This graphic novel series highlights memorable sports accomplishments from the past. From boxing to tennis, horse racing to rowing the series highlights the achievements of 20th century athletes.

• Series includes:
  • The Miracle on Ice
  • Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman
  • Billie Jean King and the Battle of the Sexes
  • Going for Gold: Wilma Rudolph and the 1960 Olympics
  • Off to the Races!: Secretariat and the Triple Crown
  • A Winning Crew: The 1936 U.S. Olympic Rowing Team

The stories are factually accurate and told through illustration, text boxes, and speech bubbles. The speech bubbles with red font are direct historical quotes. Speech bubbles with black font are recreated dialog for the sake of the narrative story.

Fox loves sharing a cup of cocoa around the fire with his friends. But as the sun sets, all his friends head off to bed. Feeling lonely, Fox sets out to find someone awake with whom to share a cup of cocoa. He helps turtle, bear, rabbit, and duckling, but as soon as they can, they head off to bed. Finally in frustration, fox yells, “Doesn’t anyone want to have cocoa with me?” All the animals grumpily rouse to “Shhh!” fox. Fox starts to cry. Owl, bat, frog, and raccoon gather around to comfort him and are thrilled with the idea of having a cup of cocoa with him. As dawn arrives, they all head to sleep…until fox is awakened by all of his daytime friends arrive to share a cup a cocoa.

A fun and engaging title to include when studying nocturnal and diurnal animals.

A young girl and her father arrive in his country of origin. She has grown up speaking English and is not confident in her Spanish. This makes her nervous to meet her large extended family. At the same time, the sights of her father’s birth country and the Spanish language fascinate her as she meets her tíos, tías, and primos. And finally she gets to meet her abuela and they share the biggest hug. She learns that differences in language don’t keep her from feeling the closeness of family. As she leaves her extended family at the end of their trip, she has a sense of connection and the confidence that they will see each other again.

This book has a place in multicultural lessons especially when focused on celebrating students’ diverse origins. Pair with Dear Primo by Duncan Tonatiuh to highlight the continued connection of extended families across borders.

Spanish words are sprinkled throughout the text, particularly in the dialog with family.

What would you build? Maybe a house? A school? A car? In Chris Van Dusen’s newest book in the series, Jack plans the perfect town…through the eye of a child. In this humorous and imaginative book Jack’s recommendation for the Mayor, include the perfect fountain, zoo, housing, stores and more. The text’s rhythm and rhyme make it a fun read aloud.

More fantastical than realistic, this title is a great jumping off point for teaching planning and to encourage students to think outside the box. It’s sure to be a hit with fans of Van Dusen’s other If I Built books.

Jasmine wakes before dawn, hugs her parents, and leaves with her papa (her grandpa) to drive to Great-Grandma Caroline’s one hundredth birthday. On the long drive, Jasmine naps, snacks, and reflects on the ages of things she cares about; goldfish lived 30 days, hamster lived 6 months, and a dog that shares her age. In meeting and spending time with a great-grandma she had never met, Jasmine learns how she got so old – patience, determination, and faith. The youngest and the oldest then work together to blow out the birthday candles.

This book features a multi-generational black family. Beautiful illustrations reinforces the themes of interconnectedness, caring, and learning life lessons from family.

People have always used their imagination to explain the unexplained. The Mythical Creatures series describes some of the best known creatures in an engaging, age appropriate way that is sure to be a hit with young readers. Each book contains ten chapters focusing on different aspects of the creature. This includes the mythical origins, typical characteristics, unique powers or skills, geographic home, and similar mythical and real life creatures. Short sentences are divided on the page into a variety of text boxes. Labeled illustration and diagrams support the content and break up the pages in a manner reminiscent of a screen. Includes Glossary, Index, and Table of Contents.

The Mythical Creature series currently contains eight titles. Titles used for this review are: Centaurs, Giants, Werewolves, and Kraken.

A boy, his dad, and their dog take a nature walk and identify the many interesting trees they pass. The unique and identifying characteristics of each tree is described in a four line stanza The poplar has rough bark, the huckleberry has hairy leaves, the quaking aspen have fluttering leaves. Through the course of the book, they identify 8 different trees. At the end of their walk they end up in a nursery so the boy can choose small tree to plant in their yard. It is unclear what tree he chose.

The illustrations reinforce the joyful and soothing aspects of a nature walk. End paper include three identifying photos for each type of tree. In the Why We Love Trees section, the reader can learn of some of the benefits of trees.