Stanza, the dog is a thug and a rotten dog that prowls the streets with his rotten brothers by day. But by night, Stanza writes poetry that would only come out of a sensitive hound. He lives in fear of his brothers finding out about his dark secret. When Stanza sees a poster display about a poetry contest, he can hardly wait to start writing. When he comes in second place and his secret is out, the outcome is terrible! He hates losing and worst of all, his brothers make fun of him. Stanza becomes a hero when the townspeople see his talents and his prize gets delivered (chicken pot pies). Stanza and his brothers soon make a new life showcasing their talents and forgoing their bad ways. This book tells a cute story centered around poetry and the rhyming makes it a fun read aloud. The illustrations help to tell the story perfectly.

This nonfiction book is all about the life and career of pro wrestler, Shawn Michaels. The book discusses Shawn winning the World Championship, Shawn proving himself with his small size, his life growing up, Shawn losing his friendship with Marty Jannetty and then getting back on his feet. The book is nicely set up, has great photographs of Shawn and good information. My only problem with this book is the large amount of text. It seems like a lot of information in paragraph style for elementary students to read and comprehend.

This nonfiction book goes over the achievements and career statistics of some of the greatest football stars, such as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Randy Moss. Each chapter has facing pages with a photo of the star, their personal information, their regular season rushing stats, achievements, a little paragraph about the player and a fact. The book is visually stimulating and has nicely organized information that is not overwhelming to read, although there is a lot of information. My only negative critique is that all the stars are from around the same time (2000-present). I feel that this may date the book. It would have been nice to have a little more variety of players in the years they played.

In this picture book, all the stars at school will get a turn to be star of the week. All the stars are so excited to be chosen and share something special. Twinkle knows right away she wants to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Poor Twinkle is very upset when another star shares her song. She just doesn’t know what to do. Luckily, when it is Twinkle’s turn, she wishes and wishes for help and is visited by a wishing star. She is very excited to share that she has been chosen as a wishing star. This is really cute book and all the references to stars and space is an added bonus. In the front and back cover pages, there are even star facts. The illustrations just make the story even cuter.

This nonfiction book is from the Extreme Machines series and is all about smart machines. The book first teaches students about smart machines that are in the ocean. There are underwater vehicles that teach scientists about the ocean and robots that go underwater and take videos. The book then talks about trains that are smart and drive without drivers and smart cars that have sensors, lasers and radars that help drivers be safe. The book also teaches about smart machines that deal with bombs, planes that are smart and smart machines used in space. The book also has a test students can give themselves, a glossary, find out more page and index. The book is presented simply with large font, a low reading level and straight forward facts. The photographs are high quality and book has really nice thick pages.

In this nonfiction book, students are presented with the concept of texture. Texture is the way something feels. The entire rest of the book is about different textures in our world. From things that are soft and fluffy (furry slippers) to knobbly and warty (squash). The descriptions are vivid and make great use of adjectives. The photographs that accompany the descriptions are vivid as well and of great quality. There are just so many neat parts to this book. I loved it (and I am not an art person)! The photos that go with the descriptions of textures are ingenious. This is a great book to add to the art section in any elementary library.

In this fun book, J. Otto Seibold has taken the popular Mother Goose nursery rhyme classics and rewritten them to his style. This book is supposedly written by a real goose unlike Mother Goose who is not really a goose. These nursery rhymes are “more modern, more fresh and more Goosian.”  For example, he writes “It’s raining, it’s boring, The snoring creaks the flooring. With that said, go to bed, and I’ll see you in the morning! The rhymes are fun and the illustrations to go with them are funny and appealing. This is just a fun book!

This nonfiction book is all about freestyle motocross, which is a type of dirt bike race held on an outdoor course. The book discusses the basics of the sport, tricks and motocross freestyle stars affiliated with the sport. The book also has a glossary, read more, Internet site pages and index. The book has a pretty low reading level and is good for reluctant readers. It has basic easy to read information, but great photographs  and nice use of borders. It is definitely appealing to young boy readers.

This nonfiction book is all about the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title holder, Georges St-Pierre. The books discusses this fighter and his stats, his UFC record, early career, fight training and his career highlights. The book is nicely laid out giving his stats and record in nice, easy to read box charts. For reluctant boy readers, this book does not have  a lot of text. It just gives basic information and has great (although graphic!) photographs of St-Pierre. There is a glossary explaining some of the terms such as what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighting is and an index. Elementary boys would love the entire series (Inside the Octagon, Forrest Griffin, B.J. Penn, etc.).

This nonfiction book is all about measuring weight. The books starts out explaining weight and measuring weight. The author then explains about the weight of vehicles and then starts comparing weights of vehicles. The book compares vehicles such as, toy scooters to mountain bikes, mountain bikes to snowmobiles, snowmobiles to cars and so forth each getting heavier. Each comparison is on facing pages with a photograph of the vehicle and measuring scales showing the comparison. The book has great photos, nice additional information bubbles and a measuring activity students can do. There is also a heavy quiz and facts page at the end of the book, along with a glossary, find out more and index. Upon seeing this book, I thought boring! When I actually started reading it, I really liked it not finding it boring at all. Young elementary boys will like it and teachers will find it useful when teaching measuring and weighing.