This is a collection of 16 illustrated poems, each about a different bug.  My favorite aspects of this book were the wonderfully colorful and descriptive illustrations and the facts section in the back about each of the featured bugs.  I thought the poems were OK, but may not really engage a young reader.

This is a fun retelling of the classic Gingerbread Boy story.  This book is set in the southwest where Arana the spider is making gorditas one day.  One gordita comes alive, and runs off across the desert.  She encounters a series of local critters who would like nothing more than to gobble her up, but she’s faster.  She does meet her match in the wise owl, Buho, who outwits her and eats her for lunch.  The illustrations are beautiful and exciting and the author uses spanish words for each of the animals to name them.  There is a recipe for gorditas in the back as well as an English/Spanish glossary.  I really enjoyed this fast paced story, familiar yet new.  I’ve had repeat requests for it at story time so it appeals to the kids as well.

Pakistan is a country book from the Enchantment of the World series recently published by Scholastic.  I chose it because I’m updating our collection of country books.   I researched the various country series available at this time and found that this series best met my needs for my K – 8 school library patrons.  The photographs are beautiful, engaging and relevant to the clearly written and organized text and there are thematic maps, timelines and graphics to further enhance the reader’s research.  A wide variety of topics are covered, including history, wildlife, climate, government, topography, culture and customs, national and international politics, religion, education, cuisine, and current issues.  There is a table of contents, index and further resources page.  I also enjoyed the “Meet the Author” pages which was interesting.  With Pakistan in the news so much in recent years, it is great to have a resource for those students who are interested in knowing more about this amazing country and it’s people.

This non-fiction book offers exercises for teens that develop athleticism related to various sports.  Each chapter focuses on a different part of the body (feet, legs, hips and core, upper body and arms) beginning with the demands of particular sports and relating the exercises to developing the strength and speed to excel in those sports.  The exercises are presented clearly with step-by-step instructions, a list of necessary props as well as some possible modifications.  The importance of staying hydrated, warm up and cool down, and safety are emphasized and explained throughout the text.  The photography is engaging and related to the text.  Sports stars as well as teens of various ethnic backgrounds are featured.  There is a table of contents, index, glossary and resource pages.  This book was well-written and engaging.  I think it will be an asset to our students who enjoy sports and will encourage healthy physical activity.

Six different items are described using proximity, temperature, and texture. Clues for each item are given on the left page (7″ X 7″) . The extra long (7″ X 14″) folded right page has 4 pictures for the reader to choice from before opening the fold (gatefold) to reveal the answer.

Items include: toy bunny, building blocks (Lagos), water in the bath, fridge, soap, and tree trunk.

Descriptions include: soft, hard, warm cold, slippery, and rough.

Large, simple child-like colorful illustrations which explore a child’s environment command your attention.

Six different items are described using sounds, actions, and setting. Clues for each item are given on the left page (7″ X 7″) . The extra long (7″ X 14″) folded right page has 4 pictures for the reader to choice from before opening the fold (gatefold) to reveal the answer.

Items include: rain, telephone, radio, airplane, vacuum cleaner, and bird .

Sounds include: drip, ring, la,whoosh, buzz, and tweet.

Large, simple child-like colorful illustrations which explore a child’s environment command your attention.

Six different items are described using shape, color, and texture. Clues for each item are given on the left page (7″ X 7″) . The extra long (7″ X 14″) folded right page has 4 pictures for the reader to choice from before opening the fold (gatefold) to reveal the answer.

Items include: a ball, a cat, a cheese sandwich, a cupboard, a flower, and Dad.

Large, simple child-like colorful illustrations which explore a child’s environment command your attention.

Fortunately, Unfortunately is a crazy adventure featuring many of the fantastic settings kids dream about.  In only a sentence or so per page, the story (and our intrepid hero) ricochets through the ocean, an alien spacecraft, a pirate ship, a dinosaur-populated lost world, and more.  Each scenario has an upside and a downside, and one or the other usually propels our protagonist into the next environment.

This story has many strengths, including its relative brevity, its rollicking rhythm (while not in rhyme, the repeated use of the title words give the text a driving pace), and its mix of appealing settings.

However, there are a few things which could be improved.  The adventuring child, as well as his mother and grandmother, are all extremely anthropomorphized monkeys, for no apparent reason.  In contrast, our pirates (the only other humanoid characters) are entirely human.  There is no obvious purpose for the ape-ish appearance of the starring character, and in a tale that is already fantastical, making our introductory characters of a non-human species is unnecessary and worse, distracting.

The pictures themselves are of varying sizes, sometimes taking up just a small portion of the large pages, sometimes filling an entire spread.  While the text is extremely conducive for large group sharing, the smaller-scale watercolors would be difficult to see from any significant distance.

Although this title has weaknesses, children will enjoy the bright colors, fast-pacing, and dramatic setting(s) of the story.  This is a fun take on the familiar “good-news, bad-news” genre, and will be a fun addition for many libraries.

Students are hearing a lot about “the economy.”  Abdo Publishers has a series called Economy in Action.  This book helps students and guides teachers in an introductory understanding of economic systems.  In each two page spread, questions such as, “What is an economy?”, “How does an economy work?”, or “What are the three main types of economies?” are explained.  Grasping the concepts means understanding the specific economic vocabulary (capital, allocate), which is covered in an ample Glossary.  Traditional, Free Market, Managed, and Mixed Economies are all discussed.  The author acknowledges that probably no economy would work best for all societies given the diverse resources, cultures and priorities.  A couple of interesting Economic Exercises are included at the end, as well as Websites and Index.  For a book attempting to represent a global discussion, the choice of having two pages of photographs with females wearing hijabs was notable.  The first prominent photo was welcomed in a book with a multicultural subject.  The second prominent photo left me wondering…why?

This is a wonderful addition to your  A TRUE BOOK collection.

The text is full of important generalized information, but it is the full-color photos with their specific information and bits of trivia that will keep the reader going.  An example from page 24, “A single maple tree loses 600,000 leaves every autumn.”

Contains 5 chapters: Forest Features, Forest Life, Hard Times, Forests in Danger, and Conservation.

Also contains: True Statistics, Resources, Important Words, Index, and About the Author.