This is a story about two bears that live together in the forest. Matty is a neat, orderly bear, while Milly is a messy, forgetful bear. When a storm comes out of nowhere and a tree crashes through their house, Matty sees that being so orderly isn’t really that important. Matty decides that he really likes the tree and they decide to rebuild their house around the tree. While Matty is still the neat bear and Milly the messy bear, they come to an understanding that Matty can learn to be a little more fun and Milly can learn to try to be a little more orderly. This is cute story with really nice illustrations. The story was originally printed in Great Britain so some things are different. Cozy is spelled cosy and instead of saying once upon a time they say “time upon a once.” This bothered me and I am not sure what students and parents will say. I plan on putting it in my library, but I  just wish it followed the English grammar and spelling a little better.

Nicholas Duck is excited. It is that time of year and he has a very important job! He has to collect wish lists for Santa. Nicholas can’t wait, but soon enough he has a problem. His little brothers and sister are following him and want to help. Even though he tells them they have to be selected by Santa, they have decided they are going to help and he can’t stop them. In an effort to be the best helpers and Santa’s favorites, they mess everything up by offering ridiculous gifts to the skunk, raccoon, beaver (like a chainsaw and bulldozer) and frog. Nicholas has to talk some sense into them and explain the true meaning of Christmas (love, goodwill, kindness and giving). In turn, his brothers and sister question him about being a nice brother. Being a nice brother, he lets them help Santa and all ends well… This is a cute story that teaches a lesson too. The bright digital ink and digital oil pastel illustrations are appealing.

What a delightful book of haiku poetry!  Written and illustrated by guys, it is filled with poems about the many things boys do outside.  Bob Raczka shares special moments from each season as boys enjoy a romp outdoors.  Haiku is a short poem of 3 lines, about nature, and told in the present – a perfect form of poetry for active boys.  Ink and watercolor illustrations by Peter Reynolds do a beautiful job of depicting the simple innocence of the poems.  However, one does not need to be a boy to thoroughly enjoy the sights, sounds, and imagination of an active person spending wonderful hours with nature.  This book lends itself to many topics used in the classroom as well as being a thoroughly pleasurable read.

This is a story about friendship and jealousy told by two teddy bear toys.  When Mollie-Sue received Bendy Bill as a present from Grandma, Gruffy Ted and Tilly Ted were not happy.  Used to being Mollie-Sue’s favorite toys, Gruffy and Tilly were upset when they were ignored.  The two teddies tried many things to make Bendy Bill undesirable.  One day, while trying to remove Bendy Bill’s hat, Gruffy fell out the window.  Tilly’s attempts to reach him fell short.  It was Bendy Bill’s long arms that saved  the day when he reached out and helped Gruffy climb to safety.  Gruffy and Tilly found that being different is sometimes just what a friendship needs.  A good story to be read in Pre-K and K about getting along with siblings or friends.  Watercolor illustrations are colorful and expressive.  One can easily see the emotions on the faces of the teddies.

The life cycle of the honey bee is briefly described in this 24 page book.  Excellent full-color, detailed photographs help illustrate the text.  Labels with arrows point out specific areas of each photo.  The text is large, the sentences are short.  Word choice is appropriate for a nonfiction book for young readers.  A picture glossary is in the back with the index.  Also included are notes to parents and teachers for talking to children before and after the book is read.  (what animal babies are called, whether of not they look like adults, how animals defend themselves…)  A suggestion is made for presenting different types of honey for children to taste – without a caution about food allergies of some people.

One winter evening, a father and daughter take a walk through the woods.  As they notice things in nature, they make up amusing names for them.  A floating leaf is a butterfly raft, a feather is a tickle stick.  As they walk, one of the girl’s pink mittens fell un-noticed along the path.  When different animals examine it, they too have amusing suggestions as to what it is.  Squirrel – cotton candy, Mouse – mouse house, Owl – wing warmer, Duck – fish coat, and Bunny – carrot carrier.  Deer is the one who correctly identifies it as a mitten, just as the father and daughter return to find it.  Wendy Edelson’s colorful watercolor paintings beautifully illustrate each character.  The last pages show each animal as its own home for the evening.  The end pages show a map of the path the father and daughter walked and the names of the homes of each animal.  This is Simon Van Booy’s first picture book.  Artist Wendy Edelson lives in Bainbridge Island, WA.

A  match made in heaven for illustrator R.W. Alley and author Kate McMullan. These two are totally in synchronization*. Every illustration is a perfect match with the text and with the emotions on the furry little characters are exhibiting.   R.W.Alley has an exact match of the eye chart (6 times) with those of K. McMullan’s text.

In 3 easy-to-read chapters, Pearl uses psychology on her friend Wagner when the school’s yearly eye test reveals he needs glasses and she does not. Or maybe Pearl’s just jealous. Either way, Pearl is a true friend for the reluctant first time glasses wearer.

* R. W. Alley’s pictures foreshadow Kate McMullan’s surprise ending.  What a team the two of them make!

Includes: Tips for Glasses.   page 39 “When your glasses get so smudgy you can’t see, it’s time to clean them.” plus 7 more

Has your pet dog ever failed to perform his best tricks just when you have an audience of your peers? Then, you know how Jake feels when his class has ‘pet day’ at school and his dog Buddy does not perform.

The delightful illustrations of Mike Bryne accompany four diverse friends / classmates and their diverse pets: rat, cat, dog, and fish.

This alphabet picture book is all about the fair! The author and illustrator has taken a clever approach to fairs and alphabet books. She takes a white page and makes  collages to showcase the letter. Then for the letter, she has taken photos of the letter depicted in different ways. For example, “R is for Roller Coaster” and the collage is of a roller coaster. The letter R is the cars/people on the coaster. The book has bright, colorful illustrations (collages) and is intriguing. It is just a book that is fun! I was thinking the whole time about the next letter and how the fair could be incorporated!

Found in the poetry section of the library, this picture book style book teaches students about birds, while reading poetry.  As in a traditional, nonfiction style book, the book starts out with a table of contents listing all the poems found in the book. Followed by the table of contents, there is a foreword by an ornithologist. There are then 14 poems about birds. Each bird is showcased on facing pages with a wonderful photo (Jason Stemple-Jane Yolen’s son!) of the bird, a box with a poem (Jane Yolen) about the bird and a box with factual information about the bird. This is a such a neat book! The reader gets a beautiful photograph of the bird, a poem and information about the bird all on one page. There is so much teachers and librarians can do with this wonderful book!

Frank, the bear and Carl, the fish go into business selling hats. They are very excited to be at their booth selling hats. The problem is that no one wants their hats. All the other stands have no trouble selling their skateboards, cup of mud and remote control robot cell phones. Frank and Carl just can’t figure out why no one buys their hats, until it starts to rain and everyone wants a hat! This picture book has fun illustrations, large print for beginning readers and an attractive cover. I am just not so sure about the plot. I don’t see kids getting too excited about this story.

Here is everything I’m looking for in a book about one individual letter of the alphabet! It is all inclusive! Makes me want the other 25 letter books in this series!

It begins with a hand printed upper & lower case alphabet with the letter “Kk” singled out in red. From there it moves onto a photo of the letter k in American Sign Language, 7 stylized upper & lower case ‘Kk’s, and the statements:  “The letter k is a consonant. It is the 11th letter of the alphabet.”

From there the text moves on to 3 words beginning with the letter ‘k’ and a 10 word sentence wherein 5 of the words begin with ‘k’ , 3 of which are the previously pictured words. Similarly, follows 5 words with ‘k’ in the middle and the 14 middle ‘k’ word sentence (7 containing k) . And 3 words ending in ‘k’  along with their accompanying 17 word sentence ( 7 ending in k). Next comes examples of the ‘ck’ & ‘kn’ letter combinations in words and sentences. Then, Kenny Koala and Kim Kangaroo go on( a mini-story) hike. And finally there are 2 quizzes where the reader finds the letter ‘k’ in words.

Colorfully bright, engaging, candid photos of second, third and fourth grade children playing traditional party games greet the reader on every page. Large, easy to read text in this 9.5″ X 11″ book gives a quick description of the goal of each game. Indoor and outdoor games are presented in separate sections.  The indoor games are: musical chairs, bingo, pin the tail on the donkey, and a treasure hunt. The outdoor games are: the limbo, egg-and-spoon race, a piñata, sack race, and red rover (not named or described).

Gives the reader, both young and old, a happy feeling of birthday parties with the cone shaped hats held in place by elastic under the chin in the days before CHUCK E. CHEESE.

9 times, author – Brian Enslow asks,” Is this your nose?”

Once  each for : big, brown, fish, flat, green, little, long, nice, and once for round.

The color photos of varying noses including a toucan, elephant, bull dog, and a frog  in this 7″ x 6″ book will grab the young reader’s attention, if not their nose.

The Halloween Kid is a hero when it comes to Halloween. No one really knows who he is or where he comes from, but when Halloween is threatened, he swoops in to save the day. He takes on the Toilet Paper Mummies and pumpkin-sucking vampires, just to make sure Halloween isn’t ruined. Unfortunately, he meets his match when the Goodie Goblins start running loose and stealing candy. When the goblins capture the Halloween Kid, the kids he has been helping have to turn things around and help him escape. I really liked this Halloween story. I love the illustrations and the use of color. The pages are all shades of orange and the drawings are  done in black with additional orange shades. The story is fun, well written and teaches kids good lessons (helping others and fighting for what you believe in).

Boo! is a wordless story about a little ghost that is trying to scare the other ghosts in his family. The book has vivid illustrations that make it interestingto read even though there are no words. It is fun and the little ghost is really cute. He tries everything to be scary from being a vampire to Frankenstein, but the only way he is scary is when he accidentally runs into a sheet and is a “ghost.” When he makes a ghost costume with his sheet, he is finally able to be scary!

From the Little Princess series, this book tells the story of the Little Princess being scared of the dark. When her dad asks her why she is afraid of the dark, she tells him it is because she actually is afraid of ghosts and ghosts come out in the dark. Dad, the Admiral, Doctor and Maid all try to convince her not to be afraid and that there is no such thing as a ghost. When the lights go out, Little Princess figures that ghosts are probably afraid of the dark too. When the ghost and Little Princess meet, Little Princess realizes that the ghost is more frightened of her! This is a fun, cute little story that has great illustrations to go with it!

A cross between the film Stand By Me and the novel Lord of the Flies, Nothing is a gripping novel that will grasp the reader by the throat, or the heart, and not let go until the chilling conclusion.

Set in a small suburban town in Denmark, the story revolves around a class of 7th grade students and one of it’s members who flees the classroom on the first day of the school year, shouting “Nothing matters…I’ve known that for a long time. So nothing’s worth doing. I just realized that.”

This student spends the better part of the school year perched in a plum tree in his yard, overhanging the sidewalk that carries the other classmates to and from school.  His verbal taunts push them to the point of distraction and they decide that they must do something to prove to him that life does matter.

The efforts to which the students go to prove to him that there are things that really do matter will grip the reader.

A compelling novel, full of turns one does not even begin to suspect, is not for the faint of heart. A modern day Lord of the Flies.

The raving reviews on the back book jacket got me to pick this book up, and I cannot adequately express my disappointment.  In much of the beginning of the book, Kingsley repetitiously goes over, again and again, the previous two books, neither of which I have read.  But it doesn’t usually take me much to bring me up to speed, since I get the gist of what’s going on.  However, the action/plot was choppy, jumping all over the place.  I couldn’t care less about what happened to the main characters; there was nothing to make them at all endearing.  For example, they start out at a grocery store and Erec comes out of a fog sitting in a shambles–poof–they’re home–poof–he’s in a magical timetravel contraption his ‘mother’ conveniently has–poof–he ends up with the bad guy because he goofed in his wishing where to go–poof–he’s in a dentist’s chair waiting to have his eyes removed–poof–he’s being saved.  I really don’t care if he’s saved or not.  He, Erec, does nothing to prove his worthiness.  Ughhhh—halfway through the book I wanted to scream.  Contrary to what the reviews say on the book jacked, and I seriously think they were taken out of context, this is nowhere near Harry Potter quality.  So don’t worry J. K. Rowling, no one’s going to knock you off your throne!

This was a fun Batman story.  The pictures are bright and interesting.  The story moves along quickly, and is a light fun read for kids.    After an action packed read about Batman and Robin taking on the Mad Hatter, there are several thought provoking questions and reading prompts at the back of the book, along with an interesting biography about the author and cartoonist.  It is a nicely done book for kids.  There are typo’s on pages 11 and 33 in this book.

This is the same format and author of “If the World Were a Village”.  In this book the author condensed the world population to just 100 and gave us statistics based on numbers that are more fathomable than the billions and millions.  In this book, the same effect is achieved, but this time using statistics based on people living in the United States.  For example: for every 100 people living in the U.S., 75 are white, 12 are black, 4 are Asian, and 1 is Native American.  Remaining 8 consider themselves mixed or different race.  This large sized book with bright acrylic style illustrations would make for an interesting book to share with students. The facts and statistics are interesting enough to hold any adult’s attention as well.  I recommend this book for the elementary library and even the middle school library.

This is a crazy rhyming tale of a critter cafe for animals.  It’s fun, fast, has great illustrations and would entertain the audience with the great playful sounding words.  It’s a nice sized book with interesting pictures depicting the waiter and animals at the Cow’s Cafe.  This would make a great read aloud for primary aged children.  Nice addition to an elementary library!

Not all the Pilgrims were seeking religious freedom, some were just plain looking for adventure and weren’t really nice at all.  This engaging book, written in a child friendly graphic novel form, tells the story of the plymouth colony with a different twist.  The two rambunctious boys of the Billington family make sure their many troublemaking schemes  are represented as they banter back and forth with the narrator.  Although the layout of the book is a bit too choppy for a read aloud, it’s an exciting insight into a part of the story that is usually passed over.  Includes authors note.

Nothing brings to life the story of Rwanda’s genocide more than personal accounts.  There are plenty of great videos on Youtube what will create the spark students interest in this horrific history lesson.  Alexander Cruden has put together a strong collection of essays, mainly primary source in nature, that can supplement the classroom teacher, but this is not a stand alone history of the genocide.  Full color pictures and maps throughout will aid the student.  Divided into 3 chapters, Historical Background on the Rwandan Genocide, Controversies Surrounding the Rwandan Genocide, and Personal Narratives, with at least five essays in each, this book is for the student researcher who is looking for key quotations to support their position papers. Issues regarding women and children in particular come through the 2nd and 3rd chapter essays.  Chronology in the back serves as a great review/summary for students.  The $40.00 hardcover price is worth it.

Walter Diemer, an accountant for a chewing gum factory, decides to experiment and manages to invent “Dubble Bubble”.  His new creation changes the world’s chewing habits and kids will enjoy this simple nonfiction title as they learn the history of gum.  Includes references and an entertaining list of facts about our obsession with bubble gum