Wolf, shark, snake, spider, and piranha are lured into the woods to stop a neighbor from being bulldozed.When they find out the bulldozers are made of cardboard and duct tape. Suddenly the ground opens up and a laser canon appears. Dr. Marmalade, billionaire mad scientist guinea pig is out to get his revenge on the Good Guys for  releasing all 10,000 chickens from his farms. Now snake, wolf , and shark are tied up, hanging from the ceiling, “THE ONLY REASON WE’RE IN THIS MESS IS BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID OBSESSION WITH BEING A HERO!” yells snake to wolf.  Secret agent Fox disguised as a ninja rescues the Good Guys. But Dr. Marmalade escapes after pushing the button to end the world.  Once again, they escape. Agent Fox gives chase to Dr. Marmalade leaving the Good Guys to fight the latest secret weapon….. zombie kittens.

Perhaps this series is named “THE BAD GUYS” because of the corny, obvious, and bathroom humor, but whatever the reason, young readers will love it!

If you are looking to update your science experiment book section, this book is pleasing to the eye with its bright colorful photos. I especially liked the advice on page 6 Before You Begin: Slow and Steady, “Getting an experiment to work correctly can be tricky, …Your science projects will turn out better if you take your time.”

The teeny volcano eruption (page 10-11) and the tiny tornado /vortex (pages 12-13) are not anything new for books of this type.  Some of the experiments will state what will be happening, while in others the reader/experimenter must hypothesize first or simply wait and watch.

Other experiments include: small submarine, wee water cycle, teeny-weeny walking water drops, mini ecosystem, itsy-bitsy button race car, and miniature merry-go-round.

Page 22 of Mini-Ecosystem states, ” watch microscopic organisms thrive!” but does not indicate the person needs to use any enlarging lenses to see this. Is this an oversight or do the ‘microscopic’ organisms get big enough to see with the naked eye?

On pages 26 and 29, the photo clearly shows the AA battery in the reverse position stated in the directions. Were the directions incorrect or was this to make the photo easier to focus without moving objects? If the experimenter is going by the photos, this one probably will not work. Frustration time.

In addition to the experiments in this book, the Further Information section includes two other web sites:    http://www.funology.com/science-experiments    and    http://kids.usa.gov/science/science-fair-projects/index.shtml

Ten dump trucks in action; either being filled by an excavator or a front loader, or dumping their loads at a construction site or at a mine.

Two or three large font sentences per page opposite a color photo of a truck. The book states the obvious facts about dump trucks.

Contains a diagram of the three major parts of a dump truck: bed, cab, and tire. Plus a four picture with definition glossary: construction site, excavator, front loader, and mines.

One very happy pig is taking a bubble bath with just his rubber ducky. Then comes Pig Two with a beach ball, followed by Pig Three with a snorkel and mask, then a pig pirate, a pig with a tuba, a sailor pig with his toy ship, another pig with a sandcastle, and finally a pig with a surf board.

Then, just as quickly as the tub filled, the tub empties. Enter one wolf, with a BIG zipper down his chest. A pig in wolf’s clothing, now in the bath with the bubbles and his rubber ducky.

Hilarious fun in board book form!

I would like it better if it were about grandparents than I do with it being about Dad.  Grandparents are supposed to spoil kids.  Dads are supposed to parents, and this book feeds into the stereotype of Mom being the real parent, and Dad getting to be the loafer.  When Mom is gone for the evening,  and Dad is in charge, Clare keeps trying to tell her dad how Mom would do things, but he keeps saying he’s doing it Dad’s way, which includes more fun, desert for dinner, and extra stories and kisses before bed, so of course Clare ends the story by asking if Dad can be in charge again tomorrow.

A fox mom tells her kiddos all things they are to her, in a series of endearments that all end in, “boo.”  It’s got rhythm and rhyme and repetition.  The illustrations add a sense of story as they move through their day, making the point, that no matter what happens, “you will always be my boo.”

The entire text of the book amounts to a spin-off of “Marco Polo:” a toddler calls out, “Rutabaga?” and Mom replies with “Boo.” The illustrations are nice enough as they show the two going through their day, but there doesn’t ever seem to emerge any real meaning behind the call and response, nor enough of a story within the illustrations to count as a (nearly) wordless book.

It’s cute.  It tells of all a young boy imagines about what his folks get up to “way past bedtime.”  He makes plans to stay up and spy, to catch them in the act, but when he creeps downstairs he finds them snoring on the couch.  However the final illustrations offer the reader hints that perhaps those sneaky parents had been up to more than they let on.  The illustrations have the look of television cartoons, which makes sense when you read the illustrator’s blurb, as that is his background.

As with other Mr. King stories, he takes some idea too far, aiming for good, but learning from his friends about why it turns out to be not a good idea after all.  In this case, Mr. King likes flowers, but he doesn’t like when the caterpillars eat them, so he builds a machine to chase down and capture the caterpillar, only to learn that the smoke spit out my his machine and the plants it trampled were bigger problems, especially given that he neglected to ponder the benefits the caterpillar offers to the flowers once he turns into a butterfly.  So he turns his caterpillar-catching machine into a seed scattering machine that operates on smoke-free breath power.

It’s a bedtime counting book told in rhyme.  The illustrations add to the bedtime quality of the book, with lots of shades and blue and purple and green, and soft blurry edges that make them seem sleepy.  It counts back from ten, with good rhythm and rhyme and alliteration describing a variety of animals on their way to bed.

The themes of the poems are all relatable and humorous, but the quality of the poetry is somewhat erratic:  some poems read smoothly with both rhythm and rhyme, while others seemed forced and awkward to read aloud.  The cartoonish illustrations suit the tone of the poems.

This is a beautiful book, with rich illustrations that serve well to set the scene and the tone of a story with a very timeless feel to it, with a classic Christmas message.  A young boy sets off with meager provisions to make a long trek to the village square for the traditional lighting of the Christmas torch, an honor that will be granted to whoever gives the truest gift of Christmas.  Along the way he meets an old man huddling in the snow.  He leaves his cloak and cider to warm the old man while he seeks help from someone strong enough to lift him, but when he gets to the village they are already closing the city gates, and no one is willing to leave, as the ceremony is about to begin.  After all the Christmas offerings are made the Keeper of the Light takes down his hood and invites the young boy forward to light the torch, as he is none other than the old man the boy helped in the woods.

This is a beautiful book.  It’s the kind you want to buy three copies of so that you always have a baby shower gift on hand.  It is a love poem between mother and child, sharing all the hopes and dreams a mother holds for her child.  It shares small bits of wisdom and advice.  The illustrations are beautiful and whimsical and are well-paired with the text.

This is a complex book.  It’s not a light read.  It can serve readers who read for a variety of purposes, and for the right audiences it would be worthy of a “Highly Recommended” rating.  It is a picture book biography of an artist (James Castle) who was unknown to me, but is apparently well-known in certain artistic circles.  As such it would be well-suited to students of art.  It rather starkly tells of the horrific treatment he received, growing up in the early part of the twentieth century, before society knew much about how to meet the needs of special-needs children: deaf, mute, autistic, and quite likely dyslexic, he was deemed uneducable and neglected and isolated, yet still managed to develop his own art.  As such it is a useful tale for students of history and education and the social sciences.  Some things contribute to it being a bit of a confusing read:  it opens with the voice of James’ nephew using the first person to tell the reader he’d like to introduce his uncle, and since the book is written by Allen Say, it begins by giving the reader the faulty sense that James is Allen’s uncle.  Also, since it is an illustrated biography of an artist, the reader is left a bit unsure whether any of the artwork included is that of the subject, or if it’s all the illustrator’s, emulating the style of the subject?

I love this book!  The illustrations are cute and full of personality. The story is a celebration of words, a celebration of daring to venture beyond our comfort zones to explore the wider world, a celebration of books.  A little mouse who has been raised in a nest of torn words watches his siblings leave home to make their way, but has no desire to do so himself.  When pushed off by those who love him, he sets forth looking very Indiana Jones-ish, to discover the world is full of more words, and he becomes a seeker of words, even when it means braving the beastly cat, but in the end it is the cat who shows him the world of words to be found inside books.

The artwork is cool:  a lot of diverse folks in an urban setting.  The text is philosophical: a series of questions, each a variation on the theme of why are we each who we are and not somebody else? I was a bit disappointed in that I hoped it would eventually have some philosophical thoughts to share as to possible answers to such questions.  It’s meant to be targeting a childhood audience, but I fear it will find a limited number of children who truly appreciate it.

Steve Jenkins.  He never disappoints.  Here he presents a whole host of animal statistics with the visual graphs and charts to put the numbers in perspective.  It’s visually appealing and highly informative.

It tells the story of a part of the civil rights movement that was unknown to me, and certainly one whose story deserves to be told, both to recognize this bit of history and to inspire young people to do their part for things they believe in.  The end papers provide several dates for significant events throughout the civil rights movement, providing the context/timing for this bit of the struggle.  When MLK Jr. tried to organize marches in Birmingham in May of 1963, the adults feared losing their jobs if they marched, so the children stepped forward, offering to march instead.  Over three days thousands of children marched, were arrested and fire-hosed, while televisions across the country broadcast their treatment.  Days later city leaders begin to negotiate plans for desegregation.  The illustrations are rich in color and emotion, contributing greatly to the impact of the story.

When the children gather for story time at the library, but the librarian is missing, the clues lead to a bear behind the librarian’s desk.  The bear stomped and growled and roared his way through story time, much to the children’s delight.  When the librarian finally returns and introduces “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” as the day’s story, they find baby bear missing from the pages of the book. After urging the bear to step back into the story, they begin again, only to find Goldilocks missing this time.  It’s fine, but not exactly gripping.

It’s a simple story about a girl’s day out with her grandfather to celebrate his birthday, riding the streetcar together to a nearby beach, having lunch out, and returning to the rest of the family and cupcakes to end the day.  It reminds us all to enjoy the simple adventures to be found close to home, that the adventure is in the attitude rather than the destination.

A fun story, full of classic David Shannon illustrations that add to the fun and appeal.  It’s also got a good message, reminding us all of the value of stopping to smell the flowers.  Mizz Lizzie is very proud to be the busiest bee around, and highly accomplished because of it.  But when she pushes herself too hard preparing for the big spelling bee, she ends up collapsing in exhaustion right at the crucial moment, missing her chance to meet the queen bee.  When enforced rest is thrust upon her, she finally joins her friend who loves lazing in the garden, and ends up meeting the queen after all, who is also fond of the garden.

Oooh. Ick. Avoid this series.  I don’t like to be mean, but I was only part way through the story before I had to check the publisher to see who was responsible for letting this get to print.  It’s meant to be some kind of hybrid between fiction and non-fiction — on the back of the book it bills itself as a tool for “understanding and comparing literature and informational texts.”  But this is a far cry from literature.  The fictional part of the story is lame and stilted and lacks any kind of character development, and the information is limited.  Stick with straight forward volcano information books.

Even the end papers and the title page bring the reader into the genre of the classic detective story.  The story is about an out-of-work Pigeon P.I. who is brought back to service when several birds turn up missing.  The clues lead him to his former partner who was tired of being a plain gray pigeon and kidnapped a multitude of colorful birds to provide feathers to add to his own plumage.  Both the illustrations and the tone of the story telling evokes a Dick Tracy type gumshoe story.

It gives a clear account of many aspects of Chickasaw culture.  It is careful to acknowledge the injustices they faced at the hands of the U.S. government.  It is illustrated with color photos of actual artifacts.  It recognizes the tribe as a unique nation.  It’s got a good sturdy binding.  I am delighted to see that the list of significant dates that recaps the history of the people is not mistakenly described as a “timeline” as so many books do.  My one criticism of the book is that it deals almost entirely with the history of the Chickasaw people:  the one page dedicated to “The Chickasaw Today” merely states rather vaguely that many people continue to honor the traditions and stories of the past, without really telling us anything about the people of today, other than to say that there were about 49,000 people in the Chickasaw tribe in 2011.  I would like to know more about what those 49,000 folks are experiencing and contributing today.

The illustrations really add to the interest of this book.  The writing is a bit flat.  It does the basic job of telling many different aspects of Lena Horne’s life, but it seems to leave out some basic details: since it never actually says when Lena was born, when it mentions other specific dates later on, the reader has no way of tracking how old Lena was at different points in her life story.  It does include a lot of information about the roadblocks Lena faced as a woman of color in the days before the civil rights movement, as well as efforts she contributed within the civil rights movement.