A Mother’s Journey by Sandra Markle, illus. by Alan Marks

Is there anything cuter than a penguin? The penguin’s cuteness belies the fact that this flightless bird can be as rugged and durable as Antarctic ice. Sandra Markle’s tale of an Emperor penguin mother and her struggle to bring food to her baby demonstrates this toughness. In touching watercolors Alan Marks depicts the joy and [...]

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Jenny Found a Penny by Trudy Harris, illus. by John Hovel

“Jenny found a penny in the backseat of the car. She put that shiny penny in an empty pickle jar.” Readers can follow Jenny, in this lesson about saving and earning money, as she takes the opportunity of the found penny to start saving for a special item at the dollar store. Each page of [...]

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How High can a Dinosaur Count? by Valerie Fisher

How long will it take Ogden to clean all four of his windows? How many more cups of tea does Trixie drink than Sadie? How many layers will Bertram’s birthday cake have, and can Heloise buy a hat? This clever imaginative collection of fun math questions will have the reader adding and subtracting to answer [...]

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Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan

Eating fractions is a clear, simple, and delicious way to introduce children to fractions. Full-color photos show two friends dividing food into halves, thirds, and quarters before eating it. Hands on learners will be eager to try the recipes that are included in the back of the book. After creating a delicious recipe, cut the [...]

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Friends, by Catherine Thimmesh

This book has the cutest cover; it just begs to be opened.  Gorgeous photographs of animals, simple rhyming text, and a short paragraph explaining the friendship are the ingredients that make this a winning combination. Some of these animal couples have a short relationship, like the frog that gave a mouse a lift through flooded [...]

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Sneezy Louise, by Irene Breznak, illus. by Janet Pedersen

Anyone who has ever woken up in the morning with a cold or allergies will appreciate the story of Sneezy Louise by Irene Breznak. Food, school papers and ballerinas all go flying when Louise sneezes. Everyone reminds her with a great big; “Geeze, Louise! Cover Your Mouth, Please!” Louise’s day was not good and by [...]

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An Egret’s Day by Jane Yolen, photographs by Jason Stemple

An Egret’s Day combines various types of poetry with brief factual information on egrets, one of the birds you can spy in the waters here in Virginia. As Yolen uses Haiku, rhyming couplets, free verse and even a limerick to describe egrets, her son, Jason Stemple, shows beautiful photography of the majestic bird.  Dramatic light [...]

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Time to Eat, by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Everyone has to eat – cute mammals like pandas and blue whales, scary creatures like sharks and snakes, and just gross insects like dung beetles and ticks.  Time to Eat provides a good introduction to both common and unusual animals. Colorful cut and torn paper collage illustrations will engage readers of all ages.  Most of [...]

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An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston, illus. by Sylvia Long

I’m just going to say this and get it over with. This information book is eggs-ceptional. It is packed with information, yet the text is beautifully spare. Simple lines such as, “An egg is shapely” introduce illustrations of round eggs, oval eggs, pointy eggs and even eggs with tendrils at each end. (It turns out [...]

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Ape by Martin Jenkins, illus. by Vicky White

How many kinds of apes are there? If you would like to find out and enjoy some stunning artwork, I have just the book for you —- Ape, well written by Martin Jenkins and gorgeously illustrated by Vicky White. The whole design of this appealing book is a work of art in itself. Different sizes [...]

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