It’s a cute spin on the books to help young children prepare for their first day of school. The narrator is telling a young fairy what to expect on her first day of school, and so many of the things she predicts are similar to things a kindergartener or preschooler might experience, except twisted for the fairy world (e.g. flying to school on a school bird, hanging backpacks on dandelion leaves, sitting crisscross berrysauce, raising her wand when she wants to say something…). Fairies seem to be perpetually popular, and even students who are already well familiar with their own school experience will enjoy for looking for similarities and differences within the fairy world.

Each book in this series “Just Like Us!” begins with very basic similarities and then moves onto differences in detail.

In ” Just Like Us! Fish” the similarities include we both need oxygen to breathe and there is safety in numbers.

There is good information about exotic fish, even if the comparisons between the fish and people are very general.

I keep coming back to the books in this series for the artwork composing each page. David Clark does a marvelous job of characterizing the fish in humorous poses, then layering these on top of photos of the real fish in action. Who would not want to see a picture of a porcupine fish dressed in a suit of armor carrying a lance in its fin?

Each book in this series “Just Like Us!” begins with very basic similarities and then moves onto differences in detail.

In ” Just Like Us! Cats” the similarities include: being loving parents and great diplomats , taking the easiest path, defending their territories, napping by the young is considered boring, mom is the cubs first teacher, and “some types of cats are great swimmers”.

There is good information about wild cats, even if the comparisons are very general.

I keep coming back to the books in this series for the artwork composing each page. David Clark does a marvelous job of characterizing the cats in humorous poses, then layering these on top of photos of the real wild cats in action. Who would not want to see a cheetah running upright in track shoes?

Here are the facts about the United States flag we would desire all of our youngest people to know: the number and color of stars and stripes, when the first flag was made, and it should be held with respect. “The United States flag is a symbol for freedom and unity.” (4)

There are one or two sentences, in large font, on the left hand page opposite a photo, on the right, of the United States flag being displayed on a government building or being held in the hands of waving waving people.

The six word glossary containing : word, picture, and definition, is followed by a short list of books and the www.factsurfer.com web site for more information, and an index.

It’s a beautiful book. The illustrations are absolutely stunning! It’s a poem that follows a repetitive form, in which each four-line stanza requires a page turn to get to the final line, providing opportunities for predicting what might come next. Unfortunately, I found some stanzas more confusing than others. I know I don’t exactly have a poet’s soul, and I admit to getting caught up on the lack of capitalization or punctuation, but some of the stanzas letting me going, “huh?”

The main body of the book is a series of illustrations of different kinds of lizards, with rhythmic, repetitive, rhyming text asking a series of questions about different behaviors exhibited by these different lizards. Informational pages in the back of the book offer additional information about lizards in general, as well as details about the specific lizards and behaviors mentioned in the main body of the book. My one wish for the book is that the informational blurbs about specific lizards could have been in text boxes directly on the pages illustrating the lizard they discuss. Children are so much more likely to ignore the fine print when it’s at the end of the book, separated from the illustrations.

It’s a series of poems, all imagining what assorted toys and household items get up to when all the people in the house are asleep. The illustrations are bright and child-like and support the imagery of the poems. A wonderful spark for activating kids’ imaginations.

Kids love to ask, “What if…?” This story is a series of adventures had by a couple young polar bears whose imaginations jump into high gear to address a series of what-if situations, beginning by finding themselves lost and alone floating on a chunk of ice, and ending with setting off in a rocket made from their backpack. It’s one of those books in which the illustrations really add meaning to the brief text, often offering previews of things to come alluding to past pages. This book would be a great launching tool for a conversation or writing assignment asking the students to generate or complete other what-if scenarios.

This edition is a reprint of a book originally completed in 1982. It’s a poem imagining a world without war. The illustrations are paper-cut images where partial pages turn one image into another, showing the transformation of a war-torn world into a land of peace. It begins with a hawk who transforms itself into a dove; a tank becomes a tractor; bombers become butterflies…etc. I just don’t think young kids are going to get the symbolism involved.

It’s one of those picture books that combine a story with informational text. The story tells of a group of children visiting a neighbor who keeps bees, but the story is just a vehicle for the information the book is sharing about the importance of bees to our ecosystem: their needs and what they contribute. The cartoonish illustrations and story invite the reader in and the non-fiction text is straight-forward and clear, while still offering significant depth of knowledge.