Pandora, a lonely fox lived in a land of broken things.  She made a good home for herself from the lost and broken things she repaired.  One day a bird fell from the sky.  Pandora didn’t know how to fix it.  As she watched over the bird, it slowly regained its strength. Eventually he could fly again, but he always returned to Pandora with gifts from far away lands. One day he didn’t return and Pandora felt her heart would break to be alone again.  From the gifts left by the bird, a small plant sprouted.  Everyday the world became a little less grey until one day Pandora arose to hear the sound of birdsong in a land of living things.

Beautiful illustrations add a sweetness to this moving story of power of small gifts.

This narrative non-fiction about the red fox is packed full of factual information.  A vixen awakes hungry and sets off to hunt.  Because it is winter, no berries or plants are available so she looks for prey.  When she’s full, she buries her catch for later.  As the days pass, she finds an old burrow to turn into a den.  She gives birth to 4 kids who grown and learn with her til midsummer.  In early autumn, young foxes say goodbye to their parents and set off on their own.

The end papers includes a “More Facts” section, glossary, and suggested titles.

Freckles the Pig is part of a 4 book series, Farmyard Friends. It’s time for fall cleanup at the stables.  While wallowing in the pigpen, Freckles decides to do his part by cheering up the dreary stable with paintings.  His first portraits of his friends were done with mud.   Though well done, the mud paintings do nothing to cheer up the stable.  Freckles agrees and his next efforts are done with left over paint from the fall cleanup sign.  These portraits are much more colorful and the stable owner, Aunt Jane is impressed. But she wonders, who could have painted them?  All the girls were helping her yesterday.

For an audience of emergent readers, the large text and colorful animated illustrations are an engaging combination.  The choice of chapter titles; Artist, Medium, First Draft, and Final Act are going to be more confusing than helpful for young readers.  Also, for those not familiar with the series, it is hard to determine which name corresponds with which character in the story.  Excessive repeated words (flit-flit-flit; messy, messy, messy; tap-tap-tap) do not add to the readability.

“Before you forget…..look up.”  The sky is a large enveloping constant that can be a guiding and inspirational anchor as you are faced with the choices and challenges of life.  In The Knowing Book, a solitary young rabbit explores the trails of life with the inspirational guidance to be open to magic, take time, trust yourself, imagine, and listen.  No matter what paths you take, the stars “have always been above you and are above you now, and will always be above you.”  Under the comforting constant of the sky, we are encouraged to be open to both the world around us and our own potential.

The book Light is part of the Abdo Zoom into Science Concepts series.  The definition of the basic characteristics of light is followed by the role of light in sight, natural and human generated light, light used in art, and some numbers relating to light.  Text is supported with simple colorful photographs.  The book is a good introduction to the concept of light for young readers.

Contains a Table of Contents, Glossary, Booklinks, and Index.  The external links found at Abdobooklinks all access age appropriate educational resources.

Dams in the Abdo’s Engineering Superstructures series is a solid choice to support engineering standards for the youngest learners.  The book covers the definition of a dam, it’s purposes and it’s construction.  The simple text is supported by colorful photographs.  The small size of the book will fit well in little hands.

Includes Table of Contents, Glossary and Think About it section.

Learn about the King Cobra – it’s habitat, appearance, defense, hunting, and lifespan.  Short, simple sentences make it accessible to young readers.  Dramatic photographs are sure to attract snake fans.

The facts seem to lack organization and photographs do not always directly support content.  Contains a simple Table of Contents, Glossary, and Index.  Only two of the three recommended booklinks worked.

Sophie Mouse is excited for the upcoming Maple Festival.  She and her friends, Hattie Frog and Owen Snake, are especially looking forward to the ferris wheel.  During the week leading up to the festival, Sophie’s Mom’s bakery assistant is away visiting friends and the the bakery is extra busy getting ready for their booth.  Sophie volunteers to help her mom and comes up with some fun new recipe ideas.

The day of the festival, Sophie heads out to explore all the new attractions.  At the top of the ferris wheel with her friends, she notices no one is at her Mom’s bakery stand.  As soon as she can, she heads over to check in with her Mom.  To help attract customers, Sophie creates a sign using a large maple leaf.  Soon there is a long line waiting for the booth’s yummy baked goods.  By the end of the day, the bakery stand is empty.

Large font, simple words, and some supporting illustrations make this a solid transitional chapter book for second and third graders.  This series does use diverse and complex sentence structure not found in many transitional chapter books, making it stand out.

This Zoom into Sharks title includes information on the body, habitat, food, and life cycle of the sand shark.  Content is thin due to the simplistic text.  The short sentences and simplified concepts at times created their own confusion.  For example the information on their head shape, “They have flat heads.  Their heads are cone shaped.” seems to contract each other due to lack of explanation.  Photographs of sand sharks in various poses are sure to grab the interest of young shark fans.  The photographs, however, do not always directly support the text.

Abdozooom links are accessible with a QR code on the back of the book.  Abdozoom, an online research database for young learners is only available with a paid subscription.

Using simplistic language and short sentences, the book explains the purpose, history, construction and repair of dams.  The purposes given for building dams focuses mostly on how dams help or provide for people. The book does not give any examples of how dams can harmful to people or the environment.  The book supports new NGSS standards for engineering concepts.

Contains a simple Table of Contents and a Glossary.  No index