Reviewer: Carol Steen, Columbia Valley Gardens Elementary
Norman, Kim TITLE: I Know a Wee Piggy RATING: R
PUBLISHER: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2012 PRICE: $16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3735-8 INTEREST LEVEL: K-3rd
ILLUSTRATOR: Cole, Henry PAGES: 32
Similar to the Pete the Cat book, this one follows a little pig wallowing in various colors while attending the local fair. His color is constantly changing as he races around. Fun rhymes carry the tale from page to page with much excitement and flair. The illustrations are engaging, beginning with the cover. Fun and bright colors, along with a comically cute pig bring this story to life!
Such a fun book to read about what can go wrong for Archie. Andrew runs into situations everyday where he is the center of misunderstandings and the "person at wrong place at wrong time." His mother sent him to get milk and he stumbles upon a dog who needs help, but the owner believes
Archie killed him and then stole the dog. Lucky for Archie his new friend Cyd saw the whole event and explains it to the owner. Yet, Archie does not come home with the milk as instructed. More adventures happen in the book. Archie is a character many can kids can relate to as they stumble through their daily adventures.
Yeah, I love this book and this new non-fiction series called Math Every Day! As a teacher and now a librarian I have needed something on my shelf for preschoolers on math that is simple and yet can expand their understanding. I love the mix of photo and cartoon in the illustrations. The rhyming is a help for a read aloud to the whole class. This is a great addition to the preschool library.
REVIEWER: Tyra K. Smith, Head Start/EHS/ECEAP
Nunn, Daniel TITLE: Yellow RATING: A PUBLISHER: Capstone ã 2012 PRICE: $18.99
This is a rhyming non-fiction book that shows the color yellow in our world. The photos are vibrant and are coupled with digital backgrounds or add-ons. The size of the book makes for a great read aloud for young children at a circle time. The simplicity of the photos is eye catching and really help the readers interact with the text.
REVIEWER: Tyra K. Smith, Head Start/EHS/ECEAP
Nyeu, Tao TITLE: Squid and Octopus Friends for Always RATING:
PUBLISHER: Dial PRICE: $16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3565-1 INTEREST LEVEL: K-3
ILLUSTRATOR: Nyeu, Tao PAGES: Unpaged
Squid and Octopus are quite a pair. Swimming in the ocean, they knit, sculpt, photograph, and collect all kinds of items tossed into the sea. Watch as Squid and Octopus solve a problem with socks and mittens, have a fight, find a boot, and more. Four episodes are included within the book. Author-illustrator, Tao Nyeu infuses indie influences within the story, tying this book to its times. Her illustrations complement the sweet simplicity of the themes of friendship. Look for subtleties within the drawings themselves. Younger children will enjoy reading about the adventures these two creatures have under the sea.
REVIEWER: Katy Olson
Ollhoff, Jim TITLE: Police RATING: R
PUBLISHER: ABDO @ 2013 PRICE:
ISBN: 9781617835155 INTEREST LEVEL: 3rd-6th
ILLUSTRATOR: PAGES: 32
This Emergency Workers series from ABDO Daughters publishers includes EMT, Firefighter, Hazmat, Search & Rescue and Swat. I am reviewing the Police book from the series. Scanning the Table of contents I see there are eight sections that could inform about a policeman’s obligations, training, equipment and police cars. There is even an interview with a police officer. As I begin to read I realize the text is generous and the photographs are top-notch. A student could easily write an interesting report using this book; not only because of the information but because of the valuable glossary and index in the back.
Reviewer: Carol Steen, Columbia Valley Gardens Elementary
Yours Truly, Lucy B. Parker book 4. In this installment, Lucy has recently been elected seventh grade class president and is forced to promote the Sadie Hawkins dance even though she doesn’t want to go. She also finds herself wrapped up in school drama while anonymously trying out to be the “pen” for the school paper’s advice column. On top of everything else, her mom and her live in, soon to be step-father, are planning a weekend get a way. In the end, Lucy comes through it all with flying colors. Middle school girls will thoroughly enjoy this read.
Sequel to Siren’s Storm. Will and Gretchen believe they’ve left the summer memories of the destruction of the sirens behind them. At least that’s what they keep telling themselves. Will knows he needs to tell Gretchen that she’s the one who created the fire on the water, but can’t bring himself to do it as it will require him to acknowledge that she’s not all human. Gretchen is aware that something’s different and feels that something is evil lurking around. When Asia, a siren they thought was killed in the fire, reappears Will and Gretchen seek answers. They learn that Gretchen is really Tisiphone reborn, a Fury who is destined to restore order. Circe, a powerful witch from the dark side, is trying to possess Gretchen and take her power. Circe and Gretchen end up in a fierce battle and Gretchen is victorious, leaving the door open form another installment. Will appeal to upper middle school and high school girls.
Ganesha loves his sweets! When he was a child, before his important days as a Hindu god, he and his pal, Mr. Mouse, would roam from temple to temple in search of laddoo, a traditional Indian dessert. One day Ganesha found the ultimate laddoo jawbreaker. Mr. Mouse warns him he may break his tusk, but Ganesha didn’t listen and ate it anyway. Ouch!! Crack went the tusk. Naturally Ganesha feels sad until he meets Vyasa, who encourages him to use his broken tusk to write out the Hindu story, Mahabharata. Mr. Patel’s artwork attractively decorates each page and is similar in style to Frank Viva’s in Along a Long Road, only brighter This book will appeal to those interested in adding Indian and Hindu children’s picture books to their collection. The end of the book includes a brief Author’s Note on the Hindu legend and myth. Please note the author’s use of creative license in telling the story. In attempting to appeal to children, (the candy and mouse) some of the accurate details of the original tale were swept under the rug. The illustrations and references to Hindu legend are the most appealing aspects of this book.
REVIEWER: Katy Olson
Paulson, Gary TITLE: Paintings From the Cave: Three Novellas RATING: R
ISBN: 978-0-385-74684-7 INTEREST LEVEL: YA 6th grade up
ILLUSTRATOR: NA PAGES: 161
This book is not elementary appropriate. The content of Paintings From the Cave is based in the inner city with the main characters being 12 and
13 years old who are all homeless or from abandoned or abusive homes. Paulson draws from his own early life which was very difficult. The topics
are of very mature nature: substance abuse, alcoholism, rape, sexual abuse, homelessness, teen pregnancy. Though the book is very well written, I
would hesitate to recommend it to any child in elementary or even middle school. Be aware: The book contains the word “sh - -” which is appropriate
to the context and only used once. The Man with the Iron Head: Told in first person, Jake lives in a very run down complex across the alley from an
expensive complex. When hiding from those who want to do him harm if he won’t do the work of a drug runner, he sees a sculptor through a fence
dividing Jake's building from the new complex and ends up working with and for him and therefore sees some normalcy. Jo-Jo the Dog Faced Girl:
Jo-Jo lives with her "biologicals" who are drunks who are abusive to her so she tries to be invisible when at home. Her family is the three stray dogs
that found Jo-Jo and never leave her side. On one of the trips to the woods, to let the dogs off the leash, she meets Rose who we later learn has cancer.
Jo-Jo is reluctant to befriend her but eventually does and a unique friendship is established. Erik's Ruls: Ten year old Jamie and his fifteen year old
brother, Erik, are living with their grandfather after running away from the men living with their mother who beat them. When grandfather is put into
a nursing home Erik takes over and has "rules" to keep them from being turned over to CPS. In the midst of trying to stay under the radar Jamie meets
Greg while at a dog park drawing pictures of the dogs. Recognizing Jaime's talent, Greg "hires" Jamie to draw pictures for the shelter's web site. This
leads to Greg finding a place for the boys to live, Jamie adopting a dog from the shelter who has seizures, and Jamie entering his drawings in a local contest.
REVIEWER: Karen James, Barnes Elementary School, Kelso, WA
Peirce, Lincoln TITLE: Big Nate goes for broke RATING: R PUBLISHER: Harper , 2012 PRICE: $12.99
Big Nate is again scheming to win a contest for Timber Scouts to sell the most wall hangings and earn the grand prize, a skateboard.
He needs to win because his is late getting out of detention and on his way to a scout meeting he crashes into a lady walking a dog
and his skateboard flies into the water below a bridge. This all starts because he is chosen to help Artur, the golden boy in school,
by holding the ladder while he paints on the play scenery. Nate believes it is all Artur's fault. As Nate arrives late and misses the
scout meeting, he learns of a new member. You guessed it, Artur. Nate plots to earn money to buy wall hangings but is faced with
more disasters. Yet, in the end it comes down to a toss of the coin and Nate is the winner. AHHHHHH!
Love Big Nate stories. The language us fun and easy to read and boys like to read Big Nate.
REVIEWER: Debbie Johnson, Wallace Elementary, Kelso, WA
Penn, M.W. TITLE: Comparing Numbers! RATING: A
PUBLISHER: Capstone Press, 2012 PRICE: $15.99
ISBN: 978-1-4296-7561-1 INTEREST LEVEL: 1st-2nd
ILLUSTRATOR: PAGES:
This book uses rhyming text and visual clues to teach the concepts of greater than, less than and equal. Pictures of real-life items help to get the message across. This could be a good little book to use as a teaching tool.
Reviewer: Nikki Williams, Castle Rock Elementary
Peschke, Marci TITLE: Kylie Jean, Spelling Queen RATING: R
Kylie Jean wants to be a beauty queen! When Kylie discovers that she has a knack for spelling, she turns her focus on becoming a spelling queen. Kylie practices everywhere she goes! She practices at the grocery store, in the garden, and with her family and friends. A fun read for all young girls who dream of beauty queens and princesses and love the color pink. Kylie is an example of a girl who has both beauty and brains and who makes her friends a priority. Written from Kylie’s perspective, girls can relate to the language and personality that emerges throughout the book.
In this full color graphic novel Chester has led a hard life in the wild west. He ends up agreeing to burn down the town of Whale in order to make room for the railroad. He arrives to find Whale seemingly abandoned. The three remaining townspeople claim a plague has killed most of the people and that the rest have run off. Chester wants to move them out so that he can burn the town. But the girl, Caroline, won’t leave without her miner father and he refuses to go. After kidnapping Caroline’s father, Chester learns that Caroline’s father started the hoax of the plague by poisoning some animals and disemboweling them. Unfortunately, the miner had killed some Sioux Indians and now they are seeking revenge by burning the town themselves. Chester ends up killing the miner in front of the Sioux to end their revenge. The illustrations are quite good and are done with muted colors that match the storyline. However, there are small gaps in the storyline that make parts difficult to follow (p. 23-24 Who is the girl? Why does he hate her? Does he get bit by the dead guy on p. 32? How doesn’t Chester know that he gives Potter a dried up human ear?) The amount of strong foul language is unnecessary as it does not enhance the story. It is too bad that it is included as it will make this difficult to put on school shelves.
REVIEWER: Debby Iverson, Coweeman Middle School
Pinkwater, Daniel TITLE: Bear in Love RATING: R
PUBLISHER: Candlewick @ 2012 PRICE: 15.99
ISBN: 9780763645694 INTEREST LEVEL: Kdg-3rd
ILLUSTRATOR: Will Hillenbrand PAGES: UNP
“Bear in Love” is an over the top excellent book. On a “particular morning” bear finds a crunchy, pointy, leafy thing on a flat rock outside his cave. Bear sings continuously throughout the story to the delight of the primary audience. He gets so many gifts that Bear finally decides to leave honey on the flat rock and wait for his mysterious friend. Unfortunately, Bear falls asleep waiting. Will Hillenbrand’s illustrations engage and captivate as always. Mr. Pinkwater should be delighted that he created a story that children will love to hear over and over again.
