animals – One Chapter

The Underwearwolf by Gideon Sterer

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

This book is hilarious! I read this one to my 6-year-old grandson and we laughed and laughed. A birthday gift from his Uncle Larry turns into an awesome present he wears them.

His uncle knew that he liked underwear, but the weird yellow wool pair was STRANGE! He didn’t think the moon looked full as he looked out his window, but we sure did (the full yellow moon took up most of the page in the book). He read the warning label that came with the underwear and he slipped them on. Instantly, his body began to change. Shivering, tingling, his body was changing into the underwearwolf. Growling and a grunting, he flew out the window and was now on the loose. Tearing up the neighborhood! He knew he should take off the underwear but then he would be BUTT NAKED and he didn’t want that to happen.

He doesn’t stop. He takes to the streets, swinging from roofs and lampposts. He’s having the time of his life. He knows he really should take off the underwear, but he doesn’t. The night is getting crazy and then, he hears them. They are calling him. Who? Yep! He runs into the dark woods where he meets them, and the ending of this book will have you smiling.

As an adult I thought this book was funny. The boy puts on the underwear, and he turns into The Underwearwolf. Covered in fur, complete with big ears, long arms and legs, he transforms and runs through the night under a full moon. He runs, jumps, climbs and acts crazy while wearing the underwear. He knows that he should take off the underwear but, if he does that, he will be butt naked and he probably will turn into a regular boy again. So, he doesn’t and he continues on into the night. It’s only when the night starts to turn into the next day does the boy realize that his fun is about to come to an end and he has to do something about the underwear. The illustrations are cute in this book, and I liked how the boy acts like a “maniac” and a “menace” but he doesn’t do anything harmful. My grandson thought the book was funny and he liked how the boy changed. A fun book to read. 5 stars.

Scaredy Squirrel Gets a Surprise by Melanie Watt

4 Stars Children’s Picture Book

Always the extreme with this guy! He’s a hoot!! Scaredy reads his horoscope and finds out that he’s supposed to get a surprise. What! He doesn’t like surprises so …. Of course, he gets all dressed like he is going on a safari hunt, and he sets out to look for this “surprise.” Scaredy finds a crate under his tree and Scaredy thinks of all the horrible things it can be. A shocking robot, an octopus that will ink him, a dinosaur egg that will hatch (and who knows what will happen then), and of course there are other scenarios that has Scaredy all nervous. Scaredy tries his best to get rid of the crate with the help of Ivy. I loved how Scaredy wanted to move, and then, he wanted to move the crate to Antarctica. Ha! Good thing Scaredy has some logical friends.

When the gang finally get the crate open, it proves not to be so scary. But they do have more problems to solve. Always more problems, ha. Things do calm down for a while…..just for a while and the gang does have some fun. And the story, it somehow ends in Antarctica 😊

I have to be in the mood for Scaredy as he jumps all over the place for me. I do like how his imagination works as he dreams up lots of ideas for things, but I don’t like his negativity. There seems to be too much of it. I did like this book more than some of the other books I have read about Scaredy. 4 stars

The Thing on the Wing Can Sing: A Short Vowel Sounds Book With Consonant Digraphs by Brian P. Cleary

5 stars Nonfiction

This is part of a series of books which can help an individual learn to read. This book is devoted to short vowel sounds with constant digraphs. Letter combinations that create a new sound. Combinations like CK, NG, KN are used in this book. The author uses three rhyming words on each two-page spread in this book; to create a sentence and it’s then illustrated on these pages for the reader. The author takes those words and illustrates them first. Then, there is a sentence and an illustration based on that sentence.

On the first two pages the words are Chin, Shin, and Thin. The sentence is: “His chin and his shin are thin. “The rhyming words are highlighted in bold print in the sentence, and the illustration is colorful and it shows a man pedaling a bicycling. There is also a mouse on each 2-page spread throughout the book and the mouse asks the reader a question about the words that were used on these pages. This book seems simple yet it’s a great concept for new readers to grasp. Repetitive, rhyming, simple, and a great way to get emerging readers exposure to these concepts

What I liked: * easy to understand * easy to follow * large print * illustrations are colorful and go with words on the page. * rhyming * words used are illustrated (for clarification) * difficulty of this book gets harder as you progress through it * great as a refresher for vocabulary words

What I didn’t care for: * the book progress (which is good) but at the back of the book, there are added rhyming words added to the sentences which are not illustrated and part of the 3 rhyming illustrated words for that 2-page spread. Which could be confusing or hard for some readers.

Overall, I liked this book, and I think I am going to check more of these out for my grandson this summer as he is going into 1st grade and I think it would be a good series to keep him reading. 5 stars

You Poop Here by Paul Meisel

4 stars Children’s Board Book

This is a very basic board book which addresses where different creatures poop.

The creatures range from ants, beetles, grasshoppers, bears, bats, bees, seals, seagulls, jaguars, sloths, etc. So, you see….it’s a wide range of creatures. The concept is simple but important for little ones. Where do these creatures’ poop at? In the air? In a rainforest? In a desert? In the water? From a tree? So many different places! At the end of this book, the author asks the reader, “Where do you poop?”

And it gives the answer with great illustrations with a variety of children sitting down on the potty. 4 stars

What I liked:

the easy-to-read text * great color scheme * the easy-to-read text * text has repeated words * characters have great facial features *variety of children *variety of animals and situations * subject matter

What I didn’t care for:

the children on the potty were playing with toys

Judgy Bunny and the Terrible Beach by Scott Rothman

4.5 Stars Children’s Picture Book

I liked this book a lot! With colorful illustrations and a great message – this book gets huge marks from me. Judgy Bunny is a negative bunny at the beginning of the book. The reason? He is not part of the group, or he just likes to see the negative in every situation. It’s “too hot!” or “I can do that better!” or “that is terrible.” Some of the situations involve other bunnies and some do not. The book changes gears when Judgy Bunny is invited to join the other bunny’s party. Judgy Bunny gets all snooty at first and is resistant to join, it’s like he wants them to beg him to come.

When the other bunny grabs his hand and pulls him to the party, Judgy Bunny is shocked! Does he have a good time? No, he’s still miserable until something happens at the party which Judgy Bunny feels is his fault. The other party guests are shocked but…….the party continues on.

I liked Judgy Bunny emotions in this book. I liked how the other bunnies accepted him into their party and how their party continued on after Judgy Bunny joined them. I liked how they didn’t try to “cheer him up” but just accepted him as he was.

The expressions in this book were good and helped tell the story. I think this story would be a great read a loud for children. 4.5 stars for me.

Duck Duck Taco Truck by Laura Lavoie

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Duck and Duck want to make some money to buy themselves a boat for the water. They set themselves up on the beach trying to sell tacos and they’re ready to make some money. They’ve worked hard and now they’re ready. But wait, who is that in that other food truck? It’s Goose and he’s selling food too! No way!! Duck and Duck are mad but they try harder to make their food/business look better. When its time to sell…..the line outside Goose’s truck is long! Duck and Duck have no one in their line. Goose is going crazy with all the orders, he can’t keep up and his customers are not happy.

Duck and Duck feel defeated and start to walk away but Goose realizes that he needs help. Goose suggests that maybe they can work together! They then come up with a plan to combine their foods and sell taco items. Taco pizza, taco burgers, taco hot dogs, etc. What a plan!! They start whipping out orders and everyone is happy! The ending is cute. Bright colorful illustrations. Fun rhyming text. 5 stars.

Oh Dear, Look What I Got! by Michael Rosen

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

A great read along or would make a great book for a classroom. It begins with a small boy going to the shop to get a carrot. The shop owner does not give the boy a carrot, but he brings him a bundle wrapped and tied in brown paper with a tail sticking out of the end. Have your little one guess something that rhymes with carrot….yes, a parrot! The look on the boy’s face is shock, and the poor bird looks sad as the boy says “Oh dear, look what I got! Do I want that? No, I do NOT!” The boy then travels to another shop with the parrot flying behind him. This time the boy asks for a hat. Guess what?

The shop owner comes out with a brown bundle tied with string and sticking out at the end is a black tail with white on the end. Do you think that is the hat the boy wants?

I loved how this book continues on in this fashion. The boy asks each different shop owner for something different as each shop owner giving the boy something besides what the boy wanted yet the item they give him rhymes with what he originally wanted. The rhyming and the repetitive phrasing are fun and will have your child helping you read this book.

As the book concludes, it’s a cute ending and everyone is happy. I also enjoyed the colorful illustrations that did not take away from the story. The facial expressions are wonderful and the animals are cute. This is a must read for little ones. 5++ stars

Whose Feather is That? by Stan Tekiela

5 stars Nonfiction Children’s

A fun, educational book for kids and adults too. I saw this book in the children’s new section at the library, and I thought my grandkids might like to try their hand at guessing since we have a lot of birds in our backyard. We have read this book many times switching up the way that we read it, making this book work, a multiple different ways.

It’s a book that is read horizontally which works very well for this nonfiction book. The first two-page spread of a particular bird gives a couple sentences that describe the bird and the corresponding page shows the feather of that bird and a Hint. Turning the page, the next two pages show a realistic picture of the bird and some interesting facts about the bird. The birds featured are a hummingbird, a house sparrow, a bluebird, a cardinal, a downy woodpecker, an American Crow, s Canada Goose, a northern flicker, a wild turkey, and a great horned owl. At the back of the book, there are more interesting animal facts about each of these birds.

“This bird lives in small groups, often close to people’s homes. It’s small, brown feathers might be in your yard.” “Whose feather is that?” “Hint: This bird likes to build its nest atop the side of a house.” With bold text fonts against colorful backgrounds, the information is presented and a brown feather is presented. Turn the page after you have guessed.

What I enjoyed about this book was the ease of the text, simplicity of the flow, and how fun it was to learn. Stan makes this book educational and fun. The littlest of learners can follow along with the oldest as they learn characteristics of the birds.

I was very impressed with this book and after reading About the Author and looking up information about Stan Tekiela, I can understand why this book is so fantastic. Stan has written more than 190 field guides, nature books, children’s book, etc. about the different species in the United States. Stan has also received many awards for his photography and books. After reading this book many times, I am interested in reading the other books that Sam has written, for both children and adults. 5 stars

The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker

5 stars Middle School

A fabulous read! The last half of this book, I could not put down! I was up into the early morning hours as I had to know what happened, yet I didn’t want my journey with Lucas and Alice to end. Could I have predicted that Lucas would meet up with Alice? No. What transpired between them was not romance but something deeper and far more reaching than either of them could have predicted.

Lucas was a delivery boy. It got him out of the abbey where he lived. It wasn’t quite freedom, but he was free from the eyes of everyone around him. The Germans did monitor the world outside the abbey, but Lucas was getting used to their checkpoints and the restrictions that they placed on the residents. Lucas knew what they expected and he knew how to make his deliveries within the town. Lucas had a soft heart which got noticed around his peers and thence he got the name Petit Éclair. At first, his peers thought this name was funny and Lucas fought hard to get rid himself of this title, but it is, what it is and now, there were only two bullies who would taunt Lucas by calling him Petit Éclair.

The story takes off when Petit Éclair (a.k.a. Lucas) rescues a sackful of kittens from the hands of the bullies who still taunt Lucas. They had thrown the kittens into the canal. Desperate to find shelter for these kittens and get back to his deliveries, Lucas places them in a deserted barn located at the end of a trail, for now.

How Lucas was going to care for these kittens was beyond me, but he might have the means since he has access to different delivery customers. Returning to tend to the kittens, Lucas discovers a horse in the barn. The horse Bia belongs to Alice who is attempting to also hide it, only she is hiding it from Hitler’s men for fear of what they would do it. Alice is determined to get her horse to America where it can be free. I loved Alice’s energy and her confidence as she began to inspire Lucas. She shows him what it is like to be resourceful in difficult situations. Lucas and Alice’s were so different yet here they were, striving for the same dream, which pushed them closer together.

When Alice opens Lucas’ eyes to the truth behind Bois Larris, he immediately changes. His maturity leaps. Lucas knew that it held many secrets but as Alice peels back the layers, Lucas sees the truth right before his eyes. I believe this is what powers Lucas, this is the nudge Lucas needed. There was no stopping Petit Éclair now. He has the means to take control, to change things, and with Alice by his side, Lucas will make a difference.

This was another great novel by Sara Pennypacker. Definitely one that I highly recommend. Thank you to Fierce Reads, Goodreads and Sara Pennypacker for sending me this copy of The Lions’ Run. I won this book in Goodreads Giveaway. 5 stars.

Santa Shark by Mike Lowrey

5 stars Holiday Children’s Picture Book

Know your fish humor when DIVING into this book as it’s full of little slips of humor about fish. Are you EELING it? Yes, that is exactly what you’ll get.

My little ones like to fish so they were all aboard on this one. I did have to stop and repeat a few of the sentences so they could CATCH on to the humor, but they liked this book.

The excitement in this book comes spilling out of the pages so this is not a book you want to read before bed.

With the in-your-face illustrations, the bright colors and the variety of text fonts, this is one book that jumps out at you page-after-page-after-page.