It’s a fine story, a loving tribute and memoir of a girl’s outings with her grandfather, who she knew as Toppy, and the world knew as Charles R. Knight, a famous wildlife artist, responsible for many works at the American Museum of Natural History. Told from the granddaughter’s perspective, she shares how her grandfather began visiting the museum and the zoo when he was only five years old, and how he taught himself to observe closely the animals he loved, despite his poor eyesight. He was the first to paint prehistoric animals, based on his study of their fossils.

I like it. It acknowledges that it’s okay to have mixed feelings about big events, like starting school for the first time: Lena wakes up excited about her first day of kindergarten, but when she goes to get dressed, she discovers her shoes are nervous. She encourages her headband and her shoes to have a heart-to-heart talk, and after the shoes explain that school is big and loud and different and they’d really rather not go, the headband reminds the shoes about other times they were all scared but decided to be brave together (the illustrations indicate doctors’ visits, ending with a lollipop, a scary movie that turned out funny, and meeting a big dog who turned out friendly). Shoes still aren’t quite convinced until Lena threatens to wear her slippers instead, at which point they decide to be brave together. When they reach the playground, the shoes get a little nervous again, causing Lena to walk slower than usual, but not for long. I like that it is told in a way that is respectful of all the feelings churned up by this new experience.

It’s a lovely book. The illustrations are warm and rich. The story tells about a walled village where the townspeople are painting a mural on the wall to welcome all to their town, but they face the problem that no one in town is tall enough to reach the top part of the wall. When Billy expresses concern about this, his grandfather tells him not to worry, as he knows just the fellow for the job. He reminds Billy of all the times the local giant has come to their aid, but young Billy refuses to believe his grandad’s stories are anything other than stories, because he’s never actually seen the giant, despite hearing the stories for years. When he asks why the giant would hide if he’s so nice, his granddad explains that people are often scared of things that are different, and can be unkind, and he encourages Billy to visit the wall at Dawn to see what he will see. When he does indeed see the giant painting the top of the wall, he runs away in fear, until he realizes he has behaved just as others have, and has contributed to the giant feeling unwelcome. He is determined to make things better, and he does indeed find a way. It’s a sweet story that encourages kindness and believing in things we cannot see.

It’s a repetitive tale, based on the pattern of “The House that Jack Built,” except it’s about the building of a piñata and party preparations. The illustrations are bright and help support the text of the story. It’s a good introduction to some Spanish vocabulary, even though the bulk of the story is told in English: the first time used, all words are in English, but as phrases are repeated, certain vocabulary switches to Spanish. The illustrations help support determining the meaning of the Spanish words. It ends with instructions for making one’s own piñata and songs in both Spanish and English for singing while smacking it.

With three national parks in our own state’s backyard, it is fitting we should expose our children to other national parks, as well.

This book tells the what, where, and when of the Grand Teton National Park dating from February 26, 1929, in the state of Wyoming. The what will enthuse the reader to go see this park in person some day.

The what includes: mountains and valleys, lakes, and plants like white bark and lodgepole pine, flowering yellow balsamroot,and scarlet gilia. The animals will include cutthroat trout, calliope hummingbirds, elk, moose, red squirrels and black bear. And then where is the horseback riding, hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, along with the scenic drives.

This is presented in large font type, in two or three sentences on the left page opposite the full color photo on the right page. The book includes a glossary, index, table of contents, and the abdokids.com website where the entire book is presented, plus much, much more through links to the national park’s links for Grand Teton National Park.

A beautifully illustrated picture book biography of Sue Hendrickson, the woman responsible for finding the biggest, most complete skeleton of a T-Rex that has ever been found. The telling of the story, beginning with the habits she developed as a child, encourage readers to be curious and observant, and to explore. It describes the many years of searching, and the serendipitous nature of stumbling upon her famous discovery. It describes the long, laborious process and the teamwork required to uncover the full skeleton and transfer it to its eventual home in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The author’s note in the back tells, too, of the dispute over ownership that arose from Sue’s discovery: did it belong to Sue Hendrickson, who found it? Or the Sioux tribal member who owned the land where it was found? Or the federal government who held the land in trust? Or the institute which organized the dig of which Sue Hendrickson was a member?

The quality of the information is good. It is well-organized, and thorough. It is illustrated with detailed color photos and labelled diagrams. The photos zoom in close to show students details that might not be noticed from casual observation. Unfortunately, the quality of the binding is kind of flimsy and does not feel like it will stand up well for library usage.

It’s got a large font and bright formatting, with color photos, to make it inviting, and yet with limited text per page, it doesn’t feel like it skimps on information. It discusses the traits that make Golden Retrievers unique; it considers issues that should be considered when deciding if a Golden Retriever would make a good pet for a specific family (e.g. they need lots of exercise, and room, and company); and it describes their needs for proper care: diet, toys, vet visits, etc. It also shares a bit about their origin, and roles they play as service dogs. It includes all the basic non-fiction text features for teaching purposes, including table of contents, index, glossary, and further reading suggestions. A solid choice.

I grew up watching the television specials by Jacques Cousteau in the 1960s. In this graphic novel formatted story, we read about Jacques Cousteau’s grandson, Fabien Cousteau carrying on his grandfather’s love of the ocean and research. This is a work of fiction, but I am finding myself wanting to display this book in my nonfiction shark section so all the shark lovers will find it. This is a story about shark conservation and research with Fabien Cousteau as the lead on the research team. The author’s note states, ” Great White Shark Adventure is a work of fiction based on actual expeditions and accepted ideas about the ocean and its inhabitants.”

Illustrator Joe St. Pierre makes this adventure come to life! I liked it better than a live action show because the action is obviously freeze framed. Nothing advanced until I was ready to turn the page.

Fabien and his crew, along with two junior expeditioners- Bella and Marcus, are off to research local South African tuna fishermen’s claims of seeing a massive great white shark off the coast of Gansbaai. Twelve and thirteen yr. old Bella and Marcus taking part in the research ship’s mission gives author James O. Fraioli reason to explain shark behavior, ecosystems, habitats, boat equipment, local area history, and much more to the reader as part of the story, whereas the rest of the ship’s crew already know this information. It is all masterfully woven into the story.

The crew find sharks right away. The massive one they are searching for is very elusive. It takes several tries and several different types of equipment over the course of several days before the crew successfully locates THE one shark they are after. The shark is tagged with “A PSAT TAG, WHICH STANDS FOR ‘POP-UP SATELLITE ARCHIVAL TAG’…WILL ALLOW US TO ANSWER MIGRATORY PATTERNS, FEEDING MOVEMENTS, DAILY HABITS, AND EVEN SURVIVAL, SHOULD THIS SHARK BE CAUGHT…” (43)

Shark fans will love this book!

This Disney Junior book based on The Disney The Lion Guard television show retells the story of Bunga giving poor advice, not well-thought out advice, to many of the African animals. It all begins with the stopping of a seasonal flood. At first this was a wonderful thing, but when the dam breaks later on, the solution proves short sighted. Bunga can live with the fact his future solutions need more thought.

The artwork is fun, but the story line needs more development like Bunga’s own solutions.