Excellent photographs are paired with simple sentences to point out similarities and differences between frogs and toads.  While they share many characteristics, there are identifiable distinctions.  Appearance of eggs, the colors and texture of the skin, whether or not they have teeth, and how they move are some features used to determine if the amphibian is a frog or a toad.  Two craft projects include step-by-step instructions for making either a frog or a toad.  Also included is a glossary.

Make fun and tasty cupcakes to impress your friends!  The first 15 pages present necessary  information to help beginning cooks be prepared, understand terms, learn frosting tips, which supplies to have on hand, and ingredients common to many cupcakes.  Recipes include: Rainbow cupcakes with rainbow colored layers, Hot Chocolate Delights – baked right in the mug!, Rock ‘n’ Roll cupcakes with rock candy on the frosting, Ice Cream Cone cupcakes served in actual cones, Cupcake Poppers – lollipop style cupcakes, Watermelon cupcakes – pink cupcake, green frosting, and mini chocolate chip “seeds”, and S’more Surprise cupcakes – graham cracker crumbs in the batter, topped with chocolate squares and mini marshmallows.  Don’t they sound delicious!  Beginning bakers are encouraged to investigate other recipes and experiment with their own creations.  An ABDO website has additional recipes and ideas on their Book Links page under the arts and activities subject tab. Recipes are simple, yet complete.  Excellent photographs illustrate some steps and the finished product.

When a fox sneaks up to the coop at night, chickens Midge, Pip, and Dot have nothing to worry about because Rooster Sam is on duty.  Sam gets the credit for scaring the fox even though it is because he made lots of noise while running away.  It is Dot who is ultimately responsible for their safety.  A large, sleepy dog comes to hopefully help Sam keep an eye on the coop.  Again, it is Dot’s foresight that helps the inept Sam and the dozing dog scare the fox away.  Simple sentences, chapter headings, and large, funny illustrations make this a joy for beginning readers.  This is the fourth book in the series.

Who knew the hidden problems that come with NOT being afraid of monsters?  Monsters think the boy is one of them and will not leave him alone!  They eat his cereal, ruin his homework, and wear his favorite pajamas.  When he finally reaches his breaking point, the boy introduces the pesky monsters to his younger brother and walks away – monster free.  The pen and ink illustrations are large, colorful, and fun.  This could be paired with Mo Willem’s Leonardo, the Terrible Monster or Amanda Noll’s I Need My Monster.  What fun to think of how monsters can be funny and/or irritating rather than scary.

Any author that has the guts to use an opening line like “It’s midnight, it’s sweltering, and I might be high on Vicodin, but that guy — that guy right over there—that’s him” will get their reader hooked.  Thus was the case when reading Isla and the Happily Ever After.  The title gives it away, that there will be a happy ending but readers will not remember it for it’s ending — though that is fairytale-ish good too. No, it will be remembered for the intricacies of the characters Stephanie Perkins brings out.  Set at a private school in France, Isla is a junior who has kept to herself most of her freshman and sophomore year.  She is the highest ranking person in her class of only 24 elite students.  Both of the past two school years she has had a huge crush on Joshua Wasserstein.  In this opening scene, they are actually both back in New York City for the summer and Isla’s dental work has left her loopy with the confidence she’d never have had to talk to Josh. This chance and single meeting sets the spark for all of the stars to align.  The plot really picks up once they are back at school in the fall.  But it’s not all Josh and Isla.  Perkins creates a wonderful best friend companion of Isla in Kurt.  Kurt is has Asperger’s, the high functioning form of autism, that tells Isla how it is without the mush that best girl friends would have likely brought to the scenes.  Kurt is a guy who wants Isla’s attention because they’ve been friends since they were in diapers.  This creates tension, of course, but the maturity in which the characters all handle it is a lesson for all teens to learn from.  There’s passion that’s slightly graphic. But there’s drama without a lot of drama and the scenes clip along at a nice pace, especially as the main conflict begins to unfold.  For being a student who studies abroad, Isla’s insecurities don’t always ring true, but that could also be a reminder that even the most confident people on the outside have worries too.  There is the happily ever after, of course, so upper high school readers who like the Sarah Dessen, Deb Collasanti books will find another author right up their alley in Stephanie Perkins.

I have often told fifth graders I would not have been an explorer or a pioneer. This book confirms this statement. The graphics get the point across, but in an exaggerated cartoonish way. The graphics include  timeline, a map, a labeled cross-section of the ship, and a pictorial tool glossary. There are “Handy Hints” in the upper right side bar of each page turn, such as, “Try not to get sick. If you die on the ship your body will be thrown overboard!” (page 19)

The book’s content begins with English Separatists first emigrating to Holland before going back to England and finally to America. There were originally two ships for the voyage, but one was so unseaworthy it was left behind. The people still willing to go to America were all put onto a now very crowded Mayflower. Eighteen people did decide to stay in England. The trip itself was hard, but then” Your first sight of the new colony is a shock. There is nothing except trees and wilderness. This is the first time you understand how hard it will be to build a new life in America. At times you regret ever leaving England.” ( page 24) Plus, the women stayed on board the Mayflower tending the sick  for months until the 7 houses, 4 store-houses, and a “gun platform” are built.

Fast forward to the present, ” It is estimated that 35 million Americans-12 % of the total population- are direct descendants of the first Mayflower Pilgrims.” (p. 28) There is a replica in Plymouth of the Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower.

This is the Revised Edition.

Fourth grader, Jo Schmo, a superhero in a red cape with her dog, Raymond, are out and about once again to catch bad guys in this their fourth tongue-in-cheek adventure.

Dr. Dastardly and Numb Skull are escaping from prison using exploding macaroni and the elastic they’ve taken from the other prisoners’ underwear while working in the prison laundry. Along comes time-traveling pirate Captain Pinkbeard and his crew up to no good. Pinkbeard just happens to be drinking pink lemonade at the same place as Dr. Dastardly and Numb Skull. They join forces against Jo Schmo. The best way to capture a superhero is to take away what the superhero loves most, in this case, Jo’s dog Raymond and the three boys Jo’s fond of at school: Kevin, Mitch, and David. So,  they catch Raymond by having Pinkbeard dress up in a giant bacon suit (scented with bacon) to lure him out of the house in the middle of the night. Afterwards, Dr. Dastardly, Numb Skull and Pinkbeard kidnap the three boys and hold them hostage on Pinkbeard’s ship. “Mwah-ha-ha” (p. 76). The fight is on when Jo Schmo comes to rescue them all from the pirate ship. Raymond’s excessive amount of dog drool helps immensely in this fight as it causes pirates to slip right off of their ship and into San Francisco Bay. Good superheroes triumph over evil,  then the Coast Guard thanks Jo Schmo, and takes the pirates, Dr. Dastardly, Numb Skull and Pinkbeard away.

Oh, and did I mention that somewhere around chapter 6, Jo Schmo learns how to become invisible using the vague instructions from the Superhero Instruction Manual her Grandpa Joe keeps for her.

The illustrations by Frank W. Dormer are kid-like, similar in ways to Harold and George’s comic book creations in the Captain Underpant’s series. There at least a dozen full page and another dozen half page illustrations throughout the book.

One minor proofreading problem: the Contents page lists two chapter 18s, instead of one chapter 18 and one chapter 19.

The pressures of being the star football player is not a wholly original conflict for a novel. But with alternating chapters voiced by the two main characters Colby and Lauren, what could just be another run of the mill high school romance has a bit more clout in The Bridge from Me to You.  The author begins with Lauren’s voice, composed in free verse instead of prose.  She has been relocated to live with her aunt and uncle in a new small town.  There’s an air of mystery as to why she’s moved and author Lisa Schroeder lets it hang in the air for a good portion of the book.  Lauren wants to be back in her previous life but is seeing how family can genuinely love each other.  This love will also blossom with Colby.  Colby’s voice comes in prose.  He’s independent but is learning how to speak his own mind to the adults in his life.  There’s just enough side stories to weave a story that could be on the Hallmark channel.  Colby is a gentleman at heart and this book could span down into middle school libraries with no worries.  There are definitely girls in my library who will enjoy this story.

Another stunning, up-close look at an animal species…Nic Bishop, again, has impressed us with a well-organized, breath takingly photographed, award winning publication…this time on snakes.  The text is packed with astonishing facts that rivets the reader.  “It can take an hour or so for a python to devour a deer or a leopard (yes, a leopard.)  Even animals with horns get swallowed, although snakes have spiked themselves trying to eat really prickly things, such as porcupines.”   There are such unusual snake varieties, photographed in spectacular positions.  At first reading, one wonders how Nic Bishop could ever have gotten these photographs.  Thankfully, in the Back Matter, he explains exactly how he accomplished this feat.  Kudos to this acclaimed naturalist and photographer for bringing us such stellar books, time and time again.

A True Book introduction to the process of who can serve on a jury, how they are selected, hearing the case, and reaching a verdict. This subject may not appeal to adults, but young students are often highly interested in the drama of a court room. The information is concise and educational. The design is clean and bright, alternating between photos of current times, and illustrations depicting historical juries during the time of the ancient Greeks. Back Matter includes True Statistics, Resources, Important Words (also bolded in the text), and Index.  This would make an excellent addition to your civics collection.