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.

Billy is a boy like any other except he wants to be a cheerleader.  No one seems to understand.  His family questions him and the kids at school laugh at him.  But Billy practiced and practiced on his own.  On the day of the big game, he cartwheeled, jumped, smiled and yelled.  And the crowd went wild.  The book closes by restating all the characteristic that make Billy a “boy” and then reaffirming he is also a cheerleader.  Text is simple with dialogue appearing in speech bubbles.  Illustrations are colorful and support the text.  The book introduces the concept of gender identity without clearly stating it.

Arms and hands are part of your body.  Your arms can lift and bend and your hands can touch and pick things up.  This simple text introduces the reader to body parts including how they work together and how they are similar to some animal body parts.  The book ends with a labeled diagram of the arm and hand.  Labeled parts include wrist, forearm, and biceps that are not mentioned in the text.  Includes table of contents, illustrated glossary, index, and link to crafts, games, videos and more.  The linked text and images on the Abdokids.com site support the text, but the external links are not age appropriate.

“This is the Baby, wrinkled and gray.  This is the Baby born today.” All the world embraces a baby elephant on the day she is born.  The earth supports, sisters cuddle, the herd trumpets, the lagoon baths, and the peacocks dance for the baby.  The rich language, repetitive phrasing, and sweet illustrations make this a lovely read.  Use as a mentor text for young writers to draw out descriptive language in their personal narratives.

Two children and their dog enter a cave lit only by their flashlight.  They climb and crawl as they face cold, bats, crawling things, shining eyes, and giant paws.  Finally, a light appears and the reader is hopeful that the frightened huddling characters have found a way out.  But it is only their dad telling them to find a quiet game because the baby is sleeping.  After some thought, the cave becomes a barn for the kids to ride their horses as they create a new, but not any quieter adventure.  A good choice to inspire imagination and creative play.

Created by the pair that gave us Some Bugs, Some Pets combines rhyming verse with mixed media illustrations to create a fun engaging read.  The repetitive “some pets” is followed by descriptive verbs and surrounded by colorful supporting illustrations.  This book makes a great read aloud and is sure to insight a lively conversation about both pets and word choice.

With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, titles featuring age appropriate engineering concepts are needed in our school libraries.  Making Machines with Pulleys is solid example, including informational text interspersed with images and diagrams.  The three projects provide hands on opportunities that directly support the pulley concept discussed on the previous pages.  Each of the projects has a difficulty level, introduction, materials, clear step by step directions, and a “What did you find out?” concluding section.

Includes Table of Contents, Fun Facts, Glossary, Find Out More, and Index.

Large font and colorful photos on opposing landscape pages is characteristic for Abdo Kids titles. These features make it a good choice for young non-fiction readers.  Table of Contents, More Facts, Glossary, and Index are standard features.  The inclusion of both academic and content vocabulary in the glossary add to this title’s positive points.

A good choice for young shark fans.