This non-fiction book has a little bit of everything in it–although the title leads one to believe that it is mainly about pets and animals owned by the presidents of the United States, it is actually much more than that.  Each two-page spread has information on a president, in chronological order, which includes a poem about the president and his pet(s), or not.  His accomplishments during his term(s)  are listed as well as info on his family.  The accompanying illustration is more of a caricature or political cartoon of the president, rather than a portrait, showing something rather funny well known about the president.  A great book for browsing and animal lovers.

This is a detailed book on chimpanzees.  It covers a broad variety of topics relating to them and their connections with humans.

There are sections in the book that encourage thoughtful research on the subject, with suggestions of where to find more information.

I liked the project that tells the reader to find ten words in the book that are new to them and find the definition.  It basicly has the reader create a personal glossary.  The Pictures in the book are wonderful.  The font is clear and easily read.

This is a good book for older children.

Wow!  The photography in this book is amazing!  The text in this non-fiction book is appropriate reading for the primary grades, with bold, high-lighted words featuring the science vocabulary.  The text and photos are perfectly matched.  The fine details with which the hawk is captured is reason enough to buy this book–clear features are caught in action.  I plan on adding several of the books from this series to my library shelves.

This is a very funny book.  The pictures are very funny.  The characters are perfect for the Northwest, and no doubt many places with lots of water and wildlife.  The story deals with three friends, beaver, bear, and moose, who have trouble getting along.  It is fun to see the problems that causes, and how they pull together to work things out.

Easy to read font. Some new words for non-boaters.

I liked it!

This is a rather different and interesting story about a girl who is blind, but learns to use her ability to smell to get around and help others.

The vocabulary is filled with words that will probably be unfamiliar to younger readers, but a great way to increase their vocabulary.

The pictures are whimsical and soft.  I enjoyed the story.

This is a book that girls who enjoy creating things would enjoy.  Some of the projects could become rather messy, and some of the crafts seem rather tacky, but younger girls would probably have fun with it, and the book does instruct them in some basic skills, such as hand sewing, sewing on a button, and other very useful skills.  It’s a great book for beginning crafters and sewers.  The instructions are easy to understand and are accompanied with good pictures.  There are clear simple lists of supplies, and good recipes for creating home beauty products.  It is a nice addition to our elementary school library.  I think the girls will like the book.

This is a good positive book to help young children learn to deal with the feelings they have when they are worried.  There is a page at the front of the book for adults that has good advice for teaching children to deal with worry.

The pictures are cute, and the font is large and easily read.  The vocabulary is simple and easy for young children to understand.  They have many ideas in the book for dealing with worry and becoming happy again.

It’s a good book.

This book is very interesting and full of fun facts about sloths and where they live.  The pictures re clear and close up.  The font is very large and bold, making it easy to read.

The book compares two-toed and three-toed sloths.

This book is a great addition to our non-fiction library!  I think this is a book that will be checked out often by our children.

Jared Lee has heavily illustrated this installment of Mike Thaler’s Black Lagoon series in black and white drawings.

Hubie and his class have never celebrated the 100th day of school before. Their teacher, Mrs. Green, wants them to bring 100 of something to school on that day. Hubie begins with 6 complaints about school, but “Mrs. Green says that’s not in the spirit of the day.” (p. 11) What do I have 100 of to bring to school for my homework? What to bring in? Hubie doesn’t have enough baseball cards and grandma is only 81 years old, not 100. all the students are keeping their 100 collection a secret. The other teachers are getting in on the event by having a 100-yd. dash in PE, and counting to 100 by twos, and Mrs. Green “is bringing in a hundred-dollar bill. I’ve never seen one, and whoever can guess who’d on it will get to hold it for a  hundred minutes. Wow! The guesses range from George Washington to Spider-Man.” ( p. 41) When the day arrives one student brings one hundred pennies, another one tries to do one hundred push-ups, “Penny sings a song with one hundred notes– all the wrong ones”, someone else has the class stay quiet for one hundred secrets,  one hundred knock-knock jokes, and then it is Hubie’s turn. He has composed a poem with one hundred words in it.  [I can’t wait for 100 Day next school year, so I can copy and enlarge Hubie’s poem on my library bulletin board.]

Thaler has included at least three idioms in this story: 1) playing cards close to vest, 2) clammed up, and 3) back to square one hundred.

The arctic fox is one of nature’s most adaptable animal.  Everything about this animal enables it to survive nature’s harshest environments.  Their amount of fat, metabolism, even how their blood circulates all help the fox to survive in temperatures of – 60 Fahrenheit.  They know how to store food for those times when fresh food may be scarce–a refrigerated system to keep it well preserved.  The arctic fox differs from other foxes in that it is more squat and close to the ground in order to conserve heat.  In reading this book, what impresses you is how unique nature is to adapt to whatever it needs to in order to survive.  The arctic fox is a very clever animal, indeed.