Cinderella is a new princess bride as the story opens, but helping others in a servant role is deeply engrained in her actions. The King’s mother is coming to visit. She missed the Prince and Cinderella’s wedding. Grandmama would like to see Cinderella wear the blue sapphire tiara she had sent her. The tiara is not in Cinderella’s room, so she goes to the Royal Jewel Vault to look for it. The tiara is not in its special box. Then the royal search of the castle begins. The tiara has not yet been found when Grandmama arrives at the castle. The plot twists and turns as Cinderella and Grandmama waltz about as they each keep their secret about the tiara from the other one. In the end, both Cinderella and Grandmama humbly and apologetically  tell the other their secret about the tiara and in so, begin their friendship.

Each of the nine chapters has two full-color Disney Cinderella illustrations.

The Book of Blood is absolutely fascinating!  I was mesmerized reading it.  It includes so much information about blood–who knew?  There is the elements of blood, the lost science of Egypt, disease, transfusions and bloodletting, terms ‘blue blood’ and ‘cold blooded’ explained as well as others, blood pressure and pulse, the early science of ‘seeing’ blood, and more.  The info is delivered short and sweet, with just enough to pique curiosity and not too much to get bored or tired of it.  Whether you read it cover to cover, or in bits and pieces,The Book of Blood should be in every school library.

Kids love to draw and drawing books are a popular item at our school library.  This book is different because the directions are easy to follow.  The illustrations aren’t cluttered up but simple.  Kids can add as much as they want.  I will get the other books in this series as it teaches kids how to draw.

This non-fiction book has a little bit of everything in it–although the title leads one to believe that it is mainly about pets and animals owned by the presidents of the United States, it is actually much more than that.  Each two-page spread has information on a president, in chronological order, which includes a poem about the president and his pet(s), or not.  His accomplishments during his term(s)  are listed as well as info on his family.  The accompanying illustration is more of a caricature or political cartoon of the president, rather than a portrait, showing something rather funny well known about the president.  A great book for browsing and animal lovers.

This is a detailed book on chimpanzees.  It covers a broad variety of topics relating to them and their connections with humans.

There are sections in the book that encourage thoughtful research on the subject, with suggestions of where to find more information.

I liked the project that tells the reader to find ten words in the book that are new to them and find the definition.  It basicly has the reader create a personal glossary.  The Pictures in the book are wonderful.  The font is clear and easily read.

This is a good book for older children.

Wow!  The photography in this book is amazing!  The text in this non-fiction book is appropriate reading for the primary grades, with bold, high-lighted words featuring the science vocabulary.  The text and photos are perfectly matched.  The fine details with which the hawk is captured is reason enough to buy this book–clear features are caught in action.  I plan on adding several of the books from this series to my library shelves.

This is a very funny book.  The pictures are very funny.  The characters are perfect for the Northwest, and no doubt many places with lots of water and wildlife.  The story deals with three friends, beaver, bear, and moose, who have trouble getting along.  It is fun to see the problems that causes, and how they pull together to work things out.

Easy to read font. Some new words for non-boaters.

I liked it!

This is a rather different and interesting story about a girl who is blind, but learns to use her ability to smell to get around and help others.

The vocabulary is filled with words that will probably be unfamiliar to younger readers, but a great way to increase their vocabulary.

The pictures are whimsical and soft.  I enjoyed the story.

This is a book that girls who enjoy creating things would enjoy.  Some of the projects could become rather messy, and some of the crafts seem rather tacky, but younger girls would probably have fun with it, and the book does instruct them in some basic skills, such as hand sewing, sewing on a button, and other very useful skills.  It’s a great book for beginning crafters and sewers.  The instructions are easy to understand and are accompanied with good pictures.  There are clear simple lists of supplies, and good recipes for creating home beauty products.  It is a nice addition to our elementary school library.  I think the girls will like the book.

This is a good positive book to help young children learn to deal with the feelings they have when they are worried.  There is a page at the front of the book for adults that has good advice for teaching children to deal with worry.

The pictures are cute, and the font is large and easily read.  The vocabulary is simple and easy for young children to understand.  They have many ideas in the book for dealing with worry and becoming happy again.

It’s a good book.

This book is very interesting and full of fun facts about sloths and where they live.  The pictures re clear and close up.  The font is very large and bold, making it easy to read.

The book compares two-toed and three-toed sloths.

This book is a great addition to our non-fiction library!  I think this is a book that will be checked out often by our children.

Jared Lee has heavily illustrated this installment of Mike Thaler’s Black Lagoon series in black and white drawings.

Hubie and his class have never celebrated the 100th day of school before. Their teacher, Mrs. Green, wants them to bring 100 of something to school on that day. Hubie begins with 6 complaints about school, but “Mrs. Green says that’s not in the spirit of the day.” (p. 11) What do I have 100 of to bring to school for my homework? What to bring in? Hubie doesn’t have enough baseball cards and grandma is only 81 years old, not 100. all the students are keeping their 100 collection a secret. The other teachers are getting in on the event by having a 100-yd. dash in PE, and counting to 100 by twos, and Mrs. Green “is bringing in a hundred-dollar bill. I’ve never seen one, and whoever can guess who’d on it will get to hold it for a  hundred minutes. Wow! The guesses range from George Washington to Spider-Man.” ( p. 41) When the day arrives one student brings one hundred pennies, another one tries to do one hundred push-ups, “Penny sings a song with one hundred notes– all the wrong ones”, someone else has the class stay quiet for one hundred secrets,  one hundred knock-knock jokes, and then it is Hubie’s turn. He has composed a poem with one hundred words in it.  [I can’t wait for 100 Day next school year, so I can copy and enlarge Hubie’s poem on my library bulletin board.]

Thaler has included at least three idioms in this story: 1) playing cards close to vest, 2) clammed up, and 3) back to square one hundred.

The arctic fox is one of nature’s most adaptable animal.  Everything about this animal enables it to survive nature’s harshest environments.  Their amount of fat, metabolism, even how their blood circulates all help the fox to survive in temperatures of – 60 Fahrenheit.  They know how to store food for those times when fresh food may be scarce–a refrigerated system to keep it well preserved.  The arctic fox differs from other foxes in that it is more squat and close to the ground in order to conserve heat.  In reading this book, what impresses you is how unique nature is to adapt to whatever it needs to in order to survive.  The arctic fox is a very clever animal, indeed.

Come and Play, Mr Croc is a board book for the very young, perhaps one year and up.  Five characters are introduced at the very beginning and page by page, the reader looks for one of the characters hiding.  Very colorful and eye-catching.  Youngsters will enjoy one-on-one storytime with this book.

This five senses book is for toddlers, ages two years and up.  It covers all the five senses and with each one gives a fair amount of examples plus added vocabulary to describe things.  A youngster will be delighted with a one-on-one storytime using this book.

This story is creative and fun.  It teaches a lot about the fun of using your imagination.  I liked the way the boy with the box includes everyone, even the boy who was showing off.  The font changes when the characters are talking, however the choice of font style is somewhat hard to read and fairly small in places.

The pictures are interesting and unique.  This is a good read for children.

The first half of this book seemed quite different from the second half; shorter sentences almost made it seem it was targeting a very young audience.  The information given was common, not exactly riveting.  However, the second half picked up quite substantially.  The writing seemed to evolve from elementary to something more substantive and meaningful.  Comparisons were made but no judgment given.  Illustrations are like caricatures of the people themselves; nicely done.  The end of the book features a list of the presidents, in order, stating the dates served and major events and/or accomplishments during their term(s).

Darwin’s Frog, Rhinoderma darwinii, is a small frog, about one inch in length, indigenous to southern Chile.  This frog is different from other frogs because of mothering of the male frogs.  A female frog will choose a strong frog with which to mate, lays her eggs and is gone.  The male frog sticks around the eggs to watch over them.  Just when the eggs are about to hatch, he scoops them up into his mouth and keeps them in his vocal sacs  for about two months.  When they have developed into mini-frogs, he opens his mouth and they hop out, about as big as your little fingernail.  These frogs are hard to find because their habitat is being destroyed by development.  They are also masters at camouflage and can hide quite easily.  If they fear being caught, they flip over and play dead.  All in all, Darwin’s frogs are quite unique from other frogs.

Hooray! It’s baseball season ! Mr. Putter decides there is more to summer than taking naps. Mr. Putter and  Mrs. Teaberry  demonstrate their baseball prowess in this short 5 chapter story of geriatric baseball. Mrs. Teaberry’s dog Zeke almost causes them to loose the game when Zeke runs away with the balls after they have been grounded by the batters.

In this colorful mixture pf cut paper, folded paper, photos, and painting, a story unfolds as a newly folded origami dog discovers his new garden environment: smells, dirt- soil, and Roger the earthworm. In this enjoyable introduction to earth science for the primary grades, Roger the earthworm teaches Kitanai, the origami dog, the importance of dirt and about its composition: topsoil, nutrients, humus, bacteria, decomposers, subsoil layer, and bedrock.

Includes directions on how to fold an origami dog (head) like Kitanai.

Also includes: www.facthound.com.

Camellia loves pretending and her favorite scene is being a flower girl, until one day she is asked to be a flower girl for real.  It’s her dream come true, until she finds out there are two other flower girls.  Planning on being grumpy for the wedding, her attitude changes when she finds out the other two girls love to play the same thing as her.  They all become new friends and the wedding is perfect.  Cute story for little girls who know what flower girls do.  In visiting the website, www.flowergirlworld.com, you will find more than you ever thought possible about flower girls.  There are books, activities, crafts, fashion, tips and more.  Great idea for feminine little girls.

Wendell Minor must really like pumpkins; here’s his second picture book on them.  In this story, the emphasis is on BIG pumpkins.  Each pair of pages uses a synonym for BIG to demonstrate what big really means.  Pumpkins are seen at Mt. Rushmore, at a litehouse, at Cape Canaveral, and other places of comparison.  Synonyms are in a different color in all caps.  Some of the words are too hard and unfamiliar for the younger students.

Everyone knows that the custodian is one of the most important people of the school and he is somewhat of a mystery.  He’s the only one who knows where all the secret places are hidden.  In this elementary school, Fester Smudge (Uncle Fester?) is the custodian, and apparently he has talent for disaster.  Kids have the best imagination when it comes to what adults do, and this is a great example of that imagination.  After fantasies of flood, dragons, and caves, Mr. Smudge is actually a pretty nice guy.

This book begins and ends with the same idea:  all dogs are related to the wolf and how the resemblance remains regardless of breeding.  Dogs are put into categories such as hunting dogs, herding dogs, lap dogs, etc.  Each page shows a photo of a dog and gives information as to it’s history, trainability and temperament.  Not included are weaknesses, height, weight, etc.  Kids will enjoy reading about dogs and this book may help them decide on what type of dog to get.

This TRUE Book is disappointing in the lack of  information it delivers. There are five chapters: 1- Studying the Earth, 2- History of Geology, 3- Our Rapidly and Slowly Changing Earth, 4- The Rock Cycle, and 5 – Frozen Fields and Outer Space.  Chapter 1 and 2 each begins with a set of rhetorical questions that peak curiosity, but the chapters do not satisfy.  Chapter-1 Studying the Earth indicates there are at least six varieties of geologists: study the materials that make up the earth, study fossils, study major structures on earth’s surface, study how earth’s surfaces change, look for energy sources, and look for areas conducive to building, but do not go into detail.

Chapters 3 and 4 deliver the most information the reader would expect to learn from a book with the title- GEOLOGY: The Study of Rocks. Chapter 3 informs the reader about the layers of the earth in a comparison with a peach and includes a diagram, grinding tectonic plates and erosion change the earth slowly, while earthquakes and volcanoes change the earth quickly. Chapter 4 informs the reader of the rock cycle with its three stages: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

Finally, chapter 5 deflates the reader by mentioning studies of geologists in  arctic regions and in outer space which one day may prove of interest, but for now is too theoretical for young readers.