As the rest of Botsburg powers down for bedtime, Bitty Bot breaks all the bedtime rules with his power tools; “Banging bolts and welding wing.  Clanging cogs and tubes and springs.” When his rocket is complete, he zooms through space to touch down on the moon.  There he takes in the sights and joins an alien party.  His battery is finally running low and sets off from the moon in his rocket.  Will he reach home and bed before his systems shut down?

Cute characters, rhyming text and fun language make this a creative alternative the standard bedtime story.

Once upon a menacing time, after their mother’s disappearance, Hensel and Gretel chose to empower themselves by learning ninjutsu.  When their father is also dragged away, they set off through the dark woods leaving a breadcrumb trail.  Caught off guard at the fox’s corn bread house, Hensel is also plucked up and shoved into a pen.  Greta then squeezes down the flu with ninja like silence and speed to snatch her mother out of the stir-fry pan while Hensel picks the lock to escape the pen.  The book ends with their vow to rescue, protect, and defend until bird-napping comes to an end.

Santat’s illustrations clearly portray both expression and motion.  This is the third title by these authors to pair martial arts with a retelling of a classic fairy tale.   A fun addition to any collection.

Best in Snow contains breathtaking winter photographs.  The sparse text powerfully describes the winter snow cycle. Starting with a freeze, a breeze and a cloud, the snow then sails and settle, shapes and dusts. Once the storm is over and the sun shines, the air warms and then the snow softens and melts. Until…another freeze, another breeze, another cloud. Back papers describes in more detail the science behind each poetic phrase and contains a further reading list. Use to support a winter theme or in a science unit focused on the water cycle.

Starting at age 2 when he could finally reach the seat, a young boy celebrates the litany of vehicles he has mastered.  Rhyming poetic first person text reinforces the joy and accomplishment the boys feels with each year and each new vehicle. The boy’s wide eyed glee can be seen on each page, whether running a big backhoe at 3 years old or plowing snow at 6 years. In each picture, the boy is accompanied by a turtle, pig, and penguin. Finally, at age 7 the boy has “got a bedroom like a parking lot,” and the reader sees and understands the imaginative play behind the story.  The continuation of his love of vehicles year after year culminates with his statement that, “when I grow up…. with any luck, I’ll drive a truck.”  A sure hit with young vehicle lovers.

Plants are stationary, right? Plants Can’t Sit Still invites the reader to discover the many ways that plants move.  “Plants can creep.  They slither underground or crawl through tall grass searching for the things all plants need.” The descriptive language and bright pictures will intrigue young scientists and encourage them to explore the world around them.  For older students, focus on the descriptive verbs (easily identifiable with enlarged colored font) and personification.  The back matter provides more detailed information about the plants pictured in the book, a glossary, and a More Information section.

Starting with a description of the caterpillar’s body, this book continues with chapters on where to find caterpillars, their food, what they do, and a labeled diagram.  Simple text and colorful photos often with captions make this a good option for young readers.  Magnified images show the diversity and beauty of caterpillars.  Both academic and content vocabulary are bold in the text and defined in the glossary. Also contains a Table of Contents and an Index.

A good size for small hands to hold.

An active boy named Scribble and his imaginary friend, a bird named Buttonhole share many things. As they talk and ask questions about the world around them, some of the answers Buttonhole shares are thoughtless stereotypes. “Elephants bang into things and are rude and loud.  They trumpet,” says Buttonhole.  Scribble greets the arrival of Dash, a quiet polite elephant who likes ballet with a smile, but Buttonhole is not so welcoming.  Only when Buttonhole and Dash realize that dancing is like flying do they join together in play.  Scribble and his friends then happily dance through the house on adventures;  The bath is a sea, the legs of a table a forest, and the couch becomes a mountain.

The quirky illustrations give the story a feeling of motion.  Grump the cat appears on each page with grouchy commentary distracting at times from the story line while in others focusing attention on the feelings of the characters.

An Australian import.

Cricket Song is an invitation to listen to the world around us.  A child falls asleep to the song of crickets.  The cricket’s song mingles with the “kreck” of frogs and leads to the poorwill and the fox.  The sounds of one creature leads to another until the story spans the water to another land where another child also dozes to the song of crickets.  The lyrical text flows smoothly from page to page, filled with examples of onomatopoeia.

Beautiful pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations lend the story a soothing feel.  The picture at the bottom of each page shows the two children’s’ houses on either side of the water.  Minute changes in the image from page to page shows the progress of the day yet at the same time unifying the characters and events in the story.

Together the text and images portray the diversity of the world around us as well as the sameness of our human experience.

Mr Pip, a monkey and Frederick, the famous actor are best friends.  On his birthday, Frederick receives numerous outrageous gifts from people all over the world, but is unable to enjoy any of them because Mr. Pip is clearly unhappy. Worried about Mr. Pip, Frederick takes him to vets all over the city.  When none of them can help Mr. Pip, Frederick leaves Mr. Pip with the Guild of Geniuses to determine why he isn’t happy.  After a week and many unsuccessful quirky solutions, Frederick returns to find Mr. Pip is still unhappy.  It turns out all Mr. Pip needed was a chance to present Frederick with his birthday present and the chance to spend some time together.  A rather awkward story, though amusing at times.

Nukappia lives with his adoptive parents in Ottawa, but spends his summers with his biological family in an Arctic Inuit village in northern Nunavut.   The story begins as Nukappia rises from a sleepless night at his Uncle’s house in town.  His uncle Angu will walk him to his grandparent’s annual camp along the shoreline.  As they walk, the reader experiences the Arctic through the eyes of the Inuit.  The dried seaweed can be a delicious soup or used in medicine, catching fish using a weir with kakivaks (traditional fishing spears) and digging for clams and jigging for sculpin through the ice.  As Uncle Angu shares his knowledge that “almost everything that can be found on the shoreline is useful as either a medicine, food, or helpful tool,” Nukappia’s excitement grows for their arrival in the camp.  His greeting with his entire northern family fills him with happiness.

Glossary of Arctic Plants and Animals includes Inuit, English and scientific names, photograph, description, and Inuit traditional uses.  Glossary of Landforms and Tools Used on the Shoreline include illustrations and descriptions.