There are several versions of The Ugly Duckling, not all of them kid friendly. This version is kid friendly and doesn’t focus on the bullying done by the other birds. Clearly, there is bullying, but the actual words aren’t mentioned, only the feelings of the ugly duckling. The rest of the story is the same and the ugly duckling joins a group of other swans and realizes that he is one of them. Kind of a nice feeling to the story as the ugly duckling searches for a group in which he fits. Who doesn’t?

Fans of the Jake and the Neverland Pirates will enjoy this book based on the episode “Rock the Croc”.  The book version is filled with one rebus ( in which the word is written below in a very small font) of a noun on almost every line throughout the book. There are, also,seven side questions, such as “Can you help Jake spot the crocodile?” (11), throughout the book.

Jake and his pirate friends Cubby and Izzy find a map for Pirates’ Plunge , a waterslide, floating inside a bottle. When Hook tries to take the map from them, the bottle flies through the air. Croc swallows it.  What follows is Hook always trying to outdo Jake, Cubby, and Izzy’s attempts to retrieve the bottle from Croc. First, they try to tickle Croc to make him sneeze the bottle with the map out, then they try to get Croc to burp it out. Finally, Hook accidentally steps on a log, resting upon another log like a teeter-totter, Croc catapults Hook through the air. Croc laughs so hard “the bottle with the map flies out of the Croc’s mouth.” (29)

Off Jake, Cubby, and Izzy go to Pirates’ Plunge for some waterslide fun, too bad Hook is stuck up in a tree.

The cover of this book shows a boxy little robot with BIG eyes, a single antenna, and a degree meter on his chest. This could not be farther from the robot inside the pages of this book, but it is cute and grabs the reader’s attention. The reader, whose attention it grabs, though, might be younger than the intended book’s audience. It is short book, only 50 pages, great for reluctant readers.

Shawn is a 12 year old who loves basketball. When Shawn comes home after a dismal time of shooting hoops after school with his friend, his father nabs him at the door for not putting his jacket away properly. Then after dinner, a dinner his mother can hardly eat because she is so excited about the news she wants to share with the family about her work. ” Mom came home with so many wacky ideas it was hard to believe she had a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.” (10) This time she brought home C-Y-R-S or Closed-loop Young Robot System or Cyrus. It mimicks Shawn’s movements. “Cyrus blinked slowly and then said,’ I am here to integrate with the Cole family. Dr. Cole, her husband Mr. Nathaniel Cole, and their son Shawn Cole will demonstrate how to have realistic human interactions and relationships. I will study human emotions and try to replicate feelings. I will even learn to accept the family canine, basset hound, Scooter, as a close companion.’  “(14) Oh, and Cyrus looks just like Shawn (not the robot on the book’s cover). This fact kept reminding me of the Will Smith movie, i Robot.

Shawn is expected to share his bedroom with Cyrus. Shawn sleeps through his math quiz at school the next day because Cyrus kept waking Shawn up all night. First, Cyrus began to overheat, then Cyrus could not connect to the Wi-Fi at home, Cyrus needed a password and a login, this was followed by Cyrus’ playing with Scooter, like Cyrus was a dog, and finally Cyrus was bouncing Shawn’s LA Laker’s autographed basketball on Shawn’s bed.  Mr. Velazquez, Shawn’s math/science teacher and school basketball coach, wakes Shawn up after the rest of the class has gone to their next class. Poor Shawn, Mr. Velazquez informs him he will have to cut Shawn from the basketball team due to grades, unless Shawn completes all of his make-up work by tomorrow. At home, Cyrus is playing the latest unreleased video game, which he was able to download. Shawn tricks Cyrus into doing his make-up work by saying, ‘  ‘ How about you work on that while I play for a bit. Then we’ll switch?’  ”  ( (24)[ NOT sure what happened next because my copy of the book was missing the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter, four pages total. When my copy of the book continues] Cyrus is getting ready for his first day of school with his brother Shawn. All the of the students love Cyrus. Shawn turns in his make-up work. By the end of the day, Mr. Velazquez figures out that Cyrus actually did the make-up work and won’t let Shawn back on the basketball team. Mr. Velazquez will be telling the principal about the cheating, too. Even though Shawn has been “mean, rude, abrasive, jealous” of Cyrus, Cyrus wants to help Shawn get back on the team, because  ” ‘ Like I said, if the research says brothers help each other out, then that’s what I need to do to learn to be your brother. I think it might be fun.’  “(40)

Cyrus does not enjoy being surrounded by so many people vying for his attention all of the time. People who all wanted something from him for themselves.

Cyrus’ plan didn’t fool the coach and Shawn is still off of the team, but they come to an understanding. Cyrus volunteers to help Shawn with his math, help not do it for him.

This is a delightful book with delightful illustrations. Poppy is your typical little kid who is learning the hard way how to earn recognition for her effort. She thinks that because she wants to be a writer, she already is a great writer without any effort. Wrong! When her best friend, Lavender, gets recognized by the teacher twice, Poppy gets angry and immediately reacts with “it’s not fair!” The third time her assignment is to write how to do something and after struggling with reality Poppy realizes that ‘how to get in trouble’ is the perfect title for her paper. She writes how she misbehaved and hurt people. Her honesty and hard work finally pays off when her teacher chooses her paper as the best. Kids could see that Poppy’s first work wasn’t good by anyone’s standards and that after having her meltdown, she was able to focus on her work and her words. This story really resonated with students and I hope they took it to heart in their own writing.

Both of these men were brilliant, with distinct similarities and differences. Edison, the eldest of the two, had more creative ideas, new ideas, that would make life better for people, and he applied for many patents on his inventions. Ford also desired to make life better for people, but rather than inventing something entirely new, he took already thought of creations and tweaked them to make them better. Ford admired Edison and strived to meet him. When he did, Edison shared the secret of his success: keep on trying! The two became best friends for the rest of their lives. The illustrations are beautiful and depict the era and the culture of the time. This book should be in every school library as it stresses the concept that mistakes teach us and perseverance is important to success.

This book follows along as Dar goes on his first mammoth hunt with his clan. The reader tag along as the clan encounters challenges and successes throughout the hunt.  As the story progresses through the book, each page includes facts about the Stone Age people and the skills they needed to survive.  The back of the book includes a list of ten interesting facts about the Stone Age that were not included in the book.  It also includes a glossary of some of the words that might be harder for the younger children to understand.  The glossary is a great way to help the younger children enjoy the book.

This is a very interesting book about the California gold rush.  The book includes the history of California before the gold rush and the discovery of gold by James Marshall which kicked off the gold rush.  The book is a great timeline of California’s growth not only in population but in diversity.  It covers the miner’s life, methods for panning for gold and the hardships that some of the people faced.  As fast as the mining boom took off, it ended, creating more and different industries for the state.  Most of the pages offer sidebars with interesting facts and websites to explore with more information.  There is a nice stop and think section in the back of the book that helps the student really evaluate what they have learned from the book.

For the past 15 years, our school has seen a huge influx of immigrant children, coming from countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Japan, China, Thailand, Figi, India, Ethiopia (and other African countries), and lately, many from Saudi Arabia. These children arrive as non-English speaking and extremely shy. Who wouldn’t be? As this book shows, these kids are quiet, sad, observant, and bright. It would be extremely difficult to leave family and friends and a familiar culture to go live where to don’t know anyone, everything is different, and you can’t even be understood. But as this book points out, communication comes in different forms, and even though the differences in people are dramatic, there still are similarities enough to bridge the language barrier and to form friendships. This book provides very simple ideas to use as discussion points for those classrooms who have a non-English speaking student. This book should be in every elementary school library.

Peter Pan is the classic story of a boy who never wanted to grow up. Word for word, this edition is the same as the original, first published in 1911. Here are the differences: first, the cover art is more child-friendly and depicts a boy child in a tree, hands on hips, looking over a ship in the harbor. Secondly, the size is more appropriate for a child’s hand, and measures 5.25″ x 8″. Thirdly, there is a glossary at the back which explains some of the unique (outdated) vocabulary. Fourthly, there are suggested activities for children who want to play at being Peter Pan. And, lastly, and most interesting to me, was the information at the end which explains J.M. Barrie’s life and motivation for writing Peter Pan. He must have been such a kind man to have adopted the orphaned children that gave him inspiration for Peter’s ‘boys.’ Also, the information that Barrie gave the Peter Pan copyright to the children’s hospital so that long after his death the hospital would continue to earn money to help the children was simply amazing. This is a wonderful and cherished story told by a man too good to be true. I wish there were more like him.

Communities may come in all sizes, however, all need helpers that contribute to make it a special place. This book provides an insight into these types of jobs, what training or education they require, and scope of duties for each job. From Police Officers, to Doctors or Dentists the people that work in these positions are helpers that make our towns and cities special, safer, and a better place for all indeed. Jokes and tips accompany each page through this interesting insight of jobs in our communities. This book includes a glossary; index; questions with answers; a list of books for more information: and
web sites for further research.