Silliness runs rampant in this second book in the Ghastly McNastys series. The McNastys are twin pirates, though the illustrations show them not to be identical. The McNasty twins “were Gruesome and Grisly. And that was just their names…they hated two children in particular. Tat and Hetty, who had stopped them from finding the lost treasure of Little Snoring.” (p. 8, Book 1)

The action goes back and forth between the pirate brothers and Tat and Hetty. They both want the treasure they think is hidden inside Little Snoring Castle.

The story begins as school, in Miss Green’s class, is letting out for the summer. All the children and town folk are eager to audition for the Hollywood movie- Raiders of the Lost Shark- that is about to begin filming in Little Snoring Castle. The McNastys only audition to get inside the castle, so they can search for treasure, and since they already are pirates, they instantly get cast for the movie. In the meantime, Tat and Hetty have come up with a plan to capture the McNastys by tricking them into dungeon #244. Tat and Hetty make a fake treasure map marking dungeon #244 as the site of the treasure and hide it inside the chimney for the McNastys to find. The McNastys find the map, but the map is ruined before they can study it. They are about to torture the treasure’s location from Mrs. Slime and Miss Green, when Miss Green simply tells them the the correct dungeon’s number, # 433. When the pirates keep Mrs. Slime and Miss Green locked up in dungeon #53, one begins to cry and the other one’s nose runs so much the liquids begin to rise to the point of drowning them. A little later, Tat, Hetty, Big Wig, Dog, and Polly the parrot are escaping up a chimney from the pirates. The pirates light a fire, but Polly’s sea gull friends bring them a bucket full of Mrs. Slime’s and Miss Green’s snot and tears to douse the flames. It, also, sticks the pirates together for awhile. Tat and Hetty trade their knowledge of the treasure’s location ( dungeon #433) for the key to Mrs. Slime’s and Miss Green’s dungeon from the McNastys. Nasty as they are, the pirates throw the key into the moat and later release the movie’s sharks into the moat just as Tat finds the key. Hetty distracts the sharks away from Tat using strawberry jam sandwiches. What the McNastys find in #433 is not what they expected. Inside the secret room of #433 spider webs are strewn everywhere. There is a giant silver orb in the center of the room. The McNastys slice it open with their cutlasses. The diamonds they expect to fall out don’t. What does fall out are thousands of baby spiders. The McNastys run only to be swallowed alive by the sharks in the moat, which jump and free themselves into the open sea.

The first six pages cover basic shapes used in connection with the drawings : circles for sun, triangles in ice cream cones. Tools needed: pencils, colored pencils, sharpeners, erasers, markers, and paper.Then the bare basics of a color wheel are given. Nineteen creatures are presented to draw in 4 steps. The left page shows the finished drawing, in full color, followed by the four steps in black and white, on the right-hand page. Above the drawing , on the left page, is a fact or two about the creature represented below. Examples: ” The Diplodocus was the longest dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic Period!” ( 18) or  “In Chinese folklore, the dragon is a symbol of power and good luck!” (42)

I claim absolutely “NO” artistic talent, so when I followed the 4 step directions on eight of the creatures, I was amazed at how well the pictures turned out!

“This play is based on a true story titled, ‘A Locomotive Engineeress,’ which appeared in the magazine Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly in 1888.” (p. 4) The play takes place in Eastern Tennessee.  “Narrated in 1888; the main story takes place in 1856.” (p. 5) This play teaches: need is the mother of invention or you can do anything when you have to.

Older Bella narrates the play of how her father introduced her to working in the cab of a steam locomotive due to the fact the 15 year old Tennessee girls were not very friendly to 15 yr old Bella, a Yankee. The engineer taught Bella everything a male apprentice would be taught, but without a chance of ever using it, being female. Then one night the train’s fireman was sick at home and Bella took his place. On this trip to the mines, the weather was so stormy neither the engineer nor Bella could see the tracks in front of the engine. As a flash of lightning lit up the night, the engineer realized the train’s wheels did not have any traction. The wheels were just spinning, but the train was standing still. The engineer put Bella in charge of the train’s controls, while he spread sand on the tracks. Once the wheels found traction Bella drove it to the mine. And just in time, because the engine had lost most of its water for steam. Bella had saved the train and the town by bringing them their supplies.

Educators: Find FREE lesson plans and a Reader’s Theater script for this book at www.redchairpress.com/free-activities.

What drew me to this book was the glossy, vivid colors of each page. Daniel and his dad are on their way to see the Christmas play, The Nutcracker, when they run into his friend Owl. Owl is afraid to go in because he is afraid of all the people and the dark. Daniel convinces Owl it’s safe and gets him into the auditorium. This series is inspired by the television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and you can see the similarities. Both deal with problems of children and solve them in a calm manner. This story would be great for little kids with similar issues. I would recommend this book as a personal purchase, but because of the weak binding, not for a school.

Rosemary Wells is a genius at picture books for young children, and this one is no different. Sophie is trying to get attention after her new baby sister has been brought home. When her antics set off her baby sister, she is the only one who can quiet her down. Kids who do have a baby brother or sister will love this story as it shows how important it is to be a big sister/brother. The illustrations are beautiful. The only drawback is that it is geared towards such a small audience group.

I liked it.  There’s something every so very childlike in the simplicity of both story and illustrations. It’s rather Madeline-esque.  A rhyming tale set in London of a boy venturing through the city to visit the possum exhibit at the London zoo, while dragging his doggy pull-toy behind him, never noticing that when he left the exhibit, the five baby possums followed nose-to-tail with the doggy all the way home again.  The young boy takes it all in stride and is busy fixing a picnic for his guests when they next grab onto the string of some helium balloons, which end up carrying them right back home again.

It’s a lovely story that rings very true.  After visiting her famous grandfather in Japan, and being enchanted by his violin playing, she has decided to take up violin herself.  Now, after only three lessons she decides she wants to perform in the school talent show.  Her big brothers scoff at her plans and run from the house when she practices.  When it comes time to go out on stage, Hana is struck by fear that her brothers may have been right all along, but she looks for the reassuring faces of family and her best friend in the audience, and imagines just playing for her grandfather.  Rather than playing a particular song, she shares with the audience the different sounds around her that the violin can mimic, just as she  remembers from when her grandfather was playing:  a mother crow calling her chicks, rain on paper umbrellas, a neighbor’s cat at night.  When she declares she has her own way of playing the violin, even her big brothers come to appreciate it for what it is.  Some inconsistencies in the illustrations (too much changing of the audience and violin from right hand to left hand and back again) were a little big distracting.

Essentially it’s a book about being good, while acknowledging that there’s a time to let your fiercer side out.  After being good all summer, Millie’s mom tells her she can have a sleep out in the backyard.  She’s full of plans, knowing just how she wants it to go, but of course things don’t go all as she plans.  Throughout the story, Millie works to keep her fierce in until something in the dark outside her tent threatens to ruin her sleep out, so Millie unleashes her fierce to venture out to protect her friends…from what turns out to be the neighbor’s dog.  It’s fine, but is it just terribly old-fashioned of me to find it sad that watching movies on a tablet seems to be part of a modern sleep out?

This book almost got a “Not Recommended” from me, but I do think it’s a topic that a lot of crafty kids would enjoy exploring.  The photos and layout are inviting, and would encourage them to try something new, and with significant adult support, I think many could successfully do so with this book.  The reasons I don’t fully recommend it come from inconsistencies and lack of clarity in the directions offered.  It begins with four pages dedicated to, “Tools of the Trade,”  in which they include patterns which are never again mentioned throughout the instructions for any of the projects, and an unnecessary bag in which to store all your tools, but they don’t include several items which are later needed to complete the projects (though they do at least include the additional items in the list at the beginning of each project, but it would have been handier to have them included up front): bowl of unspecified size, markers, felt, cookie cutter, etc.  Most projects try to fit all the directions on one small page, with only three photos as support, and I had trouble understanding exactly what was meant; they would have benefited from breaking things into small steps, with clearer photo support along the way.  And though they do list a tape measure as one of the tools frequently needed, they repeatedly give directions calling for 1/3 of an inch, which I have never in my life ever seen on any standard tape measure.  Why confuse kids?

A good story to help children understand their own power over their own imagination, and how to channel it for the positive.  It opens with Small Blue waking in the dark of night, thinking creepy thoughts, imagining goblins in his room, and calling for help.  When Big Brown comes to the rescue and Little Blue shares his imaginings, Big Brown suggests that if it’s dark, it could just as likely be a “delightful doggies’ Saturday-night unicycle convention” that was in the room.  In search of some soothing warm milk, the two progress through the dark house, with repeated opportunities to face new dark areas, and each time cheerful alternatives are suggested when scary possibilities are proposed.  By the end Small Blue has learned to manage his own imagination when he wakes in the dark.