This ‘wonderful’ story takes place in 1939 when the United States was recovering from a severe depression, world wars were raging, when gypsy encampments were common in towns, when traveling carnivals and freak shows went from town to town, when schools for ‘wayward’ girls existed (no foster care system) and human trafficking was common.  Ah, the good ol’ days—NOT!   Portia Remini grew up in a gypsy family and loved to learn old stories.  One by one, her family members left in order to scratch a traveling itch.  With only an aunt, her father’s sister, to care for her, Portia had become a true loner.  The townspeople didn’t understand her, but were afraid of her free spirit.  Then, finally, the day came when her aunt took her to the McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls; Portia wasn’t wayward, it was just that her aunt was tired of looking after her.  Mister McGreavey, who ran the home, used the girls for slave labor for his apple orchard.  His treatment of them was harsh and devoid of any humanism.  His goal was to sell girls to men who required dutiful, obedient girls.  After Portia had seen his evilness, she escaped one night on Mister’s bicycle, getting as far away as possible.  She knew he would try to find her.  Her goal was to find her father.  She came upon a traveling circus and sideshow and was allowed to stay with them.  She learned each person’s story, and they became her family, what she had been looking for.  This book is told in the third-person narrative, with a sideshow person and others, each given a turn to speak.  The chapters, their thoughts and histories, are short.  The result is that the reader feels that they, too, are learning about each person, just as Portia does.  Alas, Mister sends some goons to track Portia down and to bring her back, plus his bicycle.  He holds her prisoner and delights in tormenting her and telling her she’ll never leave again.  But, she has a family now and they are loyal and come to rescue her.  A truly beautiful story of hope and family.  The storyline was interesting and snappy, never a dull moment.  The only objection I have is the book jacket art–the scenes are too busy, even though they are meant to represent the sideshow freaks.  That would probably be better left to a reader’s imagination.

Set in rural Kenya, this inspiriting, fictionalized account of Mimi’s village without health care gives the reader a viewpoint  about the urgent need to improve developing countries by providing them with clean water, protection from mosquitos, and vaccinations.  The reader’s world views are expanded  with the ultimate goal  to create change.  In the developing world, 21,000 children die every day from preventable diseases.  This fact alone, illuminates the dire situation that cries out for attention.  Organizations such as Partners In Health and Malaria  No More  are explained. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also began helping parts of Africa , Asia and Latin America to  eliminate malaria.  Each year, for five years, they contribute $100,000  to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  Rates for malaria are now falling.  The website, www.mimisvillage.org provides more information for students and teachers who want to become involved in this global program.

Here is the inspiring account of ten men and women who dedicated their lives to protecting the nation’s natural heritage.  Who popularized birdwatching…or introduced the study of birds in North Amerca?  Who pushed a president and a nation into setting aside vast preserves of land? Who did the same for the Florida Everglades?  Who opened the world’s eyes to the dangers of pesticides?   Well known, and lesser known figures are included .  Interesting black and white photographs, sidebars, resource lists and a survey of environmental issues round out this topic.  The text is accessible to researchers, as well as leisure readers.  Twenty one activities, such as bird feeders, a compost pile, plaster casts of animals’ tracks, tests and studies of the greenhouse effect and acid rain connect students with hands-on learning.  Excellent Resources and Index in Back Matter. Lovely  publication!

Author, William R. Sanford presents a well-rounded mini biography of  Geronimo in nine short chapters.  Sanford describes the historical time and  events which shaped the man the world would come to know as Geronimo. For example, in Chapter 1 – Massacre in Mexico , Sanford states,

” For centuries the Mexicans had captured his [Geronimo] people and made them slaves. The Apache struck back… raiding became a normal way of life.” Geronimo’s mother, wife, and three small children were killed while he was away. “For the rest of his life, he would seek revenge.”

When the Apache homeland came under the United States control the Apache didn’t fare any better. The U.S. Army and the Apache had numerous encounters. Geronimo talked with various U. S. leaders, tried to live peacefully by white mans rules, but the white way of life never rested well with him. Geronimo surrendered four separate times, but fear of being hanged usually lead to his leaving the reservations.

Sanford uses footnotes to site his direct quotation, which are referenced in the back of the book.

The book is an easy read, with lithographs by Frederic Remington and  photos from the time, all of course, in black and white. But the lack of color in this book leaves it lack luster. This could be easily be relieved by using color around the title of each chapter, instead of  white text surrounded by black and gray.  The map on page 10 and the photo of Arizona on page 11 could be in color, instead of black and white. AND what about the gray smudges that run across the bottom of most of the pages? Add a little brown tint perhaps?

The book’s cover is in color, but is not appealing.

The same photo of Geronimo was used three times (p. 15, 32, and 37) in three different sizes and three different portions cropped out of the picture.

Finally, the word Apache is misspelled on page 47, the “h” was omitted.

A simple choice to play outside is the apparent cause of disaster in Foreman’s picture book.  In only a sentence or so per page, the story shows the havoc that can ensue when a boy meets a rambunctious dog.  Throughout the tale, the boy states in the narration that these are all horrible turns of events.  At least, until the end.  This story has many strengths, including its relative brevity and its rollicking rhythm (while not in rhyme, the repeated use of the title words give the text a driving pace).

However, there are a few things which could be improved. The pictures themselves are of varying sizes, sometimes taking up just a small portion of the large pages, sometimes filling an entire spread.  While the text is extremely conducive for large group sharing, the smaller-scale watercolors would be difficult to see from any significant distance.

Although this title has weaknesses, children will enjoy the bright colors, fast-pacing, and wild build of events in the story.  This is a fun take on the formula made famous by Laura Numeroff in If You Give A Mouse a Cookie, and will be a fun addition for many libraries.

It’s Saturday and Froggy woke up early wanting to go out and play.  His mom wants him to go back to bed.  He heads over to a friend’s house only to find him gone, so is another friend, and another, until finally, Froggy is sad because all of his friends have gone somewhere.  Froggy’s dad has planned a play date for Froggy with Frogilina, and they are all going to the movies.  Froggy decides that since he really wants to see the movie, he’ll go, but he isn’t happy about having Frogilina tagging along.  Frogilina happens to be a little imp; she throws popcorn at Froggy at the movies, she’s kisses him as if he’s the Frog Prince, and she takes a bite off the bottom of Froggy’s ice cream cone so it drips all over him.  It’s the worst play date ever!   The whole business of a little boy and a little girl being friends and playing together is still a bit disconcerting–even kindergarteners don’t know what to think.  The girls giggle and look at the boys.  Kind of an awkward book for kids.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Miss Maple (think the size of Thumbelina) collects and nurtures orphaned seeds of all kinds.  She travels all over during the summer and collects the seeds, keeps them throughout the year, and when spring comes she launches them where they will thrive.  The illustrations are water color with some black ink outlining.  The voice of the story is calming and soothing.  The scenes of Miss Maple in her tree house make you want to be there.    Could be a great resource if tied with plant/seed science units.

Miss Fox is a teacher whose students see her several times with a police officer, including going into the police station.  They assume that Miss Fox has done something to get herself in trouble.  The rumor mill begins.  When the students see a brochure for Hawaii, they think Miss Fox is going to run away.  It’s nice to see how loyal they are to their teacher.  However, at the end, Miss Fox and her fiance announce their engagement and plans for their wedding and honeymoon in Hawaii.  The kids are relieved to find that their teacher isn’t a criminal.  It’s a simple story about how gossip can hurt someone.  Although for this message, I prefer Madonna’s book, Mr. Peabody’s Apples.

This is a fascinating little book, explaining a lot of very complex ideas in clear, understandable text.  After a brief explanation of the history of exploration, it goes on to describe the many challenges that must be tackled to achieve interstellar exploration within the next 100 years.  The team that has gathered to study this possibility includes scientists, engineers, doctors, businesspeople, etc. The book manages to make clear just how difficult such a prospect, while still inspiring confidence and hope that it will be achieved someday.  My only gripe with the book is something I’ve been noticing in a lot of non-fiction lately: a “timeline” that really isn’t a proper timeline at all, but just a list of dates of significant events.

This is a good, solid little book, which sticks to it’s focus.  It describes the many different types of public office for which candidates must be elected, and explains all the things involved in running a campaign, from fundraising and getting petitions signed to political parties and rallies and commercials.  It did a very deliberate job of making sure to balance photos of Democrats and Republicans, famous candidates and candidates for smaller, municipal offices.  It did state that, “The first U.S. president elected by secret ballot was Grover Cleveland in 1892,” which leaves the reader wondering, how were they chosen before then?