Precocious, 6 year old, Eloise observes The Plaza Hotel, where she lives, being decorated for Christmas and decides to help. Illustrator, Tammie Lyon, has Eloise drawing decorations on the hotel’s hallway walls, taking a red ribbon off of a wreath, and a garland off of a banister. The hotel staff are eyeing Eloise as Eloise eyes the giant Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. Eloise takes a silver bow off of a present leaps into the air to the top of the Christmas tree “To fix the tree.” Soon Nanny is there to take Eloise back to the hotel’s top floor, where they live.

On a cold winter New York City day, Eloise is bored until Nanny takes her ice skating. Eloise zooms past, between, and through several groups of people, as Nanny cries out, “Eloise, watch out!” Then, Eloise begins showing off her twirls for the tourists. The skating comes to an end when Nanny takes Eloise off to get hot chocolate, after Eloise flies through the air on her skates into the arms of a policeman.

Fun energetic pictures with marvelous facial expressions fill the pages of this easy to read book.

6 year old, Eloise, who lives on the top floor of The Plaza Hotel, is off exploring the Lost and Found without her Nanny’s knowledge. Eloise has a great time trying on 19 hats, napping on a fur coat, drumming on a hat box, and jumping rope with neck ties she’s tied together until Nanny and the hotel manager find out where she is.

Fun energetic pictures with marvelous facial expressions fill the pages of this easy to read book.

In 1944, John McLendon, coach of the North Carolina College of Negroes’ Eagles, organized a secret basketball game with Duke University Medical School, an all white team.  Because of segregation, these two top teams were prohibited from playing each other.  John McLendon studied under James Naismith, the inventor of the game and coached his players with an innovative style.  Both teams were hesitant as the game began, each using their coach’s techniques.  As the game progressed, the Duke squad were stunned with the Eagles’ fast-break style of attacking the basket.  The final score was Duke 44, Eagles 88. Then surprisingly, they played another game. The teams mixed and played shirts against skins.  The trepidation with which they started dissolved as they played.  Skin color no longer made a difference.  Both teams vowed to keep it secret as serious complications could occur if word got out.  This was 20 years before Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.  The artwork also adds to the historical perspective.  Illustrations begin with the shades of gray in black and white photographs.  As the teams play the game they love, more color is introduced.  John Coy brings this remarkable story out of the sports history books to be enjoyed today.

Author / illustrator Arthur Howard provides us with a whimsical story line showing the double meaning of this book’s title.  A young boy with his ‘dream’ pet, a dog: play together in the sprinkler, tail wagging with friends, growling at something disliked, following commands, getting drinks from the toilet, hiding under a chair when scared by thunder, and always wanting to play some more. Then, there is the question, ‘What does my dog dream about when he is asleep?’ Is it food, or riding in the car, or chasing things, or going to school, or various smells and sounds only a dog can smell and hear, or as Grandpa says, ” ‘ Maybe Scooter dreams about you.’  ”

A single simple sentence per page with a big friendly dog rollicking across the page is shear joy.

I recognized Arthur Howard’s illustrations from his book HOODWINKED and from Cynthia Rylant’s series “Mr. Putter and Tabby” .

There must be a hundred or more alphabet books out in circulation at all times.  An author picks a topic and then proceeds to write about said topic using each of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet usually as an individual entry. Often the letters ‘q’ and ‘x’  are quite contrived to complete the book. So what makes this book better than most? Author- Ramon Olivera’s passion for all things with wheels for one. Second, he usually has two consecutive letters in a double page spread being highlighted. Three of these pairs of letters are showing opposites: “E e is for empty.  F f is for full.” ( A man pushes his truck with the empty gas tank to the filling station where another man is filling his truck’s gas tank), “C c is for compact. D d is for double decker.” (Where  a mini-Cooper is next to a double decker bus.), AND “N n is for new. O o is for old.” ( A young man purchasing his new car is getting the keys, followed by the now old man selling the same car and handing over the keys.) The consecutive letters j and k show a tow truck taken a ‘kaput’ car to a ‘junkyard’. L and M show a presidential ‘limousine’ in a ‘motorcade’. P and q show a ‘plugged in’ electric car purring with a technician measuring how ‘quiet’ it is. The four letters t,u,v,and w take up four pages with a NASCAR theme for track, underdog, victory lane and winner. The finale comes as a yellow cab zooms off with the fare it has just picked up.

SIMPLY CLEVER from start to finish or should I say from A to Z!

If you have younger students who enjoyed last summer’s revived GHOSTBUSTERS movie, then this book is for them. The book is written in six short chapters, in large text font, and with photos from the movie on every page turn.

It all began when 8 yr. old Erin was visited by a ghost. Then, Erin and Abby did a school science fair project together on the barrier that separates ghosts and living people.  Erin and Abby later wrote a book on ghosts. Years later, Abby and Erin met up again at the Aldridge Mansion Museum in time to see their first ghost, as adults.

The next ghost they saw was in the New York City subway. Erin, Abby,  her friend Holtzmann, and now Patty (the subway worker) became the Ghostbusters team. The team’s first ghost was at a rock concert. Next, a fellow named Rowan became a ghost. Rowan gets ghost after ghost through the barrier. The ghostbusters successfully close this portal between worlds.

Bart lives in Norway with his mother who is overweight and lives in low income housing with drug addicts.  He sings opera songs in the shower.  His teacher wants him to sing in the end of the year show but he is too nervous.  His friend, Ada is his support.  When his classmates find out he lives in public housing, they go to his home to ridicule him and then he swings a punch at one of the boys and misses, but the boy breaks his nose. Bart does not let this stop him.

This story celebrates the underdog and it would be a good read aloud for 4th or 5th grade.

Set on the shores of Scotland, this debut novel tells a heartbreaking story of a family: Elsie, her twin brother Eddie, her older brother Dillon, their parents, and how the family deals with the drowning of Eddie. Blame, guilt, teen romance, an extra-marital affair, mental illness, and eating disorders all feature in this drama.

Rider Woofson is the leader of the P.I. Pack, who investigates crimes.

Westie Barker, a member of the P.I. Pack,  is testing to earn his yellow belt at Pawston Martial Arts Dojo in Bark-Jitsu. Westie is unsuccessful at each stage of the trial, but the next student, a cat, succeeds easily. After the night of testing, Sensei Hiro sets the high-tech security system on his way out of the dojo. Then, Sensei Hiro hears a noise outside. He looks into a store window. “Suddenly a scary face popped into view. It had a huge hairy nose, pointy ears, green skin, and large red eyes. ‘Oh no!’ Sensei Hiro cried out. ‘It cannot be! The ancient Goji Goblin has come for the sacred Scroll of Bark-Jitsu!’   ” (24-25)

Sensei Hiro seeks out the help of his student, Westie, and the rest of the P.I. Pack to protect the ancient scroll, which the Goji Goblin has been after for generations.

Mr. Meow, the P.I. Pack nemesis, has cat burglar ninjas breaking into the dojo to steal the scroll. Mr. Meow has arranged to have the P.I. Pack, who are on stake-out at the dojo, taken into the police station for questioning while the cat ninjis are at work. Westie, the Pack’s inventor, is able to stop the ninjis. Then, Gus dressed up as the Goji Goblin enters. Westie takes off with the scroll heading towards the police station. The rest of the P.I. Pack emerge from their police questioning just in time to catch Gus.

” ‘Westie, my student,’ Sensei Hiro said. ‘You were very brave in the face of great danger. You protected the Scroll of Bark-Jitsu and stopped the bad guys. To accomplish such a feat, you must have a pure and brave heart. For that you deserve this…’ The sensei pulled out the yellow belt.” (113-114)

Across town, Mr. Meow is not happy that P.I. Pack has ruined his plans again.

Gray-tone pencil pictures are on almost every page.