“There are 418 different kinds of parrots and related species.”  This small  7″ X 6″ page book shows only a few of them, but these usually highly colorful birds pictured will elicit ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’.  Brief, simple, general information is given about parrot claws, coloring, size, hooked beaks, good memory and habitat are given.

Includes 6 transparent pages among the highly glossy pages with metal comb binding.

The reader follows a chestnut tree through the changes of four seasons. Three of the six transparent pages reveal the inside and outside of a chestnut husk, above and below the ground of the tree, and before and after the tree bud opens. Then examples of five distinct deciduous tree shapes are illustrated, followed by five distinct deciduous tree leaf shapes and their corresponding seeds. Finally, five evergreen tree examples are pictured with five different evergreen tree cones.

This book has heavy board pages with sturdy metal comb binding.

“What is geography for? To get to know what the surface of the Earth looks like.” So begins this First Discovery book for second through fourth graders. Illustrators Ute Fuhr and Raoul Sautai have created mountain, coastline, valley, plain, delta, river valley, the Grand Canyon, and volcanic island landscapes with distinct geographic features labeled. The text across the top of the page is over simplified without supporting details. The readers will enjoy the four transparent pages flipping them back and forth to see the before and after erosion scenes.

This book is made of heavy board pages with sturdy metal comb binding.

In book 3 of the Infinity Ring series, Sera, Riq, and Dak travel to the year 1850 in the state of Maryland.  Their mission is to fix a break in the time continuum that has something to do with the Underground Railroad and Harriett Tubman.  With Riq being of African descent, he is immediately captured and fixed to be sold at a slave auction with a black woman and her two children.  While waiting for the auction, Riq discovers that the woman is an ancestor of his and he must help her to fulfill her destiny if he is to even exist in the future.  The three time travelers work to ensure the right people get to Canada to freedom and that the Underground Railroad is successful.  McMann does a great job of keeping the action moving as well as characterization.  This is a great way for young readers to get to know more about American history.  Each book takes the three friends to different eras throughout history.

Pluto Visits Earth! is classified as an Everybody Reads/Picture book, however it is chock full of science factoids.  The story goes that Pluto has heard that he’s been downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet.  He goes to the other planets to find out why and at each one the reader gets a nugget of knowledge.  Eventually Pluto goes to Earth and finds out eventually that he doesn’t meet all the requirements to be a planet, which is to be able to “use it’s gravity to clear it’s orbit of any asteriods.”  Students will recognize the familiar artwork of Jared Lee because of the Black Lagoon series.  What a gentle, interesting way to learn about the solar system.

Letting Go is the story about three hens who believe that a fox is up in an apple tree throwing the apples at them.  They get hysterical because they are afraid the fox will come after them next.  They run to get the rooster, but when he is almost hit by an apple, he runs away.  The hens muster up the courage to get a ladder and go up the tree to see about the fox.  When one hen finally reaches the top, she realizes that the apples just ‘let go’ and fall.  She realizes the view from the top of the tree is beautiful and the other hens come up to see for themselves.  The moral to the story is that sometimes you just have to ‘let go’, let go of fear and anything else that paralyzes you.  The story is simple yet eloquent.  The illustrations and dialogue are reminescent of Mo Willems.  This is the perfect pairing with Chicken Little.

Mom’s are wonderful!  They kiss our boo-boos, they play with us, read to us, and generally make all the icky things in the world better.  For Little Princess, her mom made everything right.  Then one day, Little Princess was invited to a sleepover, and although she was scared at first, it was alright.  But it was mom who suffered because it was the first time her baby had been away from home at night without her.  This is a perfect story for the younger kiddos, especially for Mother’s Day.  Everyone (hopefully) can identify with that one special person who makes our life so enjoyable.  Clear illustrations that show perfectly the neediness of Little Princess and the anxiety she causes others.

Randy needed glasses to see better, but he does not want to wear them.  He finds ways to lose the or get them broken, but each time his mother has another pair for him to put on.  She bought four extra pairs!  When he thought he has done away with all four of them his doctor came over and brought him five more specs just in case.

Randy wasn’t happy until his father came in with new glasses and told him,”Now I will look a bit more like you.”

Then Randy was happy to be able to see.

I didn’t like the way Randy was able to lose or break is glasses without consequences.  That can be very expensive for a parent.

I loved the pictures.

This is a super story.  It shows the positive side of being different, and that our uniqueness can be a good thing to share with others.  It is positive and full of love and acceptance, and shows how those qualities can also have a positive effect on others.

It is a great lesson for kids.  The pictures were colorful and interesting.  I like this book!

This is a cute story about using your imagination.  Many children use boxes to play with and make many this from a box.  In this story a boy named Kenny has a box that becomes many different things.  Even better than a new bike.

A great story about using your imagination.

Emily Rodda is a master at characterization and the making of a hero.  Her heroes are not beautiful, strong people, but someone who is ordinary, like you and me.  In reading her first book of her newest trilogy, The Golden Door, you connect with Rye, her new hero.  Rye lives in Weld, a walled city on a island, that has no contact with other cities on the island.  During the growing season, Weld comes under attack at night by ‘skimmers,’ creatures hunting for live food, whether it be human or animal.  These creatures fly and will attack wherever they sense smell, hear the scratch of a creature, or see light.  Come nightfall, the citizens of Weld imprison themselves in their homes in order to fend off the skimmers.  Rye lives with his widowed mother and two older brothers.  The citizens of Weld do not believe that the warden of Weld is doing much to protect it’s citizens.  First his older brother, Dirk, leaves home to find out who sent and where the creatures come from.  After more than a year’s absence, the second brother, Sholto, leaves.  Again, he doesn’t return. With his mother safe within the city’s walls, Rye finally leaves.  As he leaves Weld, he must choose which door to travel through and believing that Dirk must have chosen the Golden Door, so does he.  He travels with another youngster from Weld, a girl named Sonia, and they become friends, so to speak.  They eventually arrive at the Fell Zone whereby Rye is given a pouch containing nine magical objects to aid him in his quest.  He eventually arrives at Olt and finds that come Midsummer’s Eve a  ritual will take place in which seven human sacrifices will be given to the dragons of the sea in order for the ruler of Olt to continue to live.  Dirk, Rye’s brother, as well as Sonia, his friend, are two of the sacrifices.  It is up to Rye to save them.  Rodda does an excellent job of showing the reader how reluctant Rye is to do the impossible, but that he musters up the courage to do so, and is able to use cunning and intelligence to overcome the odds.  This book is exciting to read and makes the reader feel as though anyone can be a hero.

This is the story of a cat who couldn’t have kittens and a chick whose mommy couldn’t take care of her.  They took care of each other.  People would always comment of how different they were and wondered what is was like to be so different.  The lesson to be learned is that it’s okay to be different, it makes you special.   The colored pencil illustrations show a contented cat and happy chick and their love for one another.  What else do they need?

The hoop genius is James Naismith, a high school gym teacher, with a class of rowdy boys that no one wanted.  Naismith tried all sorts of games but to no avail.  His boys were beat up and bandaged from the physicality of the games.  Until one day he remembered a game from his own childhood in which the target was up in the air and the player had to accurate throw a rock to knock it off its stand.  Instead of a rock he used a soccer ball.  He used an actual basket for the target and he instituted fouls for pushing, tripping and holding.  If a player had two fouls they had to sit on the bench.  The popularity of the game spread nationwide and worldwide.

Students enjoyed hearing how basketball got started.  However, it was the illustrations which threw them off.  They thought the students looked too old to be students, they had mustaches and facial hair.  In looking at the original photograph of the gym class that’s at the back of the book, they do, in fact, have mustaches and do look older than high school students.  The illustrator used the photograph to make accurate illustrations.

The Last Tiger is a treat to both your eyes and your soul.  The story is about the last tiger left in the world, a world in which there no longer existed animals or trees or flowers.  The environment was dirty and cluttered, filled with castoffs.  People no longer cared.  But Luka cared, and he  befriended tiger who needed his help.  They became best friends until one day the lion was captured and put into a cage.  Again, Luka helped the lion get free by showing the people the lion’s cave, in which all manner of trees and plants and flowers bloomed, with no garbage or clutter.  People once again saw what life could be like.

The story is simple and idealistic, but clearly states the message in the very first sentence of the book….the people had forgotten what was important.  What is important?  Is it friendship?  Empathy?  Cleanliness?  The illustrations are in tune with the story, simple and blending in well, not cluttered but still detailed.  This would be a great book for Earth Day as well as just about any other day of the year.

Colin Thompson is so clever and has a vivid imagination and gift of storytelling.  Barry is an alien-made robot who came to planet earth with his makers, but got left behind.  He doesn’t look like much, mostly put together from recycled cans and odds and ends.  But he has a huge brain which is back on his planet and which he can access.  Barry is stuck down in an old sofa and lives there through many generations of mice, dust, and lost items.  His job is to control events and natural disasters on earth, but because of his precarious position and loss of body parts, things on earth are not what they should be.  Barry is discovered by humans, taken out of the sofa, and put on a shelf.  From there he can see the results of his mismanagement, and he sets out to correct it.  In the past, the Ice Age took care of life on earth by destroying it and allowing itself to regenerate.  Barry figures the same thing will work again.  Thompson has some subtle humor which the young children will not understand, but the grown-ups reading this story to them will.  The illustrations are what will hypnotize the younger set and will capture their attention for many hours.  I could see kids trying to replicate the image of Barry by making a recycled robot and creating stories of what their robot can do.  Hugely entertaining.

Divided into 2 sections, this book on unusual pets begins with basic facts.  Because there are often laws about owning unusual pets, the reader is advised to check state laws.  Facts include details about preferred environments, food, and care.  The second section is atypical of most animal fact books.  This section is a rhyming short story about a young boy’s pet tarantula.  It is an interesting combination of genres.  The book ends with a page of additional facts, a short quiz, and a glossary.  Photographs are large, illustrations colorful, and large font text is simple.  This is a good introduction to an unusual pet for younger readers.

What a fun book!  James is a very picky eater – most families have one.  Dad needs to get inventive to entice his son to try meals.  Divided into 5 chapters, in the first, James is encouraged to eat broccoli or choose between the finest dirt, walked on by only the best chefs wearing deluxe boots, fastidiously already-chewed gum, or a smelly sock worn by the world’s fastest marathon runner.  He tries smelly mushroom lasagna so Dad won’t fire the troll in the basement.  Refusing to drink repulsive milk would have the undesirable result of soft bones, which would mean he could not play baseball with friends or even scratch his dog.  By the end of the book, James is suspicious of another underhanded trick by Dad to get him to try the slimy eggs until he decides to try them simply because he might like them.  The watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations are humorous and are a wonderful match to this amusing story of a very picky eater.  This provides a smooth transition into chapter books for those resisting the move away from picture books.

Grumbly little Baby Bear does not want to give his parents a kiss before taking a bath before bed.  Daddy gets inventive and asks if Baby Bear would like to give a giraffe kiss as he holds Baby Bear up high.  Baby refuses.  As he carries Baby Bear upstairs, Daddy asks if he would like to give a cuddly koala kiss.  Baby refuses.  In the bath, Daddy asks for a crocodile kiss.  As Baby giggles and resists giving Daddy all kinds of kisses, Daddy steadily gets him ready for bed.  Yet in the end, Baby does have one surprise left for Dad.  The warm and tender illustrations are a wonderful mix with this affectionate story of a bedtime routine.

“Hikers, mountaineers, rock climbers, skiers, and forest workers all play and work in the mountains. They need to be rescued if they get lost in weather, trapped on a cliff, injured in a fall, or become sick.” (page6) 13 factual 2 page spreads briefly describe the why, who, and how of mountain rescues. Mention is given to wind, cold, avalanche, first aid, helicopters, dogs, and radio/phone equipment.  Well chosen color photos give equal time to snow and non-snow rescue scenes. Thirteen photos show the teamwork approach needed in mountain rescues. While helicopters are important, they are not always used. Only nine helicopters appear throughout this book.

Large font text.

This fun story is a great way to help children to learn how to overcome their fears.  The lessons at the back to help adults help the child work through their fears is very informative and helpful.

The pictures were fun, the story easy for a child to identify with, and very positive, even when mastering a fear takes longer than expected.  I liked this book.

Night Stalkers is an interesting and informative book about a special group of army soldiers.  The pictures are simple for young readers to understand.  This book is full of exciting and informative facts.  This is a book that boys or children with family in the military would especially enjoy.

This is a fun story with interesting pictures.  I like how it expresses many of the anxieties children and adults often feel when confronted with something new.  It is fun to see the creative solutions illustrated in the pictures.  This would be a fun book to share with children, or for them to read on their own.  The vocabulary is simple for early readers.  The surprise at the end leaves you wondering.

This book has nice big pictures and print.  It is a simple explanation of space crafts, their functions, and destinations.  I liked the glossary at the end of the book.  It defined many of the words younger children may be unfamiliar with.

It would be a nice read for a science class, or for a personal read for younger scientists. It is a nicely done book.