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If You're Spooky And You Know It, Annie Huish
If You're Spooky And You Know It, Annie Huish
Children's Book and Media Review
If you’re happy and you know it, then you better get ready for frightful feelings of spooky, sneaky, wicked, naughty, hairy, and creepy! This book invites all to participate with cute, friendly Halloween characters as they clap their hands, nod their heads, stomp their feet, honk their nose, and many other fun and exciting ways to move your body. In the end, all of the frightful Halloween characters get together to dance around!
Room On The Broom, Annie Huish
Room On The Broom, Annie Huish
Children's Book and Media Review
The witch tapped her broomstick and whoosh! The witch and her cat were gone. This captivating book follows a witch and her cat as they fly through the wind. Along the way, the witch loses articles including her hat, bow, and wand. As each article is lost, the witch and her cat fly down to find what they are looking for, and on their way befriend a dog, a bird, and a frog. Everyone seems happy, but when the frog jumps on the broomstick, it snaps in two and the animals all fall into a bog! As the witch gains …
Build, Dogs, Build: A Tall Tail, Lori Cunningham
Build, Dogs, Build: A Tall Tail, Lori Cunningham
Children's Book and Media Review
It's time to start your day with Duke and his crew of construction worker dogs. They are ready to knock down an old building with their wrecking ball, using a bulldozer and dump truck to clean up the mess. But Duke has to check the plans before giving the go. Digging tunnels and laying concrete is only half the fun. The skilled dogs are taking great care to do their job, and hurry to finish all the wiring and fixture before the day is done.
Elephants Make Fine Friends, Aylea Stephens
Elephants Make Fine Friends, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Ella’s best friend is an elephant. They do everything together until Ella realizes that sometimes her friend being an elephant made things difficult. Suddenly she isn’t so sure that elephants make fine friends after all. Her elephant has all kinds of problems, like eating too much and blocking the view behind them at the movies. Ella tells the elephant that they are just too different to be best friends and sends the elephant away. Soon Ella realizes that she misses her elephant, but when her elephant has made friends with other elephants, it takes some convincing for the elephants to …
Elmer And The Flood, Aylea Stephens
Elmer And The Flood, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
It has been raining for days and Elmer, the patchwork elephant, is tired of being stuck inside a cave with the rest of his herd. Many animals suggest to him that he should come inside their caves because of the rain, but Elmer still wants to go for a walk. The jungle is partly flooded, but the crocodiles are excited to swim in new places and the ducks are enjoying the weather. Elmer learns that Young Elephant is missing, so he goes to rescue Young, who is stuck on an island. Elmer gets all of the other elephants to help …
Bear In Love, Aylea Stephens
Bear In Love, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Bear usually wakes up every morning and goes to find food, but one day someone has already left him something to eat! As the days go by, more carrots are added to the pile and Bear starts to leave presents of his own. He keeps leaving presents of his own and hoping to stay awake to meet his mysterious friend, but he keeps falling asleep. Finally, he meets the bunny that has been leaving him the presents and they become friends.
Officer Panda: Fingerprint Detective, Aylea Stephens
Officer Panda: Fingerprint Detective, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
When Officer Panda begins his shift, he notices that there is something unusual going on with the haystacks. He keeps seeing strange prints, so he asks witnesses if they’ve seen anything unusual. He goes through the forest and makes some notes, then comes home to see more prints there too. In the end, he discovers that the mysterious fingerprints belong to the reader of the book.
Robot Rumpus, Aylea Stephens
Robot Rumpus, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Because Mum and Dad are busy, they decide to buy robots to put their daughter to bed. At first, things work out. One of the robots makes spaghetti and another cleans up after dinner is over. However, when the Wash-bot tries to give her a bath and sees her alligator bath toy, the robot becomes convinced that the girl is in danger and starts a chain reaction of the robots getting confused and causing all kinds of problems. In the end, the girl has to put herself to bed and wait for her parents to come home to deal with …
The Orchestra Pit, Aylea Stephens
The Orchestra Pit, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
A snake is lost. This snake is very sure that it’s in the wrong pit, because instead of a snake pit, it’s found its way into the orchestra pit. The snake explores the orchestra pit for a while, discovering that trumpets are loud, tubs are roomy, and trombones are long. The snake is unaware of what is spooking the orchestra members and keeps looking at the different kinds of instruments. Soon the orchestra begins playing and the snake leaves the wrong pit and finally makes it into the right one.
Everything Goes: In The Air, Kristie Hinckley
Everything Goes: In The Air, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
This book starts out as comic book, following a little boy and his parents as they head to the airport. Sporadic speech bubbles of busy travelers provide most of the book’s text. Readers learn about the history of planes, the Wright brothers, and old planes called biplanes. Hot air balloons are also found in the air and are featured in this book. There are lots of different planes with different purposes that children will learn about in Everything Goes: In the Air.This book ends like a comic strip as the little boy and his family enjoy the simple luxuries of …
Would I Trade My Parents?, Kristie Hinckley
Would I Trade My Parents?, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
Did you ever wish that your friend’s parents were yours? Peek into the mind of a young boy who has had that thought. Katie’s mom drives a cool convertible. Ben’s dad takes their family camping. Sydney’s mom is really good at doing hair. William’s parents are divorced, but his dad takes him to baseball games and his mom owns a pet shop. Even though his friends' parents sound cool, this young boy would miss his own great and loving parents.
Penny & Jelly: The School Show, Aylea Stephens
Penny & Jelly: The School Show, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
All of Penny’s classmates are participating in the Peabody Elementary School Talent Show, but Penny isn’t sure what she can do to participate. She can’t sing. She can’t dance. She makes a list of possible other talents, but they get crossed off her list one by one. She doesn’t give up, though. She decides that she is going to be a doggy fashion designer with the help of her dog, Jelly. When that doesn’t succeed either, she tries ballroom dancing, magic tricks, and many other things that don’t work. When she is about to give up and skip school so …
The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, Kristie Hinckley
The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
The twin towers in New York City are famous for being the World Trade Center as well as other devastating events. But did you know that there was a man named Philippe Petit who wanted to walk across a tight rope between those two buildings in the 1970s? This book is about how he snuck into the World Trade Center and traversed the gap 1,350 feet up in the air. This book is enthralling, but ends on a bittersweet note as the towers are no longer there.
Splat And The Cool School Trip, Aylea Stephens
Splat And The Cool School Trip, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Splat is thrilled to be able to go to the zoo with his class on a field trip to see the penguins. He thinks penguins are some of the best animals, and can’t wait to see them himself. Seymour can’t come because mice scare the elephants, but Seymour does his best to get to the zoo himself anyway when Splat leaves him to go to school. Finally, after waiting for a long time and having to go see lots of other animals first, Splat is on his way to see the penguins when Seymour crashes out of the air on …
Ace Dragon Ltd, Aylea Stephens
Ace Dragon Ltd, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
While John is walking down the street one day, he hears a noise and discovers the Ace Dragon LTD. After learning what LTD means, the voice he hears tells him that it can make fire come out of its mouth, fly, and spin straw into gold, but before any of that can happen, John has to fight it. He meets up with the dragon and they fight. John wins, so John and Ace Dragon LTD. go flying and skywriting together. They get stuck on a golden moon, but luckily Ace is able to spin gold into straw so that they …
The Adventures Of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Kristie Hinckley
The Adventures Of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
Where do unimaginary friends wait while their waiting to be imagined? Dan Santat invites children into a whole new world as they discover the life behind an imaginary friend. Beekle is an unimaginary friend who waits around for a friend to imagine him, but when that doesn’t happen he does the unimaginable and goes to find her! He meets a dragon, a whale, and some people from the real world along the way. Among many important messages, this book sends the reader the following message: don’t wait around for something good to happen, make good things happen yourself! There are …
The Loch Mess Monster, Aylea Stephens
The Loch Mess Monster, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
In Scotland, there is a legend of a monster that lives at the bottom of a lake, but it turns out that the legend is false: there are actually three monsters. Angus, the little monster, has always been taught the Five Basic Monster Rules, but even though he is well-behaved, he makes huge messes and doesn’t pay attention to rule number two: always pick up after yourself. Until he does, his parents tell him that he needs to stay in his room so he can keep his mess in there. His pile of stuff on the bed keeps growing and …
The Wonderful Things You Will Be, Kristie Hinckley
The Wonderful Things You Will Be, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
Parents can see such potential in their little ones. The Wonderful Things You Will Be is perfect for a read-aloud for your children to express your love. This book reminds us that no child is the same. They each look different and have their own potential and challenges. This book is a more realistic version of Dr. Seuss’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
Odd Duck, Aylea Stephens
Odd Duck, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Theodora is a normal duck. She does her morning laps with a cup of tea on her head to maintain her posture, eats her duck food with mango salsa, reads books that haven’t been checked out from the library in years, and didn’t travel south for the winter with the other ducks, but there was nothing strange about all of that. Her new neighbor, Chad, however, is an odd duck. He is just not the kind of duck that she wants to spend time with. She looks forward to winter when he will fly south, but he doesn’t leave. During …
My Friend Rabbit, Kristie Hinckley
My Friend Rabbit, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
My Friend Rabbit is about mouse's friend Rabbit who means well, but always gets into trouble. Rabbit gets an airplane stuck in a tree and has a brilliant idea to stack up zoo animals, including an elephant, a rhino, a hippo, and a bear, to help them reach it. But the plane is still out of reach! After Rabbit’s last effort, the animals come tumbling down. The animals are not happy, but Rabbit means well. This book might leave you thinking about some of your friends that may be like Rabbit sometimes. In the end, good friends stick around through …
Art, Kristie Hinckley
Art, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
Art by Patrick McDonnell is a cute book based on the fact that Art can be a name and art can be a beautiful creation made by a child. Art experiments with making all kinds of lines and doodles with different mediums. When he tires and falls asleep, all of his doodles culminate in a beautiful, imaginative piece. This rhyming book ends with his mother appreciating Art and…his art! Children should experiment with creativity and be proud of their creations. The illustrations in Art are largely paintbrush strokes, consistent throughout the interior and exterior pages. The story begins with an …
How To Share With A Bear, Carlie Smith
How To Share With A Bear, Carlie Smith
Children's Book and Media Review
Thomas leaves his cozy cave made of blankets and pillows for just a few minutes only to find it occupied by a bear when he returns! He tries to distract the bear with blueberries, back-scratchers, toys, and honey oat cereal, but these tactics work only fleetingly--each time the bear returns! Finally nestled in with a flashlight and book, Thomas has to confront the bear who longs to join him. Thomas decides to share and allows the bear, who is really his little brother, into the cave. But the two of them are too big and cause a cave-in! Together they …
So You Want To Be President?, Kristie Hinckley
So You Want To Be President?, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
Have you ever considered being President of the United States? So You Want to Be President might just convince you to pursue that, or maybe completely change your mind! The United States has had many different presidents, some better than others. You’ll learn from this book that the job of a President isn’t all that easy. And you’ll even learn all the obscure facts that you never knew about U.S. presidents, starting from the first president George Washington. Watercolors, pen and ink, and pastels were used to create the illustrations in this book. Each character has a caricature-like look to …
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey, Aylea Stephens
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
John Coltrane lived in a world full of music. He heard it at church, and especially at home. When his father, grandfather, and grandmother all died within a short time, he wasn’t sure life could ever be okay again. His family had no money, but John turned to music to fill the hole where his Papa had been. He learned the alto saxophone, and it gave him voice. He listened to big bands and one day he listened to Charlie “Bird” Parker playing a new type of jazz, bebop, that John loved and began playing as he toured around. Still, …
Worm Loves Worm, Carlie Smith
Worm Loves Worm, Carlie Smith
Children's Book and Media Review
Worm loves worm, so they decide to get married. Simple, right? But their friend Cricket plans on marrying them, Beetle insists on being the best Beetle, and the Bees beg to be the bride’s attendants. Eventually dancing, rings, and cake are all included in the wedding celebration. The trouble comes when dressing up for the occasion. Who will wear the bride’s dress and who will wear the groom’s tux? They decide to each wear a little bit of each outfit, defying the concerns of Cricket who says it’s not “how things have always been done.” Worms agree to change things …
A Sick Day For Amos Mcgee, Kristie Hinckley
A Sick Day For Amos Mcgee, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
You might not expect to see an owl with glasses, a rhino with a scarf, a penguin with socks, or an elephant sitting on a chair, but that is exactly what Amos McGee sees when he heads to the Zoo. He takes care of them there. The animals expect him everyday until one day, he doesn’t show up. The animals eventually find Amos, who is stuck at home stick, and they do just as much for Amos as he does for them. Friends rely on each other, especially when things get hard (or there is a sick day for Amos …
The Secret Life Of Figgy Mustardo, Lisi Hong
The Secret Life Of Figgy Mustardo, Lisi Hong
Children's Book and Media Review
Figgy Mustardo is no ordinary dog. When his owners leave, he turns into a pizza-making, race-organizing rock star. The problem is these extraordinary activities leave him completely exhausted and unwilling to play fetch when his owners come home. Worried about Figgy, his owners buy a new puppy so Figgy won’t be alone at home. At first Figgy is apprehensive about this new puppy named Dot, but after putting on a wonderful show with Dot, they become fast friends. The Secret Life of Figgy Mustardo leaves an adult reader a bit disappointed, but most children will still enjoy the book despite …
How To Be Famous, Carlie Smith
How To Be Famous, Carlie Smith
Children's Book and Media Review
Pigeon is the most famous and most important animal at the zoo - or at least that’s what he would say! He is shown in different exhibits soaking in the limelight. In reality, people are there for the other, much more majestic creatures like elephants or crocodiles. Unfortunately, Pigeon’s cockiness and presence is quite the irritant to both people and animals. He is oblivious to their true feelings. Eventually his big-head leads him too close to a lion and he is gobbled up! This book cleverly makes the illustrations an integral part of the story. The lecture preached by Pigeon …
Extra Yarn, Kristie Hinckley
Extra Yarn, Kristie Hinckley
Children's Book and Media Review
One girl has the power to change an entire community. In Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, a girl finds a box filled with an endless skein of yarn and makes sweaters for everyone and everything she comes across, until the box is stolen. The evil archduke who had the box stolen is delighted to see that the little girl can’t spread goodness anymore. He says that she will never be happy again, but the box is returned to her and she is happy in the end. Readers will learn that no one can take away your happiness or your power …
Cheetah Can't Lose, Carlie Smith
Cheetah Can't Lose, Carlie Smith
Children's Book and Media Review
Two kittens challenge the normally dominant Cheetah to a race. To give themselves a chance at winning, they slyly design pre-race contests to slow Cheetah down. Cheetah enters the race with boxes on his feet, a belly full of ice cream, a knit sweater, and a bouquet of balloons tied to his hands, and a crown to cover his eyes. The kittens easily win, but Cheetah still thinks he is the victor. They kindly do not disagree and celebrate their friend even though he is overconfident. In this twist on the fable The Tortoise and The Hare, the small but …