Love Steve Jenkins’s work! This one addresses the reasons and methods by which some animals draw attention to themselves in the wild. Kids are often familiar with the need of animals to camouflage camouflage themselves in order to hide from predators or sneak up on prey, and this book points out that sometimes an opposite need exists, either to attract a mate or frighten off potential predators. Jenkins’s bright collage illustrations provide stunning details, and introduce students to a variety of uncommon animals from across the globe.  The main text of the book focuses on the means and reasons for animals to draw attention, but further information pages in the back provide extra details for the curious reader.

There are a few clever poems included, but the quality is inconsistent, which makes a certain amount of sense, given that they are all written by different authors. The illustrations don’t do anything to enhance the appeal of the book: the color scheme is drab and dull.

It’s a very simple book, with a simple, straightforward message: that we don’t need to be just like others in order to just like each other.  The illustrations are sweet and inviting, using a whole variety of animals to represent differences. The text is limited, with lots of repetition and rhyming, which is helpful for emergent readers, and the message is an important one.

I wish I could recommend this book. It’s beautifully illustrated, and full of beautiful sentiments about the American people. It certainly represents all sorts of things I want to be true. But it is so idealized it makes broad generalized statements that aren’t necessarily true of all Americans: when discussing the natural beauty of the land, it states, “Americans know that all these things are gifts to be cherished and protected, and passed on to future generations of Americans.” Yet we hear regularly in the news that a large percentage of Americans believe these things need to be exploited for economic gain. The book declares America a place, “where hard work is rewarded; where people can climb as high as their hearts and minds can reach.” As much as we all like to believe this to be true, it is not always the reality experienced by all Americans. I even debated giving this book a Not Recommended rating, but I’m going soft on it because I want it to be true.

I love this book! Surely, everyone who has ever read this book must love it. The illustrations are detailed and beautiful and full of personality. The language is rich and the story is multi-layered. When a baby fruit bat gets separated from her mother and falls into a nest of baby birds, she does her best to fit in, eating the bugs that mother bird brings, sleeping by night, and not hanging by her toes.  But then she flies ahead one day during flight practice, and instead of flying back to the nest at dusk, she stays out on her own past dark, where she meets others like herself, who teach her how to be a bat again. And she gets reunited with her mother, too.  When she returns to the nest to share all her new discoveries with her bird friends, things don’t quite go as planned, but they all decide their friendship overrides all their differences.

I feel like I am supposed to give this book a stronger rating, as it won an award in Holland. But if I am honest, I personally found both the story and the illustrations a bit odd. The story is about a knitting goat whose creations come to life. She starts out knitting goats, but when challenged by a neighbor she gets carried away and knits a wolf, who ends up eating the neighbor. When she knits a tiger to eat the wolf, it does, but then it turns on her. She finally figures out to knit a monster to eat the tiger, but not to let it off the needles, so after he eats the tiger she unravels the monster and keeps unraveling the other creatures until she sets her neighbor free.

If i were to judge solely on the illustrations, I would probably give this book an R*:  The illustrations are fabulous, somehow managing to be space-agish while having a certain vintage quality at the same time. But I am less thrilled with the text:  at times the rhythm seems a bit forced, and it can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be factual or fanciful. The rhyming text tells of an adventure on a rocket that only flies once a year,to fly out among the stars and see a giant banner wishing the earth happy birthday.  The last page offers some informational text explaining roughly how old the earth is, and potting the light power of the sun in terms of birthday candles.

The bright, graphic art is appealing to young readers, and keeps the monsters on the silly side instead of the scary side. The text rhymes. It’s got a cute surprise factor at the end, when monster number 10 turns out to be the narrator’s own sock puppet luring the others into a trap. He claims he intends to ship them far away, but the illustrations hint that perhaps he’s come to like them after all.

Jeff Mack has a new series-  Mr. Monkey.  Mr. Monkey is visually appealing slap-stick. Since this is book #1 , the numeral one is replaced with the icon of a single banana. The end-papers are filled with the images of single bananas.

Mr. Monkey sets out to make a banana cake. While he mixes the ingredients, he eats bananas. Oops, he forgot to peel the bananas he put into his cake. Oops, by the time the cake is finished Mr. Monkey has eaten so many bananas he is full, but slips one last banana into his pocket. Then, his email chimes  on his computer. There is a cake show where he can win a ribbon! Off Mr. Monkey goes to the cake show. As he walks to the cake show crossing the streets, escaping hungry birds (with teeth), a dog, and a gorilla at the zoo, Mr. Monkey arrives too late to enter the cake for a ribbon. Oh, No! The gorilla has followed Mr. Monkey to the cake show. The gorilla is chasing Mr. Monkey around creating a mess of the other cakes. Frosting is everywhere. Mr. Monkey is face to face with the angry gorilla. Oh! Mr. Monkey remembers he has a banana in his pocket. Gorillas like bananas, too. As Mr. Monkey leaves the cake show, he slips on the banana peel landing face first in his cake.

“Mr. Monkey Bakes a Cake” is silly, yet endearing!

Empire of Storms is the fifth book in the bestselling Throne of Glass series. It is not a stand alone novel: the reader needs the extensive character and plot background presented in the earlier books in this epic fantasy series. In Empire of Storms, Aelin continues the long path to the throne. Those who possess magic are in conflict with those who do not. Conflict rages over loyalties. Friendships are broken. Aelin and Rowan’s relationship is displayed in fairly several racy love scenes. The story is told in multiple point of view, which makes for interesting reading.
Recommended only for high school and up due to the sex scenes.

Even though this is book is from the Beginning Science series, it gives a more scientific look at magnetism. It uses vocabulary like electrons and particles, which readers may need to look up in the glossary. At the end of the text there is a Let’s Review section that covers 4 of the main ideas from the text. As with most Abdo Kids books, there is a code at the end that links to crafts, games, and videos online.

Full of up-close photographs of flies and maggots, Becoming a Fly is full of information about the fly life cycle. It breaks the cycle down to 4 stages. There are several informational text features including bold words, a glossary, and an index. Students can use the code at the end of the book to access more information about flies as well as crafts, games, and videos.

Patterns in Nature looks at the different types of patterns you can find in the natural world. Each two page spread has one or two simple sentences and a color photograph. It explains that a pattern is an order that is repeated. It then looks at several different types of patterns. I think as an introduction about patterns, it would be nice to include what the pattern is, as they did on the page about the macaws. The picture glossary at the end is helpful for students to identify the bold words in the text.

Narwhals are currently very popular with students. This book gives us some information about narwhals with simple sentences that would be attainable for many age groups. Other than photographs and a few questions in text boxes, this book did not contain many informational text features. When it was describing the parts of a narwhal, it would have been nice if it had a diagram on that page instead of at the back of the book. One of the pages left me with several questions. “A narwhal is slow. But it can be fast. It moves quickly to escape predators.” Is that the only time it is fast? Why is is slow? Especially because it goes on to ask a question about how the body shape helps it swim.

I think this book would be an introduction and jumping off point for those readers who are interested in narwhals.

A look at different things that happen in the spring. Each page has 3-5 simple sentences. There are bold words and a glossary, but some of the words seemed to be unnecessary as a keyword (i.e. animals). On a few pages the text asks the reader questions that relate back to text. At the end of the book, there is a list of books and websites for further research.

The book is aimed at Kindergarten – 2nd grade. While the information is very basic, the number of sentences on each page would not lend itself to be an independent read for some at that level.

Magnetism is a title in Scholastic’s Blastoff Readers’ series, Science Starters. The text takes us through what is magnetism, types of magnets, earth as a magnet and magnetism in our lives. There are several text features in the book including bold words, labels, and a glossary. Each page includes several sentences on the topic, but on a whole, it is a basic overview of magnetism.

At the back of the book there is a list of books for further reading. It also includes details for how to access factsurfer.com, which links you to sites for further information and videos on the topic. There is also an experiment for readers to try.

Bridges is a title in Scholastic’s Blastoff Readers’ new series, Everyday Engineering. The text takes us through what are bridges, types of bridges, and how bridges work in a very simplified manner. There is a glossary in the back of the text for bold words, but some more challenging words like cantilever are not defined. There are photographs of several bridges, but it does not always tell where the bridge is and for some of the pretty cool bridge construction I wanted to know more about them. They only name and give details for the Golden Gate Bridge.

At the back of the book there is a list of books for further reading. It also includes details for how to access factsurfer.com, which links you to sites for further information and videos on the topic.

The Water Cycle is a nonfiction book from the series Weather. This is one of the series in Abdo Publishing’s new Pop! Books. Several of the pages include QR codes with further information or activities. You can also access the activities, information, and teacher resources at popbookonline.com.

On each two page spread there are text and color photographs. Text features are on several pages including keywords, a diagram, text boxes, glossary, and index. At the end there is also a section on making connections (text to self, text to text, and text to world).

Toucans is a nonfiction book from the series Rain Forest Animals. On each two page spread there is text and color photographs. There are text features on several pages including keywords, a diagram, text boxes, glossary, and index. At the end there is also a section on making connections (text to self, text to text, and text to world). Several of the pages include QR codes with further information or activities. You can also access the activities, information, and teacher resources at popbookonline.com.

A Dog Named Doug by Karma Wilson is a fun, loosely rhyming read. There is some alliteration that can be a bit of a tongue twister. Matt Myers, the illustrator, is creative in tying his pictures into the words, but sometimes the illustrations impeded the text. It took me a bit to figure out that the mountains were standing in for the letter M for several words. As a read aloud, this would be a fun book, but as a book for beginning readers to check out, decoding the words that have pictures as the letter could be a challenge.