Derek Zobel has written many books for Scholastic Blastoff! Readers.  This one on deer is for emergent readers.  There are one or two large-font sentences accompanying a full page photo.  A pleasing top border ties the pages together.  Books recommended for further information are at a higher reading level – not for beginning readers to read independently.  There are related sites found on the factsurfer.com site.  Photos are small, text is for more advanced readers.  However, this book by Derek Zobel is a good introduction to deer for younger readers.

Animal lovers will find plenty of information in this book.  Each title is in question form which encourages learning by inquiry.  Each spread includes a full-page photo of the animal, three or four sentences for younger readers, a colored box with more information for more fluent readers, and a smaller related photo insert of the animal.  Words to know for new readers and for fluent readers are introduced in the front of the book.  Pronunciation is provided for some words.  Twelve animals are represented.  Books recommended for further reading are of a similar reading level as this book.  Three websites are mentioned.  Two are very good and one did not work at the time of this review.  Index included in the back with the photo credits.

In this book of food, author Jen Green includes much information about the history, climate, culture, traditions, and religions of the islands that make up the Caribbean.  A map shows the location and names of islands in the Caribbean, also known as the West Indies.  Green colored boxes on many pages provide additional information.  There are 3 recipes for traditional favorites with measurements in both American and metric systems written for children to follow.  Other recipes and further information can be found in recommended books and websites.  Photos are well chosen and captions offer additional information.  Also included is a glossary and index.  This book is a good resource for those looking for a variety of information on the Caribbean.

The Alden children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, decide to enter their dog, Watch, in a competition to star in dog food commercials.  Watch’s main opponents are Ninja, the star in a TV show, and Buffalo, owned by a boy.  As the story unfolds, there are a couple of mysteries about the contest for the children to solve.  This is book 121 of t he Boxcar Children series created by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Author Ann Malaspina tells of an incident that connects General Washington and poet, Phillis Wheatley.  In 1775, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington was guiding his rag-tag group of men and boys into becoming soldiers to fight the well-disciplined British troops.  At the same time, Phillis Wheatley sat in Providence, Rhode Island, struggling with her own thoughts about the British, the colonists, and freedom.  Looking for a way to support the colonists’ desire to be free of British tyranny, on Oct. 26, 1775, she wrote a poem to encourage General Washington.  Her words remained with Washington as he and his men struggled to prepare for battle.  In Feb. 1776, Washington sent her a letter thanking her for her words of encouragement and admiring her talent as a poet.  A month later, Washington aimed real and pretend cannons at the British in Boston.  Surprised at the supposed strength of the Continental Army, the British retreated and the Army won its first victory.  No one knows if Washington and Wheatley ever met and their lives then followed different paths.  This short picture book tells details from the lives of two important people at one point in the history of our country.

Hattie didn’t start out being bad, but she soon realized that being good was not fun or exciting.  Other children admired Hattie, but their parents would not let them play with her.  Hattie was lonely, so she switched to being Hattie the Good.  Parents were happy, but the other children began to avoid her.  Hattie was lonely again.  When Hattie won a competition to find the “Best-Behaved Child Ever”, a funny feeling grew inside her.  When asked if there was anything she would like to say, she did a handstand and yelled “Underpants!” as loudly as she could.  Children rejoiced that Hattie the Bad was back (with a little bit of good) and Hattie was never lonely again.  Joe Berger’s energetic black-line illustrations complement the text wonderfully.  Pages with Bad Hattie are splashed with bold color.  When Hattie switches to Hattie the Good, he paints neatly with a sedate pink.

Both predator and prey use camouflage to blend in with their environment.  The color and/or the shape of an animal or insect make it hard to see  them in their surroundings.  Photographs show several animals in hiding.  The next page shows the same photograph with the background grayed out so the animal is highlighted.  The font is large, sufficient information is included within few sentences, and the colorful photographs are a good match with the text.  A few examples show how some animals use color to stand out to be noticed – either to attract a mate or to warn animals away.  Bolded words are included in the glossary.  Other books with a similar reading level and websites are mentioned in the back, along with the index.  Good information for those learning about camouflage.

Excellent, large photographs portray the daily life of a pika.  Although the reader level is about 4th grade, each page contains 1 to 4 sentences written in large font.  This creates a pleasing balance of text and photos.  Extra information about pikas is found in the back – which includes a life-size photograph, pronunciation for pika and its scientific name.  There is a list of pika predators along with a photograph.  Books and websites for further information accompany an author’s note to older readers about the future welfare of pikas.  There is a glossary but no index.

Laurie is a young girl who is not like other children.  She has difficulty hearing.  Because many students do not understand, they tease or feel uncomfortable around her.  Laurie finds comfort with her dog, Laika, with whom she communicates just fine.  Her mother took her to the doctor to check her hearing. He gives her hearing computers (hearing aids).  She can control the volume to hear when she wants to, or turn them down or off when she doesn’t.  Now, instead of feeling lonely, Laurie feels lucky.  Eline van Lindenhuizen’s simple, colorful illustrations are rosy and soft.  She was inspired by children in a deaf school in Romania.  Author Elfi Nijssen also writes from experience, as she was also a young girl with hearing problems.  The point of view from which Laurie was written may help others understand difficulties posed when one is hearing impaired.  Published in 2009 in Dutch and 2010 in English.

Buzz loved everything about being a bee – the taste of honey, the cozy hive, smelling clover, but most of all, she loved flying.  One day, she read the headline in a paper quoting a professor saying bees’ bodies are not the right shape for flight.  Thinking a professor must be right, she wobbled to the ground.  As friend Snail tried to comfort her, she smelled smoke.  Owl’s tree was on fire and she knew he slept soundly!  Buzz raced toward the tree.  The more she thought about Owl, the less she thought about the professor’s words.  The next thing she knew, she was flying.  Vincent Nguyen used Photoshop with his oil paintings to depict the warm, summer days in Buzz’s neighborhood.  The illustrations glow with sunlight.