A picture book biography about the man responsible for developing the scientific classification and naming system used throughout the scientific community today.  The water color illustrations do a good job of evoking the time period (1700s) in which Karl Linne, aka Carolus Linnaeus, lived and worked.  The book shares his early love of plants and insects, his confusion as he began his medical studies and found so many different names used for the same plants, the wrath he faced from other scientists who found him presumptuous in declaring his own name for things, and the eventual fame and fortune he received (even being knighted) when his ideas caught on.  Final information pages in the back share how his system has needed to grow and adapt as new scientific knowledge grows.

It’s okay, but I thought a bit flat.  It’s basically a story about a girl who feels like she can’t always summon a smile when she wants, and she’s worried as picture day approaches.  When she’s assigned to be the photographer’s assistant, she gets the job of bringing out everyone else’s smiles.  When it’s her turn, they all join forces to return the favor. Smiles all around.

It’s cute. It’s kitschy. It’s got vintage, graphic illustrations that are reminiscent of picture books of the past.  On the way to school, Matthew’s father’s car has trouble starting.  As dad drops him off at Kindergarten, the what-ifs begin.  Matthew begins by asking what if the car doesn’t start when it’s time for dad to come get him, and then for every answer dad has to offer, Matthew has a new what-if question, exposing his fear that dad might not make it back.  But in the end, dad assures him that if all else fails, he will run on his own two legs back to Matthew’s side.

It reads like a poetic love letter.  It feels like it has romantic overtones, but could also be read aloud as a parent reading to a child.  It’s a series of, “I was a flower with no pot. I was a polka with no dot….” etc. etc. etc. And then a series of all the things the listener brought to the reader’s life. It ends by asking, “What took you so long?”

It’s a book that would be a great tool for interactive story-telling, or as a writing prompt.  In a lot of ways, it’s a story that never really comes out and tells a story.  An adult and a child mouse travel through a series of illustrations with a lot of rhyming and repeating text saying, “I’ll tell you a story of this, and I’ll tell you a story of that. I’ll tell you a story of…” but those stories are never so much told as suggested.  The illustrations definitely add to the meaning of the text.  Careful observation reveals clues in each illustration leading into the next.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t find any redeeming qualities in this book.  I didn’t find it funny.  I didn’t find it clever. I didn’t find it interesting. It’s about a toddler who isn’t sleepy at bedtime, and her dad gives into whatever she demands, whether or not it makes any sense at bedtime.  Then she finds her Aunty Fairy who gives her a birthday present a day early — a spinning wheel.  She doesn’t prick her finger, but she does break it and then throw a tantrum. By the time she finally falls asleep, she sleeps right through time for her birthday party the next day, and none of her guests can wake her up.  By the time she finally does wake up, she declares it’s time for a pajama party.  Basically I found it to be the story of a spoiled brat who expects the whole world to revolve around her whims.

It’s your basic life-cycle-of-a-frog book, but it’s a very well-done version for young readers.  The text is direct and simple yet doesn’t lack substance in its simplicity.  The large color photos do an excellent job of supporting the text.  It’s got an excellent binding, and all the usual non-fiction text features.

Visually, it’s a really cool book.  The illustrations use light and shadow to great effect as the story tells of a little rabbit being carried home through the city at night, describing all he sees in the windows they pass, and what he wonders about his neighbors.  But you need to be careful about your patron population if you’re going to choose to put it on your shelves.  I really like most of the book, except the last sentence: “But every night, we all go home to bed.”  I’ve worked too long with kids in poverty to believe this to be true, and I worry about the child reading it who doesn’t get to go home to a bed every night.

It’s fine for what it is, but it’s very limited in the information it provides.  Strictly a concept book for the very youngest students.  One or two sentences per page is accompanied by color photos of places in our lives where circles are found.  The circles are highlighted in each photo to make them stand out.  It does have an excellent binding and all the basic non-fiction text features (in a very limited fashion).

The illustrations are cool and colorful and inviting, but there are other books that convey the information and concepts of this book better.  This book is written in first person, from the voice of the sun.  But it rambles a bit in its explanations and doesn’t connect all the necessary dots.  The subtitle is “how the sun moves water around the earth.”  Several times it describes roles played by “my winds.”  Now I have enough of a science background to understand the role of the sun in creating the convection currents in the air which are our winds, but this book didn’t offer any connective tissue for young readers as to why the sun could claim power over the winds.