport.

I remember the red poppies sold by Veterans ever since I was a child but did not know the significance of the flower.  After WWI, in France, thousands of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for freedom lay and each spring are covered in a blanket of red poppies.  Moina Michael was a patriotic professor at the University of Georgia, and near the end of WWI, determined to remember those fallen heroes, made the red poppy the ‘miracle flower’, a remembrance of those who were gone.  Veterans for decades have sold the flowers near Veterans and Memorial Days, the proceeds going towards helping veterans and their families.  Sadly, after reading this book, I looked online for more information about Moina Michael and on a website from the UK found almost the whole story verbatim that was written in this book.

Well, Albert Pujols is a good-looking guy, born in the Dominican Republic and plays terrific baseball.  That’s all this book tells you.  Since Pujols is a current major-leaguer, I don’t mind having this book on the shelf.  However, guys this good usually earn mega bucks.  So what does Pujols do with all that money?  Most guys have a foundation or charity or kids club they are involved in, but there is no mention at all of anything personal about Pujols in this book.  Not one single personal factoid.  Usually guys like this are role models for kids, but what has he done other than play baseball.  Also, a minor gripe, but a separate caption mentioned that lots of boys growing up in the Dominican Republic play baseball–couldn’t you have included a map to show where DR is located?

The youngest in your school will immediately recognize that Eddie does NOT know how to get ready for school.  This book pretty much illustrates all the things you’re not supposed to do on a school morning.  Great conversation starter for parents.

Woodstock is part of the Peanuts gang, and in this book, Woodstock and his friends are out camping with Snoopy as their scout leader.  Snoopy is going to teach his scouts survival skills, but no skills are here, only humor.  Kind of dorky, but the illustrations are priceless.  In my mind, I made up a better story to go along with the colorful illustrations than what was printed.  Kids will enjoy looking at the pictures.

This book seems to have been written by two different people.  I say that because the first part of the book is about how Tara and her talking kitten are taken by fairy friends to meet a mermaid, who then takes them to meet creatures from under the sea.  She finds out that they are angry about how people/humans are polluting their waters and killing them and want Tara to do something about it.  Then there are some silly shenanigans that don’t have anything to do with or add to the story.  Tara gives a report at school about the ocean and how important it is to keep it clean and gets her classmates excited about it.  The other chapters are small separate stories about how Tara and her fairy friends help to keep her friend from drowning and how she helps an elderly neighbor connect with her family.  The whole book was rather disjointed and all over the place.  The messages were purposeful and clear: keep our water clean, be honest, help our neighbors and the elderly.  Little girls more into fairies and such rather than good writing will read this.

Not too many people, other than Brits, use the word horrid anymore, but we could say ‘Horrible Henry,’ and kids would understand.  Henry is a real stinker but in the first chapter, he wonders what would happen if he were perfect, like his brother, Peter.  The results are hilarious!  In the following chapters, we find out how Henry gets his way by being really horrible.  Kids will think it’s hilarious, but I hope it doesn’t give them ideas.  A great beginning reading book.

BOM! went the bear, playing a big bass drum!  And along comes monkey, turtles, giraffes, frogs, elephants, and so on.  Everyone wants to join in the music parade, which doesn’t make bear so happy.  Parts of the book have a melody or rhythm from the words, but there are breaks and it makes it hard to pick back up.  It would take practice to have kids join in with the sounds, but they would enjoy making the loud and soft sounds and other different sounds as shown in this book.

Dressing up is fun!  All little kids love to pretend to be a grown-up ‘something’.  In this story, Little Hippo pretends to be Doctor Hippo and he goes around to all the jungle animals pretending to check them over.  Crocodile snapped at him, hyena was ticklish, elephant sneezed on him, and lion scared him.  Maybe it isn’t so fun being grown up, he thought.  This is definitely a ‘feel good’ story as Little Hippo goes home and mom makes everything better.  This is a terrific book to read at bedtime.

Fairy Marie is tiny, somewhat like Thumbellina, and lives on a red poppy flower.  Her friends are also tiny and, together, they are preparing for fall.  The illustrations in this book are absolutely spectacular and I find myself studying the lacy insect wings and butterfly wings as well as all the humanistic qualities of these tiny creatures.  The story, originally written in Dutch, has been translated into English and occasionally seems a little awkward.  But that easy to overlook because of the beautiful illustrations.  Marie needs to find a new house for winter, but finds a home and friends and family, as well.  Heartwarming.  Kids into fairies will love it!

Animals in Fall: Preparing for Winter is a nonfiction picture book teaching young readers about some of the changes that happen in autumn.  This book is divided into five chapters, each with a specific theme, and has a table of contents, glossary, and index.  What I like particularly about this book is that it groups animals into three categories: those that migrate, those that hibernate, and those that change, and gives beautiful examples of each category.  This book is a terrific way to study seasonal changes as well as introduce nonfiction books.

Earth Day Every Day is a non-fiction picture book intended to gently teach young children to take care of our Earth.  There is a table of contents indicating three separate chapters with distinct themes, as well as an index and glossary at the back.  The language is simple and understandable for young students and the illustrations do a good job of visualizing the message.  The illustrations can be used as a teaching tool to help students find examples of the messages being taught.  The message is clear and simple and this book is a good example of introducing nonfiction to the youngest of readers.

Michael Pine is an orphaned 12-year-old living with his uncle in a town called Moss-on-Stone.  He often skips school in order to hang out with older boys, who are trying to recruit and groom him as one of their gangmembers.  During an gang initiation event (stealing a video game from a store), he gets caught, runs out into the street and get hits by a car, gets up and runs again out of town, through the woods, until he comes to what looks like an abandoned cottage with a ten-foot high stone wall.  He sits, hides, and rests, during which he hears music he has never heard before.  Later, he is caught by the police and brought before the judge.  The plans are to put him and his kind in juvenile detention, but the judge believes/hopes there is a future for Michael.  He gives Michael a choice:  either juvenile detention or he goes to school, has a job after school, and reports to the court clerk every day; oh, and must stay away from gang members.  He agrees to the offer and actually finds that he really enjoys the work and structure.  Finally things seem to go his way.  As part of his job as delivering groceries, he finds himself back at the abandoned-looking cottage, and is introduced to Lemuel Gulliver, a giant of a man, whose back yard is a garden city for Lilliputians–a race of people only inches tall.  Gulliver sees Michael as a kindred spirit and recruits him to be a guardian of the Lilliputians and teaches him how to help and protect them.  Michael also becomes friends with Jane, a girl his age who lives a pampered life.  However, the gang members are still on his case, and work hard to recruit him, or at least make people believe that he is a gang member.  Michael is falsely accused of crimes and is sent to juvenile detention.  Meanwhile Gulliver has left and the Lilliputians are in trouble.  Heavy rain is threatening to destroy their village and weasels are finding their way in, intent to eat them.  You find yourself cheering for Michael in all that he has accomplished–he is originally portrayed as a follower, without much incentive or morality.  But his character grows as his life is given structure and he learns that people care about him.  He finds a way to right the wrongs.  This book has great characterization, a fast-moving plot, and well-described settings.  You don’t have to worry about reading the original Gullivers Travels–just jump right in and enjoy yourself.

Wow!  This book is pretty amazing!  Lots of non-stop action and twists and turns; I could see it all play out in my mind like a movie.  (is there a movie deal for this series?)  This is the fourth installment of the series H.I.V.E., and as I hadn’t previously read one, two or three, I wasn’t too excited to start this one.  My previous experience of jumping into a series without having read the beginning, has been rather unsuccessful.  However, I was willing to give it a try.  I am so glad I did–once I started, I couldn’t put it down.  H.I.V.E. is The Higher Institute of Villainous Education, and the students (kids) each have a specialized skill (i.e., picking locks).  At the school, they are basically learning how to become worldwide spies and have the benefit of professors and teachers with skills James Bond would envy, as well as resources of every kind imaginable.  In this book, a new student, Lucy, is introduced, and it isn’t until the end until we find out her special talent.  I imagine future installments will have her as the main character.  In the meantime, a group of students are on their way to a field trip (sub-zero temps in the Arctic) and while on their journey in a ship called the ‘Dreadnought,’ they are overtaken by a rogue rebel, a former employee who helped to create the Dreadnought and has dreams of becoming the world’s leader.  The name Dreadnought sounded so familiar and I wondered why the ship would be so named.  According to Dictionary.com, the Dreadnought was a well known battleship from the year 1906 which was heavily armored and had battle turrets.  It’s important, I think, to understand the historical meanings of language used to better understand the story, so get that dictionary out.  But for this story, think of the Dreadnought as a newer version of the U.S.S. Enterprise of Star Trek fame, but with cooler stealth capabilities.  The rogue rebel is Jason Drake (again, think history, the infamous pirate Drake?).  Drake has a bevy of double agents working for him and he has well planned this takeover.  The theme of the story is that Drake has taken over the ship, is holding several key people hostage, and has plans to takeover and ruin the United States, throwing the whole world into turmoil, and he will be the only one smart enough to save everyone.  Good idea, however, the group of seven students and a couple of instructors, have other plans.  The action is fabulous, and just when you think you’ve got it all worked out in your head, something else pops up.  Many of the fight scenes are violent, but considering the age of the target audience, 10-14, it isn’t something they haven’t already seen.  The characters are well established, the plot is understandable with just enough kinks in it to keep it interesting, and the dialogue and multi-syllabic words will keep even the best readers on their toes.  This book should be on every library shelf in elementary and middle school.

Beginning with a definition of a rainforest or jungles near the equator where the sun shines hottest, one is taken on a journey around the world.  Each floor of a rainforest is home to a variety of plants and animals – each vying for food and space.   Many wildly colorful, strange-looking plants and animals of the rainforests of the Amazon, Africa, along the Congo, Madagascar, and Asia, from India to Australia, are portrayed.  The photographs are colorful and engaging but sizes are not comparable.  Many plants and animals are showcased, but there is no mention about where they are found.  One may download a digital book to accompany this one using a provided website and code.  This book ends with a warning about the potential loss of rainforests without the interference of concerned people.  An interview with a conservationist, and extensive index, and a glossary are included.

What an eye-catcher!  Large, colorful, magnified images fill every page in this engaging book.  Bugs can be grouped into six categories: insects (beetles, flies, bees, ants), arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks), centipedes and millipedes, wood lice, worms, and slugs and snails.  Each category shows close-up examples, includes informative captions, and a “Find Out More” section which directs one to other pages.  Words along the bottom of the pages provide even more facts.  Stunning photographs show the adult, often including images of life-cycles and habitats.  The reading level is for upper elementary, but the book is fascinating to kids of all ages.  An extensive index, a glossary, and an interview with an entomologist (insect expert) are found in the back.  Great addition to any library!

This brief biography of Jackie Robinson is written by his daughter.  It is filled with many back-and-white photographs from childhood throughout his life.  He excelled in many sports but wanted to play professional baseball.  Segregation was strong within the country but Branch Rickey of the Major League Baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, encouraged the board to integrate and take advantage of talent from the Negro Leagues.  They chose Jackie to help break the racial barriers.  He not only needed to play exceptionally, he needed to show strength, courage, and composure when dealing with angry and vicious insults and physical attacks.  With a loving family and the support of his team, Jackie became an American hero.  Other than reading about this admirable person, this book may also be a resource during discussions on bullying, segregation, or strength of character.  Jackie’s legacy lives on through the Jackie Robinson Foundation and scholarships.  A glossary and an author question/answer page are included.

This is an interesting topic about being truthful.  Most kids like quizzes found in magazines and social sites. Fifteen scenarios present a variety of situations in which one can choose one of three responses.  Most people probably feel they are honest, but what about the little fibs or “white lies”?  When finished with the quiz and points are added, the results are explained and additional information is given.  Tips and examples from others in the same category are offered.  This may be a great conversation starter about friendships and being honest with one’s self and others.  Other books in the series are: Are You a Good Friend?, How Much Do You Know about Bullying?, and How Trustworthy Are You?

Jake loves playing on his championship soccer team but a family move results in him playing on the worst team in the league.  As in many of Mike Lupica’s books, the main character seems to have more maturity than most 11 or 12 year olds.  In Shoot-Out, Jake tests his sportsmanship and skills with helping his team grow as a unit.  Jake learns that Kevin is a superb kicker but is wallowing in grief for his mother who has recently died.  As captain, Jake feels he needs to assist his team both on and off the field.  Even though many of Lupica’s books share a common theme, the storylines are engaging.  The soccer commentary from the field is realistic, the action is lively, and the personal struggles and behaviors are believable.  Other Comeback Kids books include: Hot Hand and Long Shot, both about basketball, Two-Minute Drill, about football, and Safe at Home, about baseball.

Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to consider a non-example, or opposite. This series of bilingual readers does just that.  Colorful pictures illustrate “Fast and Slow”, and the bold text sentences describe the pictures. Race cars are fast; bumper cars are slow. Speedboats are fast; canoes go slowly through the water. Jets go fast; seaplanes are slow, particularly when landing.  This series would be useful in Kindergarten, where the concept of opposites is taught. It would also be a great idea in first grade, supporting the acquisition of Spanish, while reinforcing the concept of “opposite”. Picture glossary and index included. No A.R. test located.

Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to consider a non-example, or opposite. This series of bilingual readers does just that.  Colorful pictures illustrate “Up and Down”, and the bold text sentences describe the pictures. Seesaws go up and down, just as kites go up and down and dogs can jump up and down.  This series would be useful in Kindergarten, where the concept of opposites is taught. It would also be a great idea in first grade, supporting the acquisition of Spanish, while reinforcing the concept of “opposite”. Picture glossary and index included. No A.R. test located.

Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to consider a non-example, or opposite. This series of bilingual readers does just that.  Colorful pictures illustrate “Big and Small”, and the bold text sentences describe the pictures. Bubbles can be big or small, just as toys can be big or small and bikes can be big or small.  This series would be useful in Kindergarten, where the concept of opposites is taught. It would also be a great idea in first grade, supporting the acquisition of Spanish, while reinforcing the concept of “opposite”. Picture glossary and index included. No A.R. test located.