Written and illustrated Jennifer Black Reinhardt

Jennifer Black Reinhardt introduces us to Alfred, a nervous possum that couldn’t excel in most activities. Whenever he encountered an uncomfortable situation, Alfred played dead. Then Alfred notices Sophia an armadillo who curls into a ball when she feels nervous.

Together, they discover thaqt with patience, they no longer are nervous around each other. They start to notice other animals defense mechanisms. They try all sorts of things to overcome the other animals’ nervous habits and become friends.

The author includes a short essay on truth and imagination and a short glossary of animals.

By David Shannon

David Shannon brings back the incorrgible David in this endearing story of little brother antics. Like most older siblings, David’s older brother doean’t want David around him. Therefore, he blames many things on David but not without reason. With simple sesntences, it is an easy reader that younger student will enjoy.

Written by Scot Ritchie

Pedro is moving and he is so anxious. To ease his mind, his mom invites some of his friends for a sleepover. Mrs. Rivera introduces the children to mindfulness to help ease Pedro’s anxiety. This book is a great introduction to mindfulness with tips on how to accomplish it. There are activities in the back that families can practice along with definitions to help really understand the context of the exercises.

Written by Patty Lovell
Illustrated by Davis Catrow

Patty Lovell brings back the adorable Molly Lou Melon in Speak Up, Molly Lou Melon. Instead of her grandmother’s affirmations, she has her mother’s reminders to use her voice for good. Molly Lou’s mother prompts Molly Lou to do what is right even when it is the bully and difficult. This is an excellent lesson for children to learn without them realizing there is a lesson.

David Catrow comes through again with beautiful bright watercolor and ink drawings.

By Jim Benton

This well known author (Catwad, Dumb Diary and Franny K. Stein, just to name a few) creates an all-age graphic novel unlike anything you’ve read before. It is full of puns, bright illustrations and crazy antics. This book hooks you in with its premise and takes you along on an absurd journey with Bill Waddler. It’s a fast read that would draw in anyone who enjoys silly jokes while also following a long-form story from beginning to end.

Written by Doug Paleo

Illustrated by Aaron Blecha

This graphic novel is full of humor and quirky characters. Also, dinosaurs! The pictures are bright, cheerful and draw the reader into the story. This series-opener does revisit some well-worn narrative arcs, but is a solid, quick-paced text that will draw reluctant and voracious readers equally. Readers will be eagerly awaiting the next installation.

Tilly Pages is part fictional character. She along with many of her family and friends have the ability to wander in and out of books. In this third book in the series, Pages and Co., Tilly Pages and her friend Oskar realize that books are disappearing and people are forgetting their favorite stories. They set off a trip to Washington, DC to search for the Archivists to find out what is going on and end up meeting William Shakespeare. Tilly and Oskar and their friends must fight against the evil Underwood siblings and save bookwandering. Although this wasn’t as catching to me as the first book in this series, I still recommend this book.

Three generations of gardeners work side-by-side to care for the grandmother’s garden. First the small child gives her view of her grandmother and grandmother’s garden, then the view of the child’s mother, followed by a key bit of wisdom having to do with gardens, such as, “Gardens help teach responsibility.”

When the reader turns the page, the child is a little bit older, as is the mother, and grandmother, but they again give their impressions of the garden. The child’s impression always comes first followed by her mother’s. This continues until the child is now a mother herself with her own two children helping in the garden with their grandmother. “Gardens connect us across generations.”

The little girl’s words are always in blue ink, her mother’s words are always in green ink, and the words of wisdom are always in an orangey ink.

Children who help with gardening will identify with the passages, whether they garden at home, in a school garden, or with a grandparent.

Carme Lemniscates’ illustrations make each garden in the book come to life just like Grandmother Dorothy would want them to grow.

Also available in a well translated Spanish version: Los Jardines de la Abuela.

Nine dramatic color photos of snow owls in their arctic environment will fill the young reader with awe for these majestic birds. The large font text fills the page opposite the photo with three or four sentences describing the birds physical characteristics, environment, and life.

The photo on page seventeen will take the reader awhile to see the white prey about to be caught by the white and black speckled snow owl in its snowy white environment.

Page twenty-two includes three “More Facts” about snow owls. One being they are awake during the day the opposite of other owls, and two, information on Harry Potter’s owl Hedwig.

Following the glossary and index comes the abdokids.com website using the code ASK8909 to find most of the same text and photos in this book, as well as more information, a craft, a wordsearch, and a coloring page.

Who does not have at least one friend with a name that is impossible for you to pronounce? I do. Poor little Wakawakaloch has that problem, so wants to change her name. She wants to change her name to one that she’ll be able to find pre-printed on a T-shirt. Wakawakaloch’s father tells her it is a family name. Wakawakaloch is taken to the village elder for advice. At first the advice does not make sense, but it does in the end. Wakawakaloch come up with an idea to help all other Neanderthals (her people) who have the same name problem. She starts a business making personalized T-shirts.

Mary Sullivan’s pictures are a cute mix of caveman modern, similar to THE FLINSTONES of the 1960s. For one thing, there are T-shirts, crayons, laptop computers in rock cases, and toast with cereal for breakfast eaten with spoons. On the other hand, they wear necklaces with tooth or claw pendants, bones in their hair for clips, cave drawings on the walls, and big wooden clubs for smashing things.

The book’s inner cover has drawings of seventeen children wearing personalized T-shirts. Their names are all difficult to pronounce, but that is okay because their name is written phonically underneath.

Illustrated by Ana Sender

“Mom, why do we cry?” ask Mario. With poetic language and imagery, Mario’s Mom describes the many feelings behind tears. With each example, the book validates the feelings and accepts the release of tears as a natural extension of those strong feelings. When the feelings are too hard to explain, the author employs simile, metaphor, and Ana Sender’s illustrations to portray the deepness of those feelings and the potential healing power of tears.

Why do we cry? The book ends with Mom’s tears of happiness. “More than anything, sweetheart, we cry because we feel like crying.” Includes both social emotional and scientific information on tears as well as extension activities for self reflection and discussion.

Translated from the Spanish original.

A wonderful narrative non-fiction told through multiple haiku stanzas. The great-horned owl pair starts by repurposing a squirrels nest. The book follows the the pair as they prepare their nest, lay and protect their eggs, nurture their owlets until the fledglings fly off to a home of their own. The world is fraught with danger. Only 2 of the 3 eggs survive to hatch and one fledgling barely escapes a fox.

The rhythm of the haiku stanzas help map the steady progression of the owls’ life cycle. Each struggle or danger is surmounted, though not always without loss.

Slipping to the ground
Eeping, flapping, fluttering
Nest far, far away

Red fox is watching
Red fox is sneaking-slinking
Red fox is crouching

Gianferrari’s haiku is approachable for young children; rich with language, but conveying concept and feelings in a way young readers can grasp. Voss’s breathtaking illustrations instill both the movement and the stillness of an owl’s night.

Whoo-Ku Haiku is a good choice for lessons on the haiku as a poetic form, word choice, and the study of owls.

OHS Library Grade: B+

Book Details from NoveList Plus –

Genre: Fantasy mysteries; Historical fantasy; Multiple perspectives

Storyline: World-building

Writing Style: Compelling; Lush

Tone: Atmospheric; Thought-provoking

Min/Max Grade level: 7 – 12

Set in 19th Century Denmark, main character Marit is raised within an orphanage. Here she weaves magic throughout her creations as a seamstress; but this magic can be very dangerous. Merit learns to hide her abilities and use it to help her close friend, and talented dancer, Eve. When Eve is adopted by the wealthy and well-known ballerina, Helene Vestergaard, Marit leaves the orphanage to follow Eve in a life of servitude. Marit soon learns that magic runs rampant through other servants at the Vestergaard household, allowing her to look more deeply into the mysteries surrounding her fathers death and other circumstances of her childhood. 

Splinters of Scarlet by Emily Bain Murphy, is great for fans of classic fairy tales. Because I experienced this novel through its audiobook version, the multiple perspectives threw me off at times; I think the story would have been easier to follow had I read the text. Fans of fantasy will have fun with the elements of magic throughout the setting and world building.

Twelve year old, Julian, ends up in trouble at school again.  Despite his efforts, his dyslexia comes across to his teachers and principal as apathy for school work.  In a deal made with the principal, Julian finds himself volunteering at a local animal shelter instead of detention one day and falls in love with Star, a dog who is deaf.  Much of the story follows the unfolding of a special relationship between a boy and a dog, but also, another unlikely friendship with a peer he connected with while working at the shelter.  Bryan also has dyslexia and happens to be the principal’s son!  While a bit long and dragging through the middle, this is a truly delightful story of friendship and adventure as the boys sneak off with Star – searching for buried treasure in hopes of saving the shelter that is suddenly about to lose their funding. This is my kind of story, with a happy ending where everyone wins! 

No Place for Monsters is a spooky, supernatural-themed novel for emerging juvenile readers.  Children are vanishing along with all of their belongings and the loved ones in their lives have no recollections of them.  The main characters set out to uncover clues that lead them to the eventual rescue of said missing children.  Supporting characters have mostly negative attitudes and rude behavior toward the “hero” children throughout the book.  The story has some repetitiveness as well as a bit of confusion at the beginning. However, brilliant illustrations help make this story a quick-read.  Recommended reading grades 3-5.

In the fourth book in the series The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found does not disappoint! This is a heart-warming story about a family of seven with five children ranging from ages 5-14.  The Vanderbeekers’ have long-established relationships with their neighbors, taking them on as part of their own family in a fast-paced, realistic novel about community in a New York City brownstone. The kids in the book are strategizing to keep a close friend from moving out of state while he suffers from poverty, homelessness and neglect.  The loss of a loved one is a very sad, major event in the book but what shines is the family’s ability to overcome and embrace their memories of him.  I loved that pure generosity, helping others and friendship from the kids’ perspectives is a constant throughout the book.  While the story touches on poverty and making ends meet, the real reason I would recommend for grades 5 and up would be the parts about loss/grief and dating.  The high school freshmen discuss homecoming, boyfriends and jealousy (topics I prefer to reserve for middle grades.)

Take the UFC to a whole new underground, illegal and nearly deadly, once-you-are-in-you-are-in-for-life level of mixed martial arts and you get Brawler by Neil Connelly. There are many brawlers in this low-brow community. Slated to win the state championship in his weight class for the 2nd year in a row, Eddie MacIntyre loses control during the district wrestling tournament, taking a swing at the referee and breaking his jaw. Assault charges on the way, Eddie is accosted by a gentleman who has been watching his aggressive wrestling style for quite some time. Eddie chooses to go down the road to big money in bad places. Eddie is given a personal trainer- a girl with Tae-Kwon-Do skills whose father was also wrapped up in the business, as was Eddie’s own father, unbeknownst to him. Once you’re in, you’re in until you are dead or near death from revenge. Eddie is truly a brawler, beating guys stronger than him because he could forecast their next moves. But there’s no good way out of this life which keeps readers going until the end just to see how Connelly resolves the story. While brutal and very detailed with wrestling jargon, fans of MMA will probably devour it.

Izzy has a big personality and she often gets in trouble. One day at recess she gets her friend, Zoe, in trouble again and this time Zoe is not as fast to forgive. Izzy doesn’t know what to do while she waits for Zoe to be her friend again. Izzy’s live-in nanny and single parent mom, help her navigate the struggles of not knowing if her friend will forgive her. Izzy’s mom decides that Izzy’s exuberance shows that she has a lot of love to give, so they adopt a puppy. Izzy relates to this to her own adoption story as told by her mom. This is a beginning chapter books with large type and black and white pictures.

What Grew in Larry’s Garden besides unusually colorful tomatoes, carrots, rainbow chard, purple potatoes, and more was kindness, trust, warmth, beauty, healing, love and so much more.

Larry’s summer garden grew vegetables. The heirloom tomatoes provided Larry with seeds he sprouted in winter for his students. His students cared for them and watched them grow. Then the students gave the plants away to neighbors and strangers alike, along with an individualized letter as to why they were being gifted with the plant.

Community can grow from small acts of kindness like tiny seeds into fruitful plants.

Based on a true story.

Author, illustrator Jorey Hurley creates a picture book on the life of a beehive using fifteen words. Those fifteen words are almost an inch tall in bold type. Each one of those fifteen words adorns a separate double-page spread of distinct, yet simple images telling the story of a queen bee starting a new hive after a “swarm”.

buzz, swarm, explore, find, build, lay, feed, grown, fly, collect, pollinate, guard, sting, keep, honey

For those of us who need a few more words to understand the life cycle of a beehive be sure to read the “author’s notes” at the end.

Simply impressive!

Do you need a book to let school aged children know they can help change the world for the better? Then, The Big Idea Gang: BEE THE CHANGE fits the bill. Readers will learn how important honeybees are to the world’s food chain, while also learning that the lessons their teachers’ are instructing them in, for persuasive writing, do work in the real world.

While elementary friends, Kim Park and Lizzy O’Malley, get excited about honeybees through Kim’s parent’s friend Ozzie- the beekeeper, they learn how important honeybees are to the food we eat daily. Then, they get their friend Deon Gibson, Lizzy’s twin brother- Connor , and Otis Smick interested in honeybees. Finally, when they ask their teacher for help, she guides them through the steps of persuasive writing’s call to action. The gang gets the principal, the school nurse- who is in charge of the school garden, Ozzie the beekeeper, and a big school turnout of students and parents on a drizzly Saturday morning to plant a much bigger garden that will attract honeybees.

The Big Idea Gang: BEE THE CHANGE works well at showing how elementary students can change the world for the better, but Preller’s writing may be a bit too obvious he is teaching a science lesson, too . Stephen Gilpin’s black and white illustration ( two or three per chapter) show a diverse group of ordinary students working together and enjoying it.

Included at the story’s end, Deon and Connor recap twelve honeybee facts they found interesting. Then, their teacher presents five pages on how to engage people with your ideas or writing.

If you need a book to show why and how persuasive writing is important, The Big Idea Gang: BEE THE CHANGE does the job in a very obvious way.