This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She notes that this book has an interesting plot about a boy, Hank, who wants to pet-sit to raise money to repair his bike which his dad ran over. But the book spends most of the time on one pet pig that he struggles to care for until a friend helps him with it. She thought that there were several holes in the story, like not providing information on what actually happened to his bike. It is not mentioned in the book itself; only in the synopsis at the back of the book. The story just starts abruptly with his first client showing up in his kitchen and asking if pet-sitting included sitting for pigs, too. She later realized that this book is the 2nd in a series of 4. Each book focuses on one particular animal that Hank takes care of and the first book probably explains what happened to his bike and the final book likely will tell the reader if he achieves his goal of earning enough money to buy a new one. There were some accent marks missing throughout the book, which may affect the communication between the past and present tense. She imagines that most readers would look past this. With that and that readers may feel the story is incomplete, she has reservations about recommending this book, especially if the library did not have all copies in the series.

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She shared the book with her seven year old daughter. She notes that the book has beautiful pictures. The Spanish and English translations go well together. Learners of both languages could benefit from how meanings are expressed, especially prepositions, with many find to be challenging. It is about how a drop of water is a part of the world around us. She recommends this book.

What really caught my eye was when the girl was telling the story to the little boy saying robin hood snuck into the archer shoot-out in disguise and didn’t get caught when he was only wearing a hood. This book is about a girl on the run after committing a crime she didn’t commit. It was really good I really liked it when the girl told a story to the little boy when he was sick. I think for people that are really into adventures book then this is a book for you.

Review by Thomas

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She shared it with her seven year old daughter. This book is about a little boy who saves a doll and takes such good care of her as if she were a real baby that he was rescuing. The story is cute, the illustration is lovely and the Spanish is great-accurate and useful for learning the language. She recommends this book.

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teachers here at River Ridge HS. She read it with her seven year old daughter, and she states that this was her favorite book of the four she reviewed. She notes that it has beautiful pictures. The book containing both languages is so helpful. Some expressions do not translate directly. So to see how they are done is a very good learning experience. The book is based on the pretty well-know song as the title states, and celebrates diversity.

Top Elf is a fun holiday story. Santa is ready to retire and he decides there should be a competition for his replacement. The competition is open to anyone and any creature. A variety of characters, a pixie, a brownie, an elf, Santa’s children, and many more join the race to earn the title, Santa. Competitors must pass each challenge in order to remain in the competition. In the end, the competitors have an unexpected chance to save Christmas from an unlikely villain. Students who enjoy humorous holiday stories will enjoy this read. T

Some of the first wheel rides appeared in the early 1600s. In this informational text about Ferris Wheels, readers learn a little about the history of the Ferris wheel and some of the largest Ferris wheels around today. Each two page spread has 3-4 sentences and a photograph. The end of the book has a few more facts, a glossary, an index, and a code to access more information and crafts on abdokids.

This nonfiction book about otters from the series Awesome Animal Powers provides a general overview about otters. Each two page spread has 1-2 paragraphs of text and then a full page picture. Even though the cover says tool users, this was only briefly covered. The other topics covered in the book are where they live, what they look like, what they eat and their future. There are many informational text features used including text boxes, diagrams, captions, color words, glossary and index. An online resource from abdobooklinks offers more information on the topic.

A picture book about all the things that make us want to say thank you. Thank you is for morning and for blooms. Thank you is for hats and mittens and hands to hold. A sweet look at everyday things for which we might want to say thank you. The soft illustrations match the lyrical text and make this a very sweet book about being thankful.

A level 3 Blastoff Reader from Scholastic about long-tailed weasels. The text includes 2-3 sentences per page with an illustration, map, diagram or chart. These informational text features assist the reader in understanding the text. The end of the book includes a glossary, index, and books and websites where readers can learn more information.