Author Archives: Candy Ranney

About Candy Ranney

Candy is an elementary school librarian in Shelton, WA at the school where she was a student (so many years ago!). Her library is unique in that she brings her background and love of biology to her students in many ways. Not only does she have an awesome selection of science books; she also has a beaver, bobcat and mink sitting on her shelves and a variety of jarred specimens for her students to study. When she's not in the library, she is taking care of her baby trees on her tree farm and hanging out with her family and many pets. * 2025 WA Library Association School Librarian of the Year

Snail & Worm: All Day

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Snail and Worm star in three lovely stories in this sweet picture book for early readers. In Best Day Ever, Snail defines a “good day” very differently. His day didn’t go too well, but others had wonderful experiences and he was happy for them; hence, the best day ever! The Spooky Cave is a story about a dragon…er, turtle, that scares Snail enough to cause him to ‘run’ away even though Worm tries to tell Snail that the animal is really a turtle. And, the third story is A Bedtime Story that highlights the sweet relationship of these two friends. The pen and watercolor illustrations lend themselves to the simple story line quite well. Characters’ emotions are displayed and add to the humor of the book.

Give this book to readers who enjoy friendship stories like Elephant and Piggie or Frog and Toad. Snail & Worm have the same sweet, loyal friendship and will be a welcome addition to your collection.

I’m Trying to Love Math

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For those that dislike math (or those that like math and want to prove how cool it is!), one need look no further than I’m Trying to Love Math. The unseen narrator has some very valid reasons for disliking math and the cute purple alien is able to refute them all with the reality that math is useful, necessary and all around us! And, just when the narrator gets overwhelmed with the sheer volume of numbers (yep, math), the alien suggests that he give the book a shake to drop some of ’em out of the book.

Cartoon-like illustrations and some really cool math facts make this book thought-provoking and engaging. Young readers will enjoy the funny dialogue between the alien and the unseen narrator. And, they will keep reading to discover whether the narrator changes his mind. Along the way, they might find that math can be really interesting.

So, the next time you make cookies, play the guitar or travel to outer space, you’ll have to remember that it all takes math! Kinda cool, right?

The Two Mutch Sisters

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This pair of sisters have been together for a very long time. Even though their taste differs, they collect two of everything and their shared home become a tad too cluttered. Ruby decides to take her half of the collection and move into a different house. While their separate homes are no longer cluttered, Ruby and Violet feel that something is missing…each other. So, Violet takes matters into her own hands and moves their houses to a new double lot where they can be neighbors. And now, they have each other and nothing is missing!

This sweet story with its very different sisters and very interesting group of collectibles (glockenspiels and spittoons among them) is a sweet tribute to sibling love. The illustrations are detailed and fun, showing all sorts of clutter. Students will pick up this book again and again.

100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet

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This fact-filled book describes the top dangerous things that can harm (or, more likely, kill) you. Each one is detailed on a single page with photos, risk and survival ratings, “What to do” section and text boxes with extra fun facts. The book is divided into two sections – natural dangers and human dangers. Natural dangers is then further divided by the type of danger (natural disasters, dangerous weather, lost in the wild and dangerous animals).

This book is attractively laid out and will, no doubt, be of great interest to its target audience. I am concerned that there is nothing noted about where the information comes from and how the risk and survival rates are determined. While it is packed with information about what to do in case one of these awful things occurs, it leaves out a pretty significant piece of information – where did they find out all this stuff? That being said, I don’t plan to go anywhere near a pyroclastic flow, which has a survival rating of 10%. I’ll take a dingo attack (95% survival rating) over that any day. Why take chances?

My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic.Vol. 11

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Shining Armor and Cadance share the story of their meeting and romance in school (and eventual marriage) with his little sister and her friends. Shining Star was a ‘nerd’ and Cadance was a popular pony, who appeared to be headed to the dance with the awful polo team captain. Shining Star’s friends are there to help him achieve his dream of taking Cadance to the dance and they devise elaborate plans…all of which fail miserably. The book ends on a cliffhanger and we don’t know how they end up at the dance together. We have to read the next book in the series to finish the story.

This graphic novel is colorful and is varied in number of panels per page, which moves the story along nicely. Colors are vibrant and the ponies are as over-the-top sparkly and glamorous as they are in their television shows. It should appeal to young readers. But, beware – you won’t be able to get away with buying just one volume. Be prepared to purchase the series, because your students will demand to know how the story ends!

Penguinaut!

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Poor Orville! All his friends at the zoo are bigger and have more adventures than him. So, he decides to go on a really, really big adventure. He is going to fly to the moon! He plans and builds and has some disasters, but he keeps working until he makes the perfect rocket. He says goodbye to his friends and flies to the moon, where he jumps, dances and has the best adventure all by himself! He feels a little lonely and finds a note from his friends. He flies back to earth where he has the greatest adventure of all – being with his friends.

This is a sweet story about friendship and perseverance (and a penguin). The illustrations are simple and the text flows well and becomes a part of the illustration (“Orville was small. His friends were BIG.”). While the story is really about friendship; it also introduces the concept of perseverance as Orville tries, fails and tries again until he successfully flies to the moon. The end is wonderful and students will agree that adventures are best with friends.

Surprise!

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Bear, Raccoon and Squirrel are bored. Time to make new friends, but the other woodland creatures aren’t interested. So, the three friends search and locate a nice family of city folks that are out camping. Before they can introduce themselves, the family wanders away from the campsite. While they are gone, the three animals do their best to make the (future) party festive, by decorating (making a mess), preparing the food (eating it) and picking pine cones for hats.

They excitedly await the arrival of the their city folks friends. But, they have a surprise themselves. The city folks go running off like they’re scared! Bear, Squirrel and Raccoon are sad. But, they don’t let their sadness get in the way of their fun. They continue the party without the city folks. Fun!

Make a Dinosaur Your Way!

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Kids are encouraged to build a dinosaur and given some suggestions for materials and tools. They are not given exact instructions. Rather, they are given some guidance and lots of freedom to use their imagination. And, while there are some photos for inspiration, they don’t make the reader feel as if the dinosaur models pictured are the only way to create. This open-ended instructional text is a nice addition to the maker movement in your library.

Super Gross Slime and Snot Projects

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The best way to interest kids in science is to make it as gross as possible. This book does just that by introducing slime and snot and then following up with some wonderfully disgusting projects like ‘diaper snot’ or ‘fart putty’ (who wouldn’t love a batch of that?). Materials are easily procured and adults are advised to preview the projects and provide help with sharp implements, food coloring, etc. Pull this book out when you want some great reactions from your students!

Pro Wrestling

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Pro Wrestling is a high/low book that describes the sport, gives some history and sprinkles in some fun facts. All of this information is presented in short paragraphs with highlighted words that might be unfamiliar and are defined in the glossary. Photos typically spread over two pages and text is attractively inserted within. Wrestlers are varying in ethnicity and gender. This book is part of the Arena Events six-book series.

Pro wrestling is a big deal, even among the younger crowd. Many students are avid fans and this book will be a favorite. Written as a high interest/lower level volume, it will certainly attract its target audience of 3rd-6th graders, as well as those above and below. Pro wrestling has been around for sixty years and it doesn’t appear to be diminishing in popularity. So, the pop culture aspect of this book is somewhat moot. It should be relevant for some years to come. Update your sports section with this one!