Although this title says its for kids, it is really for any beginning cook or baker. The information before the recipes is important and shown well; i.e., how to measure dry ingredients, different ways to measure the same amount, common terms, safety tips, list of needed utensils, and a picture list of ingredients. There are seven different bar cookie recipes that look delicious; easy steps and pictures to show what to do and what it should look like. There are five other books in this series, all of them cookies. Includes a message to adult helpers to let the kids learn math and science through cooking, and to set some ground rules. Kids love cooking and this book will be popular.

Asking questions and writing down the answers is a different way to write a biography. It almost makes it seem more personal because the questions asked are probably the ones you’d ask if you had a chance. That’s the idea of this new series, Cub Reporter Meets Famous Americans. The information is exactly what young kids want to know. Interesting that the Table of Contents shows each questions. Jackie Robinson has been a baseball hero for ages. Even today, as President Obama visits Cuba, the first president in over 80 years to do so, his fellow travelers are Jackie’s widow and daughter. Cubans love baseball and Jackie Robinson is the epitome of the sport.

It’s boring. It tells the story of a sloth who ventures out once per year to attend a sleeping party with a bunch of other animals. They all bring their comfort items, scope out the best place to sleep, watch the pajama parade, and fall asleep during the first lullaby.  And the next morning everyone goes home.  And sloth goes home and goes back to sleep.  I’m not sure what the point is supposed to be.

A reasonable selection for those with a large preschool population, but it will have limited audience in most school libraries, as it seems to be targeting the youngest set.  When Pig shows up for a camp out with Rabbit, the shadow cast by the lantern startles Rabbit.  When Pig insists she’d not be scared even if there was a monster, Rabbit goes on to offer a series of what-ifs, to which Pig answers each with a brave plan, until Rabbit suggests turning out the light, at which point Pig has to admit she’s scared of the dark. In response, Rabbit points out how well the stars shine in the dark, and they end with a plan to watch the stars together and scare off whatever monsters come around, also together.  It’s got a good balance of recognizing that we all have things we are scared of, but the power to stand up to our fears with a little help from our friends.

Some of the illustrations are cool.  The bright colors of geometric shapes overlaid to create pictures was what caught my eye, but some the pictures have so many shapes and colors layered on top of each other that the point of the illustration becomes muddled, which is sort of fitting, as the message of the text is also less than clear.  It begins by talking about how humans used to walk everywhere, then it goes on to describe all the inventions and developments that have allowed us to take traveling great distance at ease for granted, then it shares how some of the animals manage to travel even greater distances, or at greater speeds, but then points out that the animals do so without disrupting the balance of our planet, while human transportation feats reshaped the landscape and cause pollution.  I’m not saying it’s not a worthy message, I just think neither the illustrations nor the text manage to deliver it very effectively.

When Monkey sees a sign advertising a rhyming contest in which the winners will win a three-day cruise, he spends the bulk of the story attempting to talk Duck into being his partner for the contest.  Monkey suggests rhyme after rhyme to get Duck into the spirit of things, but every time it’s Duck’s turn to finish the rhyme, all he says is, “Quack.”  In the end Monkey figures out how to work with Duck to make their team a success.  Kids will  enjoy making suggestions for what Duck ought to say each time, they’ll probably predict the solution before Monkey figures it out, and they’ll enjoy the little surprise twist at the end.

Does any child make it through growing up without wanting to run away at some point?  Little Loula is fed up with her little triplet brothers, so she decides to set off on her own, being sure to pack the true essentials:  her stuffed cat, her tea set, and her best drawing.  Wanting to get as far away as she can, she announces to her family that she’s leaving for Africa, and proceeds to climb a large tree in her front yard.  When the family chauffeur, Gilbert, stumbles across young Miss Loula, he enters into her adventure and accompanies her around town in their search for Africa, with all sorts of everyday things they encounter taking on African guises within their imaginations (e.g. the sandbox in the park becomes the desert they must cross, the kids on the monkey bars become chimpanzees).  After a full day, in which all the essentials she packed play a part, Gilbert leads his tired mistress home.  It’s just sweet, and I think kids will both relate to the sentiment and enjoy spotting the differences between the imagination-laden text and the reality portrayed in the illustrations.

A cute story, with childlike illustrations that teaches an important lesson about the downsides of greed and the importance of moderation:  as the story begins, Mr. King is living in a little house on top of a big hill, but he wants a big caste, so he starts chopping off pieces of his hill to create the blocks to build his big castle, not noticing the holes he’s leaving behind; by the time he’s finished and proudly looks out his window, he realizes there’s not much of a view anymore, and his friends are complaining about things they miss.  In the end a nice compromise is found when they work together to put things back mostly the way they were before, surprising Mr. King with a little castle.

It’s an adequate selection for libraries wishing to add books about adoption, but I think there are better choices out there.  This one is a fairly straightforward account of a young girl describing what it means for her that she was adopted, covering the usual basics: not looking like one’s parents, having both a birth mom and a forever mom, attending cultural classes to stay connected with where she was born, knowing that she is loved and belongs right where she is.  I thought the connection to the title was a bit clunky, an I can’t say I was thrilled with the illustrative style as a fit for the story, but it’s okay.  Like I said, adequate.

Not impressed.  I’m not sure what the point of this book is.  I guess it could be used to teach days of the week, or using your imagination, or career possibilities, but there are better books for all these things.  The only audience for this would be very young kids, and since Pre-K kids don’t come to my school library, I wouldn’t actually spend money on this.

In this version of an old folk tale, new is combined with old. The illustrations are colorful and have just enough detail. The size is perfect for little hands. Mother Pig warned them about the big, bad wolf and they were the ones who wanted to leave home. Kids were surprised that the wolf ate pig one and pig two. But their lives were snuffed out, just as was the wolf’s, with very little fanfare. Simple, yet just perfect.

Little Red Riding Hood is an old Grimm fairy tale but has been updated and revised for today’s children. First of all, the illustrations are colorful and include just enough detail to be interesting. Secondly, the size is just right for little hands. And, lastly, the story is changed by grandmother being smart enough to hide under the bed. Children loved this story because it has always been tough for them to believe a wolf could eat both a grandmother and a little girl. The change is good.

From the beginning of the book Charlie Presumed Dead by Anne Heltzel pursues the mystery of what happened to Charlie. Lena and Audrey are two adult women pursuing a boyfriend who they suspect has staged his own death. The protagonists travel through Europe and Asia in pursuit of Charlies trail. This psychological thriller unfolds the lives of the two women and their relationship with Charlie and each other.

The author takes the reader through many twists and turns in the plot. This is the most enjoyable part of the book. Her descriptive language paints vivid pictures in the imagination of the reader. And she moves the reader through the book using the mind of each character. This literary method works well.

There are discussion in this that are for a mature audience.  This is better suited for a public library than a school library.

The Winter Place by Alexander Yates brings the mythical and reality together in a haunting story about a family who suffers loss and grief and the paths taken to reach happiness. Two young siblings, one with an ability to experience paranormal events, join forces to discovers a family they didn’t know and get clarity about the younger child’s disease. The events and people that come into their lives help to determine the course they take to find answers as well as to find home. The vivid narrator and settings kept my interest as well as introduced me to the mythical events as seen through the eyes of a young man searching for answers and the path that will lead him to discover his past, his present and his future. The book was very interesting and unusual because of the characters introduced in the story. The end is unexpected, but comes full circle for the main characters. The Winter Place by Alexander Yates, is a book that will keep the reader’s interest throughout the story. If you enjoy mystical characters, a story of loss and redemption and finally discovery, this book will give you a great read. There is humor, disbelief, action and a underlying sense of family love and loyalty.

The McNasty pirate twins, Captain Gruesome and his brother, Captain Grisly, are determined to find the treasure buried in Little Snoring. However, two school friends, Tat and Hetty, are also in search of the treasure. The McNasty twins are pushed to the test against Tat and Hetty when they realize that the two friends know where the treasure is, and the gruesome pirates make several attempts to trick them into disclosing its’ location. Kids will love the nastiness, silliness, and mucus, as well as friendship. Black and white illustrations enhance the story.

In this fourth of Jiménez’s autobiographies, the author recounts his life from when he started his graduate work at Columbia University in the late 1960s to when he began his professorship at Santa Clara University in 1973.
With few true accounts of the Latino experience in America, Francisco Jimenez’s work comes alive with telling details about the warmth and resiliency of family and the quest for identity against seemingly impossible odds.

This is an eloquent work about overcoming poverty to receive an advanced education. A wonderful book to inspire young Hispanics in their pursuit of a better life.

Silliness runs rampant in this second book in the Ghastly McNastys series. The McNastys are twin pirates, though the illustrations show them not to be identical. The McNasty twins “were Gruesome and Grisly. And that was just their names…they hated two children in particular. Tat and Hetty, who had stopped them from finding the lost treasure of Little Snoring.” (p. 8, Book 1)

The action goes back and forth between the pirate brothers and Tat and Hetty. They both want the treasure they think is hidden inside Little Snoring Castle.

The story begins as school, in Miss Green’s class, is letting out for the summer. All the children and town folk are eager to audition for the Hollywood movie- Raiders of the Lost Shark- that is about to begin filming in Little Snoring Castle. The McNastys only audition to get inside the castle, so they can search for treasure, and since they already are pirates, they instantly get cast for the movie. In the meantime, Tat and Hetty have come up with a plan to capture the McNastys by tricking them into dungeon #244. Tat and Hetty make a fake treasure map marking dungeon #244 as the site of the treasure and hide it inside the chimney for the McNastys to find. The McNastys find the map, but the map is ruined before they can study it. They are about to torture the treasure’s location from Mrs. Slime and Miss Green, when Miss Green simply tells them the the correct dungeon’s number, # 433. When the pirates keep Mrs. Slime and Miss Green locked up in dungeon #53, one begins to cry and the other one’s nose runs so much the liquids begin to rise to the point of drowning them. A little later, Tat, Hetty, Big Wig, Dog, and Polly the parrot are escaping up a chimney from the pirates. The pirates light a fire, but Polly’s sea gull friends bring them a bucket full of Mrs. Slime’s and Miss Green’s snot and tears to douse the flames. It, also, sticks the pirates together for awhile. Tat and Hetty trade their knowledge of the treasure’s location ( dungeon #433) for the key to Mrs. Slime’s and Miss Green’s dungeon from the McNastys. Nasty as they are, the pirates throw the key into the moat and later release the movie’s sharks into the moat just as Tat finds the key. Hetty distracts the sharks away from Tat using strawberry jam sandwiches. What the McNastys find in #433 is not what they expected. Inside the secret room of #433 spider webs are strewn everywhere. There is a giant silver orb in the center of the room. The McNastys slice it open with their cutlasses. The diamonds they expect to fall out don’t. What does fall out are thousands of baby spiders. The McNastys run only to be swallowed alive by the sharks in the moat, which jump and free themselves into the open sea.

The first six pages cover basic shapes used in connection with the drawings : circles for sun, triangles in ice cream cones. Tools needed: pencils, colored pencils, sharpeners, erasers, markers, and paper.Then the bare basics of a color wheel are given. Nineteen creatures are presented to draw in 4 steps. The left page shows the finished drawing, in full color, followed by the four steps in black and white, on the right-hand page. Above the drawing , on the left page, is a fact or two about the creature represented below. Examples: ” The Diplodocus was the longest dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic Period!” ( 18) or  “In Chinese folklore, the dragon is a symbol of power and good luck!” (42)

I claim absolutely “NO” artistic talent, so when I followed the 4 step directions on eight of the creatures, I was amazed at how well the pictures turned out!

“This play is based on a true story titled, ‘A Locomotive Engineeress,’ which appeared in the magazine Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly in 1888.” (p. 4) The play takes place in Eastern Tennessee.  “Narrated in 1888; the main story takes place in 1856.” (p. 5) This play teaches: need is the mother of invention or you can do anything when you have to.

Older Bella narrates the play of how her father introduced her to working in the cab of a steam locomotive due to the fact the 15 year old Tennessee girls were not very friendly to 15 yr old Bella, a Yankee. The engineer taught Bella everything a male apprentice would be taught, but without a chance of ever using it, being female. Then one night the train’s fireman was sick at home and Bella took his place. On this trip to the mines, the weather was so stormy neither the engineer nor Bella could see the tracks in front of the engine. As a flash of lightning lit up the night, the engineer realized the train’s wheels did not have any traction. The wheels were just spinning, but the train was standing still. The engineer put Bella in charge of the train’s controls, while he spread sand on the tracks. Once the wheels found traction Bella drove it to the mine. And just in time, because the engine had lost most of its water for steam. Bella had saved the train and the town by bringing them their supplies.

Educators: Find FREE lesson plans and a Reader’s Theater script for this book at www.redchairpress.com/free-activities.

What drew me to this book was the glossy, vivid colors of each page. Daniel and his dad are on their way to see the Christmas play, The Nutcracker, when they run into his friend Owl. Owl is afraid to go in because he is afraid of all the people and the dark. Daniel convinces Owl it’s safe and gets him into the auditorium. This series is inspired by the television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and you can see the similarities. Both deal with problems of children and solve them in a calm manner. This story would be great for little kids with similar issues. I would recommend this book as a personal purchase, but because of the weak binding, not for a school.

Rosemary Wells is a genius at picture books for young children, and this one is no different. Sophie is trying to get attention after her new baby sister has been brought home. When her antics set off her baby sister, she is the only one who can quiet her down. Kids who do have a baby brother or sister will love this story as it shows how important it is to be a big sister/brother. The illustrations are beautiful. The only drawback is that it is geared towards such a small audience group.

I liked it.  There’s something every so very childlike in the simplicity of both story and illustrations. It’s rather Madeline-esque.  A rhyming tale set in London of a boy venturing through the city to visit the possum exhibit at the London zoo, while dragging his doggy pull-toy behind him, never noticing that when he left the exhibit, the five baby possums followed nose-to-tail with the doggy all the way home again.  The young boy takes it all in stride and is busy fixing a picnic for his guests when they next grab onto the string of some helium balloons, which end up carrying them right back home again.

It’s a lovely story that rings very true.  After visiting her famous grandfather in Japan, and being enchanted by his violin playing, she has decided to take up violin herself.  Now, after only three lessons she decides she wants to perform in the school talent show.  Her big brothers scoff at her plans and run from the house when she practices.  When it comes time to go out on stage, Hana is struck by fear that her brothers may have been right all along, but she looks for the reassuring faces of family and her best friend in the audience, and imagines just playing for her grandfather.  Rather than playing a particular song, she shares with the audience the different sounds around her that the violin can mimic, just as she  remembers from when her grandfather was playing:  a mother crow calling her chicks, rain on paper umbrellas, a neighbor’s cat at night.  When she declares she has her own way of playing the violin, even her big brothers come to appreciate it for what it is.  Some inconsistencies in the illustrations (too much changing of the audience and violin from right hand to left hand and back again) were a little big distracting.

Essentially it’s a book about being good, while acknowledging that there’s a time to let your fiercer side out.  After being good all summer, Millie’s mom tells her she can have a sleep out in the backyard.  She’s full of plans, knowing just how she wants it to go, but of course things don’t go all as she plans.  Throughout the story, Millie works to keep her fierce in until something in the dark outside her tent threatens to ruin her sleep out, so Millie unleashes her fierce to venture out to protect her friends…from what turns out to be the neighbor’s dog.  It’s fine, but is it just terribly old-fashioned of me to find it sad that watching movies on a tablet seems to be part of a modern sleep out?