Castle of Books explores all the answers to the question “Why do we need books?”. Spare text and flowing, colorful illustrations give reasons from the realistic “to observe” to the more esoteric “to grow” and “to lose ourselves”. Everything about this book encourages the reader to think to himself “Why do I need books?” and proceed to the many answers he will have!
Dim-witted Donkey has so much difficulty with homonyms! And, there are plenty in this book, which is a follow-up to I Yam a Donkey! by Cece Bell.
Donkey comes up to two characters and greets them as fellow donkeys. Yam corrects him and introduces new friend, Ewe, to Donkey, who replies “That is ME? I yam so cute and fluffy!” And, the comical repartee ensues. Yam tries to be helpful. But, he tends to make things more difficult by showing Donkey signs and examples of Doe/Dough, Moose/Mousse and Hare/Hair. The story ends with Ewe professing her love for Ram over Yam (“Eye Dew”) and a tearful Yam being consoled by his buddy, Donkey. Oh, My!
Bright illustrations organized in blocky comic book style accompany text in word bubbles. Young readers may not understand all the comical missteps on their own. But, this is a great introduction to homonyms and can be useful as a teaching tool as well.
This is a sweet, fresh, bilingual version of the classic Three Billy Goats Gruff. In this story, three brother goats put their heads together to come up with a plan to get past the grumpy troll, where just over the bridge is the most delicious grass. One by one, they pass by the troll, extolling the superior flavor of the next goat in line. The last goat, though, wonders why the troll is so grumpy. That is when he notices the troll’s sore toe with a thorn in it. He mobilizes his brother goats and he pulls out the thorn while they prepare a poultice of herbs to soothe the offending toe. The troll is so happy that she allows them free access the the bridge and declares them all amigos.
Susan Middleton Elya (author) and Miguel Ordonez (illustrator) have taken the story to new heights with a mix of Spanish and English and a dose of cuteness in the three billy goats, with their big eyes and adorable horns. The troll is a big, blue and cartoon-like. So, she’s not really scary, even though she wants to eat the goats. The colors are bright and the story flows rather lyrically.
This is a good read-aloud, with the Spanish words in a glossary in the front, containing pronunciation and meaning. The value of teamwork, empathy and friendship will be a great discussion point with the book. Highly recommended.
Letter B is a bus driver that takes us on a ride through Letter Town, where two page spreads are dedicated to all things related to a particular letter of the alphabet. The letters themselves are actively engaged – one G is golfing while another is grocery shopping. The illustrations are bright, lively and full of activity. The bus meanders through town, picking up and dropping off letters as it goes. The story ends with Letter B putting the bus away at the end of a long day. And, Deputy D is helping Robber R return all the items he stole.
The end papers are filled with the letters’ words that the reader must find for each one. Young students will enjoy reading and seeking in this wonderfully colorful Letter Town.
When a young girl’s parents decide to simplify and downsize from their “ginormous” house with its (very) many pets, she worries that her pet-owning days are over. She learns about some wonderful new “pets” in her science class, organisms such as nematodes, paramecia and, her favorite, tardigrade (water bear). She makes a case for this new pet and her parents agree. The little girl is thrilled, because she can take her new pet anywhere – even to a new, smaller home!
This book introduces many discussion-worthy ideas that can lead in many different directions – research, narrative writing, art and science, to name a few. What does pet ownership entail? How many pets are too many? What are the many microscopic organisms around us? Can we collect and observe some of those organisms?
Text is spare and the illustrations are lively and colorful. The final page has a photo of the tardigrade and an author’s note with more information. Wow! This book is a great addition to your collection, simply due to its versatility and usefulness as a teaching tool. Plus, the kids will love the little critters inside. Highly recommended.
The concept of enough, too much and not enough are thoughtfully and simply conveyed in this picture book. One is a lot when talking about the sun, but not enough when talking about feeding ducks with one breadcrumb.
This story begins with a girl and her dog and a boy and his dog. Individually, the children play in the park with their pets and we see how the same number can be a lot, not enough or too much. Two is most often too much, especially when the two dogs’ leashes become tangled. But, one hello is a lot and brings the two friends and their pets together. The final page is a lovely scene with the now grown boy and girl, their daughter and a dog that looks like a mix of their two pets from the book’s beginning.
The illustrations are colorful and appealing. The text is minimal and the characters are diverse. The story will generate a good discussion about numbers and perspective.
Max, a young boy, and Marla, a barn owl, are best friends. One day, Max decides to build a kite and he draws his face on it, so that he and Marla can “fly together”. Marla is not interested and he soon discovers that she is afraid to fly. They go to bed that night, each dreaming different dreams – Max dreams of Marla flying next to his kite and Marla dreams of Max and she quietly sitting together on the couch.
The next morning, they see leaves everywhere after the night’s storm. They go outside to rake the leaves and find his kite, which Marla finds when a gust of wind lifts it into the air with her on it! With Max’s shouts of encouragement, Marla takes flight and realizes that she is a natural. They triumphantly head to bed that night, both dreaming of Marla flying next to Max’s kite. And, they wake up to do just that!
This very sweet story of friendship, fears and gentle encouragement is accompanied by beautiful pen and ink illustrations that flow beautifully with the story. Buy this book (and the others in the set) and share it with all your students.
Catherine the Great accomplished many things during her tenure in 1700’s Russia. She had a girls’ school built, wrote a book, built museums, fought battles and invented the first roller coaster. Yes, that’s true! She was a fan of ice slides, huge wooden structures coated with ice in the cold Russian winters, which had been around since the 1400’s. Unfortunately, the fun on ice slides ended each spring with the thaw. Catherine wanted to keep the fun rolling, so she sketched a design and her royal subjects got to work. She climbed forty feet to the top and rode the rails in a jewel-adorned roller coaster car. Then, she did it again and again!
This nonfiction book is a packed with information, including a timeline, author’s note, acknowledgements and bibliography. The ‘story’ of Catherine and her invention is written in simple language with accompanying illustrations add a colorful and sweet feel to the text. The book is geared toward the younger reader, but is packed with good information that will lead to further research. Very accessible nonfiction piece for those that need it.
Christmas is the best holiday ever for Bear, Beaver and Moose. They spend their first Christmas Eve together decorating, baking and preparing for the big day. Suddenly, they realize that they have forgotten to get a tree! They hasten into the woods to remedy the situation and find the perfect pine tree. Unfortunately, Bear just now realizes that the plan is to chop the tree down and he just can’t let that happen. So, he tosses his friends around a bit and ties them to the tree. He’s worried that his love of trees might ruin Christmas for his friends, but comes up with a fantastic compromise. He rushes home, grabs their holiday food, gifts and decorations and returns to his friends and the beautiful tree. Together, they set up a wonderful Christmas right there, decorating the live tree and enjoying it together.
Spare digital illustrations complement a simple story of misunderstanding and compromise among friends. Hopefully, readers won’t wonder why the bear didn’t realize earlier that the tree was supposed to be cut down. Instead, they will celebrate a caring and inventive group of friends that have a wonderful Christmas together…with a tree.
So, this caterpillar is hanging out with his buddies and notices that they are all heading up a tree. When he asks what they are doing, he is absurdly surprised to hear about something called metamorphosis. Apparently, he is the only caterpillar that doesn’t know about this crazy stuff and he hurries to catch up to his friends. He does okay with the chrysalis-making. But, waiting to metamorphose is soooooo boring and takes sooooo long! He’s positive that he is done and emerges to discover that he is only half way there (ewww – not only does he look funny, he can’t fly at all!). So, he tries again and this time manages to stay in his chrysalis the required two weeks’ time. It is somewhat tortuous (as depicted in a hilarious two page spread), but he finally emerges as a fully developed butterfly vowing to be more patient. But, what is this? His friends are migrating? He joins the journey and says “Are we there yet?”.
Computer generated illustrations lend a comic touch to the story as we watch a young caterpillar dealing with the dreadfully slow process of metamorphosis. This engaging book with its quirky character will delight every budding entomologist as well as those that can sympathize with a small caterpillar’s impatience. Highly recommended!
