A beautifully illustrated story about elderly cats, young cats, and helping children overcome the death of a pet. Toby’s cat, Jack, is the best cat ever. But Jack is getting old, and Toby will miss his furry best friend terribly when he’s gone. Then Toby meets a crazy cat called Humphrey. In this charming and beautifully illustrated picture book Rebecca Elliott addresses the difficult subject of a child’s first experience of the death of a pet with warmth, sensitivity, and well-placed humor.

Baby Billy was born with a mustache. But Baby Javier, the new baby in town, was born with a beard. When Baby Javier comes over for a playdate, Baby Billy tries to show him a thing or two—but it quickly becomes a competition of manliness! Has Mustache Baby met his match? Or will the two remember the real point of a playdate?
The first book, Mustache Baby, was good, but this just takes it up to a whole new level! Again, there’s the hilarious character plays behind each style of mustache, but now throw in a beard and it gets that much better. Also, it still has the sentimental side where two kids are learning how to become friends. The illustrations? This book would not be what it is without them. There’s so many subtle little jokes in the illustrations! I love it. I love that it’s hilarious, clever, sentimental, and well-done. I highly recommend it, even if you haven’t read the first.

Kids are fascinated by sharks; the bigger the teeth, the better.  Plus, sharks this past summer have been in the news almost daily because of attacks on beach-goers.  By page 40 of Surrounded by Sharks, I had goosebumps and was scared for the main character, a 13-year-old boy named Davey.  Davey and his family were on the first day of vacation on a small island off the coast of Florida.  An early riser, Davey gets up and leaves the room while the others are sleeping.  Thinking he’d do some exploring and quiet reading, he finds a secluded beach which fits the bill.  There is a No Swimming sign posted, but Davey just wants to wade in to his knees and feel the warm water.  As waves splash him, he decides to go a little farther since he’s already wet.  He’s up to mid-chest but still touching the bottom, when he realizes the beach is farther away than he thought.  He turns to go back towards shore, but the riptide is carrying him out farther and farther.  No matter how hard he swims, he cannot get closer, until finally the current carries him out to sea.  Meanwhile he parents and brother have awakened and are searching for him, becoming more desperate with each passing minute.  Where could he be?  The obvious is on everyone’s mind–sharks–but no one had the courage to speak it out loud.  The suspense in this book is unbelievable–frantic swimmer, frantic parents, makes you want to scream Hurry!  Hurry!  Get a boat!  This is a real nail biter and should be a huge hit with the intermediate age readers.

Growling Gracie is part of the series Adventures at Hound Hotel.  The story takes place at a dog kennel run by the Wolfe family.  When Uncle Robert brings Gracie and Twinkles for an afternoon at the Hound Hotel, the twins Alfie and Alfreeda fight over playing frisbee with Twinkles.  Gracie and her aggressive alpha behavior cuts frisbee time off before it starts.  But the twins end up putting their knowledge of dog behavior to good use and helping each other out.  Gracie get a nap and Twinkles gets to play frisbee.

The book is a well paced engaging early chapter book sure to interest dog lovers.  Interspersed throughout the story are explanations of dog behavior and its roots in  wolf behavior.   The reader comes away believing that when dog behavior seems wrong, there is probably still a rational explanation from the dog’s perspective.

Back information includes breed information, glossary, questions, and author/illustrator information.

This book tells of the life of a phone booth on the corner of West End Avenue and 100th Street in New York City starting during the years when it saw heavy use, through the advent of cell phones and its decline into disrepair.  When a storm knocks out cell service, the phone booth again feels needed and valued.  Its imminent removal provokes outcry from those who relied on it for so many years.  It still stands today on its corner in New York.

While progress brings change, this story shows that people working together can make a difference and keep what is important in their lives.

This book provided a traditional retelling of this classic rags to riches tale.  Upon the death of his father, the third son of the miller is disappointed to receive a cat for his inheritance.  After asking for a pair of boots and a hat, the cat proceeds through trickery to obtain the king’s daughter in marriage for his master.

This book is the English edition of a book originally published in Korean.

Large text, non-fiction text features, and age appropriate experiments makes this an intriguing choice for budding young scientists.  After an introduction to the parts of a plant, the four experiments in the book focus on roots, stems, leaves, and seeds.

Its never too early, however, to use correct terminology for the scientific process.  Including terms such as hypothesis, materials, procedure, and results would make this book a better fit for school libraries building their STEM collection.

Contains table of contents, glossary, further reading, and index.

With lovely pictures, soothing cadence, and rhyming text, this book offers the sweet sentiment of bedtime stories everywhere with its repeated refrain, “You nest here with me.”  As the book progresses, the complexity of the details surrounding each subsequent bird and nesting location slowly abates as the colors cool and darken in preparation for the appearance of the moon and stars to sooth the child to sleep on the last page of the story.

Terms such as sedges, boles, and tors are not typical word choices for children’s bedtime stories, but these concise terms for nesting locations would be engaging for older audiences.  Author notes at the end of the book provides more information on the birds in an age appropriate version of an Audubon type bird book.

The love between a cat and an Egyptian queen transcends time in this wonderful and approachable introduction to ancient Egyptian culture and burial practices.  While the Mummy Cat’s exploration of the tomb introduces the reader to features of an Egyptian tomb, the vivid murals and the cat’s reminiscences portray ancient Egyptian life. The hieroglyphs incorporated in the story are explained in the back matter along with an age appropriate explanation of Egyptian mummies, cats, and queens.

This is a 15th Anniversary release of a fun story of Gerald the giraffe who’s insecurity about his body made him, “so sad, because when it came to dancing he was really bad.”  After teasing from the other animals and an embarrassed departure from the party, a cricket helps Gerald realize he just needed to find the right music. An uplifting story full of alliteration and rhyming shows that true self-esteem comes from within.

The child is the center of this charming explanation of a family tree as the author cleverly portrays the child’s paternal line reading from front to middle and the maternal line backwards from back to middle.  While the text and images offer a multicultural view of an extended family, both the maternal and paternal lines follow only the patrilineal decent.  The human factor comes through in both the word choice and detailed illustrations making this book an engaging selection.

I occasionally find myself watching a television show about haunted houses. If you do too, then this might be the book for you.

I’m not saying one way or the other whether or not I believe in ghosts and that is the stand Kat Sinclair is taking also. As this book series begins, 13 year old Kat Sinclair and her father are off to travel the world with a “ghost hunting” TV show Kat’s father will be hosting. Kat’s grandmother ( a former horror movie actress) has given her a very expensive camera to take along  on Kat’s travels. Also, grandmother is requesting Kat start a blog about her travel experiences.

Kat tries to be objective, but “Suddenly, I felt ridiculous. One day with a bunch of ghost hunters and I was already buying into the whole paranormal activity thing. Still…” (p. 59) “So that made three weird glitches: the printer, the camera, and the laptop… I wasn’t ready to believe the glitches were all thanks to a restless spirit haunting the show, but at least now I had something to write about for my second blog post.” (p. 64)

The pace keeps building and the suspense with it as urban legends of haunted places in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a prison in Brussels keep the reader racing across the pages. So fast paced, I suspended my skepticism in ghosts and took the actions for fact.

Warning! If you are squeamish over the mere mention  of a ‘tween being bullied for being gay, this is not the book for you. The bullying is mentioned early in the book, but the reason for the bullying isn’t revealed until p. 214 of  the 240 pages. And at this point in the series, it is only mentioned as a reason for the boy’s unfriendliness.

Warning! The book has a Ouija Board being used by two young people who believe in its powers.