Ralph is a dog who can answer questions, such as, “How’s the path feel on your paws…” and ” What’s on that tree?”
Ralph’s responses are 1.5 inches tall, in this 12″ X 8.25″ book where large creatively adorable multimedia creatures inhabit the pages. Ralph has two buttons for eyes, a pop top nose, a zipper for a mouth, a tin heart dog tag on a woven rainbow braided collar, and rough textured paper constitutes his body.
Young independent readers will enjoy this four chapter book about friends, Mouse and Mole, preparing for Halloween. Yee’s illustrations are scattered throughout the text often three per page just like the falling leaves of autumn.
As Mouse hangs up a plastic skeleton, Mole is having a nightmare about being chased by a skeleton. Then Mouse and Mole find the perfect pumpkin for the pumpkin carving contest. Mole carves his right away, but Mole waits until the last minute to carve hers. Mouse’s jack-o’-lantern wins for silliest and Mole’s wins for ‘sc-scariest’. Later, Mouse shares a story book with Mole to help him realize Halloween “is scary, YES– but exciting too!”
This beginning chapter book of four chapters is a fast moving, realistic story of friendship with illustrations interspersed throughout the text, sometimes three per page.
After moths made holes in Moles clothes Mouse tries something “new” at the diner for lunch. Followed by Mole buying a “new” style of shirt. Then the friends go fishing together. Mole uses a worm for bait because he likes to eat worms himself and Mouse uses cheese for the same reason. When they don’t catch anything but an old tire, they play in the pond. In the end, Mouse fixes Mole’s old holey clothes making them “new” and Mole uses the old tire to make a “new” swing.
Albert, the mouse, tries to train his newly found pet snail, Flash, tricks, but finds patience instead. Young readers are exposed to the concept of ‘position’ when Albert demonstrates all the tricks he’d like Flash to learn. A cute surprise ending when Albert discovers Flash has done all of the tricks during the night by following Flash’s slime trail. Delightful illustrations!
‘Positions’ included in bold type: in/out, on top of/ at the bottom of, on/off, under/ over, behind/ in front of, far/near, and next to / beside.
“Fun Activities’ parent and/ or teacher will enjoy doing with their young reader to reinforce the position concept are included at the end of the story.
Synopsis: Luna is girl who lives in the sky and collects words. One day she notices all the good, sweet words she collected have disappeared from the world. She can’t sleep and makes a decision to spread her healing words throughout the world.
What I like about it and who would enjoy it: Artistically drawn with text incorporated into each picture, “The Word Collector,’’ as a story is difficult to follow. The author/illustrator tries to convey the power of words to heal, but the art work is dark and busy, and just plain odd. Translated from the Spanish with a European sensibility, something may have gotten lost in the translation! Sonja Wimmer is an award-winning illustrator whose work has been featured in books, posters, and magazines. Her illustrations for “The Word Collector” won the Gold Award for Best Illustrator at the 2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. (Ages 4 – 7)
Synopsis: Poor little Catty Jane hates the rain and is afraid of thunder and lightning. Nothing her mother does can console her – not even an offer of a cookie! But when her friends Froggy, Piggy and Goose arrive they cajole Catty into a rainy day party and a different attitude! Gorbachev’s illustrations are bright and enjoyable, but still convey the gloominess of a rainy day and the moodiness of Catty Jane.
What I like about it and who would enjoy it: This is a sweet, old fashioned story that many young children may enjoy. I recommend it as an additional purchase for picture book collections. (Preschool – grade one.) Gorbachev is author of many picture books, including “Chicken Chickens,” and “Where is the apple pie?”
Synopsis: With clever rhymed text, five sheep stumble into buckets of different color paints left around the farm. Die cuts cut into each page reveal the “new” color of each sheep and the chaos continues as sheep bump each other, paint cans go flying and one sheep falls into a puddle. To the rescue comes the farmer with some shears and all is well.
What I like about it and who would enjoy it: Adults will quickly pick up on the “nursery rhyme” references in the text, such as “The farmer laughed to see such sport,” or “There were five sheep with fleece as white as snow.” Young children will enjoy the board book format and enjoy a fun way to learn about colors. Age 1 – 3.
Synopsis: Young Elizabeth likes her name. She likes that it is nine letters long and that there was a queen named Elizabeth. She has no patience when people call her Lizzy, Beth or Betsy! She shouts at them rudely: MY NAME IS ELIZABETH! Everyone respects her wish, but Elizabeth learns a little patience when her younger sibling calls her Wizabef? “Close enough,” says Elizabeth. Illustrations are pale blue, orange and black and have an old fashioned feel.
What I liked about it and who would enjoy it: The story serves as a reminder to ask small children what they prefer to be called, but also a reminder for respectful communication. It would be a good edition to any picture book collection. Preschool – grade one.
Synopsis: William Gurstelle, a professional engineer, is a believer in DIY Science and the creativity of amateurs. He wanted to create a book to inspire new generation of young scientists and engineers and encourage hands on experimentation. He was told he would never find a publisher due to safety concerns with the projects he chose. When he did find a publisher and the first edition had strong sales. In the 2nd edition published in 2012, the author has added new devices and added more sources for materials. He strongly emphasizes safety above all else for each project. Instructions are clear, (including diagrams, materials & photographs),and are clearly designed to help you complete the project successfully. Sources are listed for each project and each project has related information on scientific principles and history. Projects range from the simple Cincinnati fire kite to the complicated Electromagnetic pipe gun.
What I like about it and who would enjoy it: The author is highly qualified in the subject area and the projects included in the books are meticulously researched. Gurstelle is the author of “The practical Pyromaniac, the Art of the catapult, and “Building Bots.” He has been building DIY projects for thirty years and is the Pyrotechnics and Ballistics editor at Popular Mechanics. “Backyard Ballistics” belongs in every public library. Hand this to Science teachers, Boy Scout leaders and remember safety first! (Adult, high school)
Synopsis: After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tetsu Kishi, his mother and sister Kimi are sent to Arizona to a relocation camp called Gila River. Their father is sent elsewhere to be questioned by the government. At Gila River the family faces a harsh climate with rattlesnakes and scorpions, a community latrine with no walls, food that makes them sick and little or no privacy. Tetsu and Kimi worry about the family dog they left behind. Is he alive? They write letters to a neighbor hoping to find out. They also wait for word from their father. Tetsu misses playing baseball, a passion he shared with his father.
When the authorities start a school for the camp, life becomes a little less grim for Tetsu, especially when he meets other boys who love baseball. They start building a ball field and practicing for competition. All goes well until his sister Kimi falls ill and Tetsu stops playing to take care of the family.
What I liked about it and who would enjoy it: This is good historical fiction for 5th through 8th grade and excellent choice for elementary and middle school libraries. Author Kathryn Fitzmaurice spent many months at the Pacific Laguna Niguel National Archives and also interviewed former internees. Many of the incidents in the story come directly from her interviews. In short episodic chapters, Fitzmaurice draws a compelling portrait of a grim historical period and the people caught up in it. Resources are appended for student research. (Grade 5th – 7th)
Great nonfiction book with illustrations with 20 great projects! This is a user friendly, student friendly text and description. Student and teacher will both like this one–high interest and full of useful information. Complete with glossary, websites, resources, and books. This book is recommended!
This nonfiction book on reptiles has extreme coloring amplifying their visuals. Too much. It has an air of inaccuracy with the bright coloring that was used with photoshopping the animal pictures. It’s exaggerated. It doesn’t feel authentic. I’m sure that primary kids will haves their eyes caught, but they really don’t need this encouragement for a book about animals. Why enhance the colors on animals? The graphic layout around it is bright enough, and it didn’t need the animal colors enhanced. Addition.
This is a great primary aged nonfiction book that explains the process of making a jack ‘o lantern. It starts with the farm growing the pumpkins, along with types, sizes, and selection. The book follows a story format paragraphs explaining the father and son stepping out the process of creating a jack o’lantern. There is a glossary, index, read more, and Internet sites. Nice addition.
This is a simplified, well-done, nonfiction book explaining select military machines and their uses. One of the things that I do like about this book is the simplified explanations without glorifying guns. Some of the nonfiction military books are bombarding the reader with photos of big guns, bright colors, and eye catching visuals which entertain rather than teach. With a topic as serious as service people sacrificing their lives, I appreciate the tone of the book. Which isn’t a visit to a discotheque, but rather to explain what the equipment is in a realistic manner. Recommended.
This is a very smart book. The graphic display is just enough to capture attention and even help to organize your attention, but it not too much to be distracting. The information is just as admirable. Smart science with tracing food energy back to the sun. The foods are broken down into the basic groups and then digestion, a recipe to try, glossary, websites, books and index. There is a glossary at the bottom of each page, explaining vocabulary. There is a stream of captions that add extra tips for learning. This is a great book to teach and share updated food information to fourth or fifth graders. Recommended.
I think the graphic design is a bit over done. Lots of design an color on the front, but it almost looks messy. The table of contents is distracting with the busy graphics and colors. Although, color and graphics are important to pull kids into a book, this is too much. It almost gives me a headache.
The information is chopped up and spread out in unrelated paragraphs. For someone who is just browsing, this may be desirable, but ifyou are trying to organize and collect data for a research project. There are some Book, DVD, and website recommendations in the back. Along with a small index. This books would make a nice addition to a library.
Great visual layout of this nonfiction book featuring dinosaurs. The pictures look 3-D and realistic, along with a paragraph including the physical description of the animal along with other interesting facts. In the back is a glossary and additional websites, other books, and index. Recommended.
This is an easy non-fiction for very young children about the eight day Apollo II mission to the moon in July 1969. Written with rhymes and descriptive vocabulary, each word is chosen carefully and sparingly to tell the reader or listener this exciting story. The illustrations are cartoonish with action detail that will interest young readers. At the end, the Author’s Note gives a summary of events of the mission and explains with more detail than the narrative of the main story. There is also an actual photo from NASA of the lunar module ascent from the moon to the command module with the earth looking tiny on the horizon. The bibliography page at the end lists books and kid-friendly websites for more information.
On Christmas Eve, ten little mice are huddling out in the open, shivering in the cold snow. One by one, each mouse finds a warm little spot to sleep. The problem is that then they are each alone. In the end, one clever mouse discovers a hollow log that will accommodate all ten mice. They snuggle together warm and happy. With beautiful, rich illustrations and a rhyming narrative, this delightful read aloud trips off the tongue. The opportunity presents for counting practice and/or a discussion about the importance of friendship.
This easy picture book is fun, colorful and silly. It’s about Zoe, a girl with a closet full of lovelies that certainly would impress even Fancy Nancy. Most days, her parents get to pick out her clothes for school or soccer but today is Saturday and Zoe gets to decide. What a dilemma! Mom is calling up to her that it’s time to go but Zoe just can’t decide. After all, each outfit will determine what kind of day she has, from a pocket day to a twirling day and everything in between. She finally decides to wear it all and heads out for her day. The illustrations are bright and comical, full of delightful details. The language is descriptive and whimsical. Many children can relate to Zoe’s desire for adventure as well as the dressing dilemma. I think youngsters will enjoy hearing this book as a read aloud.
Kids with a goofy sense of humor will get chuckle after chuckle with each turn of the page in this book on dog breeds. At first this book looks like a nonfiction title but put your tongue in your cheek and read on…Starting on the cover there are clues…two ring marks that looks as if someone set a coffee mug down on the front of the book and ruined the cover. Also note that the book is Not by Zebedee Helm. Kit (a cowboy from Montana) and his dog Willy love discovering interesting things. They happen upon a dog show and begin describing dogs: “Labdradors come in the colours: black, yellow and chocolate. Obviously the chocolate ones are the rarest as a lot get eaten and those that don’t quite often, melt in the sun.” Fact hounds will be totally frustrated that they will learn nothing about dog breeds in this book. Goofy kids will love it. Oh…”Try not to get too fond of your balloon dog as they only last about a week, even less if you have a cactus in your house.” Childlike artwork and handwriting, complete with cross outs, add to the ambiance of youthful silliness. Surprisingly published in Great Britain…a long way from Montana! (On the back cover, an arrow points to the “bark code”.)
This book is very informative about The job of a Smoke Jumper. It tells about the wildfires that the jumpers need to help put out. There is information on what a smoke jumper needs to do to help put out a wildfire and some of the training they go through. The smoke jumpers are always in danger and need to know how to handle the danger.
There is a lot of interesting information in this book. There is a glossary in the back and a section “To Learn More”. Also an index.
This book is a bit creepy. A child would need to like to be scared to read this book. I would be careful reading it to young children. Waga is a monster who cannot find his scare. He looks everywhere. Waga has left his scare in your room. The picture of the author on the back flap on the cover is quite scary.
This is a fun book that shows a lot of different skies. I didn’t know there could be so many different skies. The pictures and very colorful and bright.
And it is fun to see what the people are doing at the bottom of the pages.
Kindergartners are introduced to scientific investigations in this new Foss related series , Investigate Materials. In this title, learners find the answers to…What is cotton?…Where does cotton come from?…How is Cotton made into fabric?…What does cotton look like?…How does cotton feel?…Why do we use cotton?…What do You have that is made from cotton? Each two page spread includes fun, engaging photographs of age appropriate, multiracial kids responding to the distilled, two sentence text and colorful photographic visuals about cotton. However, I do question whether because cotton is soft, it makes “you feel happy!” Interesting fact…”Old denim from blue jeans is even used to make dollar bills.” Includes Challenge Words, listed upfront with the Contents. Other titles in the series…Nylon, Silk, Wool. Overall, a well executed investigative series for the very young.