It is the truly fabulous sequel to the Caldecott Honor, The Red Book, a wordless book whose pictures tell the tale of a city-dwelling child who finds a red book in a snow bank, in which this child sees another child on a tropical island who is reading a red book about her. Through the pages of the original book, we see the city-dwelling child drop her book n the sidewalk as she sets off with a bunch of helium balloons to visit the friend she met in the book. This sequel begins exactly where the first book ends, with another child finding the dropped book. This new child in the same city connects with another child from the same island as the original, and this time the island child comes to visit the city (by means of pelican-powered dinghy). In the excitement of noticing his new-found book friend in person, our new lead character drops the book again, and we see it landing in a snow bank, where it ends, exactly as the first book began. Thus the two books circle round on each other.  Every school library should have both.

It’s a not so subtle, yet still cute and charming, reminder of the joys we miss when we spend too much time in front of a screen and not enough outside.  It tells the story of a small robot who spends all day plugged into her computer, until there is a blackout and she trips over her cord.  She tumbles down the stairs and out the door where she spends a day of adventure, pursuing activities that are similar and yet so different from those she does on the computer, all while making new forrest-animal friends. As the sun sets, little Blip returns home and plugs herself back in, but can’t stop thinking about being unplugged. The illustrations take a tip from the Wizard of Oz, with the plugged-in pages in black and white, while the outdoor adventures are in full color.

It’s a sweet story, enhanced by charming illustrations. It introduces us to Little Robot, and walks us through his daily routine.  He has a peaceful life, but he sometimes feels alone. He solves this problem by building himself a little robot dog to share in his daily routines.

A great book for exploring ways in which human customs are the same and different around the world:  everybody needs to bathe, but traditions vary from culture to culture.  The illustrations are vibrant, the text is straightforward, with extra information in the back for curious readers.

The main character loves to paint, but she can’t decide what color she should use to paint a kiss.  As she ponders each choice, she considers things she does and does not like that are that color, along with other things associated with that color (like red being the color of anger and blue the color of sadness).  In the end, she just can’t decide, so she asks her mom. The book ends with an illustration showing mom giving her a kiss, and the background filled with hearts of all colors.

This is a beautiful book that celebrates the power of imagination and believing in one’s dreams. As a young girl ponders all the things she’d like to be, a little voice inside keeps protesting with all the what-ifs that could interfere with the pursuit of those dreams, but the little girl is always ready with a come-back to silence the voice. intermixed with all the dreams us grown-ups would consider possible, like being president or a firefighter or an artist or a scientist, are the more fanciful like being a bird or an alligator or a vet who treats dragons or having tea parties with aliens.  And in the end it gets in an endorsement for learning and reading, as the girl declares that first she must read about all she’s going to do.

The text is current and direct, written in accessible language for early learners, and is supported by full-page color photos. The binding is sturdy, and it’s got all the appropriate non-fiction text features. I am often reluctant to spend full-price for biographies of sports figures, or celebrities, as their shelf-life popularity can be so limited, but this book makes the case for Phelps’s significance in Olympic history.

Really sweet illustrations accompany and enhance the simple, repetitive text of this book.  The text itself is a series of three-word sentences, all following the, “I _____you.” pattern.  The illustrations add meaning, creating the story of how the parents and children of different animals on a farm and in the surrounding woods express their love for each other. The repetitive text and supportive illustrations are both good for emergent readers, and it’s a good conversation starter for how we express our feelings, and it’s just plain sweet.

Eh. The illustrations are fun, but I thought the story was a bit flat. As an assortment of sea creatures are filming an Underwater World live broadcast, Shark shows up, and keeps starting to do things completely in character for a shark to do: eat a smaller fish, eat a baby seal, follow the smell of blood to a group of human swimmers. Each time the host of the TV show calls for Shark to stop, and not do anything heinous while the people are watching, Shark declares he’s been misunderstood: he was just showing the little fish his new tooth, returning the baby seal to its family, taking band-aids to the wounded swimmer. And then he eats the host of the TV show. A few “fun facts” about sharks are scattered throughout the story.

Love Steve Jenkins’s work! This one addresses the reasons and methods by which some animals draw attention to themselves in the wild. Kids are often familiar with the need of animals to camouflage camouflage themselves in order to hide from predators or sneak up on prey, and this book points out that sometimes an opposite need exists, either to attract a mate or frighten off potential predators. Jenkins’s bright collage illustrations provide stunning details, and introduce students to a variety of uncommon animals from across the globe.  The main text of the book focuses on the means and reasons for animals to draw attention, but further information pages in the back provide extra details for the curious reader.