Labs are one of the most popular breeds of dogs; they are strong, used for rescue, smart, used for hunting, and are terrific in families with young children. The photographs in this book are clear and detailed, and children will pore over each one. Good book for beginning readers.

Siberian Huskies originally came from Siberia, Asia, used to pull sleds heavy with meat from hunting. In the early 1900’s they were brought to Alaska and are well known for sled dog races. The rest of the book deals with the dogs’ temperament, fur, eyes, and color. Good book for young children beginning to read. Dogs are always popular.

Thick glossy pages filled with saturated colors show the highlights of Seattle. The art in this book is pretty phenomenal. An ABC picture book, this book will help to prepare the youngest of visitors to the Emerald City. The best that Seattle offers is mentioned.

Although this title says its for kids, it is really for any beginning cook or baker. The information before the recipes is important and shown well; i.e., how to measure dry ingredients, different ways to measure the same amount, common terms, safety tips, list of needed utensils, and a picture list of ingredients. There are seven different bar cookie recipes that look delicious; easy steps and pictures to show what to do and what it should look like. There are five other books in this series, all of them cookies. Includes a message to adult helpers to let the kids learn math and science through cooking, and to set some ground rules. Kids love cooking and this book will be popular.

Asking questions and writing down the answers is a different way to write a biography. It almost makes it seem more personal because the questions asked are probably the ones you’d ask if you had a chance. That’s the idea of this new series, Cub Reporter Meets Famous Americans. The information is exactly what young kids want to know. Interesting that the Table of Contents shows each questions. Jackie Robinson has been a baseball hero for ages. Even today, as President Obama visits Cuba, the first president in over 80 years to do so, his fellow travelers are Jackie’s widow and daughter. Cubans love baseball and Jackie Robinson is the epitome of the sport.

It’s boring. It tells the story of a sloth who ventures out once per year to attend a sleeping party with a bunch of other animals. They all bring their comfort items, scope out the best place to sleep, watch the pajama parade, and fall asleep during the first lullaby.  And the next morning everyone goes home.  And sloth goes home and goes back to sleep.  I’m not sure what the point is supposed to be.

A reasonable selection for those with a large preschool population, but it will have limited audience in most school libraries, as it seems to be targeting the youngest set.  When Pig shows up for a camp out with Rabbit, the shadow cast by the lantern startles Rabbit.  When Pig insists she’d not be scared even if there was a monster, Rabbit goes on to offer a series of what-ifs, to which Pig answers each with a brave plan, until Rabbit suggests turning out the light, at which point Pig has to admit she’s scared of the dark. In response, Rabbit points out how well the stars shine in the dark, and they end with a plan to watch the stars together and scare off whatever monsters come around, also together.  It’s got a good balance of recognizing that we all have things we are scared of, but the power to stand up to our fears with a little help from our friends.

Some of the illustrations are cool.  The bright colors of geometric shapes overlaid to create pictures was what caught my eye, but some the pictures have so many shapes and colors layered on top of each other that the point of the illustration becomes muddled, which is sort of fitting, as the message of the text is also less than clear.  It begins by talking about how humans used to walk everywhere, then it goes on to describe all the inventions and developments that have allowed us to take traveling great distance at ease for granted, then it shares how some of the animals manage to travel even greater distances, or at greater speeds, but then points out that the animals do so without disrupting the balance of our planet, while human transportation feats reshaped the landscape and cause pollution.  I’m not saying it’s not a worthy message, I just think neither the illustrations nor the text manage to deliver it very effectively.

When Monkey sees a sign advertising a rhyming contest in which the winners will win a three-day cruise, he spends the bulk of the story attempting to talk Duck into being his partner for the contest.  Monkey suggests rhyme after rhyme to get Duck into the spirit of things, but every time it’s Duck’s turn to finish the rhyme, all he says is, “Quack.”  In the end Monkey figures out how to work with Duck to make their team a success.  Kids will  enjoy making suggestions for what Duck ought to say each time, they’ll probably predict the solution before Monkey figures it out, and they’ll enjoy the little surprise twist at the end.

Does any child make it through growing up without wanting to run away at some point?  Little Loula is fed up with her little triplet brothers, so she decides to set off on her own, being sure to pack the true essentials:  her stuffed cat, her tea set, and her best drawing.  Wanting to get as far away as she can, she announces to her family that she’s leaving for Africa, and proceeds to climb a large tree in her front yard.  When the family chauffeur, Gilbert, stumbles across young Miss Loula, he enters into her adventure and accompanies her around town in their search for Africa, with all sorts of everyday things they encounter taking on African guises within their imaginations (e.g. the sandbox in the park becomes the desert they must cross, the kids on the monkey bars become chimpanzees).  After a full day, in which all the essentials she packed play a part, Gilbert leads his tired mistress home.  It’s just sweet, and I think kids will both relate to the sentiment and enjoy spotting the differences between the imagination-laden text and the reality portrayed in the illustrations.