TanTan Math Story publishes story books detailing math concepts. This particular book is the best in their series I have read to date. Who Eats First deals with comparing, sorting, and measuring.  The illustrations have soft backgrounds, while the characters are colorfully vibrant and full of action.

The story begins, ” The rain forest animals were hungry. They followed a sweet scent… And there was a BIG round peach! Surely, it was a delicious peach. But who would eat the first bite?”  Giraffe convinces the other animals the first bite should go to ‘the tallest animal’. The animals measure their heights using the lines ( like a ruler) etched into the tree trunks. Just when giraffe is about to take the first bite, rhino wants to sort the animals by weight. They use a seesaw as a weighing balance. “The animal balanced by the most rocks is the heaviest!” When rhino is about to eat the peach, gator wants to sort by ” the animal with the biggest mouth to eat first.” Soon the rabbit wants the sorting to go by who has the longest ears, followed by monkey wanting to sort by who has the longest tail.  Each time the illustrations cutely show the animals process of measuring. Finally the caterpillar asks, “Why should the biggest… or the heaviest… biggest mouth, or longest ears” eat first? “If we measure from the shortest… lightest, shortest ears… smallest mouth” I’m first every time. And caterpillar ate first.

Two adult guidance pages follow the story with suggestions for further use with children, the second page is a game.

Then, there are four more pages for the young child showing items in order by shortest, lightest, smallest mouth, shortest ears, tallest, heaviest, longest nose, and most legs.

Lily loves to draw!  She draws “cats and girls, birds and boats, and houses and hearts.”  When Lily drew a bear, the picture came to life.  The bear loved all of the things that Lily did, like royal tea parties, drawing big pictures, and racing around on tricycles.  Best of all, they loved to sing while the bear played the banjo!  But after a while, the bear decided that he wanted to do bear things so he took Lily by the hand and they picked huckleberries, caught slippery fish, and scratched their backs on knotty pine trees.  But then it was time to sleep and dream of their next adventure.  This book celebrates the power of imagination, love and friendship.  “I love you Bear.”  “And I love you, Lily.”

“I have a dog….an inconvenient dog.”  This story tells the tale of a boy and his dog.  His dog is often inconvenient, making messes and creating obstacles everywhere he goes.  At times, the dog is less inconvenient, like when he takes the blame when the boy accidentally breaks something.  But when it is time for bed, and snuggling, the dog is always convenient!

Larry was a legend, as least for a rooster.  When Larry left Sunrise Farm, Clyde (the new rooster) soon learned that Larry would be a very hard act to follow.  Could Clyde live up to Larry’s legacy?  “Could he put on a show of a crow?”  Every attempt to outshine Larry ended in disaster.  Finally, Roberta (the maternal goose) told Clyde to “Forget about Larry.  Just crow your own crow.”  When he did, the whole barnyard sang with him.  This delightful farmyard tale reinforces the age-old truth about the value of being true to yourself.

I don’t think that there is an ideal “intended” audience for this book.  By appearance, one would think that this is a delightful story about a pet goldfish.  But as the pages turn, we learn that April’s parents “were aquaholics” and that life had no meaning and she “even tried to end things.”  In a children’s book!!!!  I realize that this book was originally published in French and translated; the translation did not work.

Dressed as a dragon, a young boy boasts that he is a big, scary, fire-breathing dragon.  When two dragons visit, he is horribly disappointed when they inform him that he isn’t big, or scary, and that he certainly doesn’t breathe fire.  But he is soon cheered when they tell him about all of the things he CAN do that they can’t, like play hide and seek, turn cartwheels, and eat ice cream.  But the real fun starts when they decide that there are many things that they can do together, like make a silly face, act like Frankenstein, and do the funky monkey dance.  This book, with it’s vibrant illustrations, will prompt the imagination of young readers and spur some imaginative play!

The title just about says it all, Unusual and Awesome Jobs Using Technology: Roller Coaster Designer, Space Robotics Engineer, and More, Here is a book to inspire ‘tweens to use computers for more than just gaming and Googling. The ten jobs, which use technology, are giving brief descriptions of three or four paragraphs after their introductory information of Job Description, Requirements, Technology Used, Salary, and Hours. The jobs compiled are: roller coaster designer, animal psychologist, video game designer, rock band sound engineer, medical illustrator, software developer, pet photographer, space robotics engineer, ROV pilot technician, and wind turbine technician.

“If you’re interested in learning about the latest gadgets, you’ll love reading about the jobs in this book.” ( p. 4) Some jobs never crossed my mind, but what an interesting jumping off point for students to begin thinking about their future and for asking that age old teacher question, “Why do I need to know this?”

Each of the ten jobs comes with a photograph of someone working in that particular field and an added bit of job trivia under the heading “You’d Better Believe It!”

Includes a glossary, index, www.facthound.com website, and two questions under the title – “Critical Thinking Using the Common Core”.

What a wonderfully visual book on lightning, nature’s fireworks!

Thunder and Lightning is divided into four sections: Thunderclouds, Lightning. Thunder, and How Lightning Forms. “Thunderclouds” describes these clouds as being dark, containing hail and / or water droplets and/or ice. Page 8 states, “ The wind moves everything around. The water droplets crash into each other. This makes static electricity. An electric charge builds up.” Then the next section,  “Lightning” goes onto state the static electricity “escapes” as lightning. Lightning moves between clouds, inside of clouds, and/or from clouds to the ground. Lightning travels to earth from negative charges to positive charges. “Thunder” states the heat from the lightning causes “a rumbling or cracking noise. This sound is thunder.” (p.18)  The information ends with two labeled graphics. The first graphic shows the relationship of the speed of lightning in connection with when the thunder will be heard. The second graphic shows “How Lightning Forms” in relation to positive and negative charges within clouds and on the ground.

The young reader will find four large font sentences on the left page opposite of the 9″ X 10.75″  color photo on the right hand page which bleeds over onto the left hand page.

Includes a Glossary, Index, and abdokids.com.

This delightful bedtime story introduces a pup who is reluctant to go to bed.  After checking the house and reminiscing about his day, he finally settles into bed and falls fast asleep.  The lyrical text and endearing pictures will make this a favorite bedtime story.

Enslow Publishers brings to their American REBELS series the unauthorized biography of Andy Warhol. The author does a fine job of consolidating information to produce this biography; it does satisfy basic information requests. The book is a well-organized and readable resource. Color and black-and-white photos enhance the text. The book provides a snapshot chronology of Andy’s life, a glossary, a bibliography and an index.