An illustrated poem that lists several different types of birds and puts words together to sound like their calls, but keeps coming back to the refrain, “But have you heard the nesting bird?”  It concludes with the hatching of the baby robins.  At the back of the book, and endnote answers a series of questions as if the bird were being interviewed about its nesting habits. The illustrations are all in earth tones, which might not hold immediate appeal for young readers, but they really are quite beautiful.  A good introduction for young scientists to observe the birds in their yards, looking for words to describe what they hear.

Every library should have The Little Engine that Could.  It’s a classic tale with a timeless message that every child needs to have access to.  This particular edition is a board book and “an abridged edition.”  I’m not usually a fan of abridgements, but if it hadn’t declared itself so on the cover, I wouldn’t have noticed, as it did a good job of keeping all the pertinent meat of the original tale.  And though I don’t usually select board books for my shelves, I do recommend having a basket or two on hand for use with the special needs classes who come, so the kids can enjoy the books without destroying the general collection.

It’s a celebration of imagination, and the scope for it that a small boy finds playing outside on a snowy day.  While big brother sits inside, watching TV and playing on the computer, little brother heads outside to play in the snow.  The illustrations share with the reader the wonder of the boy’s imaginings as we see a snow-covered tree take the shape of a friendly snow-monster, the snow-monster he makes come to life and play with him in his snow castle, until he flies home on the dragon of the sunset, only to find his brother finally ready to come play with him in the snowy dusk.

It’s not bad.  It’s got rhythm and rhyme, and the illustrations are bright and play with perspective a bit.  But I can’t figure out why it got the “Moonbeam” award sticker on its cover.  It can’t claim to have much of a plot. It basically does exactly what the title says, capturing a moment with a family of four sitting on their front porch, with one brother listening to his tunes, one brother drinking a soda, dad snoozing, and mom taking a picture of the moment.  There’s just not much to indicate why we’re supposed to care about this particular family or this particular moment.

An everyday story that reminds us all to be grateful for the things we do have, rather than counting the things we wish for.  It begins as CJ leaves church with his grandmother and waits in the rain to catch a bus.  Throughout their journey, CJ is full of questions and complaints (Why do we have to wait in the rain? Why don’t we have a car? Why do we have to go here after church?), seeming determined to feel sorry for himself, but for each of his negatives, Grandma is able to point out a positive — the drinks the rain provides for the trees, the people they get to know on the bus, etc.  By the end of their journey, CJ is full of wonder at how his nana always fins beauty where he doesn’t think to look, and announces that he’s glad they came, and the illustrations show the readers that he and his helping serve meals to those less fortunate than themselves.

Another fabulous story from the author of Bats at the Library and Bats at the Beach, this one follows the bats as they wake from winter’s hibernation anxious to make a little noise.  Finding a window open at a deserted summer theater, the bats indulge in an evening of music-making.  Told in rhyming verse, with illustrations depicting some bats with actual miniature instruments while others play on improvised hand-made instruments, the story winds its way through the bats’ concert, describing an assortment of different types of instruments and different types of music along the way.  It celebrates music of all kinds.

An absolutely fabulous blend of poetry, science, and art, this book is both beautiful and informative.  Centered around a theme of nature’s adaptations for surviving the harsh conditions of winter, each two-page spread is dedicated to a different animal or plant, with a poem and a scientific blurb describing how that animal adapts.  The illustrations are beautiful and support the text while contributing to the mood of the poems.

Kepri, the sun dragon, has shiney white and yellow scales and can shine a rainbow from her mouth. But, suddenly Kapri turns up sick from dark magic. Griffith, the wizard, brews a medicine in hopes to make her well, but it offers no results. Everyone was very worried when suddenly Worm, Drake’s Dragon who has the gift of telekinesis, teleports everyone, including Kepri to Kepri’s homeland. It is then that the Dragon Masters kids remembered sun dragons have a twin that is called a moon dragon. When Kepri sees her twin, she starts feeling better and soon makes a full recovery. After a while, they know they must return home and Worm teleports them safely back again. The illustrations are sweet and demonstrates specific details of the story. This is book two in the beginning chapter book series, “Dragon Masters.”

Eight year old Drake was an onion farmer until he was swept away to King Roland’s Castle to be a Dragon Master. Griffin, the king’s wizard introduces Drake to three other Dragon Masters who all have dragons. Each of their dragons have amazing talents: one can shoot fire from its nose, one can spray water from its mouth and another can shine bright light from its mouth. Drake is introduced to his dragon which resembles a worm, thus its name. Unfortunately Worm can’t perform any of the amazing tricks the other dragons can do. After the dragons’ cave collapses and everyone is trapped, Worm’s true skill comes out when he moves all the rocks out of the way using telekinesis. Very cute illustrations demonstrate the story well. This is a great beginner chapter book.

A brief introduction to Sioux Indians, discussing their traditions, daily life and more.  Outstanding layout, beautiful color photographs, and captions that are easy to read make this a wonderful book for students doing research.  This book is part of the series  “Native Americans” printed by ABDO Publishing including 8 separate tribes.