This alphabet picture book is all about the fair! The author and illustrator has taken a clever approach to fairs and alphabet books. She takes a white page and makes  collages to showcase the letter. Then for the letter, she has taken photos of the letter depicted in different ways. For example, “R is for Roller Coaster” and the collage is of a roller coaster. The letter R is the cars/people on the coaster. The book has bright, colorful illustrations (collages) and is intriguing. It is just a book that is fun! I was thinking the whole time about the next letter and how the fair could be incorporated!

Found in the poetry section of the library, this picture book style book teaches students about birds, while reading poetry.  As in a traditional, nonfiction style book, the book starts out with a table of contents listing all the poems found in the book. Followed by the table of contents, there is a foreword by an ornithologist. There are then 14 poems about birds. Each bird is showcased on facing pages with a wonderful photo (Jason Stemple-Jane Yolen’s son!) of the bird, a box with a poem (Jane Yolen) about the bird and a box with factual information about the bird. This is a such a neat book! The reader gets a beautiful photograph of the bird, a poem and information about the bird all on one page. There is so much teachers and librarians can do with this wonderful book!

Frank, the bear and Carl, the fish go into business selling hats. They are very excited to be at their booth selling hats. The problem is that no one wants their hats. All the other stands have no trouble selling their skateboards, cup of mud and remote control robot cell phones. Frank and Carl just can’t figure out why no one buys their hats, until it starts to rain and everyone wants a hat! This picture book has fun illustrations, large print for beginning readers and an attractive cover. I am just not so sure about the plot. I don’t see kids getting too excited about this story.

Here is everything I’m looking for in a book about one individual letter of the alphabet! It is all inclusive! Makes me want the other 25 letter books in this series!

It begins with a hand printed upper & lower case alphabet with the letter “Kk” singled out in red. From there it moves onto a photo of the letter k in American Sign Language, 7 stylized upper & lower case ‘Kk’s, and the statements:  “The letter k is a consonant. It is the 11th letter of the alphabet.”

From there the text moves on to 3 words beginning with the letter ‘k’ and a 10 word sentence wherein 5 of the words begin with ‘k’ , 3 of which are the previously pictured words. Similarly, follows 5 words with ‘k’ in the middle and the 14 middle ‘k’ word sentence (7 containing k) . And 3 words ending in ‘k’  along with their accompanying 17 word sentence ( 7 ending in k). Next comes examples of the ‘ck’ & ‘kn’ letter combinations in words and sentences. Then, Kenny Koala and Kim Kangaroo go on( a mini-story) hike. And finally there are 2 quizzes where the reader finds the letter ‘k’ in words.

Colorfully bright, engaging, candid photos of second, third and fourth grade children playing traditional party games greet the reader on every page. Large, easy to read text in this 9.5″ X 11″ book gives a quick description of the goal of each game. Indoor and outdoor games are presented in separate sections.  The indoor games are: musical chairs, bingo, pin the tail on the donkey, and a treasure hunt. The outdoor games are: the limbo, egg-and-spoon race, a piñata, sack race, and red rover (not named or described).

Gives the reader, both young and old, a happy feeling of birthday parties with the cone shaped hats held in place by elastic under the chin in the days before CHUCK E. CHEESE.

9 times, author – Brian Enslow asks,” Is this your nose?”

Once  each for : big, brown, fish, flat, green, little, long, nice, and once for round.

The color photos of varying noses including a toucan, elephant, bull dog, and a frog  in this 7″ x 6″ book will grab the young reader’s attention, if not their nose.

The Halloween Kid is a hero when it comes to Halloween. No one really knows who he is or where he comes from, but when Halloween is threatened, he swoops in to save the day. He takes on the Toilet Paper Mummies and pumpkin-sucking vampires, just to make sure Halloween isn’t ruined. Unfortunately, he meets his match when the Goodie Goblins start running loose and stealing candy. When the goblins capture the Halloween Kid, the kids he has been helping have to turn things around and help him escape. I really liked this Halloween story. I love the illustrations and the use of color. The pages are all shades of orange and the drawings are  done in black with additional orange shades. The story is fun, well written and teaches kids good lessons (helping others and fighting for what you believe in).

Boo! is a wordless story about a little ghost that is trying to scare the other ghosts in his family. The book has vivid illustrations that make it interestingto read even though there are no words. It is fun and the little ghost is really cute. He tries everything to be scary from being a vampire to Frankenstein, but the only way he is scary is when he accidentally runs into a sheet and is a “ghost.” When he makes a ghost costume with his sheet, he is finally able to be scary!

From the Little Princess series, this book tells the story of the Little Princess being scared of the dark. When her dad asks her why she is afraid of the dark, she tells him it is because she actually is afraid of ghosts and ghosts come out in the dark. Dad, the Admiral, Doctor and Maid all try to convince her not to be afraid and that there is no such thing as a ghost. When the lights go out, Little Princess figures that ghosts are probably afraid of the dark too. When the ghost and Little Princess meet, Little Princess realizes that the ghost is more frightened of her! This is a fun, cute little story that has great illustrations to go with it!

A cross between the film Stand By Me and the novel Lord of the Flies, Nothing is a gripping novel that will grasp the reader by the throat, or the heart, and not let go until the chilling conclusion.

Set in a small suburban town in Denmark, the story revolves around a class of 7th grade students and one of it’s members who flees the classroom on the first day of the school year, shouting “Nothing matters…I’ve known that for a long time. So nothing’s worth doing. I just realized that.”

This student spends the better part of the school year perched in a plum tree in his yard, overhanging the sidewalk that carries the other classmates to and from school.  His verbal taunts push them to the point of distraction and they decide that they must do something to prove to him that life does matter.

The efforts to which the students go to prove to him that there are things that really do matter will grip the reader.

A compelling novel, full of turns one does not even begin to suspect, is not for the faint of heart. A modern day Lord of the Flies.