The ballerina mouse and her friends take their show on the road.

Angelina and her fellow ballet students board a little blue bus to present the Cinderella Dance Tour in towns all over Mouseland. Angelina is happy to be featured in the starring role, but some of her fellow student performers are not in such good spirits. There are mishaps on stage, lost props, upset stomachs, uncomfortable beds, and a good dose of homesickness. On the way to their final destination, their bus becomes mired in the mud after a rainstorm, and the scenery is ruined. Not to worry. Their hostess, Countess Von Whiskers, suggests a visit to her castle gardens, where Angelina is inspired by Cinderella’s magical pumpkin. She and the other mouselings gather flowers and vines to re-create everything they will need to dance under the stars for their grand finale. Angelina’s fans will enjoy this different take on the ballet world that is not so much a retelling of the classic fairy tale as a gentle glimpse into the travails of a traveling troupe. Craig’s signature watercolors are the ideal medium for the pretty scenery, flowers, and dancing mice.

Max and Marla (pet owl) are best friends.  They are also “Real-life, honest to goodness, cross your heart, Winter-Olympics Olympians.”  They make a number of attempts to sled down the big hill by their house.  Regardless of the setbacks, they don’t give up because “True Olympians never give up.”  This heart-warming story about snowy day fun will delight young readers.

Yetis love winter.  They love waking up on snowy quiet mornings, drinking hot chocolate, sliding down hills on their bottoms, and building snow castles.  But sometimes, Yetis miss summer.  They miss looking for little sea creatures, having sea monster beauty contests, and building sand castles.  So on the coldest, wettest, windiest winter days, Yetis know how to make the warmest, coziest summer day right at home.  This is a beautifully illustrated book that encourages the young reader to find the cup half full and find ways to be happy wherever they are!

It is a day at Grandma’s for little Yujin. It is an ordinary day, nothing special is happening. Since nothing special is happening at Grandma’s, this book is nothing special either, as far as the story line goes. It is good for talking about the passage of time with little ones though, which is the goal of this TanTan Math Story.

As little pre-school Yusin spends the day at Grandma’s both Mother, at home, and Yujin reminisce about what would be happening if they were together. This gave me a sad, lonely feeling.

Dawn, morning, almost noon, noon, afternoon, dusk, evening, and night are each given an activity assigned to it to acquaint and  familiarize the young reader with the concept of the passage of time.  There are no shadows at noon and lunch is eaten then. During the afternoon, you take a nap. “It is evening. I see the lights turn on, one by one, along the street.” Daddy finally comes to pick Yujin up and take her home for the night. ”   ‘Even though we were apart for just one day, I missed you so much, ‘ I say. ‘Tonight I want to fall asleep with you right by my side. And when I open my eyes tomorrow morning, you are the first person I want to see, Mommy!’   “

Two adult pages with suggestions for further use with children follow the story. The second one contains a game. Two more pages, for the young child, review the parts of the day with the sky /sun. Followed by 2 pages of activities a child takes part in during the day.

Kitten wants a basket, a pillow, a blanket AND a puppy.  “No, no, no, Kitten.  You cannot have a puppy.  You are a cat!  Cats do not have pets.”  But this is one insatiable kitten who also wants a helmet, engines, gadgets and lasers and then wants to blast off to Jupiter!  When the Jupiter launch actually goes off (unsuccessfully), the kitten’s owner decides that maybe kitten can have a puppy.  But the plot thickens when puppy wants a bowl, some kibble, a bone, and a dinosaur!  This is an engaging story with vibrant illustrations and will thrill young cat lovers!

Here is a book to recommend to a child looking to purchase a cat as a pet. There is all of the general information needed to take of a cat of almost any breed, mixed in with specific information on the Turkish Van. Some of the general information includes size, care of, feeding, and kittens.  This includes the number of kittens to expect in a litter, the type of foods out on the market, and medical care; such as, vaccinations, and spay and/or neuter.

Some of the specific information, “Turkish Vans are often compared to dogs. They can fetch toys, growl, and learn tricks. Turkish Vans can also be taught to walk on a leash.” (p. 8) Turkish Vans enjoy water, are semi-long haired, white in color with some color on head and tail, and don’t like to be cuddled. “With regular care, plenty of love, and good food, your Turkish Van will be an active addition to your family for 15 to 20 years.” ( p. 21)

The book usually has three paragraphs on the left hand page opposite a full color photo on the right hand page.

Here is a little boy, with an over-exaggerated big head, who is trying to be a spy, but without much luck. He isn’t good at sneaking up on people because he bumps into table lamps, has squeaky shoes, is in need of a disguise, sneezes, and burps. His “Chief”, aka father, helps him get new quiet shoes, but that does not help because the shoes are so colorfully awesome. Then, he tries “some camouflage”, but the tree branches make him sneeze. Finally, because he has been persistent he is able to sneak up on his “Chief”.

”  ‘The secret to spying,’ said Spy Guy, ‘is never stop trying!’  ”

Throughout the book, on every page turn, there is a spider who finally comes into play at the very end to help out Spy Guy. Children will enjoy finding the spider as the read the story.

In some ways the illustrations remind me of those by Tedd Arnold.

I find watching big-screen action movies quite enjoyable. Here is a book that takes the reader behind the  scenes into the world of big budget action movies. The three or four sentences of information given on a page is very basic, but the photo opposite the text helps the reader interpret the information. One of the special effects includes filming the actor in blue make-up in front of a blue  screen. In this way, the computer later adds the desired detail over the top of the blue areas. Another effect deals with placing small computer markers on an actor to use as reference points for the computer to use in post-production to add features or help in the animation of cartoon characters. Freezing an actor in space is dealt with through the use of filming with multiple cameras on a track. The seven sidebars sprinkled throughout the book labeled “FACT” include one dealing with ‘freeze-action” on page 20, “The 1999 movie The Matrix used more than 100 cameras to make actors freeze in place.”

The FACT sidebars always are bits of trivia about a specific movie which used the special effect being talked about on that page.

Includes: www.facthound.com

TanTan Math Story publishes story books detailing math concepts. This particular book is the best in their series I have read to date. Who Eats First deals with comparing, sorting, and measuring.  The illustrations have soft backgrounds, while the characters are colorfully vibrant and full of action.

The story begins, ” The rain forest animals were hungry. They followed a sweet scent… And there was a BIG round peach! Surely, it was a delicious peach. But who would eat the first bite?”  Giraffe convinces the other animals the first bite should go to ‘the tallest animal’. The animals measure their heights using the lines ( like a ruler) etched into the tree trunks. Just when giraffe is about to take the first bite, rhino wants to sort the animals by weight. They use a seesaw as a weighing balance. “The animal balanced by the most rocks is the heaviest!” When rhino is about to eat the peach, gator wants to sort by ” the animal with the biggest mouth to eat first.” Soon the rabbit wants the sorting to go by who has the longest ears, followed by monkey wanting to sort by who has the longest tail.  Each time the illustrations cutely show the animals process of measuring. Finally the caterpillar asks, “Why should the biggest… or the heaviest… biggest mouth, or longest ears” eat first? “If we measure from the shortest… lightest, shortest ears… smallest mouth” I’m first every time. And caterpillar ate first.

Two adult guidance pages follow the story with suggestions for further use with children, the second page is a game.

Then, there are four more pages for the young child showing items in order by shortest, lightest, smallest mouth, shortest ears, tallest, heaviest, longest nose, and most legs.

Lily loves to draw!  She draws “cats and girls, birds and boats, and houses and hearts.”  When Lily drew a bear, the picture came to life.  The bear loved all of the things that Lily did, like royal tea parties, drawing big pictures, and racing around on tricycles.  Best of all, they loved to sing while the bear played the banjo!  But after a while, the bear decided that he wanted to do bear things so he took Lily by the hand and they picked huckleberries, caught slippery fish, and scratched their backs on knotty pine trees.  But then it was time to sleep and dream of their next adventure.  This book celebrates the power of imagination, love and friendship.  “I love you Bear.”  “And I love you, Lily.”