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I first posted this review in September of 2008, when my blog was barely a month old and I was racing to write reviews of all my favorite (and my children's) books. A new comment on these books reminded me how wonderful and rare they are and I decided to repost this review and hopefully introduce a whole new generation of emerging readers to these superb books! If you already know the DRAGON
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Odd Duck is the newest book from my favorite of favorites, Sara Varon. Varon has teamed up with YA author Cecil Castelucci for yet another slightly off center,
By: Tanya,
on 9/5/2012
Blog:
Children's Book Reviews and Then Some
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The Fog Mound trilogy by Susan Schade and Jon Buller, bills itself as part graphic novel part heroic fantasy, and an adventure like no other! And it is all true! I LOVE this book! A week of reading books with squirrels as main characters - realistic squirrels, cartoonish squirrels, villainous quasi-medieval squirrels - has lead me here to Travels of Thelonious (published in
Part One: In Which I Reminisce About What The Wind in the Willows Means to Me
(Scroll down for my review of Inga Moore's adaptation of this classic)
(Scroll to the very bottom for a peek at Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly, author of
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate!)
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908. I have wanted to review this book since I
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When Philippe Courdray's Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking was released in August of 2011, it was a big hit in my home, one of the first books my
BENJAMIN BEAR in Fuzzy Thinking
is NOW IN PAPERBACK!!!
TOON BOOKS hits another home run with their latest offering, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking by Philippe Coudray. This book had me and my son in stitches when read it together. If you can imagine a little bit of the zaniness of Elephant & Piggie rubbing off on the bear from I Want My Hat Back who has chosen to befriend rabbits, not
There aren't too many books with animals as characters written at a fourth grade reading level or higher, and of those, even fewer are set in a real world (where animals behave like animals and are not anthropomorphized) and not a fantasy one. Rabbit Hill, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIHM, Exiled: Memoirs of a Camel, A Dog's Life and The One and Only Ivan are the first that come to my mind when I
I know that I am a broken record when I start talking about the lack of creative, interesting stories being told in the chapter book format, but it really is a quantity versus quality situation when you scan the shelves. However, this has been a bountiful and exciting spring! First, the awesome Mega Mash-Ups, a DIY chapter book series from Nikalas Catlow and Tim Wesson debuted, then
The cover art and superb interior illustrations from Sam Nielson are what drew me to Neversink by Barry Wolverton. As a reader, books populated with societies of anthropomorphized animals are not my favorite. Of this type of book I thought, very wrongly, I see now, "Why not just tell the story with humans?" Wolverton, who has written for National Geographic and Discovery Networks and long
Despite intentions otherwise, the Reading Level 1.5 label at books4yourkids.com represent a wide range of books. My intention with this distinction is to recommend books that can serve as a bridge between the large format, leveled beginning to read books and the smaller chapter books like Magic Tree House, Junie B Jones, Ivy + Bean and the like, which are a solid second grade reading level,
Lulu and the Brontosaurus is by Judith Viorst of the Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day trilogy fame and Lane Smith of Grandpa Green, It's a Book and The Stinky Cheese Man fame. If you know anything about either of these giants of kid's books, then you know that Lulu and the Brontosaurus is a book worth reading. Everything about Lulu and the Brontosaurus, from the
Before there was Erin Hunter and the Warriors cat clans, before there was Brian Jacques and the rodents of Redwall Abbey, even before Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, there was the hill and those who inhabited it. Reading Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson again, I am moved by the sense of community and companionship that he creates amongst the various woodland animals as well as forging a
I have so many reasons to recommend The Six Crowns series by Gary Chalk and Allan Frewin Jones I'm not sure where to start. The Six Crowns is a highly readable, fantastically illustrated fantasy series that can easily take its place next to standards like Brian Jaques' Redwall series and Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart's Edge Chronicles. In fact, The Six Crowns is a perfect blending of these
I first reviewed A Dog's Life in 2008. While stories about animals are hard for me to read because they always involve some kind of injury or cruelty, I read A Dog's Life because I noticed so many kids looking for a good dog story to read. Squirrel's story still lingers in my memory four years after reading and A Dog's Life continues to be a bestselling book at the store where I work, and all
Author Bonny Becker and illustrator Katy MacDonald Denton introduced us to grumpy a Bear and a persistent Mouse in A Visitor for Bear, a picture book published in 2008 and winner of many awards, including the prestigious E.B. White Award given by the Association of Booksellers for Children. Bear and Mouse are back, proving that picture books can often make great reading primers as well. A
The one and only board book I bought for my son during his infancy was Leslie Patricelli's Blankie. By the time my third child arrived (seven years after my second and eleven years after my first) my husband and I decided to limit our purchases of baby related items in the interest of frugality and use. All baby clothing and gear that was not horribly stained would be leaving our house as
When I first saw The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties on the shelf one day at work, I pounced on it. When I opened the pages, I was transported back to my childhood - to Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor and the delicate, delicious illustrations that accompanied the engaging, sometimes silly stories. Toon Tellegen and Jessica Ahlberg are definitely heirs to the legacy of AA Milne
The Mercy Watson Series by Newbery Award Winner Kate Di Camillo with brilliantly crisp and colorful illustrations by Chris Van Dusen is a gem, a real treasure. I'll be honest, up to this point, I had only read one book by Kate DiCamillo, beloved to many adults and children, and had not enjoyed the experience. Because of this, and the fact that they were only published in hardcover, I avoided
This series of books was among the first that I reviewed when I started my blog in August of 2008. As much as I loved the books, I reviewed them a bit reluctantly because they weren't all in paperback at the time and it seemed as though they might go out of print, even though Cynthia Rylant (Henry and Mudge, Mr Putter and Tabby, Missing May)is the winner of multiple Newbery and Caldecott
Daisy is back in her third adventure! Steve Voake and Jessica Messerve, creators of Daisy Dawson is on Her Way and Daisy Dawson and the Secret Pond continue the adventures of this little girl with the magical gift - Daisy can talk to animals!
A snowy day begins with the trek to Nettlegreen Primary where Daisy is in charge of cleaning the gerbil cage. Of course this means a conversation with
Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole by Herbert Wong Yee was one of the first books I reviewed when I started my blog in the fall of 2008. I am so happy to be able to review the sixth book in this series, Mouse and Mole, A Perfect Halloween.
Opposites make for great pairs in early readers. Something that endeared me immediately to Yee's books was the dedication to"Friends of Frog and Toad" that
Whilst trolling kid's books websites (Educating Alice and Julie Danielson's column for Kirkus Reviews) in August of this year I discovered an early reader series that I had never heard of! Shocked and thrilled, I immediately ordered all four of the books in Tim Egan's Dodsworth series, including the most recent release in hard civer, Dodsworth in Rome. Up to 75% of the books I review here on my
Graphic novels are hot, hot, hot these days. And, while the publication of Charise Mericle Harper's first book the Fashion Kitty series in 2005 was some two years ahead of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I think that it is fair to say that the widespread popularity of Kinney's graphics-laden tome has lead to parents being more open to buying their "chapter book" reading kids books with
Since I started writing book reviews I have become the kind of person who reads the quotes of praise on the back of the book, the dedications and always, always the author notes and acknowledgements. Katherine Applegate's newest book, The One and Only Ivan, comes with some very high praise from award winning authors Patricia MacLachlan ("Beautifully written, intelligent, and brave, this story is
The Author
One of the first books I reviewed when I started my blog in 2008 was Polly Horvath's Newbery Honor winner, Everything on a Waffle, the story of Primrose Squarp of Coal Harbor, British Columbia, who loses both her parents (and a few digits over the course of the story) in a storm but never gives up believing that they are alive and will return home. The story follows her from neighbor
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These sound great for my younger daughter -- she likes the "easy readers", but most of them are so bad. I've put them all on hold at the library...thanks for the recommendation.
I agree. So many of the easy to read books are dead boring. It's a joy to find entertaining chapter books and hard to wade through picture books that might fit the bill.
These sound like wonderful books for my first grade son! We also love "Frog and Toad," but I have never heard of these. As everyone seems to agree, most early readers are boring and pointless. I'm off to try and find this series now. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for this recommendation and thanks for commenting on my chapter book post. Your blog is a fantastic resource and am going to add it to my
Thanks for the kind words. One of my main goals is to find and review beginning reader books that are good quality. Until then, I think I'll write a post on Frog & Toad!
As expected, Ella (only four, but reading well) LOVES these books...so thanks again for the recommendation. Spot on!
I'm so glad Ella liked the Dragon books - too bad there are only a small handful. Has she tried the Poppleton books yet? I love, love, love those. Also, I hope there are a few picture books in the pile from my post that she can enjoy reading...
I didn't immediately leap at the Poppleton books because of my longstanding bias against walking, talking, dressing animals. I've avoided them whenever possible, along with any book composed of rhyming text. It's my own peculiar compunction, brought on by getting so thoroughly sick of them early on and realizing that most of them are terribly formulaic. That said, the Poppletons sound charming
I LOVED the dragon books when i was younger and now I cannot wait until my nephew is a little bit older to share and read those books with him.
I'm so glad to hear that - and I'm glad they are still in print. Pilkey's humor reminds me a little of James Marshall's hippos, George and Martha - if they got silly once in a while...
My now 4-yr old started reading the Dragon books since she was 3. She still loves them. Now she reads them to her 9 month old brother :) Hilarious stories! Our favorite is Dragon's Christmas when he tried to eat all the candies from the wreath he had made :) Thanks for your wonderful blog, I get ideas which books to get for my early reader :)<br /><br />Thanks again Tanya!
@Crinklynose - Thanks so much for your comment! That is exactly how I imagined these books being enjoyed and it is so great to know that your daughter is now reading them out loud to her baby brother! Fantastic!