Kids will be drawn to the cartoon illustrations full of characters which they already know from other Bailey books.  Obviously the book is not going for believability — Bailey is a dog who walks upright and attends school like just another student in the class.  At the museum his canine instincts raise their head when he climbs on the dinosaur bones and has to be told they’re not a snack.  It’s cute I guess, but I can’t claim to be a huge fan.

I like the concept behind the series, and it’s got a reasonable amount of information contained in the text, but I was disappointed by the visuals in the book: besides using an over-all drab color scheme, it missed many opportunities to offer pictorial support for the text (e.g. right next to the paragraph that says she was born “near the Salmon River in Idaho” is a map that labels neither the Salmon River nor Idaho; when telling the story of load their buffalo-hide tepee onto a travois to go to the hunting grounds where she was kidnapped while picking berries with her mother, the photo on the page is of berries — a concept most students will be well-familiar with, instead of a travois). It’s adequate, but I think there’s better available.

This beautiful, vibrant book is the last we’ll have from this talented author-illustrator who passed away last year.  Monkey wants to cross the river to reach a tree of ripe mangoes, and Crocodile wants to eat Monkey’s heart.  No matter how Crocodile tries to trick Monkey, Monkey always outsmarts him, coming to the conclusion in the end that though Crocodile’s teeth may be sharp, his mind is dull.  A worthy addition to a library’s folktale section, to place along side McDermott’s other work.

This is a 25th anniversary re-illustrated update of Tedd Arnold’s first picture book by the same title, telling the tale of young Walter, who lives in a tall apartment building and learns the hard way that perhaps he should have listened to his father when he was told, “No jumping on the bed.”  Instead, Walter jumps so vigorously that he proceeds to crash through the floor of his bedroom, into the apartment below, continuing to fall clear through to the basement, collecting startled neighbors to fall with him through each floor along the way.  If you don’t already have this classic, it’s fun, and a worthy selection for the library, but to be quite frank I preferred the original illustrations, so if you’ve already got the older one, you don’t need this one, too.

Gruntly is a hog in every meaning of the word.  His friends are sick of his greedy grabs for everything around, but he learns his lesson at the town treasure hunt — Gruntly is so greedily determined to get to all the treasure first and keep it all for himself that he never stays long enough to hear or read the end of the clues, but jumps to conclusions and heads off at full speed in the wrong direction.  When he does finally catch up to his friends, he is moved by the recognition they all left his portion for him, that he ended up sharing in the end.  Is it believable that one would change their ways so easily? No.  But it’s not aiming for believability, but for making a point, which it does admirably.  Students will be drawn to the familiar illustrations from other books by this pair, and they will delight in using the rhyming clues to make predictions about what mistakes Gruntly makes.  A worthy choice.

What a beautiful book!  The illustrations strike one first, rich in color and evocative of the time and place and mood of the story.  The story is equally beautiful – that of a boy ostracized since birth, as the illegitimate child of a mixed-race, mixed-class relationship.  Though left without a standing in the society in which he lives, Martin continuously responds in kindness and compassion to all those around him, including those who ostracized him, becoming known as a great healer sought by all.

Given how popular fairies always are, as well as ABC books, I’m surprised this hasn’t been done before.  It had a good variety of words for the alphabet, selecting from a wide range of fairy lore, each accompanied by a rhyming quartet, just enough to give a touch of explanation, and perhaps encourage enthusiasts to seek further information. The illustrations are charmingly drawn, including a human boy and girl and three fairies that continue throughout the book, along with page-specific illustrations that are supportive of the text.  My one criticism of the book, keeping it from earning an R* rating, is that there’s something jarring about the color-scheme used in the illustrations – too many clashing colors are visually off-putting.

What a fun book!  The text is the lyrics from the classic Halloween song by the same title.  The illustrations are fabulous — hitting just the right note between creepy and silly.  Songs are known to be great tools for emergent readers, with repetitive words and rhythm to help them predict, and this one is just so fun, I think it will be a holiday favorite even with older kids.  Highly recommended.

I debated about whether to give this book an “additional purchase,” or a “not recommended.”  Since I really wished I could recommend it, I decided “additional purchase” was the compromise rating.  Each two-page shares a twist on a classic poem (“based on the poem…by…), in which a mathematical puzzler (or two) has been tucked.  It’s clever and fun, and the answers are provided, along with one way to show the work.  My reason for not recommending may seem overly persnickety to some, but mathematics is discipline all about precision, and there are several spots in the book where it lacks precision, either in the answer or the way it states the question.  It states that 1/9=0.11111 instead of 0.111… or using the repeating mark over the 1.  In one poem it describes the size of a garden as “eight by two” without labeling the measurements (feet, meters, yards…?), and yet the answer to the perimeter and area are stated in feet/square feet.  One poem asks readers to figure the number of teeth a shark has — after telling us how many were in the first row, and that there are four additional rows of teeth, it asks, “if each of those had half as many. How many teeth would equal plenty?” (okay, I just noticed lack of precision in punctuation as well, as that should have been a comma instead of a period at the end of that dependent clause) — Is that each row having half as many as the first row or half as many as the preceding row?  Another states that someone is being eaten “by a hippo-po-tah-tum at 4 percent per bite.”  Figuring out how many bites it would take is straightforward enough if one assumes the size of the bites stays constant, based on the percentage of the original size of the person, but significantly more complicated (not to mention gruesomely, unendingly torturous for the poor victim) if each bite is 4% of what’s left after the last bite.  As I said, I recognize that my criticisms of the book are highly nitpicky, and if they don’t bother you, you might still want the book, but math really is a subject all about precision, and though clever and fun, precision is missing several times.

Mountain lions are known under many names, most common are cougar and puma.  This big cat lives in a large range from western North America to most of South America.  Readers learn about hunting techniques and characteristics which distinguish this cat from other large cats.  Details about mountain lions cover physical features, habitat, diet, and raising their young.  Although not endangered, these wild cats still face risks.  Living in proximity to people cause most deaths.  Disease is rare.  Colorful, detailed photographs taken in the mountain lion’s natural habitat are well balanced with well-written, descriptive text.  Words to know are in color and bold font.  The definition is at the bottom of the page as well as in the glossary.  Many fact boxes offer interesting asides.  Recommended books for further reading and the facthound internet site are similar in reading level and information provided.  Index included.  Great choice for reports.