The illustrations are cute, photos of 3-D scenes created with toys and miniatures, the main character a hand-made sock bunny, whose expressions are drawn with marker on face swatches that get switched between photos. The scenarios in the books (mom insisting that bunny get ready, and bunny fulling intending to, but continually distracted by the events of his imagination) are certainly situations young children would relate to.  But intended for the very youngest, I fear the book will find limited audience in school settings.

A solid little non-fiction beginning reader.  On the one hand, the topic may seem more suited to older students, while the text and format are definitely targeting beginning readers, but it will still have its uses as a beginning introduction to civics in the United States.  Where as some beginning readers tend to over-simplify information for the sake of simplifying the text, this one manages to convey a clear and concise explanation of the three branches of the Federal Government, explaining the division of power, and the ways the power of each branch is limited by the others.  The text is limited to 1-3 sentences per page, well-supported by relatively up-to-date color photos.  Though it certainly doesn’t go into great depth, it does capture the basics.

A good, solid little beginning chapter book.  It doesn’t sacrifice character development or believability for the sake of simplicity.  The main character is part of a group who volunteers each Saturday at their local pet shelter, and at the beginning of this tale some newly rescued dogs from Puerto Rico have arrived, seeking homes.  Suzannah and her team each get to name one of the new arrivals, and help prepare them for adoption.  As the only member of her squad who doesn’t have her own pet at home, Suzannah is faced with the conflicting feelings of wanting her favorite to find a good home, but also not wanting to give her up.  Meanwhile, at school, her class is planning a pet day as  all her classmates write stories about their pets and plan to bring them to school to show off.  Again feeling like the only one who doesn’t have her own pet (although she comes to learn she’s not alone), Suzannah chooses to share Paloma’s story.  I think the characters in this book and the feelings/problems they face will be things that readers will really relate to.

Intended as an early-reader non-fiction piece, it does an adequate job of providing some basic information about desert conditions and about how plants and animals adapt to those harsh conditions.  It did a good job of clarifying that the distinctive characteristic of a desert is its lack of precipitation, not its heat, drawing distinctions between hot, cold, and polar deserts.  It provided a decent world map, showing locations of different types of deserts.  I just wish it had done a better job of providing pictorial support when listing types of plants and animals that are likely to be very unfamiliar to most American children.

All-around a rather awkward tale.  It’s more or less told in rhyme, but the rhythm of the rhyme is inconsistent and difficult to read fluently.  The artwork appears to be trying to invoke traditional Russian folk art, except it includes modern-day cars.  It seems to imply that he somehow uses his ladder to fling himself up and over the road way to reach the cherry tree he wants to harvest, but the illustrations make in unclear exactly how that supposedly happened.  Then, for some reason, after collecting his cherries, he forgets to use his original technique to cross the road, instead walking out into on-coming traffic and getting hit and smashed to bits.  His wife attempts to put all his disembodied bits back together, but he goes home with parts in all the wrong places, ending with what is supposed to be the clever remark that, “As for Ivan…he’s beside himself.” The whole thing seems rather pointless and difficult to follow.

It’s okay.  Advertised on the back flap is another book entitled, “The Problem with Not Being Scared of Monsters,” and perhaps this book would be better as a companion to the other, but as a stand-alone story it leaves me a bit flat.  Most pages consist of one sentence describing some failure or another of monsters trying to make friends with kids who are cowering in fear or running away, until at the end they meet one boy who isn’t scared, so they have no problem.  I’m guessing I might like the other book better, as there is a distinctive twist on the usual expectation that most kids are scared of monsters, and as I said, as a companion this might work.  But since I don’t think most of us have any expectation that monsters are afraid of kids, this book lacks the same twist.  It’s not bad; it’s just not particularly compelling.

Too often our students’ understanding of the civil rights movement is limited to the big names of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and maybe Ruby Bridges.  This would be a solid addition to any library collection to broaden the picture we offer our students.  Told from the perspective of a young boy reminiscing about his father’s store, this book tells about Harlem’s National Memorial African Bookstore, and the roll it played as a community gathering place.  It also stresses the importance of spreading knowledge through literacy and discussions to empower people to bring about change.  The end papers and the main body of the text are sprinkled with words of wisdom from a man who had little formal schooling himself but knew the power of learning.

A solid little book that pacts a reasonable amount of information into the constraints of an early reader, clearly outlining the distinguishing characteristics between two easily confused animal groups.  Before reading this, I couldn’t have told you what the difference was, but now I know.  The book addresses traits such as size, tails, noses, family behavior, and intelligence.  It also offers a map showing regions in which both types of animals live, and discusses the relationship both have to humans as fellow primates.  It’s got a solid binding, all the usual non-fiction text features, and color illustrations that support the text.

Yes, the photos are “super cute!” just as the cover proclaims.  And as a beginning reader, it has a certain draw, as it only has a sentence or two per page, supported by the photos.  But because it is an early reader, the information it provides is minimal.  Although, hey, I did learn that a baby giraffe is taller than me when it’s born.  That was interesting.  And it does have a good sturdy binding.

Beautiful color photos illustrate this scientific success story of bringing back this species of monkeys from approaching extinction to a viable population.  Crossing fifty years of concern and study and attempts and failures and more attempts, the book teaches about the needs of golden lion tamarins, about the growth of environmental science, about the interrelationship between animals and their environments, and about how humans can impact that relationship, both for ill and for good.  It honestly shares the complexities of trying to release animals born in captivity into the wild. It’s a book to inspire.