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

Cat Wishes

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Cat is very hungry as he wanders around the woods and catches a snake. This snake is magical, though, and offers Cat three wishes if he releases the snake. Cat doesn’t believe in wishes, but lets the snake go. He is still hungry and wishes for a fish, which he catches. Still skeptical, he wishes for a house when he becomes cold and wet in the rain. A lovely, warm house with a cushion for him to lie appears before him. He still doesn’t believe in wishes, but as darkness falls he wishes for a friend and a little girl quietly enters the room. She describes a wiggly snake that granted her three wishes – a picnic basket, a coat and a friend, the Cat.

Gentle illustrations accompany spare text to make this fairy tale come a sweet story to share with young students. This a great addition to your library.

4 X 4 Trucks

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All kinds of 4×4 trucks are shown in various crazy driving situations, whether they involve lots of dirt, mud or water. This informative book is a high interest- low level book, so it is written for a 3-6 grade interest level and a 2.6 grade reading level. There is a timeline, labeled vehicle and typical nonfiction features (glossary, index, table of contents, extra resource list, etc.). This book is part of the Full Throttle series that includes eight different vehicles and it is a certainty that none of them will be on your shelves if you buy them!

Journey Across the Hidden Islands

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Twins Seika and Ji-Lin were two princesses whose destiny was known to them, or so they thought. Seika would become the Queen and Ji-Lin would be her royal protector along with the winged lions. They also both knew that one day they would travel to the Hidden Island of the dragon to ask for her protection against monsters and invaders, just as their ancestors had for many generations. Yet, this was not what was to happen. They began their journey before their training was finished and so began an adventure of epic proportions. Along the way, they picked up a helpful young boy and used strength and intellect they didn’t know that they possessed. But, would it be enough to save their land and people from those outside that would destroy them? And, why is the ever-protective dragon allowing this to happen?

This book is a wonderful fantasy with strong, young female characters. They are likable and realistically ‘snarky’ at times, as tweens tend to be. Their loyalty to each other and their bravery is remarkable. Buy this book!

I Feel Teal

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This is a sweet book about a child who “feels” a wide range of colors over the course of her day. Illustrations are single colors on each two page spread until the end when the author writes that “you are all the colors” and “they make you you”. The illustrations are colorful at this point. This book would be great to share with students and determine together what emotions are illustrated. The illustrations do a fine job of hinting at the emotions through the faces and body language of those pictured. And, attributing colors to those emotions might be helpful when working with younger children, who could use those colors to help them describe their feelings at any given time.

Loch Ness Monster

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This book describes the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster. Illustrations and text explain the history of sightings, searches, hoaxes and hopes for finding this seemingly elusive creature. The reader learns where the Loch is located, what kind of tools are used to search for it and possible alternative animals that it might actually be. Extra tidbits of information are included in text boxes throughout and there are the typical nonfiction features – index, glossary and resource lists in the back of the book. Add this book to your collection if you want to update your section on supernatural creatures. It’s actually kind of fun!

I Just Ate My Friend

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Yes, he just ate his friend. So, the not-very-scary monster (even though he ate his friend) looks for a new one. Unfortunately, he’s either too big, too small, too scary, et cetera, et cetera, for all the monsters he encounters. Just when he’s about to give up, a lovely teal monster agrees to be his friend and…eats him! Readers will enjoy this darkly humorous story which is simply told and not very scary. It might lead to a wonderful discussion about how we really should treat our friends. Not eating them would be the first thing, right?

Ready, Set…Baby!

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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

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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

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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

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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.