One Chapter

Tell Me About Space by Lisa Varchol Perron

5 stars Children’s Nonfiction Picture Book

SO much information! This is definitely a book for school age children and not one for toddlers unless your toddler is well-advanced for their age. This book briefly explains gravity, earth’s rotation, the solar system, the moons, and the galaxies.

As a boy talks with his mother and asks her questions about space, the book expands on his questions and answers them in a direct manner. I like the one-one dialogue they have and how the book gives a brief, direct answer without giving a too complex and overwhelming answer. The text is easy to read, and I like the different fonts that were used in the book.

The illustrations are soft, and I liked the different color schemes that they used within the book.

It really is an educational book without being too wordy and overwhelming for a child. It’s a book that will answer their questions about space and could lead them to seek more information, if they so desire. It’s a book that could be read repeatedly and one with great illustrations and pictures that children can understand. 5 stars

“Tell me why I’m standing still if Earth is spinning around.”

“Everything is moving – you and me, the air, the ground!”

“Although we feel like we are staying in one place, we are always spinning along with Earth – about a thousand miles an hour! We don’t perceive the movement because it is constant.”

Pretty Ugly by David Sedaris

4.5 stars Children’s Picture Books

Wow, that was some story! Anna is an ogre and lives with her family. She does things that typical orges do: stomp on flowers, make the house dusty, and talks with her mouth full. Her family loves her so much! Like all children, Anna likes to make faces and try on masks, but her family doesn’t like it. They’re afraid her pretty ogre face might be replaced by something Anna creates and they warn her to be careful.

The day came when it happened, she made the most “scariest face of all…..and it stuck!” Unfortunately, no one could help her, and she was forced to wear that face forever. Anna hated her new face, but her family accepted her because they knew who Anna really was and that her “real beauty is on the inside.”

People made fun of her now and Anna decided she needed a break so she locked herself up in the woodshed for a while to think.

You’ll never guess what came to her while she was thinking and what she did. What an ending!!

An interesting read and one that will have you thinking. The illustrations are simple, as is the colors they used on them. I liked the message the book has but for some children, you might need to explain the message. It’s a book where you’ll need to read it a couple times – you really will. 4.5 stars

Spidey and His Amazing Friends: Construction Destruction by Steve Behling

4.5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Spiderman is summoned by Hulk and Ms. Marvel and Spiderman knows this means big trouble. Rushing to his Web-crawler, Spiderman knows he must help his friends immediately.

Arriving on the scene, Spiderman doesn’t see any emergency. On the construction site, the construction worker, Hulk, and Ms. Marvel have Spiderman look up to see the sneaky, dangerous villain. It’s not the Green Goblin or Rhino…. no, it’s something much smaller but creating a big problem.

The construction worker wants to continue with his job, so the superheroes need to get to work and get this problem under control. As the 3 superheroes try to contain the culprit, the duo realizes what a problem this little guy is. He’s fast, he’s small and he knows the area well. As the duo dodge, run, and use their superpowers, the little villain is doing its best to dodge out of their way. Who can stop it and what does it want?

A fun read featuring some of the superhero friends. Great colorful illustrations and lively text that has some of the text in bold colors, I thought the book moved rather quickly. I liked the message at the end and what the little villain wanted and how the superheroes helped him. One of my grandsons’ favorite books right now. 4.5

Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends by Kaz Windness

5 stars Children’s Graphic Novel

We’re alike yet we’re different. This is a fun book as these two best friends discover how much they have in common and how much their differences really matter. Told in text boxes, this story is about a caterpillar and a worm. Worm thinks they are alike, but caterpillar tells worm they’re not completely alike. As worm tells caterpillar things that he thinks they’re similar on, caterpillar corrects worm. No caterpillar does not eat dirt and he doesn’t crawl on his belly.

I think it’s funny that worm hasn’t noticed this before but perhaps it really didn’t matter. They can still be best friends even though they have some differences. Caterpillar points out some similarities that they have which is sweet.

When caterpillar starts eating and he continues to eat and eat, worm notices that his friend is acting rather strangely. Ha!

It’s really cute as caterpillar starts to really change. Worm stays by his friend day and night as he undergoes some strange transition, right before his eyes. I love how worm cares for his friend and his love for his friend really shines.

Fantastic book. I liked how it talks about friendship and how you don’t have to be exactly like another person to be best friends. You can have similarities and differences and still be friends. I like how the caterpillar changes in the book and how he’s accepted by worm. The illustrations are colorful, fun, and do a great job telling the story. I liked how this book starts off by explaining to the reader how to read this book. Written like a graphic novel, this book tells the reader about each of the text boxes or panels and to read the page, left to right. They explain text bubbles and how to follow them to understand who exactly is talking in the story. They also explain about the little text words that are written outside the text bubbles and what they mean. 5 stars

Whose Prints? by Kari Allen

5 stars Children’s Board Book

This is a great board book that has cut-outs of animal tracks that help children identify which track belongs to which animal. Follow along with a father and his child as they take a walk in the woods and notice the footprints in the newly fallen snow. There are about 4-6 tracks on each page which are cut-out on the page for the reader to identify. One page per animal and the reader is also given a short question about the animal before the reader turns the page to see the answer and an illustration of the animal. This is a super book for children and adults alike as it covers 7 different animals (including humans).

I like the beautiful peaceful illustrations. The text is simple and fun to read. This is a book that can be read repeatedly as the child examines the footprints and makes their guesses. They can apply this knowledge to their own world as they explore the great outdoors too. A gem of a book! 5 stars.

“Quick! Who scurried, then skittered around, over, and up?” There is a set of 5 small tracks on the page whose prints vary in length between them. Turning the page, you’ll see three squirrels up in the tree and the following answer printed on the page. (Answer: “Scurry, skitter. Up, up, up. A Squirrel!”)

Swim, Jim by Kaz Windness

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Poor Jim, he’s a crocodile and he can’t swim. When he goes with his family to go swimming, Jim looks worried. As his sisters Sim and Kim jump in the swamp with their parents, Jim stands on the edge of the water and watches. His siblings tease him as they swim around the dark swamp that night as Jim tells them that he’s afraid of sinking. Meanwhile, his parents tell him that perhaps later he’ll be ready to swim.

Jim decides that a smaller swamp might be better for him so the next day, he sets off to discover one. After searching for a long while, Jim discovers one! The one that he discovers has floaties and noodles in it!

This will be perfect for Jim, as they will help him not sink. Jim is loving his little discovery and he’s getting the confidence that he needs to learn how to swim. It’s going to be a perfect little swamp for Jim until the owners of it come back.

It’s a cute book with large illustrations that jump off the page. I like how Jim handles the situation on his own and how he overcomes his fear. The book has lots of different text fonts for the words which are fun to read. Jim is a cute character too. 5 star read.

Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman

2 stars Children’s Picture Book

What did I just read? Llama eats a cake that he just found and that ends up destroying the world. I’m sorry but this book makes no sense to me except it shows me that Llama didn’t pay attention to anything during the week except for his usual routine.

Friday, the world ended because of a black hole and as everything was sucked through the black hole, life on the other side continued as before. Really? The book then continues as Llama eats a pie and unfortunately, I have a feeling the whole thing would continue again …..if the book had more pages.

So, Llama makes lots of mistakes in this book and he just keeps on making mistakes and is that ok?

He just does his own thing because he can. He knows there’s danger, but he doesn’t really care, he is more worried about himself and what he needs.

I guess some people might think this is funny but I’m not one of them. Sorry. The illustrations are cute and nicely done but otherwise, I don’t care for this book. Not reading this one to my grandkids. 1-2 stars

Invent-a-Pet by Vicky Fang

4.5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Is it extraordinary? Katie wants a pet that is unique: something extraordinary. When they can’t find something at a pet store, her mother brings her a pet-making machine so Katie can make her own pet. The only problem is, Katie has to figure out how the machine works. There are three (3) input slots but what do they mean?

Katie tries all kinds of combinations to figure out what they mean as she creates all different kinds of pets.

Finally, Katie begins to understand what each of the different input slots mean and she can then put in the right item to get the correct pet that she wants.

What Katie ends up getting will put a smile on your face after you see everything that she has created.

Our grandson liked this book, he kept reaching for it when we’d read together. He’s 4 years old and I had to explain some of the book to him as I think some of the concepts were difficult for him to understand at first. Katie does the trial-and-error concept as she tries to figure out the different input slots so that part of the book gets a bit confusing as she tests each slot. After a few readings, he understood it and would point to the different input slots on the pages as I was reading it as each animal would come out a bit different. When an incident occurs at Katie’s house, we had to investigate that on our own as the book doesn’t mention what happened and I liked that as we flipped through the book to see what had changed on the pages to cause the incident to occur. It’s a cute book and the illustrations are busy, but they do tell the story. My grandson loved the book 5 stars from him and 4 stars from me – 4.5 stars

Little Halloween by Denise Brennan-Nelson

5 stars Children’s Board Book

Cute rhyming book with riddles that are easy for young children to guess.

I really loved this little board book as it had many of the Halloween ideas inside it.

From scarecrows, to moon to black cat to costumes, little ones can guess these answers to the simple riddles that one the previous page.

“All shades of orange,

both big and small.

Hey ripen to

be picked in fall.

(answer: Pumpkin)

It’s the right size too for little ones and sturdy too. All in all a great Halloween book – one that I would highly recommend! 5 stars

Are We There Yet by Dan Santat

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Interesting and unique picture book. I wasn’t prepared for the journey this book took me on. It’s grandma’s birthday and they’re going to her birthday party which is in another city. For the child, the car ride there takes forever and no matter how many toys or activities he brings with him for the car ride it is NEVER enough. As he sits in the back seat, his mind takes over and soon, he is off into another world.

A world where they’re being overtaken by pirates, racing a speeding train, fighting a knight, in Egypt, and even in the Jurassic Era where they’re faced with dinosaurs!

The boy wants the ride to be over with so he can be at his grandmother’s house yet, he starts to enjoy some of the experiences he’s having in the backseat.

When he arrives at his grandmother’s house, he’s glad to be out of the car and embraces his grandmother and after some attention from the other adults at the party, he’s ready to go home – ha!

I liked how some of the pages of the book are flipped and how some of the text boxes are turned so you must turn the book to follow the script on the page. It’s a fun and entertaining book to read. The illustrations are beautiful and full of detail – make sure you stop and look at them. I loved looking at the facial expressions of the individuals on the pages. 5 stars