Little Shrew Caboose is one of those ‘feel good’, someones taking care of you books.  Little Shrew Caboose is the smallest in the family and as such, is the last in line when they all head out foraging for food.  One day he happens to get lost but learns how to take care of himself and get his own food and learn to swim, all while escaping from danger.  He finds his way back where he has earned the right to be the first in line, the engine.  Bright, fresh, cheerful colors give the story optimism.  Young children will enjoy the feeling of accomplishment by Little Shrew Caboose.  The story has a limited audience.

Wow!  The angst of growing up!  I’m amazed at all the things in life Gownley found for kids to worry about.  I’m also amazed that Gownley nailed the female psyche so well.  Amelia, the narrator, is in 5th grade, and seems to have enough on her plate without evening worrying about school stuff.  Her parents just divorced, her mom is beginning to date, friends move away, dating?  On the very first page, Amelia says “disaster, panic!” and that she needs ” to talk, to have counseling…” and that about sums it up.  The majority of dialogue is followed by an exclamation point!  Lots of drama.  Fourth and fifth grade girls will love it and need to pay attention if they’re going to keep up with Amelia.

This picture book is about a mailman that falls into the Bicklebys’ birdbath all because of a leaky hose. The book follows the style of “This is the House That Jack Built,” describing in cumulative rhyme style what happens when a girl with a leaky hose squirts some crows. There is a goose, bee, moose, mailman, girl and boy all involved in this cute story. This is a great story for beginning readers with the building repetition and I love the thick pages for tough handling by kindergartners.

This picture book is about a little owl, Annie Hoot that loves to knit. When the other owls refuse to wear her creations, she goes off on an adventure looking for animals who appreciate her hard work. She travels to the rain forest, the African safari and the arctic letting the animals try out her creations of sweaters, socks, hats, scarves and even umbrellas. Feeling satisfied she had warmed the animals in the arctic and they appreciate her gifts, she realizes it is time to go home because she is out of yarn and misses her owl friends. When she gets home, she is delighted to find all the owls wearing her creations and appreciating her work. They now want to learn how to knit too, so she must teach them and tell of her travels! This is such a cute spun tale and the illustrations are wonderful!The book  is different, cleverly written and just fun. I loved this book!

This is interesting and fun.  I could have many applications beyond just an interesting read.  It would be great for cub Scouts, Science Fair ideas and fun games of crime solving for a party.  The pictures and diagrams are clear and easily understood.

I recommend this book for kids interested in mysteries, and crime.

This book is an easy fun read for beginners.  The pictures are colorful and bright.  The story rhymns, and is full of rebus pictures to get young readers involved.  Fun, quick, and something young readers could identify with .

This is a yummy looking book, full of cakes that kids would love.  The rhymes and rebus pictures make it fun for kids to read.  The vocabulary is filled with beginning words.  This book would help kids have fun reading as they think about something they enjoy.  It’s short and fun.

The rebus story is a fun way for beginning readers to become involved in the story.  The rhyme and repetition of easy words makes it a fun way to feel successful about reading for beginners.  The pictures are bright and colorful.

From the popular Mallory series, this is the 15th book in the series. True to the Mallory style, the illustrations, characters and journal entries are like the other books. In this particular book, Mallory develops a major crush on JT, a boy in her older brothers class. It isn’t long before she is in trouble with her parents, teacher, brother and friends all because she is so wrapped up with getting JT to notice her. When all her plans backfire and she is failing math, Mallory has to get it together and figure out what is really important. This book is really good because girls can relate to it, it is fun to read and teaches a good lesson. I just love this little series!

This non-fiction book about inventions is beautiful and fascinating.  Full of dramatic, detailed and colorful illustrations, this book vividly documents great inventions over the ages.  Early developments such as the wheel, sail, clock, and windmill are covered up to more current innovations such as bionics and the internet.  There is a glossary and index in the back and a table of contents in the front.  Our school library serves K – 8th grade and we have 8 other books from this series in our collection.  These books do circulate often and students come back looking for other titles from the series.  I highly recommend this book.