Reviews
Kirkus Review - Dirty Birdies
Five birds of different shapes and sizes count off and clean up. The first dirty birdie, with long, ostrichlike legs and yellow-spotted blue feathers, dirties itself in a mud puddle and then meets another birdie, a green, ducklike bird that’s splotched with paint. The number of… View →
School Library Journal - Seed Man
Seed Man, a Santa–type character but without the portly build, plants toy-producing trees with the help of vibrant, cherubic fairies. These fairies deliver the gifts to sleeping recipients of all ages. Seed Man, however, fades into the background as the story turns to focus on an elderly View →
Kirkus Review - With Love, Grandma
A hedgehog grandmother takes a monthlong vacation with friends while continually staying in touch with her beloved grandchild through a volume of correspondence. Taking a break from the usual routine of “Camp Grandma,” this active grandparent embarks on an adventurous… View →
Booklist - Nature's Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story
Although Gwen Frostic (1906–2001) grew up with physical disabilities, her mother encouraged the girl to become active, strong, and independent. Her artistic talent and her love of nature led her to a career creating decorative brass and copperware until her materials were needed for the… View →
Booklist - Junk: A Spectacular Tale of Trash
Each day, Sylvia Samantha White heads out with her wagon to find discarded stuff. Whether tires, old wood, a partial pack of gum, or empty paint cans, she lugs everything home. And when anyone asks why, from her father to the grumpy mayor, she replies, “I’m working on something.” But… View →
Booklist - Bully
Bully the bullfrog lives in a lovely lily pond, which he is unwilling to share with anyone else. To that end, he orders a series of insects off the pond: a snail who wants to taste the lilies; a dragonfly who wants to smell them; and a bee who wants to tickle them. Blissfully alone,… View →
Publishers Weekly - Kindergarrrten Bus
Excerpt: With its over-the-top cartooning and abundance of crowd-pleasing “arrr” sounds, this clever comedy may be powerful enough to defuse the worry of an entire classroom of reluctant school-goers. View →
Kirkus Review - Kindergarrrten Bus
A pirate bus driver tells his new kindergarten charges to buck up and not be afraid, but then something happens that shows him to be a fraidy… On their first day of kindergarrrten, a rather unconventional bus driver greets six diverse kids whose fear (both of the new experien View →
Kirkus Review - Bully
A self-centered and egotistical bullfrog refuses to share the beauty of the pond ecosystem, ultimately leaving him in a muddy mess. View →
Publishers Weekly - Bully
Bully is a bullfrog, but in Sattler’s (Pig Kahuna) watercolor-and-pencil drawings, he resembles a slightly less ugly version of Jabba the Hutt. Huge, squat, sickly green, and scowling, he chases away all the small, appropriately bug-eyed critters, all of whom should be able to enjoy the… View →
Booklist - Write On, Irving Berlin!
Irving Berlin gets the full picture-book treatment in this appealing introduction to the songwriter. Berlin’s story begins as the five-year-old arrives in the United States in 1893 along with his family, fleeing the Russian pogroms. Left fatherless at 13, he makes money by singing and… View →
School Library Journal - Write on Irving Berlin
Gr 2-4–A feel-good biographical look at a great songwriter. Israel Baline arrived on Ellis Island as a small boy fleeing the violence of Russian pogroms. But in the freedom of New York’s Lower East Side, he blossomed into Irving Berlin. From his first song (sold for 37 cents) to iconic… View →
Publisher's Weekly - Write On, Irving Berlin!
Kimmelman portrays the life of Irving Berlin, born Israel Isidore Baline to a Jewish family in Russia in 1888—“a bad time and place to be Jewish,” the author writes. The story begins as the family arrives at New York’s Ellis Island. Gardner’s spreads alternate between bright and crisp… View →
School Library Connection - My Red Velvet Cape
Mateo is having a superhero themed birthday party. Grandma calls to wish him well and tell him she has made “a red velvet…” but before she can finish, Mateo becomes excited, certain that Grandma is bringing him a red velvet cape. He has many plans for how to use the cape, like walking… View →
Book List - Making Slime
With this entry in the Makers as Innovators Junior series, children will be able to create their own slime lab with readily available materials, many of which are found around the home. An introductory chapter is followed by a list of the necessary materials and a basic slime recipe and… View →
Kirkus Review - Write on Irving Berlin
A Jewish immigrant’s passage from pogroms in Russia to “God Bless America”—written 100 years ago to celebrate his beloved adopted home. Irving Berlin, born in 1888, was just a child when his family and so many others fled terror directed at Jews in czarist Russia for… View →
Booklist - Hardscrabble
Belle is a young eastern Colorado pioneer enthralled by her new home. Her older sister Carrie is not quite as happy—she loved their old home in green, heavily-settled Iowa. The life of dry earth farmers in the early 1900s was exceedingly tough, and the family of nine struggles. When… View →
Booklist - The Princess and the Cafe on the Moat
Stories about princesses abound, but one such as this, which understands a child’s need to be helpful, is fresh, and will appeal to children and their parents alike. Markarian creates a princess heroine whose interests extend beyond ceremony and fancy clothes. While looking for something View →
School Library Journal - Making Choices Series
K-Gr 3–Focusing on the power of choices, each title offers readers a scenario and a “My Choice!” text box at the bottom of the page that lists two different decisions to make—one positive and one negative. (Will you choose healthy food or sugary food to eat?). The text centers on the… View →
Booklist - A Horse Named Jack
Jack, a bored horse living on a farm, has learned how to open the gate to his stall. Looking for entertainment, he sets himself free, kicking off a counting adventure. From 1 soft click of the lock, nature and farm elements such as 3 roosters, 5 kittens, 7 spiders, and 9 apples shape… View →