Reviews
Kirkus Reviews - A Horse Named Jack
A friendly horse ventures beyond the farmyard. Jack, a big, dapple-gray draft horse, loves it when the neighborhood kids come visit him on the farm. One day the kids don’t show up, and Jack gets bored fast. “So Jack performs his favorite trick— / He lifts his latch with one… View →
Booklist - Mela and the Elephant
Mela is a bold and adventurous girl who thinks nothing of setting off to explore the riverbank on her own. When her brother asks if he can accompany her, she refuses because he has nothing to offer in… Thus, her journey along the river becomes a cautionary tale. Mela’s boat View →
School Library Journal - Hardscrabble
Hardscrabble Gr 4-6– In the early 1900s, the Martins move to Colorado, where Father plans to earn free land by farming government acreage for five years. Twelve-year-old Belle and her family endure a series of harrowing events: baby Sage survives an encounter with a… View →
Booklist - W is for Welcome
Organized as an abecedary, this book celebrates immigration by painting a picture of the variety of paths taken by people who have settled America over the centuries. Letters of the alphabet are matched with concepts such as freedom, liberty, and heroes, which are accompanied by brief… View →
Booklist - Pippa and Percival, Pancake and Poppy: Four Peppy Puppies
This tremendously fun read-aloud centers on four puppies who meet each other, one at a time. It beings with Poppy, a spaniel who digs under a fence until she finds a sheepdog, Pancake. They play until they happen up Percival, a dachshund. This merry group then comes across Pippa, a… View →
Kirkus Reviews – Good Night, Forest
Another riff on Goodnight Moon, this one is set in a forest. The opening rhyme sets the scene. “Good morning, forest. / Rise and shine! / Good morning, maple, / Oak and pine.” The text welcomes, in turn, an assemblage of forest flora, fauna, and landscape elements to a new… View →
Booklist - Hu Wan and the Sleeping Dragon
In 1572, Hu Wan works with his grandfather in their vegetable garden near the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. Their specialty is growing gourds, which are shaped into useful kitchen utensils such as bowls and large spoons to be sold at their village market. Each spring, as the gourds… View →
Publishers Weekly - Dirty Birdies
Part counting book, part tribute to messy good times, Sattler’s exuberant board book introduces five goofy-looking, none-too-clean birds. A long-legged, polka-dotted bird can’t resist a muddy puddle; it then heads indoors where a tiny green duck is going wild with purple paint (“1 dirty… View →
School Library Journal - Be a Good Dragon
PreS-Gr 2–When Enzo the dragon gets sick, nothing but trouble follows him. Unable to stave off his accidental attacks of fire-breathing sneezes, the neighborhood wizard tricks the dragon into getting some sleep and getting rid of his cold. Cyrus’s rhyming text is consistent in its rhythm View →
Booklist - An Extraordinary Ordinary Moth
A humble gray moth opens the story, comparing itself to more notable species. Not as large as the Atlas moth or as cool as the spider moth, it sees itself as ordinary. Meanwhile, a boy is delighted to discover the moth. His little sister reacts differently, calling it dusty and gray, but View →
School Library Journal - May I Come In?
PreS-Gr 1–Afraid to be home alone during a storm, Raccoon sets out to find a friend to stay with. Turns out that the homes of Possum, Quail, and Woodchuck are too small to share. Cold and dejected, Raccoon makes one last stop at Rabbit’s house where he is certain that the large rabbit… View →
Publishers Weekly - Mela and the Elephant
Phumiruk (Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines) takes readers to the country of her birth in an instructive contemporary fable about kindess, set in a village in Northern Thailand. A girl named Mela sets off to explore the nearby banks of the Ping River, refusing to bring along… View →
Kirkus Reviews - Hardscrabble
A close-knit family endures the rough life of farming in Colorado in the early 20th century. Hail, snow, locusts, sickness, death—the list of setbacks encountered by the Martin family as they try to earn their homestead by farming the dry ground of Colorado is a long one. But they can… View →
Booklist - My Family Four Floors Up
A little girl is ready to start her day in this lovely rhyming story that takes readers on her adventures. After a good breakfast, she and her father say goodbye to their cat and walk four floors down, making the journey to the park with their dog, and passing many different people along View →
School Library Journal - My Family Four Floors Up
A child, her father, cat, and dog wake up to an ordinary day in their fourth floor apartment. The family members head down the four flights onto a city sidewalk, over to the park, and back up the stairs and into their apartment for a familiar routine. The minimal but playful, singsong… View →
Kirkus Reviews - May I Come In?
Thunderstorms are for sharing." Rain poured. /Raccoon shivered. / Thunder roared./ Raccoon quivered." Raccoon is not altogether comfortable alone in his den as the storm outside rages. Nevertheless, he braves the wet night in order to find some company with whom he can share… View →
Publishers Weekly - My Family Four Floors Up
Stutson (Blue Corn Soup) and Krampien (A Book of Bridges) follow a father and daughter through the ups and downs of a day in their city home—quite literally, since they live on the fourth floor of an apartment building. It’s an ordinary day, rather than an especially eventful one: the… View →
School Library Journal - Modern Perspective Series
Gr 6-8–Eight historical topics are presented through fictitious accounts in this “alternative viewpoints”–type narrative aimed at stimulating critical thinking skills. From the very first page, readers are reminded that the same event can look very different based on personal opinions… View →
School Library Journal - Outdoor Explorers Series
K-Gr 2–Designed to encourage outdoor exploration, this series takes readers on a “nature hike.” Each title opens with a regional map of the United States along with a list of quick statistics (average winter, average summer, etc.). Readers are then introduced to the flora and fauna of… View →
School Library Journal - Stranger Than Fiction Series
Gr 4-6–Quirky topics and large color photos add to the appeal of this hi-lo set, which has disclaimers warning readers not to try any of the featured dangerous ideas at home. Throughout the volumes, the content is eclectic, with examples of the weird and strange from around the world,… View →