In book 3 of the Infinity Ring series, Sera, Riq, and Dak travel to the year 1850 in the state of Maryland.  Their mission is to fix a break in the time continuum that has something to do with the Underground Railroad and Harriett Tubman.  With Riq being of African descent, he is immediately captured and fixed to be sold at a slave auction with a black woman and her two children.  While waiting for the auction, Riq discovers that the woman is an ancestor of his and he must help her to fulfill her destiny if he is to even exist in the future.  The three time travelers work to ensure the right people get to Canada to freedom and that the Underground Railroad is successful.  McMann does a great job of keeping the action moving as well as characterization.  This is a great way for young readers to get to know more about American history.  Each book takes the three friends to different eras throughout history.

Letting Go is the story about three hens who believe that a fox is up in an apple tree throwing the apples at them.  They get hysterical because they are afraid the fox will come after them next.  They run to get the rooster, but when he is almost hit by an apple, he runs away.  The hens muster up the courage to get a ladder and go up the tree to see about the fox.  When one hen finally reaches the top, she realizes that the apples just ‘let go’ and fall.  She realizes the view from the top of the tree is beautiful and the other hens come up to see for themselves.  The moral to the story is that sometimes you just have to ‘let go’, let go of fear and anything else that paralyzes you.  The story is simple yet eloquent.  The illustrations and dialogue are reminescent of Mo Willems.  This is the perfect pairing with Chicken Little.

This is the story of a cat who couldn’t have kittens and a chick whose mommy couldn’t take care of her.  They took care of each other.  People would always comment of how different they were and wondered what is was like to be so different.  The lesson to be learned is that it’s okay . . . → Read More: Little Chick and Mommy Cat

The Last Tiger is a treat to both your eyes and your soul.  The story is about the last tiger left in the world, a world in which there no longer existed animals or trees or flowers.  The environment was dirty and cluttered, filled with castoffs.  People no longer cared.  But Luka cared, and he  . . . → Read More: The Last Tiger