The clean, stylized illustrations offer a good juxtaposition to the squeamish topic:  a mischievous boy who’s bored the businessman’s dinner party his father has insisted he attend decides to add one of his fishing worms to each of the salads, just so he can watch everyone’s reactions. Of course, after the fun of watching everyone else, his father scolds him for taking so long to eat his own salad, so he too is forced to face his own medicine.

A sweet story about Christmas without all the commercialism, and about everyone having something to contribute and about the joys of family time spent together.  When a family is noticing as they decorate their tree that the homemade ornaments are the best, they make a pact that that Christmas they will all make homemade gifts.  The youngest is left in a quandary trying to figure out what he can make.  He keeps brainstorming ideas, but he’s too little to be allowed in the kitchen to cook alone, and it’s the wrong time of year to plant a garden, and the snow bear he makes melts before the big day, and Christmas Eve finds him going to bed sad because he’ll have no gift to offer the next day, but Momma’s comforting words,”the best part of Christmas is spending time together,” finally inspires an idea.  He ends up gathering all the little scraps of paper on which he’d been brainstorming ideas into a decorated jar which he labels, “365 Days of Together To-Dos.”  I think it’s sweet, and it captures the message it’s trying to deliver, and it’s got lots of little details in the illustrations that tie things together into a clean ending.  And I think a lot of kids can relate to feeling like they can’t come up with an idea, plus the book offers so many kid-friendly ideas.

I like what I think it’s trying to be (a grand fanciful adventure set in days gone by), but I think it misses the mark.  The illustrations seem inconsistent in their quality, and rhythm of the poetry is inconsistent in its readability.  These tigers are friends of this rich Victorian dude, and they set off on an adventure, but storms at sea leave them stranded, but after facing a volcano and spending time with some gypsies, they run into their old friend and neighbor in a Paris train station, who welcomes them back into the fold and throws them a feast.  A lot of the whys are left unanswered, leaving the reader a bit in the dark as to the point.  I’m not sure there’s ever an actual climax to the story.  I can’t figure out why they bother republishing it.

The publisher is re-issuing several books originally published in the mid twentieth century.  On the one hand, there’s something sort of charming and sentimental about the vintage illustrations, and it would be nice to have the cleaned up copies, rather than the battered, faded copies that have been sitting on the library shelves for the last 60 years.  On the other hand, I don’t know if the kids will be as charmed as I am.  The story tells of a baby elephant who’s not paying attention when he’s supposed to be holding his mom’s tail in the circus parade, so he follows a farm wagon back to the barn instead.

Lyric Walker lives a normal teenage life until she is forced into the unlikely situation of an invasion by the Alpha in Undertow. Then her world is shattered as she takes on the problems of living with a secret that would tear her world apart. Her friends are kept in the dark and she lives with the fear that others will know. Soon she is forced into becoming a friend to Fathom, an Alpha prince, but soon begins to be attracted to his unlikely charms. The plot beautifully unfolds as Lyric discovers both a hostile and magical world.

The author creates the realistic world of a teenager who lives in a terrifying world. Things go from bad to worse as Lyric, a strong female character, battles for her friends and family. The book is fast paced and moves from one situation to another. It ended too soon and readers will be ready for a sequel.

This book follows a child and her mother on a visit to an apple orchard where they take apples through the cider making process. They pick apples, wash them, put them in a shredder, help press the apples, then fill the jugs with cider. Then they attend the festival where there are many different kinds of apple dishes including muffins, pie, cobbler, fritters and more. Sweet illustration help describe the cider process.

Zig is a small, blue creature who lives in a lonely, rainy world. He grabs hold of a red umbrella and is carried away by the wind to a faraway place. He meets a tiny bird that needs his help to conquer a big roaring creature and free the tiny bird’s friends. The bird is so grateful for Zig’s help that a friendship develops, and Zig isn’t lonely any more. This book has very colorful illustrations.

The school dance is going to start, but Little Piggy is worried because all the other animals can moonwalk, cha-cha, boogaloo, etc… But Little Piggie is told by his Daddy, his Mummy, his grandma and grandpa, and his brother and sister that, “Us piggies, we’ve got no moves.” Soon Little Piggie believes what his family has told him. With a heavy heart, he attends the dance and watches the animals move to the music. Suddenly, his tail begins to twitch and twirl, and he starts moving across the floor joining the animals in their dances, and discovers he has a dance of his own. This is a great story to encourage students to disregard negative comments that others might say, and believe in themselves.

It is the day before the vegetable competition at the local harvest fair, and Max Monroe and the ghost of his great-uncle work together as a detective team to solve the mystery of the Zamboni sisters’ missing giant zucchini. They investigate people around town including Mr. Jordan who really wants to win the contest this year, and Edwena Whacker who makes the most delicious zucchini bread. Together they find clues to solve the mystery. This fun little mystery book is book two in the Ghost and Max Monroe series.