Full two-page illustrations and simple text in this picture book tell the story of Bob the dog.  Bob works hard to clear off a neatly made bed to sleep the day away.  As he finally settles in he notices “Someone” (the cat) is watching him. Will Someone go away so Bob can sleep, or will Bob’s nap be disturbed?  Young children will enjoy hearing this story with a surprise ending, and may be able to read it for themselves.

This graphic novel tells the same plot about an alien coming/crashing to earth, only to have government agents try to find /trap it and the young people of earth trying to help it.

The originality of this graphic novel is what makes it so special! Nate, the alien, comes to earth because his planet has come into contact with 1977’s Voyager 1. The golden record was onboard, but what the aliens from Vega wanted more of was the pizza accidentally left on board. They wanted pizza!

Nate is taken to elementary school by earthling Fazel, who has dressed him up to be human in appearance. Nate enjoys learning all about earth but, “It was always just about the pizza. Now I wish we’d paid more attention to the golden record.” (18)

The facial expressions are right on as the reader ventures through to see who will alienate whom, Nate or the government’s Men in Beige. The word play is hilarious with the multiple meanings of worm holes, swear, alien, and vegan.

Just like it is the various toppings on a hamburger that make it memorable, so it is with Alien Nate. This is one memorable alien adventure to earth and back!

The book, In a Jar is a sweet metaphor for protecting and sharing special memories. Llewellyn is a bit of a loner, collecting items in jars so he can peer inside and remember the wonderful things he had seen and done. One evening he meets Evelyn and shares one of his jars with her. This led to seasons of collecting together. When Evelyn moves away, she and Llewellyn share jars back and forth, maintaining their friendship by sharing their present.

The story will encourage children to collect, protect, save, share and reexamine what makes the everyday things around them special. Recommended.

By Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Sheffler

Julia Donaldson introduces us to five uniquely bizarre animals of the African Savanna. The five animals: Wildebeest, Warthog, Spotted Hyena, Lappet-Faced Vulture and Marabou Stork all believe that they are the ugliest of all the creatures that roam the Savanna. They chant a rhyming song as they move along meeting each other. At the end their off-springs prove that even though the might not be the most beautiful animal, they are loved and needed, A lesson everyone can heed.
At the end of the book the author and illustrator include two pages of drawings of other animals you might see on a safari. The illustrations are beautiful but don’t deter from the message.
A good read aloud to illustrate order of events.

 This young reader edition is adapted by the author, Keith O’Brien, from his adult book of the same title. In Fly Girls, O’Brien tells the widely unknown story of American female aviators in the 1920’s and 30′. Amelia Earhart’s amazing accomplishments and the mystery of her disappearance appears prominently in history books but how many know Ruth Nichols, Louise Thaden, Ruth Elder, and Florence Klingensmith? These young female aviators were held back by deep gender inequities during golden age of flying, and as O’Brien explains of their forgotten histories, “each of the women went missing in her own way.” 

The stories of these five “fly girls” show how they came from very different backgrounds and experiences. Nichols was a New York debutante, Thaden sold coal in Wichita, Elder was hiding her divorce, Klingensmith was working on airplane engines, and Earhart was in Boston making life changing decisions.

Airplane racing was a very hot sport between WWI and WWII but was completely dominated by men. The five “fly girls” struggled to find opportunities to fly, begged sponsors, borrowed planes, took risks such as daredevil stunts on the wings of planes. O’Brien tells all of these stories, including numerous fiery crashes and the tragedies that occured in the cockpit and also on the ground.

Fly Girls is in the vein of Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, telling the story of how a group of women banded together to break the glass ceilings, struggling against entrenched prejudice, to fight for the right to do the job which had been seen as exclusively for men.

This Young Reader edition includes a glossary, source notes by chapter, an index, and primary source black and white photos.

By Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant
Illustrated by Merrilee Liddiard

Leif and his friend, Laurel attempt many different ways to make his fall to the ground softer and easier. During his trials, all the other leaves taunt him but he perseveres. At last comes the time when an anxious Leif can not hold on anymore. Will his fall be disastrous?

The illustrations are simple but effective, giving each leaf a personality, This persistent tale lends to great discussion about never giving up, order of events, why and why not Leif’s inventions worked and the progression of the seasons. Great autumn read!

The book opens with Max writing invitations to his birthday sleepover, and feeling unsure about inviting the new kid, Sam, but his mom insists. Max can’t put his finger one what it is about Sam, just that there seems to be something strange about him. Throughout the story they never do come right out and say what the something is — the reader has to put the clues together. We learn he has a really good sense of smell, he’s not sure he can come to the birthday party because there’s a full moon that night, he likes his burgers really rare, after they change into pajamas that night he develops fangs and claws and really hairy hands, and when the moonlight shines on him, he runs out into the night. Though it never comes right out and say he’s a werewolf, the point is that though the boys are initially scares of his nighttime transformations, when they join him in his backyard adventures they all have a really good time and end up really liking him just as he is, not despite his weirdness, but because of it.

It’s rather got the feel of an olde world fable. Little Wise Wolf got his name because he loved to read so much that he came to know about many things and the other animals would come to him with their questions. But he doesn’t like being disturbed from his reading and complains about not having time for the other animals. When a messenger is sent to summon him to the bedside of the ill king, he doesn’t want to go, but is informed that one cannot refuse the king, so he sets off on a long journey. The trek is difficult, but he is helped along the way by the animals he did not have time for. After healing the king, he is offered a place within the castle where he can read all day undisturbed, but Little Wise Wolf realizes he must return to his friends, because he still has a lot to learn from them. From then on he is never too busy for those who come to visit him, and yet he still manages to read and learn in abundance. It’s got a lovely message, and while I can appreciate the way the illustrations contribute to the olde world feel of the story, I worry that the dark and drab colors will be a turn-off to many students and it may not circulate much.

Well, it’s title is in sparkly letters and it’s about unicorns, so you already know it’s going to be a hit with young readers. But I like it for the way it celebrates imagination. I like the way the text and illustrations play against each other, adding to the reader’s understanding. The text describes the setting as a magic forest; the illustrations show a backyard scene on the edge of some woods. When the text describes castles and magic wands, the illustrations show a tree house and a stick. The story tells of our young heroine stumbling upon a group of tiny magic horses who are learning to fly (and who look suspiciously like bunny rabbits), and discovering one who is sad because it can’t fly. After doing everything she can think of to cheer it up and help it, she decides to make him an ice cream cone, but she’s in such a hurry to take it to him that she’s running, she trips, and the cone lands on the “horse’s” head, which he turns out to like very much and is suddenly inspired to fly. So it’s essentially this author’s version of the unicorns’ origin story.

It’s a poem celebrating self-affirmation, recognizing and honoring all the things that make us each fabulous. I’m sorry to be redundant, but I can’t think of a better word: this book is unabashedly celebratory. It doesn’t just celebrate the big things, like wanting to be an astronaut, but all the little things, too, like making a great paper airplane and telling someone “bless you” when they sneeze. The illustrations are oil paintings that are vibrant and full of personality and offset the text beautifully, adding to the mood created by the text.

A young girl worried about her fishman father on those nights each month with no moon. Finding the crying girl, the sun took one of his golden rays and shattered it into a million glowing pieces for her to place in the sky to light her father’s way. She worked tirelessly to carefully place each star, slowly creating the constellations. A curious monkey snatched her bag of stars, still full after months of work and in the tug-a-war the stars were strewn across the sky creating the Milky Way.

How the Stars Came To Be is a solid new folktale. The book’s illustrations, however, are what really make the book shine. The author’s Indian roots can be seen in the almost henna-like illustrations. Recommended.