Eh.  It’s okay.  The main character is Rhina O’Virus, and it basically tells the story of how a germ invades a body to cause a cold.  The illustrations are bright and cheerful, but not exactly informative.  The story is told in terms of buildings and copy machines and police and parties, but in order to make the connections between the story and the reality of what happens, it’s important to read the straight-forward paragraph on the last page, which mostly kids won’t read. It’s kinda hard to follow.

The illustrations are sweet.  The audience is limited.  The text is simple:  describing all the ways toddler Mimi mimics the grown ups around her, from putting on lipstick like Mommy and slurping soup like Grandpa. In the end, Grandma gives kisses just like Mimi.  It would be recommended for those catering to a pre-school audience, but will hold limited appeal for older kids.

Maybe it would get a ranking of Recommended for a library in the SW, but other than being set in a desert environment, with desert animals as the characters, I don’t find anything else particularly unique about it.  It tells the story of Old Armadillo waiting at home for the trick-or-treaters to come, but he gradually gives up and goes to bed because no one is coming, but outside they are all congregating and waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive.  Then they all ring his bell at once and they all have a party together.  The pictures are rather dark, which was probably intentional to set the Halloween mood, but I actually found them more gloomy than spooky.

A cute story about a baby elephant who’s getting teased by his big sister for not knowing how to squirt dirt or water out of his trunk.  By the end of the story big sister gets squirted right between the eyes.  The illustrations are bold and bright.  A strong additional purchase, bordering on the recommended.

This is the second one of these books I’ve gotten for free from SSBRC, and I haven’t liked either one of them.  I don’t think I’ll pick up any more, even if they are free.  They are really cheesy and pedantic.  Even knowing they are intended for a very young audience (probably strictly PreK, but maybe K at a stretch), I still feel like they read down to kids.  There are better books to teach the lessons with more of an actual story, without being  so preachy.

Charming illustration in the tradition of claymation accompany simple rhyming text of noun-verb phrases, mostly set in pairs of adult/young animals (e.g. “Chicken clucks, chick scratches. Duck quacks, duckling hatches.”) It’s cute, it’s sweet, and it’s got educational opportunities teaching rhyme, animals, and grammar.  It’s limited audience almost made me list it as “additional purchase,” but I think I’m going to go ahead and give it “Recommended.”

There’s probably a limited audience to whom this book will appeal.  It tells the story of a young girl moving to Israel with her parents.  She describes the new things she experiences and how she misses her grandmother, keeping in touch by phone, emails, and letters until her first visit.  Though there are certain themes in the book that would carry over to any child making a move to a new culture, it really is very specific to Israel, and would probably appeal mostly to children of Jewish heritage or those who have visited or are planning to visit Israel.

A cute book chronicling the first year of a baby’s life, from the baby’s perspective.  A good tool for teachers trying to teach young writers about the concept of voice, and a fun read for anyone who has a baby brother or sister (or other babies in their lives).

This is the story of a young bunny rabbit who finds a squirrel in the woods that he thinks is sleeping, but when he carries it home his parents inform him that it is dead, and they bury it.  I guess it’s fine, but I think there are better options out there if you need something in your collection explaining death.

Set in the South Africa of its authors, this picture book tells the story of a young (personified) cow who is looking for her soccer ball.  She keeps thinking she’s spotted it only to find she’s mistaken a rock or a fruit or the moon for her ball. In the end, a bird who has been following her throughout her search finally catches up with her and tells her that her ball has been in her backpack all along.  American students will question that the soccer ball and all the items mistaken for it are plain white instead of the black and white patterns they associate with soccer balls.  Many of the objects found in the search will be unfamiliar to American students and may require explanation.

Intended to be used as an instructional tool to teach alphabetic and phonemic skills, this is one book in a series of twenty-six, with each book focusing on a specific letter of the alphabet.  If this were a tool being used in the classrooms of your school, it might be nice to have a set in the library for students to explore on their own, but as a stand-alone story it doesn’t reach much beyond adequate, and I’m not sure the cost of investing in the entire set would really be worth the dough.

The subtitle of the book (“Nefarious Silliness”) is fitting.  This is just a fun, silly collection of poems with a Halloween theme.  The illustrations are fun and the poems have a good rhythm and rhyme that make them fun to read.  Some of the poems have a seem a little odd, but still fun. Kids will enjoy.

A small, attractive book, intended for young readers and language learners.  There are just a few sentences on each two-page spread, in large font, presented in both English and Spanish, accompanied by full-page photos or diagrams.  The information up-to-date, in line with our current understanding of space (Pluto is listed along with Ceres and Eris as dwarf planets, rather than with the other planets).  It is a useful tool for beginning readers as well as for introductory science, though the information provided is very basic.

This delightful collection of seven folktales come from diverse traditions including Indian, Chilean, Inuit, Seneca, Scottish, Russian, and West African.  The illustrations are charming, with enough similarities in artistic style to give the book a unified feel, but also some subtle differences that give each story a slightly different flavor, suggesting the culture from which the story comes.  My one criticism of the book, keeping it from achieving an R* rating is that the cover doesn’t seem to match the rest of the book:  the title, combined with the cover art seems to suggest spooky stories, but the “Mystery and Magic” of the title comes more from magic mice and birds and elves, rather than ghosts and goblins that some readers might expect when they pick up the book.

If I was in a bad mood this might even have gotten a “Not Recommended.”  I like the graphics of the format, and I’m choosing to let that influence my rating heavily.  It’s an attractive book, and the engaging graphics will certainly capture kids’ attention.  The problem is that the characters/plot are not particularly well-developed:  a bunch of monster kids play hide-and-seek and the invisible kid wins.  My worry is that when kids choose what looks like a good book, if they are the disappointed by it, it will feed the books-are-boring prejudice that we are always trying to fight.

Tara is an unhappy child who says unkind things to everyone.  For her seventh birthday, her granny gave her a special gift – a little grey kitten.  When deciding on a name for the cat, she gets a strange feeling in her forehead and is stunned to hear her cat talk.  The kitten tells Tara his name is Ash-ting and proceeds to guide Tara towards being more pleasant and being a better friend.  Ash-ting’s psychic comments act as Tara’s conscience.  He mentions Tara’s aura is pink when she is happy and black when she is cross.  Tara discovers how good it feels when she does something that makes someone else happy.  With Ash-ting’s help, Tara makes new friends at school and finally begins to think about helping others.  Kate Shannon’s simple, pen and ink drawings compliment the story and are on almost every page.  The value of this book lies in the common-sense suggestions of how to be a friend.

This is a longer version of the traditional three little pigs story.  The three Pygg brothers, Marvin, Lester, and James, built a strong, brick house to keep out wolves.  Wilfong Wolf showed up and wanted in.  When the Pyggs would not let him in (and he couldn’t blow the house down) Wilfong decided not to let them out.  All winter he stayed by the window listening to stories, watching them play games, and sharing their food.   By spring, Wilfong had reformed and the Pygg brothers, while not afraid of him any longer, still would not let him come in.  In the summer, the Pyggs built an additional room on their house with an outside door  for Wilfong.  They also decided to let him go with them on vacation to the beach.  After a daring rescue from a rafting accident, the Pyggs finally accepted Wilfong as a friend. One morning, hungry wolves surrounded the house and once again Wilfong used his ingenuity to rescue the Pyggs.  Readers familiar with the three little pigs story will enjoy this humorous, more sophisticated, ending.  Illustrations are watercolor, pencil and digital.  While engaging, they are somewhat abstract.  Buildings and heads are two-dimensional.  While the Pyggs are brothers, sometimes they appear to be mother, father, an child.  Even so, this version of the three little pigs is charming.

   This novel for young artists features, fourth grade Noonie, feeling alone in the world.  Her mother died when Noonie was five and her father is off on archeology digs, so Noonie lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousin.  Not a great student, Noonie doodles during class and lands herself in the principal’s office far too often.  The bright spot in her life comes when there’s an art contest at school.  Noonie thinks if she wins, it will bring her father home.  The charm of this book is the artwork decorating  nearly every page.  Sometimes the page is artistic because the text font is in different colors, sometimes the page is in a color other than white, but mostly there’s colorful abstract artwork to help tell the story in Noonie’s world.  This book will attract the attention of kids who love to draw.

I love this story.  It is written as notes back and forth between a boy and his parents.  it is creative and funny.  The solution is wonderful and the life lesson so meaningful.  We all like to be with others.

The pictures are as fun as the story.

This is a well done. Book!

This is the story of Baboushka, who lets 3 men stay in her home on their way to Bethlehem.  With all her cleaning and getting ready to go she misses her chance to follow them. So as she searches she gives presents to children who are pleased to receive a lovely gift.  She is still searching and giving gifts.

The pictures are beautiful and colorful.

Tennis superstar Serena Williams had a lot to overcome when she, and her sister Venus, took to the tennis courts.  A predominately white sport, these athletic sisters were encourage by their father, Richard Williams, to pursue tennis, when he learned that the winner of the French Open earned $22,000 for this feat.  He coached and supported first Venus, and then younger sister Serena throughout their lives.  This book chronicles Serena’s tennis career, which. obviously includes much of Venus’ successes as they often played against each other in tournaments.  Family love is a recurring theme throughout this book.  Sadly, one of Serena’s sisters was murdered, sending her into depression, pausing her from tennis as she battled depression.  The author does a thorough job logging Serena’s career.  The layout of the book, rich with photographs, makes this an informative and interesting read.

In this traditional retelling of Rapunzel, it is the artist, Sarah Gibb, who is making her mark by her delicate, clear, crisp, and highly detailed illustrations.  The use of sillouettes   against harmonious pastels tells the story.  Just beautiful!  I hope to see more picture books illustrated by this artist.

The komodo dragon lives on a small island in Indonesia, actually called Komodo Island.  Throughout the centuries rumors and stories have existed about these giant dragons.  Komodo dragons aren’t actual dragons, but are monitor lizards, the largest species of lizard.  And until the last 100 years or so, not too much was known about them.  People traveled to Komodo Island to capture and kill these creatures pretty much for sport.  By the late 1960’s, scientists were worried about them becoming extinct.  Interestingly enough, female lizards are able to lay eggs, hatching only males, without fertilization from males.  She and a male can then mate and create more males and females and keep the species going.  Studies done have shown that komodos in the wild are quite different than those in captivity.  Those in captivity can be quite docile and gentle, whereas those in the wild can be dangerous, and often are.  The photographs in this book are amazing.  Plus, it’s so interesting to find that the environment really affects the personality of this creature.  A portion of the proceeds of this book are donated to the Komodo Survival Program.  It is also noted that komods are protected under international law and they nor their skins can be taken from the wild, neither alive nor dead.

Going vegan herself at age 15, author Claire Askew knows the challenges experienced by teens who are curious about veganism, who aspire to become vegan, as well as those who are current vegans. This complete guide  is full of advise, stories, tips and resources. Topics include animal rights, on how to tell one’s parents, how to deal with friends who are not vegan, how to eat and stay healthy, working around dissection assignments in school, and more.

The book is divided into four sections: Part One covers ‘Dealing with Parents and Other Family’, ‘Friends and Peers’, and ‘Yourself’. Part Two covers ‘Stuff You Should Know’ about ‘Health and Nutrition’, ‘Who’s Who and What’s What’ (resources and cook books), ‘Goodies’ (beauty products, clothes / shoes), and ‘Outreach, School, etc.’ (school related ethical conflicts).  Part Three is titled ‘Food’ and focuses on ‘What Vegans Really Eat’, ‘New Foods’ and ‘The Recipes’. Part Four:  ‘How to Stay Vegan!’ has quotes, songs, and bonuses of being vegan in the ‘Inspire Me, Please’ chapter, and a more detailed reference section in ‘Where Do I Find…”. There is also an index and a buying guide for vegan cookbooks.

Ruby Valentine’s favorite day is Valentine’s Day, February 14–gee, who knew?  See plans for a big party in her new house and decorates big time.  She paints, hangs new curtains, bakes, cooks, every room gets a makeover.  She anticipates every need.  But as the day dawns, she wakes up to a mountain full of snow.  The party is cancelled because no one can make it up to her place.  Lovebird, her feathered friend, says that they should move the party to town.  So they do.  They find that a party is only important when you have friends with which to celebrate.  Who knew?  The coloring of the pages elicit a feeling of comfort and coziness.  Same message as countless other stories, just set in mid-winter and Valentine’s Day.