This is the story of a young girl’s dream for greatness among the people (animals) around her who doubt this will ever happen.

Diva Duck declares, “I am destined for greatness,” but for the cow, hen, and pig this is ironic, living on a farm. Life changed after the farmer had a barn dance, where Diva Duck took over for the DJ. She was an instant hit with the farmer’s guests,  farm animals, on the Internet, with reporters, paparazzi, and clothes designers. She traveled the world opening dance clubs. “Diva never went back to doing the duck stuff. Because when you have a dream, anything is possible.”

Includes: 2 discussion questions.

I may be old fashioned , but I find it crude and pointless to use the word ‘butt‘ as author Janice Levy does in this book when other words are possible.

“She waddled by, wiggling her butt.”(page 9)  “Her beak twitched. Her hips swiveled. Her butt went boom-ducka-boom.” (page 15)

Eleven  pages of  visual examples of spheres accompanied with two lines in rhyme. The young reader will “Search for spheres inside this book.” Seven of the spheres are mentioned by name: ( assorted) balls, bubbles, orange(s), grape(s), beads, seeds, and marbles.  More  spheres are shown but not mentioned by name: globe, bowling bowl,  ice of  a snow cone, ice cream of an ice cream cone, jaw breakers and other spherical-shaped candy,  meat balls, topiary shrubs, and swimming pool lane floats.

Includes: two sphere games.

This 24 page, 3 chapter book is a great way to help scared children work through their fear of going to the dentist through realistic fiction.

In Chapter 1 ” Problem Teeth” – Max is not looking forward to having the dentist pull his baby teeth to make room “so my grown-up teeth will come in straight.” In Chapter 2 ” Beyond Brave” – Max asks the dentist’s helper , “Can I get my prize first?” Then, walks to the dentist chair, is given a shot to numb his mouth, has two teeth pulled, and says,”That was so fast! And it hardly hurt!” In Chapter 3 ” The Best Part”- Max’s mother lets him pick out soft foods at the grocery store, puts his pulled teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy, and plays with Zoe and the new toys/prizes from the dentist office.

Includes: 3 discussion questions, 3 writing prompts, a tooth box craft project, and www.facthound.com code.

This is the perfect blend of sports and math!  I knew that math was relevant is every facet of life, however, I had no idea the plays called in football used so much algebra.  This book shows exactly how math is used and how important it is, even if your only goal in life is to play a game.  This book shows measurement, area, time, percentages, ratios, geometry, square roots, plot graphs, data charts, prediction, kinetic energy, and velocity–and this doesn’t even cover all of it.  This is amust for any library which has students who think they don’t need math.

I am a football fan, so I was curious as to who was on the all-time top 10 list.  Many of those I thought should be on the list, were there.  However, there were a number who weren’t there and some who were I thought were questionable.  Wilner gives a good description of each running back’s credentials and claim to fame.  However, the intro gives no criteria as to how he determined who would make the list.  I had to google to get various top 10 lists and, sure enough, each list was different.  What concerns me most is that LaDainian Tomlinson is the youngest on the list, and he was born in 1979.  This leads me to believe that Wilner’s research is a little outdated.  Maybe he chose only ‘retired’ running backs.

Much needed in the life of children, clear instruction on internet usage in this nonfiction book.  Covers chat rooms, bullies, “free gifts”, personal information, and strangers.  Excellent for students to know so that they remain safe while online. One analogy utilized in this book is that being online is like being at the mall.  Some strangers aren’t nice and may try to trick kids.   There is a safety pledge at the end of the book, along with the usual further reading book list, internet site, glossary and index.  Fact Hound link on this Capstone book.

Eva Ibbotson has always been one of my favorite authors.  In one of the last books prior to her death, Ibbotson has again created a fun fantasy for grades fourth through seventh.  A group of misfits: an old hag, a troll, a wizard, and an orphaned boy, are on a mission to save a princess from an ogre.  But when they arrive at the ogre’s castle, they find things are not what they seemed.  The princess is harrassing the ogre, the ogre is suffering from a nervous breakdown, and the group must figure out how to restore sanity.  A bit predictable, but the lightheartedness wins out.  Ibbotson has a clever way of describing things which makes for an interesting read.

This 11.25 ” X 9.5 ” book is divided into three sections: Good Camouflage, Great Camouflage, and Amazing Camouflage. At the beginning of each section is a camo meter divided into thirds. ‘Good Camouflaged‘ animals are categorized as ‘hide-and-seek’ . ‘Great Camouflaged‘ are categorized as ‘out of sight’. And ‘Amazing Camouflage‘ are categorized as ‘master of disguise’.

The good camouflage animals are the arctic fox, horned lizard, and goldenrod crab spider.

The great camouflage animals are the dead leaf butterfly, leafy sea dragon, and mimic octopus.

The amazing camouflage animals are stonefish, cuttlefish, and great potoo.

The amazing animals’ camouflage is the sort I always wanted to be able to show students when I taught this science unit but never had available at the time!  Supports National Science Standards.

The left page has four sentences and the right page is totally covered with these remarkable photos.