A beautiful celebration of all the dreams inside us all.  The illustrations are fanciful, in fitting with the topic.  The text reminds us all that no matter what the world is demanding of us on the outside, we all hold the power to escape into our daydreams.  It also recognizes that within us we can hold many different kinds of dreams.  It concludes by asking the reader what kind of a happy dreamer are you? And then opens up a double-fold-out spread illustrating two dozen different kinds of happy and different kinds of dreams.

A really approachable and informative non-fiction picture book that I think has a wide grade-range of appeal.  The illustrations are cartoonish enough to be inviting, but still do a good job of providing the reader with a visual context for the time period.  The text is written with a chatty voice that makes it approachable for both the curious elementary student who has heard of this Shakespeare guy right through to the high school student reluctantly struggling through a Shakespeare class.  The book is designed so that the paragraphs on the left of each two-page spread describes the life and times of the great playwright, bolding specific words which were used by the bard himself.  On the right is an inset providing the definitions of these bolded words and phrases still common today, while also linking them to the original Shakespearean usage.

The opening line of text declares, “I love round things.”  And the rest of the text goes on to describe why, and to share different examples of roundness and why it’s to be admired, but there is definitely some artistic license taken with the term “round,” making this more a poetic ode to that which is (at least somewhat) round, rather than a true concept book that sticks to accurate examples of the true geometric term “round.”  Seeds and eggs are used as examples of round, and those pictured are, but not all eggs or seeds are round.  The mushrooms pictured, though rounded on top, are not truly round; neither are the rocks that have been smoothed by the sea.  More detailed paragraphs in the back share why rounded shapes are beneficial to the examples shared, but again the term is used loosely.

I LOVE the illustrations!  They are rich and detailed and evoke a certain fairy-tale element to the setting.  Cleonardo is a young inventory is a family line of inventors, daughter of Geonardo and granddaughter of Leonardo.  With the town’s Grand Festival of Inventions approaching, Cleo is determined to help her father, but though indulgent, he’s a bit dismissive, sending her off out of his way.  With her grandfather’s help, Cleo sets up hr own workshop in the woods to design her own project.  On the day of the great festival, when her dad’s project runs into trouble, it’s Cleo’s inventions that help to save the day, and “From then on father and daughter always worked…side by side.”

With bright, bold, graphic illustrations and rhyming text, this is a good introductory book for young children about different animal traits.  The text in the main body of the book doesn’t even specify the animals in question: some animals wear hair and some animals wear scales…but it’s up to the reader to look at the illustrations for examples of just what animals fit each description.  A good opportunity for letting young students see which animals they can identify by sight.  In the back, brief paragraphs go into more details, naming the animals pictured earlier in the book and explaining why they need the specified trait.  Not dense with information, but still a good introduction.

The text is simple, as is the bright artwork, but the message is profound:  it’s okay to be different, and to be friends with those who don’t fit in with the crowd. Colin is carrot, and so very different than all of Lee’s other pea friends.  But his differences prove to be what allows him to bring unique talents to the group.

An introductory page how animals develop certain traits in order to meet their survival needs.  It specifically describes convergent evolution: when animals who aren’t even related to each other develop the same or similar traits, due to similar environmental needs. Each two-page spread is dedicated to a particular trait, and how two different animals use that trait for survival.  A final paragraph on each page contrasts the two animals, explaining how they can share similar traits even if they’re not actually closely related.  All of this is illustrated with large color photos that support the text well.

The soft illustrations of friendly forest animals trying to encourage and console and help their friend Badger are charming.  And the story is one that so many of us (children and teachers alike) here in the Northwest and relate to — the anxious anticipation in waiting for snow that is not coming.  They come up with all sorts of ideas, from throwing stones at the sky to punch holes in the clouds, to performing a snow dance, to wearing their pajamas backwards.  Nothing seems to work, but throughout Hedgehog keeps trying to remind his friends that crocuses always bloom in spring, and the sun rises every day, and the stars shine every night; though they always come in their own time.  So eventually the band of friends realize that the snow also will come in its own time, and they’ll just have to wait.

The soft and misty nature of the illustrations add to the poetical nature of the telling of the tale of the origins of a house:  the door that was once a colossal oak, the stones that were once underground, the bricks that were once mud, etc.  A useful story to introduce young children to how humans make use of our natural resources.

The illustrations are cute and cartoon-like, and will draw kids in — I mean, with a dragon and giant orange polka-dotted underwear on the cover, it’s gotta be good, right?  The story itself is likely only to appeal to a particular audience of very young children who may find the struggles to dress the dragon reminiscent of scenarios they may have experienced when they were small.  Others drawn by the illustrations may find the story a bit disappointing.