“Story time with signs and rhymes”

American Sign Language (ASL) is used to give an added activity to the counting of 1 to 10 using Halloween trick-or-treating door bell ringing creatures: warty witch, creepy cats, scary skeletons, wild werewolves, moaning mummies, playful pumpkins, zany zombies, spooky spiders, ghastly ghosts, and haunted houses.

Elementary school age temper painted pictures.

Includes: American Sign Language (ASL) glossary for the numbers 1-10 with picture and description, ASL alphabet handshapes, fun facts about ASL, and two signing activities.

Nothing spreads faster than an outrageous rumor!  Here a young boy tells, “I’m sure I saw a dinosaur and I’m sure that he saw me.” Soon the whole town, plus the army, air force, and scientists have taken over the beach site. Whether they will see a dinosaur or not is yet to be determined, but the young boy’s father is doing a booming business of selling ice cream in this the beach’s off-season.

“A collage is a picture made by sticking different things on to paper, canvas, or cardboard.” ( p. 4)

This beginning how-to book of collage includes 14 different collages spread over the course of 24 pages. Each page usually includes 2 sentences, in large font, dealing with the creation of a collage or the collage on that page.

Title headings include: What is a collage?, Where can I see collages?, What do people use to make collages?, How do people use shapes in collages?,  What can collages show?, How can collages show feelings?, What other types of collages are there?, and Start to make collages!

This book will appeal to true lovers of the game of baseball.  The setting is 1899 and the team, called The Traveling Nine, are going from New Orleans, Louisiana, north as far as Minneapolis, and east as far as Baltimore, looking to play games and earn money to pay off the Payne family’s debt.  As they travel from city to city, it’s up to them to find a team to play, a place to play,  to advertise the game, and to stir up enough interest to get people to pay to come see them play.  The rules of who exactly can play are pretty loose, as there are mature adults, kids, and women all playing for the same team.  At the time, they had a ‘magic’ baseball.  Perhaps the ball wasn’t so much magical but when they used it, they all played and felt as though a super force was with them.  Nothing could go wrong.  Until Guy Payne, the dad of the family, the team’s catcher and star player, disappeared, believed to be dead.  Guy’s brother, Owen, loses the ball and ends up dead, killed by the power-crazed city manager, who steals the ball and wants to steal the glory of winning.  Turns out, Guy isn’t dead after all, and The Traveling Nine gets ready to play the team owned by the magic baseball thief. Turns out the ball wasn’t magical at all, but the power of prayer and the power of good thoughts is a strong motivator.  The story was difficult to get into as it was book six and I am not familiar with the others.  The illustrations were detailed and amazing.  Definitions, explanations and historical notes are in the margin, giving some instruction as to terminology of the game.  I have true baseball nuts in my family, four baseball fantasy lovers.  And that might be my downfall.  I wanted more of the ‘real’ baseball weird stuff to be in the story, not so much magic, or perceived magic, I should say.  The historical part was interesting, however, and I think it’s interesting that not so long ago, baseball players weren’t treated as royalty.

This book provides some history of famous cowboys and the cowboy trade in the late 1800’s primarily in the West.  Cowboy life in pioneering days was exciting and dangerous and this book brings that fact to life, providing an overview of typical cowboy experiences.  Information is sometimes repeated and I would have liked to see more and better photography.  Thus improved visuals and tighter editing would have brought my rating up from “additional”.  Still it is an interesting book and I think students will enjoy reading about American cowboys.

This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Isabella of Castile, and Nur Jahan of India.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Nur Jahan of India.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman, and Isabella of Castile.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Isabella of Castile.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman, and Nur Jahan of India.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This book in the four volume series about the wild west, is about pioneering women.  Chapters include Defending our Home, The First Western Women, Hard Living, Independence, Outlaws, and Change and Reform.  The organization of the information felt a bit disjointed at times.  I would have liked the writing style to flow a bit more smoothly.  It was an interesting read and gave a good overall view of life for pioneering women in the west.  There were a few black and white photographs, not of great quality.

Morris, Rudi, Beck, and Ivan have just graduated from high school.  They are the best of buds and they make pacts with each other.  But the Vietnam War is raging.  So when one is drafted, they all join up.  This is great news for Ivan, the son of a retired Marine Corp Captain.  What begins as a story about four boys who need to stay best friends even though they are now officially adults quickly turns into Ivan’s reality check as he sees the brutality of war first hand.  By the end, Ivan learns how hard he can push himself as well as how soldiers of Vietnam can get through the experience: by just continuing to move, even if the movement is just for the sake of moving itself, by realizing how “close to you are to horror every single day”, and by just snapping.  This is book #2 in a series of 4, with the 1st book focusing on the story of Morris in the Navy.  With a little gore because it is the Vietnam War, this is a worthwhile addition to Chris Lynch’s collection, though not with the depth and literary insight as Tim O’Brien’s novels. Recommended for all high school and public libraries.