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

Ready, Set…Baby!

Posted on by

Anna and Oliver tell us what it’s like to have a new baby join the family. This book starts with the announcement from mom and goes through the last stages of pregnancy and all the changes that occur for older siblings when the new family member arrives (and stays!). Word bubbles are interspersed with minimal text around sweet illustrations that give a good amount of information for new big brothers and sisters. This book is lighthearted and touches on many topics in which ‘bigs’ might have an interest, like all those sounds babies make instead of talking, the whole yucky diaper thing, spitting up, bedtime routines, visits and so forth. There is a resource list for added information and tips for parents in the back of the book. This book will answer many questions for older siblings and does so in a friendly, easy manner. It will be a great resource for parents who want some help answering those questions in an age-appropriate way.

Crunch and Crack, Oink and Whack! : an Onomatopoeia Story

Posted on by

Mrs. Garcia’s class roams the school and nearby farm searching for onomatopoeia in this silly, rhyming picture book. They find numerous examples of this elusive literary device in the gym, science lab and elsewhere until they are “shooshed” at the end by the concerned principal (apparently, they were a little loud with their “shrieks”, “grunts” and so forth!

This book will be useful for the teacher that is working on this topic. Students will enjoy the fun illustrations and the additional examples in the back of the book. They might be excited enough about it to go on their own search for the elusive onomatopoeia!

The Whiskers Sisters. #1,May’s wild walk

Posted on by

Three sisters, antlered Maya, feline Mia and pink-eyed May are awaiting the return of their grandfather, the the Guardian of the Forest. One morning, Mrs. Owl brings them a letter and after reading it, Maya and Mia plan a celebration. They don’t include May (who is younger and speaks in baby talk “ga ga ga”), so she wanders off and ends up in Mrs. Owl’s letter bag. She is carried off and falls into the forest when the strap on the bag breaks, dumping her and the rest of the mail. Interestingly, the animals in the forest understand May perfectly and she has a great time locating the missing letters with them. Maya and Mia spend their day preparing for the celebration and realize May is missing just as the party is to start. They have just a short time to be sad before May, the forest animals and, surprise(!), grandpa show up. Let the celebration begin!

This is a light little story with manga-like characters set in a cute cottage in a lovely forest. There isn’t a lot of depth to the story in this graphic novel. But, that’s ok, given it appears to be directed at the younger crowd. It’s a sweet introduction to graphic novels and is sure to please the target audience.

Cool Indy Cars

Posted on by

Cool Indy Cars is an adrenaline rush inducing introduction to the history, parts and current racing of this type of vehicle. The book is loaded with photos, both historic and current and text boxes add tidbits of fun information about those pictures. A labeled diagram, extra facts, extra resources, index and glossary come together to make this an accessible interesting read for young students. The sentences are short and sometimes choppy. But the content is solid and interesting.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Posted on by

Martin Luther King Jr. Day details what the holiday is, the origin, who celebrates and traditions. A timeline, map, historical and current photos make this book a nice introduction to the holiday. Short sentences with highlighted words that might be unfamiliar (defined in the glossary) make it an appropriately leveled book for younger readers. My only complaint is that most of the photos, even the current ones, are fairly homogeneous in ethnicity, which is unfortunate and unrealistic. A more accurate portrayal of people of all backgrounds coming together should have been pictured.

Football Records

Posted on by

Football Records, part of Blastoff! discover. Incredible sports records series, is a quick “dip your toes into the stats” kind of book. Glossy action shots of various record holders with short paragraphs and extras in scattered text boxes will leave the casual reader satisfied and the sports fanatic ready to explore more (which will be simple, given that there are extra print and internet resources listed in the back of the book). Highlighted words are defined in the glossary and an index is a nice quick reference. This will be a good purchase if you are looking to update your sports collection.

Super Potato. #2.Super Potato’s galactic breakout

Posted on by

Super Potato is captured by the evil Zort, a slug king that collects creatures from different planets for his personal zoo. Fortunately, the slug’s robot servant is easily manipulated by the brilliant Super Potato and opens all the cages to release the creatures. Minus the Magnificent, king of the Planet Micron, and his armada (who came to rescue him) return the creatures to their home planets and take Super Potato back to Earth. Is this the end? Nope…I know this, because it says it on the last page! There will be more adventures to come.

This innocent little graphic novel will appeal to those readers who might be beginning their exploration of the genre. It is not too difficult to follow and the humor is at the perfect level for the 2nd-5th grade reader. Pages range from single panel to three panel comic spreads that move the story along. The colors are bright and the writing is simple. Pick up this book (and the first one) for your young readers.

The Donkey Egg

Posted on by

Bear and Hare are back after their escapades in Tops and Bottoms. Fox stops by Bear’s ramshackle home and sells him a $20 watermelon, convincing him that it is a donkey egg. Well, Bear takes care of that “donkey egg” for quite awhile. He does a great job caring for it, keeping it warm and playing with it. Hare stops by occasionally (he seems to be training for a race against a tortoise) to give bear encouragement. One day, Bear falls asleep and the “egg” rolls away from him and crashes, breaking into several large pieces of watermelon (surprise!). Bear and Hare decide to make the best of it, after Bear realizes he was fooled by the Fox. They plant the seeds and end up with so many lovely watermelons! They take some to town to sell and buy …a donkey! Fox sees the trio and the book ends with Fox scratching his head and climbing up on a watermelon.

The story moves smoothly along, with some interesting facts about time along the way. This might distract some readers, but most won’t be bothered. They will be busy moving on to the next page to find out what will happen with Bear, Hare and the ‘egg’ on the next pages. The illustrations are wonderful. It is like seeing old friends again after several years away (24 years since Tops and Bottoms). Highly recommended.

Passover

Posted on by

Passover is an introduction to the Jewish holiday. The book explains what it is, its traditions and origins, who celebrates and when they do so. There is a nice pronunciation guide for unfamiliar words and a recipe typical to the holiday. There is also a glossary, which defines the bolded words that are throughout the text. This is part of the Celebrating Holidays series and is very appropriate for early readers. While the text is spare, the photos also do a great job of illustrating the different aspects of the holiday. Purchase this book to update your collection.

Mr. Monkey Take a Hike

Posted on by

Mr. Monkey wants to win his video game, but even though he   “runs…ducks…climbs…swings…jumps [and] falls” over and over. He is just about ready to give up when a chick comes in and swipes his game controller. OH NO! Mr. Monkey must leave his game to retrieve his controller from that silly little chick and the chase commences.  Mr. Monkey “runs…ducks…climbs…swings…jumps [and] falls” over and over as he attempts to catch the chick and his controller . Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? In the end, he finally gets his controller back, but is too tired to play. Poor Mr. Monkey And, as he peacefully sleeps in front of the television, a certain little chick returns and takes the controller. The end.

Readers will enjoy the cartoon-like illustrations and comic action of the story as they cheer on Mr. Monkey. Repetitive language is helpful as for those readers that need it. Mr. Monkey never gives up and the action along the way will elicit some gasps and giggles from young students. This is a third book involving Mr. Monkey and if the others are similarly written, I would certainly consider purchase of all three.