It uses the universality of birthdays has a window into multiculturalism.  Right on the first page it begins by acknowledging that though everybody in the world has a birthday, not everyone celebrates, or even knows it, and those who do celebrate have many different ways of doing so.  I really like that it begins with a map, giving children a visual grounding on where each child lives.  I also really like that the writing is in first person, with each two-page spread describing how a different child celebrates his/her birthday; though it states where each child lives, and we can presume that the children chosen may represent typical examples from their home, it avoids falling into the trap of suggesting that every child in a particular country celebrates the same way, which of course would be inaccurate.  I also like that it includes examples of children who DON’T celebrate their birthdays,  which also adds to the authenticity of the book.  The one element I wish was different is this:  Each child’s story begins with a “Happy Birthday” type message in his/her own language, and in the back is a glossary which provides pronunciation guides and translations — I really wish that at least the pronunciation guide was offered within the main body of the book.

It’s shiny and bright, but that’s all it’s really got going for it. There are such better counting books available that I could not recommend spending $20 on this one.  It’s illustrated with photos of crayons on a white background, and it’s really just unabashed product placement.

It’s not exactly a traditional story, and not exactly a wordless picture book, but somewhere in between.  The text consists of a string of words, phrases, and onamonapeia (yes, I know that’s spelled wrong), which wouldn’t mean much alone.  But combined with the illustrations they tell a story of a gaggle of rambunctious Australian animals enjoying a day together filled with ordinary and familiar experiences (going to the park, playing on the playground, sharing a picnic, bath time, etc.).  It’s a celebration of the ordinary, and it invites children to play with language, and to consider adding their own words to tell the tale.

The illustrations are very textured, multi-media collage.  Each two-page spread with a close-up illustration of some bug, asking “What bug has a _____ like this?” is followed with a two-page spread that zooms out to show the full bug, in its habitat, and providing a description of how that particular body part serves that bug.  Most of the bugs will be familiar to young children, allowing them to participate in the guessing game the book invites. A paragraph in the back of the book explains the more scientific classification vocabulary, stating that all the “bugs” in the book belong to a large group of animals called Arthropods; it defines this term, along with the smaller groups (insects, arachnids, and myriapods) into which arthropods can be subdivided, thus inviting children into classification.

It’s a sentimental, somewhat romantic celebration of trains.  The illustrations are soft and a bit unfocused, to give it a nostalgic air, and the text is a poetic description of different kinds of trains doing different kinds of jobs.  The words play with language, giving it a rhythm reminiscent of the the chugging trains, and yet including a lot of vocabulary specific to the world of trains.  An illustrated glossary in the back provides illumination for unfamiliar terms.

It’s the illustrations that really make this book.  They are bright and bold and silly and they add an extra layer to the rest of the story.  Before the reader even gets to the first page of the story, the title page and lead-in pages show us a rather nerdy kid (which I say with the utmost affection and respect) toting around a book about bugs, drawing bugs, stopping to examine a bug on the sidewalk as the school bus approaches.  The story opens with this kid on the bus telling the girl next to him that he’s going to have to buy lunch in the cafeteria for the first time because his mom didn’t have time to pack him a lunch, which disturbs the busybody Ginny greatly, and she insists our hero take notes so he won’t forget the seven crucial rules to survive such an experience.  He then goes on to tell us of his experience, in which he manages to break all seven rules, but still survives.  Throughout the telling of the tale, we see him still toting his bug book, and his retelling includes many analogies in which he relates those around him to the bugs he’s been reading about, which the illustrations capture with humor.

The dynamic duo of Lester and Munsinger have teamed up again in their usual style, with cute illustrations and stories that address typical childhood problems.  This one is about a Badger who won’t go to sleep by day, like a good badger should, and so sleeps through his classes each night.  Students who are familiar with other stories by this pair will be drawn to the book by the familiar artwork, but I thought the story fell a bit flat this time.  The solution to the problem seemed to be that Boris just had to realize the fun stuff he missed when he slept through school, and then he made up his mind to go to sleep on time.  As someone who has struggled with insomnia, it’s not that simple:  even when someone really WANTS to go to sleep, sometimes they just can’t.

Tony Baloney is a very believable and relatable character, somehow managing to wrap into one Halloween all the struggles so many children struggle with in agonizing over the perfect Halloween costume:  he doesn’t want a costume patched together from odds and ends, or a hand-me-down costume from his big sister, or to have matching costumes with his younger siblings.  Instead he breaks into his savings to go buy the perfect pirate costume.  Unfortunately, he disregards the rules his teacher has set down about what is allowed at school, along with his parents’ warnings to take care of his costume if he wants it to last until Halloween.  In his enthusiasm, he ends up sabotaging himself by wearing it out before the big day and getting his sword confiscated by his teacher.  Yet in the end, he finds he’s able to put his creativity to work, with a bit of help from his family, and still have a good time in an odds-and-ends homemade pirate costume after all.

There’s nothing especially compelling about either the writing or the illustrations for this early chapter book (really still a picture book, but broken into token chapters).  But it does have a good message reminding children not to get too caught up in competition, but to put priority on friendship and being proud of our work, regardless of how it compares to that of others.

I’m certainly glad I didn’t waste any money on this book, and assuming it is an example of the rest of the series, I certainly won’t be buying any others in this series.  I’m not even sure I want to put this on my shelves for free.  The story is flat and pedantic.  The text is stilted and choppy.  It’s not even easily decodable, which sometimes excuses other stilted, choppy writing.  Our students need books that provide examples of rich, fluent language and compelling stories. I don’t see any redeeming qualities here.