I pretty much like all the books I’ve seen in this series.  I like that it uses large full-page color photos to support the text and capture student interest.  I like that they choose high-interest non-fiction topics to spark students’ curiosity.  I like that they provide sound information in non-threatening format (large font; only a couple of sentences per page) that is accessible to early readers.  I like that “bilingual” applies to all parts of the book, including extra text features (glossary, index, etc.) and not only the body of the text.  And I like the sturdy bindings.  In this particular title, I do wish they had made the connection between hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones in body of the text and not only in the glossary, as many students tend to skip reading the glossary, but might be interested in that bit.  The only thing that keeps these from an R* rating is that because they target emergent readers, it means you’re not getting a huge amount of meat for your buck.  Still, it’s definitely Recommended.

I generally avoid lift-the-flap books in the library, just like I avoid pop-up books, because they’re not likely to have a long life.  So that is already one mark against getting a recommendation, and in addition, this has a very limited audience: strictly preK-K.  Each page has a Who __________? question (e.g. “Who wears a carrot for a nose?” with the answer revealed when the reader unfolds either the top or bottom half of the page.  The illustrations are cute, and it’s kind of fun to see how some of them shift with the unfolding of the flap, so that saves the book from an NR rating, but the best I can do is to call it an “Additional Purchase.”

This charming and delightful story is told from the perspective of the family dog when his people decide to bring home a cat (without asking him first).  All his efforts to make friends seem to awry, despite his best intentions (because of course neither the cat nor the people understand dogspeak), and Stanley keeps ending up in trouble.  Comical illustrations compliment the story nicely.

A charming biography told from an unusual perspective, it highlights many of the struggles Abraham Lincoln faced, and always returns to how he was able to harness the power of humor and words to help.  Perhaps the subtitle would be more fitting if it claimed “served” in place of “saved,” but that’s my only real criticism:  This book takes one of our most famous presidents and makes him seem more human, less iconic, someone the readers would like to have known.  I definitely think it has a place in every elementary school library, and maybe middle school as well.

This is a simple book paying homage to mothers with classic De Paola illustrations.  Starting from the perspective of an infant, and moving on through toddler to child, each page includes one sentence with accompanying illustration, stating one way the author’s mom demonstrates her brilliance — from knowing when to change his diaper to knowing how to make popsicles to knowing how to dress like a movie star when she’s going out. It’s charming and full of experiences many children will relate to, a good read around Mother’s Day.

It’s got an attractive and sturdy-looking binding and attractive illustrations:  Each two-page spread consists of a large color illustration of a single dinosaur on the right, accompanied by 2-3 simple sentences in large font telling a couple facts about that dinosaur and its “big” features.  An inset on each page tells the size of that dinosaur.  “Chapters” are Big, Bigger, and Biggest.  Though an attractive volume for beginning readers who are dinosaur enthusiasts, it’s limited in the amount of information in provides.

Though not likely to be a high-interest book selected for recreational reading, this may fit a curriculum niche.  It describes how levers work and compares different types, always connecting them to real-life tools with which kids will be familiar, such as a shovel, scissors, teeter-totter, nut-cracker, and baseball bat.  The text is simply stated, to make concepts understandable to beginning readers, and well-supported by photos and labeled diagrams.  Besides being useful in science instruction, it also includes typical non-fiction text features such as glossary (with words bolded in the body of the text), index, and table of contents.  Sturdy binding.

This book begins by describing how scientists classify animals according to how they are alike and different, and goes on to list some of the defining characteristics that make fish fish.  It then takes a closer look at each characteristic with clear, labeled illustrations.  There were some unfamiliar fish mentioned in the text (clingfish, hagfish) that were not included in the illustrations, and though the book says it has a reinforced library binding, the finish on the cover doesn’t feel like it will stand up to much wear.  Includes scientific classification chart.

This book discusses the history of money, from the days of bartering, and different things that have been used as mediums of exchange through time and in different places.  It includes information about the earliest metal coins and paper money and describes the details of US coins and Euros.  Be wary that the information about Euros could become outdated as countries who use the Euro continue to change.  The first and last chapters sandwich the information of the middle chapters amidst a story of a boy bringing his coin collection in for show-and-tell, which seems to fuzz the lines between fiction and non-fiction.

Describes the history of the camera from the discovery that silver salts darken when exposed to light, up to modern digital cameras, explaining the basics of how each version works.  The significance of cameras to society and jobs is discussed. Labeled diagrams help illustrate the information.  Index, glossary, recommended web links and timeline are included, with the words included in the glossary highlighted within the body of the text.  I found some of the choices as to which words to include in the glossary a bit odd (“demonstrated”), and I worry about the currency of the information (it says that most people use color film these days, but I believe that digital cameras have nearly eliminated film altogether).