Why Living Things Need… Water

This 8.25″ X 7″ book is divided into three parts: What is Water?, Living Things and Water, and Why Do Living Things Need Water?

The top 5 inches of each page is photo of plants or animals with water ( eight of the 18 photos are of drinking water), while the bottom 2 inches contains a single large font statement. From page 16, “People need water to keep their bodies working.” And from page 21, “People use water to keep clean.”

Dolph Ziggler

“The fans booed Dolph Ziggler as he stepped into the ring.” So begins this mini-bio of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler Nicholas Theodore Nemeth A.K.A. Dolph Ziggler. He was a star wrestler on his high school team and he set a school wrestling record at Kent State University where he was studying political science. Should he go to law school or wrestle professionally, the later won, and the rest is history. Dolph Ziggler has won several WWE titles.

“He wrestled as a heel named Dolph Ziggler.” The book’s glossary states : heel – “a wrestler seen by fans as a villain”.

This book is short, sweet, and to the point, with more photo bravodo than text.

Includes: glossary, index, and www.factsurfer.com.

Cock-a-Doodle Who?

Reminiscent of Bill Martin, Jr.’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear with its question and answer format, the answers in this book do not always trip off of the tongue in English, as they might have in their original French. BUT the two color optic artwork and how it amazingly alines to show through the cutout page is FABULOUS! The animals include: cow, chick, snail, sheep, ladybug, trout, fox, and rooster.

“Mooing cow,

for whom do you wait?

This maid stepping with

a very quick gait.”

Animals Big and Small

I am truly glad someone chose to show how different the sizes of dogs can be between / among breeds: golden retriever, chihuahua, and Great Dane.

Photos of real animals ( superimposed on drawn backgrounds)  show comparison and size perception in realistic scale for : big & small, tall & short, long & short, wide & narrow, and the same size.  The reader is asked questions and answers in rhyme.

Rainforest Rescue , Book # 3

Twins, Zoe and Ben help their uncle  “undertake top-secret missions for a covert environmental organization called WILD.” This mission takes them to Adilah Reservation for the protection of orangutans in exotic Borneo.  Using their keen observational skills, playing off of each others carefully chosen words, and spy gadgets – BUGs (Brilliant Undercover Gizmos) and EEL ( Electronic Escape Lines) –  they discover who is sabotaging the reservation’s wooden walkways high up in the forest canopy, scaring away the orangutan, and warning the authorities of the potential forest fire.

Thirteen fast paced, action packed chapters.

Includes: glossary, Discussion Questions, Writing Prompts, and www.facthound.com code.

Proofreaders missed two mistakes: page 34 – ‘returened’ should be ‘returned’ and line 6 on page 48 the word ‘like’ was omitted (“It looks they have horns on their beaks.”)

A Secret Keeps

This is a book that keeps you curious to the end.  There are many words that invoke visual as well as other senses.  Some of the words would be a challenge for young readers, but the story, if read to them would hold their attention.  I liked the colors of the illustrations.  The book describes a farm experience, something many children never have.  A pleasant  read.

Giant Squid

This is a very informative book on the giant squid.  I learned so much from reading is book.  The pictures are wonderful in adding to the learning.  This book answers so may questions about the giant squid.  There is a table of contents in the front, with a glossary and index, and additional information in the back.

The Handy Presidents Answer Book

Barack Obama and George Washington are on the cover,  and if you’re curious about their lives or  the lives of any president in between the two, the information is inside The Handy Presidents Answer Book .

No matter how obscure, each resident of the White House gets about four pages, but it’s far more entertaining reading than mere birth, death, and politics.   Did you know, for instance, that Andrew Johnson was criticized for buying Alaska from Russia for a bit over $7 million dollars?  The Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson relationship is discussed and debated,  and you can learn that U.S. Grant’s well known initials were the result of a congressman’s mistake with Grant’s name.

Pictures of each president include a young and handsome George W. Bush in training as a F-102 pilot, Bill Clinton playing his saxophone,  a very heavy William Howard Taft in his judicial robe after leaving the presidency, and many more.

This book, which even includes a “Presidential Trivia” section, would be a nice addition to libraries and classrooms.  Pick it up and browse through and you’ll find it hard to put down.

Those Rebels, John & Tom

Award winning author of biographies, Barbara Kerley teamed with her outstanding illustrator Edwin Fotheringham, to bring us an outstanding introduction to two important Founding Fathers of American history…John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  Comparing and contrasting their differences… background, temperament, physical traits, and their two things in common…distaste for the tyrant British King George and a deep desire to create a United States of America, Kerley has presented a meticulously researched text, full of wit and wonder.  Here is accessible history at its best!  Back Matter includes a “must read” Author’s Note, Declaration of Independence, and the sources of the quotes included in the text and author’s note.