The only good thing I’ve got to say about this book is that it’s got a really good, strong binding.  It attempts to retell a folktale of the fox and the sour grapes, but with one drab sentence per page, with pictures as drab as the text, it fails miserably.

This is a valuable resource that clearly and concisely discusses the issues surrounding censorship.  It includes chapters addressing times and places where book banning has been especially prevalent; the most frequently challenged books and authors, and the reasons why they have been challenged; and how some powerful books have led to revolutionary changes is society.  The targeted audience for this book is middle school, but I think it has a place in elementary and high school libraries as well.

There will be kids who will howl over this book, and there will probably be parents who will complain.  Presented as a cookbook collected from witches around the world, they all follow the same gruesome pattern of tongue-in-cheek recipes with plump and juicy children as the main ingredients.  The illustrations are fun, and the language is sophisticated, with lots of plays on words that would likely go over the heads of younger readers.  Because it was originally published in Great Britain, some of the slang will be unfamiliar to American readers. The different voices of the different contributing witches come across loud and clear.

Organized to follow the seasons of the year, beautifully illustrated poems are mostly about things kids can really relate to, such as autumn leaves, squirrels, summer shadows, snow angels… (“Guest List: Charles Darwin’s Garden Party” might not resonate with kids as well as the others).  The structures of the poems seem more sophisticated that those often targeting children (playing with words, rather than rhyming couplets), yet the topics of the poems are so kid-related, that I think kids will really connect with them, thus being drawn into exploring more sophisticate language.

It’s got a sturdy binding and is a small book for small hands, as it is obviously intended for young children.  A couple of rhyming couplets on each page almost read like a song, but I wished that the music had been printed in the back, because the best I could manage in the tune department was always off-rhythm.  Colorful illustrations of photo collage support the text.  Tips are offered in the back for how to engage preschool children with the text.

This book of poems dedicated to each color is a beautiful example of words and pictures working together.  Illustrations of mixed media collage invite studying, supporting and expanding upon the text.  Colors are used both literally and figuratively. Color words are printed in that color, and some descriptions of color are left for the reader to interpret, with pictures picking up where the words leave off.  The reader is drawn into the illustrations to hunt out the depictions found in the text as well as more things of that color on each page.  My one disappointment was some times when the illustrations did not include all the textual references:  I hunted for red rhubarb and feathery maples, but could not find them.

Simple text in large font describes different modes of transportation used by children around the world to get to school:  a topic very relevant to young children.  This book makes  a good teaching tool, rich in Non-fiction text features such as captions, table of contents, headings, bolded vocabulary words to indicate what is found in the glossary, and an index.  Color photos support the text and website/books suggestions for further reading are included.  A map in the back color-codes the continents to place photos geographically.  It’s got a good sturdy binding and provides guided reading level on the back.