This story is told in a tradional way having the Gingerbread man outsmart all of the characters until he meets the fox! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

Little kitten crawls into bed to read, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, his book is missing! He thinks of all the possibilities to explain what could have happened to his book from a bear eating it, to a stegosaurus stomping on it. Well, after looking and looking, little kitten finds it under the bed! He loves his book so much, he crawls back into bed to read it and falls asleep again! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

Edward wants to be a firefighter, so he decides to visit a firehouse. While he is there, the firefighters have a fire drill, and Edward gets to go with them! He has trouble with the drills, learning first hand how challenging the job is. However, when a real emergency occurs, Edward steps up to save the kitten that was stuck in the tree! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

In this series, various animals are compared to human beings. While people and birds have similar activities the comparison in this case seems stretched, grasping at straws.

Both birds and humans sing .  Baby birds learn song patterns much the way human babies learn speech patterns. They both repeat over and over again until they pattern is correct. This is a fine comparison.

Other comparisons include: terns mate for life, dandelion down in nests compared to swaddling, some nests are woven and tied to branches compared to knitting, some birds are single mothers while others use two parents after birth, both birds and humans feed their babies, birds keeping a “poop-free” nest is compared to changing diapers, and “just like human kids , chicks learn by watching”.

The comical illustrations of birds in action are fun and entertaining, especially because there is always a photo of a real bird hidden in the display. The information is accurate and interesting. Some of the comparisons  seem too remote.

Pandora, a lonely fox lived in a land of broken things.  She made a good home for herself from the lost and broken things she repaired.  One day a bird fell from the sky.  Pandora didn’t know how to fix it.  As she watched over the bird, it slowly regained its strength. Eventually he could fly again, but he always returned to Pandora with gifts from far away lands. One day he didn’t return and Pandora felt her heart would break to be alone again.  From the gifts left by the bird, a small plant sprouted.  Everyday the world became a little less grey until one day Pandora arose to hear the sound of birdsong in a land of living things.

Beautiful illustrations add a sweetness to this moving story of power of small gifts.

A Few Red Drops by Claire Hartfield tells the story of the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 in a thoughtful, compelling manner.  It presents this event, which was one of many during that sweltering summer of 1919, arising from a build up of social and economic tensions between immigrant European and blacks.  This telling examines not only the event but performs an in-depth analysis of the antecedent conditions that led to this element of a nationwide explosion.  The book begins with an excerpt from a poem by Carl Sandburg, who witnessed the riot, titled “I am the People, the Mob”.  The gist of the poem is that people collectively create history, then collectively forget its lessons so that nothing is learned.  This work is the author’s effort to correct this collective inability to remember so that people may learn about and correct this collective inability to remember so that people can correct past injustices.  The effort is facilitated by the use of photographs, political cartoons, period pamphlets and flyers that effectively support the text, making it come alive and providing the reader with a feeling for what life was like during this period.  A Few Red Drops is a poignant presentation of a, particularly bleak period in the sincere hope that we may, by reliving it, be able to remember and actually begin the work necessary to make a real change in the nature of society.  The work is appropriate for more advanced readers and is highly recommended.

This narrative non-fiction about the red fox is packed full of factual information.  A vixen awakes hungry and sets off to hunt.  Because it is winter, no berries or plants are available so she looks for prey.  When she’s full, she buries her catch for later.  As the days pass, she finds an old burrow to turn into a den.  She gives birth to 4 kids who grown and learn with her til midsummer.  In early autumn, young foxes say goodbye to their parents and set off on their own.

The end papers includes a “More Facts” section, glossary, and suggested titles.

The timely issues of anti-immigration and Islamophobia are addressed in this YA novel by Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Abdel-Fattah is an attorney of Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage who served as the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic council of Victoria, a role that gave her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about how they represented Muslims and Islam. Although the story takes place in Australia, the issues with refugees and white Australians closely mirror similar beliefs and attitudes seen here in the United States.

The two main characters are Michael and Mina. Michael is a white Australian teen whose parents are active in an anti-immigrant group. They take him to anti-immigration rallies. Mina is a pretty girl he sees on the other side of the picket lines. She is a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan who has experienced many adversities as she fled her warn torn homeland. Mina receives a cold reception at private school she attends on scholarship. Once Michael meets Mina, his parents’ politics become very complicated.

Mina and Michael tell their story in alternate chapters. The reader hears first hand the conflict Michael has with his parents for taking a stand to defend Mina’s family and other refugees. The pain of the persecution and harassment that Mina and her family suffers is clearly shown. The Lines We Cross is a story of how fear and hate can destroy lives, and how important it is to chose tolerance and love.

Freckles the Pig is part of a 4 book series, Farmyard Friends. It’s time for fall cleanup at the stables.  While wallowing in the pigpen, Freckles decides to do his part by cheering up the dreary stable with paintings.  His first portraits of his friends were done with mud.   Though well done, the mud paintings do nothing to cheer up the stable.  Freckles agrees and his next efforts are done with left over paint from the fall cleanup sign.  These portraits are much more colorful and the stable owner, Aunt Jane is impressed. But she wonders, who could have painted them?  All the girls were helping her yesterday.

For an audience of emergent readers, the large text and colorful animated illustrations are an engaging combination.  The choice of chapter titles; Artist, Medium, First Draft, and Final Act are going to be more confusing than helpful for young readers.  Also, for those not familiar with the series, it is hard to determine which name corresponds with which character in the story.  Excessive repeated words (flit-flit-flit; messy, messy, messy; tap-tap-tap) do not add to the readability.

“Before you forget…..look up.”  The sky is a large enveloping constant that can be a guiding and inspirational anchor as you are faced with the choices and challenges of life.  In The Knowing Book, a solitary young rabbit explores the trails of life with the inspirational guidance to be open to magic, take time, trust yourself, imagine, and listen.  No matter what paths you take, the stars “have always been above you and are above you now, and will always be above you.”  Under the comforting constant of the sky, we are encouraged to be open to both the world around us and our own potential.