The binding is not sturdy enough to stand up to library usage. The story is fine, but kind of lame. It would maybe be suitable for PreK audiences, but since most of our schools start with Kindergarten, I don’t think the sparkles and glitter on the cover is enough to make it worth purchasing. It tells of a cat who got an ice cream cone dropped on his head and in order to get the other cats to stop laughing at him, he declares it to be his magic hat, and with the help of a couple coincidences he convinces his friends until a dog comes by and he’s not able to magic them out of that jam. They climb a tree and the ice cream cone falls on the dogs head and he runs away, being chased by bees.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I like the message it has about the two sisters finding a way to each have her own space, while still being close, but on the other hand I don’t like the way it endorses the accumulation of stuff. When the book began, describing how the sisters had begun collecting stuff as children, getting two of everything until their house is so overrun by stuff that they can’t function, I was expecting them to end up with a grand yard sale to let go of a lot of unnecessary stuff. In some ways the ending felt like a cop out.

Though some of the older Caldecott winners have become dated over the years, and lost their appeal for young readers, there’s something timeless about this one. Perhaps it is the way the illustrations capture the passing of time and how the world changes over the years. It could be useful for lessons in the younger grades on how we measure the passing of time, by days, by months, by seasons and years. And besides, it’s just a good story. If your old copy could use refreshing, it’s worth updating.

It’s fine. Worrying about growing is certainly a concern of many small children. In this case, it is Muriel’s imaginary friend (small, green, rather alligator-esque) who notices that Muriel is growing and he is not. He tries planting himself in the garden; he tries having Muriel roll him like her play dough; he tries forcing the issue; and he tries tall shoes and hat. Nothing really proves successful, but gee, overnight he does indeed grow (even if he doesn’t actually catch up to Muriel, since she grows too). It’s really intended for the youngest readers, probably best suited to PreK or Kindergarten.

It’s a cute story about animals coming together to help a neighbor in need. When a storm washes away Possum’s brush pile home, he gathers his young and sets off to find a new home. Along the way he meets other animals who offer their assistance, beginning with chipmunk who offers to help dig a new home, which the baby possums love, but is unfortunately to small for Papa Possum. As each animal offers to help, they are of course offering their expertise for their own type of homebuilding, but when put all together, Possum ends up with quite a lovely home, and just as he asks how he can possibly thank them all for their assistance, another storm strikes, so they all hunker down together.

A great choice for readers’ theater! Because so many of the words repeat or are not real words at all, but animal sounds, this book would be a great choice for having partners share reading performances in a less intimidating way. The two-voice formatting is fun and adds to the appreciation of sound in poetry. There is a wide variety of animals included, so it would be useful as an introductory or cross-curricular connection for a variety of science units. Paragraphs in the back offer additional scientific background for deeper understanding of each poem.

It’s a simple concept book, suitable for even the youngest students, yet it doesn’t over-simplify the concepts. Each two-page spread includes four images of shapes opposite the title question. But the first set of four shapes adds the question, “why?” and goes on to explain how each of the four shapes could be the correct answer for different reasons. The important part isn’t which shape the reader chooses; the important part is in discussing why. A letter from the author in the back of the book reminds the reader that what words they choose to describe their thoughts aren’t what’s important either — as long as they are considering they different traits of the shapes, they are thinking mathematically. A great book for divergent thinking.

I like it. Pony Lovers abound in elementary school, and the sweet illustrations both draw readers in and offer support for the text. The poems are short and simple and child-like, which I think make them less intimidating that poetry can sometimes be for young readers. This book makes poetry approachable, inviting students to try composing themselves.

What a sweet story! When Sylvia writes a poem to celebrate the coming of spring, she carries it into he park to read it to a squirrel and tie it to a tree. On her way to school the next day she thinks she sees her poem fluttering in the breeze, but soon realizes it’s a new poem, and she believes the tree is writing back to her. For several days she continues to write the tree poems and find others in return (all the poems are, of course, included in the story). Then one day she finds a boy from school, who she doesn’t particularly like, at the tree and learns that the poems came from him, not the tree. At first she is sad to learn her tree wasn’t really writing to her, but then the two bond over poetry and become friends. The illustrations are soft and sweet and well-suited to the mood of the story.

I’m afraid I didn’t like it quite as much as I had hoped I would. I generally really like when they do picture books to song lyrics, and who doesn’t like The Beatles? But these lyrics maybe didn’t lend themselves so well to illustrations, or to being written as text without the musical accompaniment, because it just felt a little awkward. I was trying to make connections between the lyrics and the illustrations, and though there were times they fit better, there were also times I wasn’t seeing it.