Laura Purdie Salas has chosen the Florida Everglades for the setting of this book, but explains these animal ” groups live all around the world.”

The nine verse song is sung to the melody of “Clementine.” Six animal groups: reptiles, amphibians, mammals, insects, fish, and birds each have their own verse in this song which states at least one commonality within their group/classification. Following the verse more concise/specific information is given about the group/classification.

Includes: musical score, “Did You Know?”, glossary, index, and internet sites (www.facthound.com)

Young readers are first introduced to Three Claws by illustrator Dennis Messner’s visual of Three Claw and his mountain home’s floor plan.  Then, Cari Meister elaborates on how Three Claw uses his claws. But every good story needs a problem to be solved. Three Claw’s problem is, “He has really, really bad breath” which even the other mountain monsters don’t want to be around. When Three Claw doesn’t want to change his diet the happy ending comes when Three Claw is offered the mountain look-out position , away from everyone else, because he has the best vision.

This nonfiction book by Donna Latham in the Endangered Biomes series reminds me, in a good way, of the movie FINDING NEMO. The colorful action shots of clown fish, tropical fish, coral reefs, sea turtles, kelp beds, shark, and pelican mixed with the ocean currents,  topography, and how ocean plants and animals adapt bring the reader to a deeper understanding of the ocean biome in just 8 short chapters in 27 pages. Environmental threats to the ocean: climate change, oil spills, and trash, are also discussed. The glossary is well done and matches the glossary word-for-word in Latham’s other book from this series – DESERTS.

One typo on page 13, the word ‘each’ should be ‘eat’.

Author Donna Latham presents a short 8 chapter, 27 page run down on deserts – “the most arid biome”. The page lay-outs help the reader move from the generalities of the  text to specifics of captioned inset photos and “Do You Know?” factoids. The vibrant colors in the photos with the accompanying text grab the readers attention and will inspire him to read the entire book in one sitting. Includes: plant and animal adaptations, environmental threats and biodiversity risks.

The proofreader missing one word – on page 21, damanged, should be damaged.

Excellent glossary

I f you have ever been in a play one of the worst things you can do is to forget your lines. When Herbie Bear’s class puts on a Thanksgiving play, he fears this will happen to him and is teased about it by another classmate. In the end, Herbie performs on cue and rescues ‘the’ classmate who does forget his line.

Big emotion-filled action -packed illustrations by Bob Ostrom make this a fun read.

As Herbie Bear’s birthday approaches he realizes he has outgrown the skateboard his father made for him. At his party , each present is a new piece of skateboarding equipment. After the cake and ice cream , the grand finale is the new skateboard Herbie has secretly been wanting. “Thanks, Dad! Thanks, Mom! This is the best birthday ever.”

Big, emotion-filled action packed illustrations by Bob Ostrom make this a visual treat to read.

Thirteen-year-old Jackson Jones becomes a young entrepreneur when his widowed neighbor, Mrs. Nelson, convinces him to get her neglected apple orchard up and going again.  If he does so, she promises the deed to the orchard to young Jackson.  Seeing dollar signs, Jackson accepts the challenge, getting a lesson in the hard work it takes to grow and sell apples.  He enlists his siblings and cousins in the hard work, keeping from them the fact that Mrs. Nelson will get the first $8,000 of the profits.  Young readers will get a lesson, along with Jackson, on the endless work and expenses of running a business.

Four trucks, 2 big and 2 small, with headlights for eyes and bumpers for mouths start their day. ” ‘I will help you! ‘ says Blue Truck”, but his offer is turned down twice by the big trucks. Discouraged and giving up Yellow Truck asks Blue Truck for his help. Success follows. The End.

Illustrator Patrick Girouard has added a Pesky Pigeon to find on every turn of the page.

Word Count – 115.

Gary Lizard has been marking the days off on his calendar until his first day of school. Mom and Dad Lizard help send him off with (new) clothes, backpack, sack lunch, and by taking his picture before climbing onto the school bus.

Word count – 88. with bright, child-friendly pictures by Andy Rowland

This nonfiction book tells the story of the mystery behind a little seabird, called the marbled murrelet in a picture book format. The murrelet makes its home in the ocean until it is time to lay it’s egg. This bird that is the same size of a robin lays just one egg, that is the size of a chicken egg. For hundreds of years, it was unknown where they lay this egg. It has just been discovered that they lay these eggs in the forest trees along the west coast. It is amazing because this bird will travel up to 50 miles one way to deliver a fish to the nest when the chick has hatched.  This is a story that takes place in the Pacific Northwest, making it of real interest to students in our area. The paintings just add to the beauty of the story. As the story is told, there are additional information boxes about these birds, forest and other forest animals set in the pictures, as well. The story brings to light the environmental ramifications logging companies are causing by taking the birds’ nesting ground. This is really neat story with lots of information about the outdoors that would be great to share with students.