This is a super story. It shows the positive side of being different, and that our uniqueness can be a good thing to share with others. It is positive and full of love and acceptance, and shows how those qualities can also have a positive effect on others.
It is a great lesson for kids. The pictures were colorful and interesting. I like this book!
This is a cute story about using your imagination. Many children use boxes to play with and make many this from a box. In this story a boy named Kenny has a box that becomes many different things. Even better than a new bike.
A great story about using your imagination.
Emily Rodda is a master at characterization and the making of a hero. Her heroes are not beautiful, strong people, but someone who is ordinary, like you and me. In reading her first book of her newest trilogy, The Golden Door, you connect with Rye, her new hero. Rye lives in Weld, a walled city on a island, that has no contact with other cities on the island. During the growing season, Weld comes under attack at night by ‘skimmers,’ creatures hunting for live food, whether it be human or animal. These creatures fly and will attack wherever they sense smell, hear the scratch of a creature, or see light. Come nightfall, the citizens of Weld imprison themselves in their homes in order to fend off the skimmers. Rye lives with his widowed mother and two older brothers. The citizens of Weld do not believe that the warden of Weld is doing much to protect it’s citizens. First his older brother, Dirk, leaves home to find out who sent and where the creatures come from. After more than a year’s absence, the second brother, Sholto, leaves. Again, he doesn’t return. With his mother safe within the city’s walls, Rye finally leaves. As he leaves Weld, he must choose which door to travel through and believing that Dirk must have chosen the Golden Door, so does he. He travels with another youngster from Weld, a girl named Sonia, and they become friends, so to speak. They eventually arrive at the Fell Zone whereby Rye is given a pouch containing nine magical objects to aid him in his quest. He eventually arrives at Olt and finds that come Midsummer’s Eve a ritual will take place in which seven human sacrifices will be given to the dragons of the sea in order for the ruler of Olt to continue to live. Dirk, Rye’s brother, as well as Sonia, his friend, are two of the sacrifices. It is up to Rye to save them. Rodda does an excellent job of showing the reader how reluctant Rye is to do the impossible, but that he musters up the courage to do so, and is able to use cunning and intelligence to overcome the odds. This book is exciting to read and makes the reader feel as though anyone can be a hero.
This is the story of a cat who couldn’t have kittens and a chick whose mommy couldn’t take care of her. They took care of each other. People would always comment of how different they were and wondered what is was like to be so different. The lesson to be learned is that it’s okay to be different, it makes you special. The colored pencil illustrations show a contented cat and happy chick and their love for one another. What else do they need?
The hoop genius is James Naismith, a high school gym teacher, with a class of rowdy boys that no one wanted. Naismith tried all sorts of games but to no avail. His boys were beat up and bandaged from the physicality of the games. Until one day he remembered a game from his own childhood in which the target was up in the air and the player had to accurate throw a rock to knock it off its stand. Instead of a rock he used a soccer ball. He used an actual basket for the target and he instituted fouls for pushing, tripping and holding. If a player had two fouls they had to sit on the bench. The popularity of the game spread nationwide and worldwide.
Students enjoyed hearing how basketball got started. However, it was the illustrations which threw them off. They thought the students looked too old to be students, they had mustaches and facial hair. In looking at the original photograph of the gym class that’s at the back of the book, they do, in fact, have mustaches and do look older than high school students. The illustrator used the photograph to make accurate illustrations.
The Last Tiger is a treat to both your eyes and your soul. The story is about the last tiger left in the world, a world in which there no longer existed animals or trees or flowers. The environment was dirty and cluttered, filled with castoffs. People no longer cared. But Luka cared, and he befriended tiger who needed his help. They became best friends until one day the lion was captured and put into a cage. Again, Luka helped the lion get free by showing the people the lion’s cave, in which all manner of trees and plants and flowers bloomed, with no garbage or clutter. People once again saw what life could be like.
The story is simple and idealistic, but clearly states the message in the very first sentence of the book….the people had forgotten what was important. What is important? Is it friendship? Empathy? Cleanliness? The illustrations are in tune with the story, simple and blending in well, not cluttered but still detailed. This would be a great book for Earth Day as well as just about any other day of the year.
Colin Thompson is so clever and has a vivid imagination and gift of storytelling. Barry is an alien-made robot who came to planet earth with his makers, but got left behind. He doesn’t look like much, mostly put together from recycled cans and odds and ends. But he has a huge brain which is back on his planet and which he can access. Barry is stuck down in an old sofa and lives there through many generations of mice, dust, and lost items. His job is to control events and natural disasters on earth, but because of his precarious position and loss of body parts, things on earth are not what they should be. Barry is discovered by humans, taken out of the sofa, and put on a shelf. From there he can see the results of his mismanagement, and he sets out to correct it. In the past, the Ice Age took care of life on earth by destroying it and allowing itself to regenerate. Barry figures the same thing will work again. Thompson has some subtle humor which the young children will not understand, but the grown-ups reading this story to them will. The illustrations are what will hypnotize the younger set and will capture their attention for many hours. I could see kids trying to replicate the image of Barry by making a recycled robot and creating stories of what their robot can do. Hugely entertaining.
Divided into 2 sections, this book on unusual pets begins with basic facts. Because there are often laws about owning unusual pets, the reader is advised to check state laws. Facts include details about preferred environments, food, and care. The second section is atypical of most animal fact books. This section is a rhyming short story about a young boy’s pet tarantula. It is an interesting combination of genres. The book ends with a page of additional facts, a short quiz, and a glossary. Photographs are large, illustrations colorful, and large font text is simple. This is a good introduction to an unusual pet for younger readers.
What a fun book! James is a very picky eater – most families have one. Dad needs to get inventive to entice his son to try meals. Divided into 5 chapters, in the first, James is encouraged to eat broccoli or choose between the finest dirt, walked on by only the best chefs wearing deluxe boots, fastidiously already-chewed gum, or a smelly sock worn by the world’s fastest marathon runner. He tries smelly mushroom lasagna so Dad won’t fire the troll in the basement. Refusing to drink repulsive milk would have the undesirable result of soft bones, which would mean he could not play baseball with friends or even scratch his dog. By the end of the book, James is suspicious of another underhanded trick by Dad to get him to try the slimy eggs until he decides to try them simply because he might like them. The watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations are humorous and are a wonderful match to this amusing story of a very picky eater. This provides a smooth transition into chapter books for those resisting the move away from picture books.
Grumbly little Baby Bear does not want to give his parents a kiss before taking a bath before bed. Daddy gets inventive and asks if Baby Bear would like to give a giraffe kiss as he holds Baby Bear up high. Baby refuses. As he carries Baby Bear upstairs, Daddy asks if he would like to give a cuddly koala kiss. Baby refuses. In the bath, Daddy asks for a crocodile kiss. As Baby giggles and resists giving Daddy all kinds of kisses, Daddy steadily gets him ready for bed. Yet in the end, Baby does have one surprise left for Dad. The warm and tender illustrations are a wonderful mix with this affectionate story of a bedtime routine.