Laura W. Carter – Author, Anna Doherty – Illustrator
With fun and clear illustrations, this book will be interesting for our primary readers. Each page starts with the words, “I want to be” and gives very short, general information on each career discussing where or what each job focuses on. Many professions in the book are not the average ones that you would see such as: neurologist or screenwriter which makes it more interesting for younger readers to learn more about fields they may not be aware of yet.
Teachers at kindergarten/first grade levels would enjoy this book as many could use it as an introduction to career research projects. There are some great career research questions on the final page as well that could be helpful. I would recommend this book for libraries who may need more A to Z books or books about professions as an extra purchase.
Andrew Bleiman – Author, Chris Eastland – Illustrator
This non-fiction picture book will be popular with all who truly adore animals. It is very accessible for many as there are few words on each page. The photography on each page is stunning with the image of a baby animal first, then the adult on the turned page. From lion to echidna, red panda to clouded leopard readers will smile as the learn more about diverse animals who are being saved in our zoos.
I would recommend this title for elementary libraries where animal books are popular. While this book has an introduction from a veterinarian at the Nashville Zoo and short details, descriptions and conservation status information in the back, it is more for enjoyment and general knowledge building and not for extensive research.
Marion Dane Bauer – Author, John Wallace – Illustrator
This non-fiction book in the Ready to Read Series (Level One) is well written for primary level students with a love of outer space or in the process of learning about our galaxy. It is clear with few words on each page. While the images are not photographic they are clear and helpful in explaining our place in the Milky Way as well as in comparing size of the Milky Way with other things like our country, planet and solar system within it. There are also explanations of other things in the galaxy such as: asteroids, black holes, comets and nebulae.
I would recommend this book for any library in which you have requests for books about outer space from classroom teachers and for libraries that can use more current books about this topic. Like many other Ready to Read books, this one is easy for students to pick up and understand and will allow for kids to stretch their reading comprehension. It also contains a Glossary at the beginning as well as some interesting facts at the end of the book.
Can this be the start of a campaign to bring Scaredy Squirrel popularity back? I absolutely LOVE Scaredy Squirrel and I know the books never really went anywhere but I have felt the popularity diminish in the last decade. This compilation is full of five classic Scaredy Squirrel stories by Melanie Watt.
Scaredy Squirrel is the perfect new book friend who will cautiously guide you through situations like making a new friend, going to the beach, surviving night, and a birthday party, complete with checklists! This is a beautiful edition from Kids Can Press and I especially loved the details like the note that its a “germ-free book” on the back, the inclusion of how to draw Scaredy Squirrel.
As well as being a Scaredy Squirrel fan I am a big fan of end papers in books. One thing you usually lose in a compilation are the end papers, which are so iconic in Scaredy Squirrel books. Thankfully, they are used in this collection to separate the five stories so you still get a look at the graphics that hint so much at the story coming.
Bring Scaredy Squirrel back to the spotlight and put this book in your collection!
Dragon vs. Unicorn: Friends or Frenemies? written by PJ Hoover draws readers in from the get go. I can envision many kids I would put this in the hands of – great for a reluctant reader, great for dragon and unicorn kids, and great for kids who love choose your own adventure style books. Lisa Wiley did an excellent job on the illustrations to this book and they add so much life to the characters. The panels are easy to follow to kids who may be new to graphic novel style books.
Dragon and Unicorn are best friends, but very different. This book teaches us that we can be friends despite our differences but we’ll probably need tools for empathy, listening, and problem solving along the way. This is where I love the illustrations – the characters emotions! Their eyebrows, nose crinkles, and gestures add so much to the feelings that best friends go through. As the reader follows these two along their adventures, the reader gets to make decisions that will side with one friend or the other and then see how that works out for them. When you get to the end of your story, you’re invited to go back to the first decision making page turn and try the alternate route. I love this! If you were reading it as a social story with a student, the invitation to go back and see how the other choice would have affected the friends is perfect for conversations. I also hope it adds incentive for the solo reader to go back and try again. There are three short stories in this book.
If you have students who love cute unicorns, who love tidy dragons, who love friendship stories where its not always perfect, then this book would be a good fit for your space.
The publisher has this book tagged under cooperation, empathy, honesty, and teamwork – this book has plenty of examples for each of those social skills.
Celebrating the Chinook Tribes by Anne Accardi is part of a Mitchell Lane series highlighting Indigenous American Cultures. This series is geared towards elementary with a reading level of grade 3 and 4 (sited on the Mitchell Lane website), with full color pictures. This book is 32 pages long.
This book includes not only a table of contents, but also headings, bolded words, glossary, index, further reading, and websites to explore on the internet.
I was really impressed with this book and how it presented the people of Chinook tribe (whose lands are close to where I currently teach) and the history in our area. I appreciated that the text also mentioned that people with Chinook ancestry can live all across the nation, not just where their people lived since time immemorial. In this book you’ll find each chapter focuses on a part of the Chinook tribes traditions including present and past tribal lands, celebrations, and language.
Although this book does a good job of bridging the time before colonisers entered their land, to famous people enrolled in the Chinook tribes, I did notice that there was no language stating the tribe had been residing in the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial (a phrase that is used in our indigenous education throughout the PNW). I would have also preferred the term colonizers to settlers that the book highlights on page 8. I think the definition in the glossary would also match the word colonizer better than settler.
The author, Anne Accardi, has a biography in the back and it does not say she is affiliated with any tribe herself. Although I think the book is well done, as a librarian, I would prefer to by books about indigenous tribes by people who are members or affiliated with the tribe. I understand this is not always possible, yet.
This series also includes a cut out in the beginning (before the Table of Contents) that gives a parent or caregiver tips for reading non-fiction with their reader, and for encouraging them to read more nonfiction. This is always helpful as many guardians would like help knowing what to ask, what text features are called in non-fiction and how to encourage their young readers.
I found this book well done, even though I think there are improvements that could be made. If you need to update your books highlighting indigenous cultures, I would definitely take a look at this series. There are six books in the series so far. Each book is available in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook.
If you need to update your books on indigenous tribes, I recommend looking to see if this book would fit into your library collection.
This series encourages readers to express their style through crafting. Whether they are creating their style through accessories, room decor or nails, this series has step by step instructions on crafting and creating their style. Each book focuses on a different style element and includes eight crafts with instructions. The crafts use common items around the house and encourages the reader to reuse things when crafting. Material and tips are included with the step by step instructions as well as factual information pertaining to the craft. A glossary, index, and resources to learn more are included at the back of the book.
Books reviewed in this series: Fashion, Accessories, Nail Art, Room Decor, Jewelry, and Hairstyles.
A guessing game about poo? Each book in the series features a different biome and has pictures of scat and has the reader guess the animal the scat belongs to. Turn the page to find out the answer and facts about that animal and what it eats. The photographs give you an up close look at the poo. There are several facts on each page inside different text boxes and captions. Vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to the reader is in bold and is included in the glossary at the back of the book. This is a humorous, fun look at animal scat. The warnings to not touch poop is an appreciated addition. Geared towards 1st – 3rd graders, this is sure to fly off the shelves.
The titles reviewed in this series: Poo Down Under, Poo In the Desert, Poo At the Zoo, and Poo in the City.
As a fully functioning, banking adult, I must admit I learned something from this book! It was fascinating to see some of the banking options that are available now that, admittedly, I do not use. Checks, I get. ATMs, no problem. On-line, digital payments, yes. I’ve even learned to Venmo. I’d never heard of neobanks, and cryptocurrency is the one I have not quite figured out. I found it interesting to read about all the pros and cons of various banking methods. And while cybersecurity often makes me nervous, this book had some good suggestions for ways to keep yourself and your money safer with strong passwords or even payment tokenization. Even two-factor authentication, which I sometimes get irritated with having to use, does make it harder for thieves to steal what is on line. For young readers in my library today, so much of what seems futuristic will feel like it’s just what is natural to do. Understanding how we got to the digital age may put some of their options in perspective. The book was well-organized in 5 clear chapters and included a table of contents, glossary, index and additional resources.
Having enough sports books to satisfy my middle school readers can be a challenge! This book on the Washington Mystics is sure to pull in basketball players and fans. I love that it is on one of the women’s teams in basketball. The book is well organized with clear, readable text with only 1-2 paragraphs per page. The four chapters highlight their championship winning season, the team’s history, their winning coaches and some of the famous players. The book includes a table of contents, a glossary, an index, fun trivia facts, and resources to dig further into the topic. I also liked that the more challenging vocabulary was highlighted & those words corresponded to the words in the glossary. Photos are included throughout the book, with identifying captions. Also included are “Fun Facts” scattered throughout the pages adding extra information to the main text.
