Geo Librarian

The Sniffles for Bear written by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton Candlewick Press, 2011 ISBN:  978-0-7636-4756-8 Grades K-3 Reviewed from school library copy. BLURB : The relentlessly cheery Mouse pushes a cold-suffering Bear to new heights of melodrama in a hilarious new adventure starring the unlikely pair. Bear has a terrible cold. In fact, Bear is quite sure that no one has ever been as sick as he is. So when Mouse comes tap, tap, tapping on his front door eager to make Bear "as good as new" by reading a sunny story, singing a rousing chorus and plinking a twangy tune on her banjo, the pitifully coughing Bear - growing weaker by the minute - is convinced that his tiny friend does not appreciate the gravity of the situation. Can there be any saving Bear from his certain demise? Welcome the world's most lovable curmudgeon and his endearing, unstoppable sidekick in a wry new comedy sure to have even red-eyed, sniffly-nosed readers rol...

Bark, George written and illustrated by Jules Fieffer HarperCollins Publishers 1999 ISBN: 978-0-06-205185-1 Grades PreK-2 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB : Bark, George is a delightfully silly picture book about a dog who can't seem to bark right; for some unknown reason, he makes all sorts of other animal sounds. This is delightful book, perfect for sharing with preschoolers or kindergartners.  I have found that it inevitably elicits giggles.  I enjoy reading this book with great emotion, shock, frustration, and a surprising twist at the end.  I find that I like to pause before turning that final page.  The illustrations are deceptively simple yet convey every emotion.  This book reminds me of Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie and Pigeon books.  How these authors convey so much in so few words and simple lines amazes me. I highly recommend this book, it's great for read-a-loud time. Dogs written and illustrated by Emily Gravett Simon ...

There's a Book is once again sponsoring the Read to Me Picture Book Challenge .  Since I really enjoyed participating last year and received some great books as prizes, I'm going to participate again this year.  I am going to up my goal since I will be participating throughout the whole year rather than only a part like 2011.  There are three levels of participation, Reading with a Child, Reading on Your Own, and Reading with child or on own with only a wrap up post at the end of the month.  Since I work in a school library and see children every day, here is what I have decided to do. There are various goals to chose from based on how many books you think you can complete.  I have decided to be daring this year and chose a more difficult goal. (Note: I did meet my goal for last year, I just didn't review all the books read on my blog.) Reading with a Child (Children) Growing Level (Read 120 books with a child during the year.)   Already completed: ...

A Bad Kitty Christmas written and illustrated by Nick Bruel Roaring Brook Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-59643-668-8 Grades 1-5 Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB :  A HILARIOUS NEW HOLIDAY PICTURE BOOK ABOUT EVERYONE'S FAVORITE NAUGHTY FELINE "Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the city, not a creature was stirring...Except for BAD KITTY." A greedy Bad Kitty didn't get all the presents she wanted for Christmas, but after she goes on a Christmas caper across town and through multiple alphabets, she makes a new friend, finds an old friend, and learns the true meaning of Christmas. Or not. Nick Bruel's first picture book about Bad Kitty since the uproarious Poor Puppy in 2007 is full of rhyming mayhem... and Christmas cheer. I have enjoyed all the Bad Kitty books, but I think this one is my favorite.  Maybe because Bad Kitty for the first time, thinks of someone besides herself (a temporary fluke I'm sure).  Once again, the way Bruel us...

Coral Reefs written and illustrated by Jason Chin Roaring Brook Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-59643-563-6 Grades K-5 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB : During an ordinary visit to the library, a girl pulls a not-so-ordinary book from the shelves. As she turns the pages in this book about coral reefs, the city around her slips away and she finds herself surrounded by the coral cities of the sea and the mysterious plants and animals that live, hunt, and hide there. This book is gorgeous, that pretty much covers it.  The illustrations take the reader on a journey over and around a coral reef.  Even without the words, I could easily follow the story.  I love the idea of a book taking the reader on a journey to somewhere they may never be able to go in real life.  This suits my lifestyle of armchair adventuring.  The text does add a great deal of information, a little too much for a read-a-loud I discovered, especially when the students kept interrupting to...

Razzle-Dazzle Ruby written and illustrated by Masha D'yans Scholastic, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-545-22500-7 Grades PreK-1 Reviewed from copy won in blog giveaway. BLURB :  A regular day becomes a magical adventure in this stunning novelty picture book from an amazing new talent! Ruby can make the ordinary extraordinary! Come skate on a shimmering pond, roll a giant snowball, sled down a snowy hill, and create soaring snow angels with her as she becomes a snow queen and transforms a typical winter day into a gleaming-beaming fairy tale. When I first saw this book I thought it would be perfect for my kindergarten girls.  It has a really cute little girl (Ruby) in a purple dress and flashing stockings.  It has glitter on the cover which speaks "girl book" loud and clear.  Once I read the book though I realized that the story could appeal to any child, boy or girl.  Living in a state that is famous for its winter sports, especially skiing, the children around h...

Last week I read some Christmas related duck books to my kindergartners and they really enjoyed them.  So here they are. Have You Been Naughty or Nice? written and illustrated by Ethan Long Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-316-01722-0 Grades PreK-1 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB :  In Have You Been Naughty or Nice? the duck excitedly awaits a visit from Santa Claus until he eats all of Santa's snacks and realizes he just put himself on the naughty list. But never fear, because the duck has a clever plan to get himself back on the nice list. This fourth book in Ethan Long's duck series features a cloth Santa cap on the cover and a fold-out letter to Santa, and is filled to the brim with holiday hilarity that will keep kids entertained for hours. This book is quite short and makes for a quick read (which is a good thing when you've got squirmy kindergartners).  The children quite enjoyed this one.  The illustrations are ca...

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-547-19945-0 Interest Level: All Levels Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB :  Everyone's a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Who first invented these "upside-down puppets?"  Tony Sarg—puppeteer, illustrator and legendary prankster who once declared, "I never worked a day in my life."  In brilliant collage illustrations, award-winning artist Melissa Sweet tells the story of this puppeteer, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy's Parade. I don't know that I can say anything about this book that hasn't already been said.  Exce...

Fall Mixed Up written by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Chad Cameron Carolrhoda Books, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-7613-4606-7 Grades K-2 Reviewed from personal copy. Fall is full of many enjoyable activities, carving pumpkins, raking and jumping in piles of leaves, or watching flocks of geese fly south for the winter.  Unfortunately, Raczka seems to be a little confused in this book.  Here we have red pumpkins and orange apples, bears gathering nuts for winter and squirrels flying south, while geese hibernate.  And the worst error of all, touchdowns are hit and home runs are kicked!? What a horrible mix-up!? (I hope you realize I'm being factitious, here).  The kindergartners got a big kick out of correcting all the mix-ups in this book.  I also enjoyed reading it and pretending to be shocked at all the errors. The words are fun to read, but it's the glorious full color illustrations that showcase the silliness in this book.  Combine this with the Fall's Here se...

The Fall's Here series, part of Cloverleaf books, published by Millbrook Press, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, consists of the following six books, all of which I recommend. Animals in Fall: Preparing for Winter (ISBN: 978-0-7613-8506-6) Fall Apples: Crisp and Juicy (ISBN: 978-0-7613-8507-3) Fall Harvests: Bringing in Food (ISBN: 978-0-7613-8508-0) Fall Leaves: Colorful and Crunchy (ISBN: 978-0-7613-8505-9) Fall Pumpkins: Orange and Plump (ISBN: 978-0-7613-8509-7) Fall Weather: Cooler Temperatures (ISBN: 978-0761385103) written by Martha E. H. Rustad, illustrated by Amanda Enright Millbrook Press, 2012 Grades K-2 Reviewed from personal copies. Each of these books covers a specific part of the fall season.  Animals is Fall discusses what animals do to prepare for winter including migration, hibernation, and camouflage.  Fall Apples covers the growth and development of apples from the planting of the seed to the harvesting of the crop.  It also mention...

The Princess and the Pig written by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Poly Bernatene Walker & Company, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-8027-2335-2 Grades K-3 Reviewed from library copy. BLURB: There's been a terrible mix-up in the royal nursery. Priscilla the princess has accidentally switched places with Pigmella, the farmer's new piglet. The kindly farmer and his wife believe it's the work of a good witch, while the ill-tempered king and queen blame the bad witch-after all, this happens in fairy tales all the time! While Priscilla grows up on the farm, poor yet very happy, things don't turn out quite so well for Pigmella. Kissing a frog has done wonders before, but will it work for a pig? I picked up this book thinking it would be the typical based on fairy tales sort of book.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is not.  Many princess books, which little girls devour, show only the positive parts of being a princess, the beautiful dresses, the parties,...

Otis and the Tornado written and illustrated by Loren Long Philomel Books, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-399-25477-2 Grades K-3 Reviewed from personal copy. Otis the tractor and his farm animal friends love to play follow the leader.  All the animals participate except for the big bull who snorts and growls at anyone (or anything) that gets too close to his pen or pasture.  Otis tries to befriend the beast, but with no luck.  The day a tornado arrives at the farm changes everything.  While the farmer and his family run for the cellar, Otis frantically releases the animals and they flee to the lowest lying land on the farm. When Otis realizes that the bull is not there he is determined to help the animals despite past unkindnesses. I'll say right off the bat that I am a big fan of Otis.  I fell in love with him the minute I read the first book.  So much so that I ordered the stuffed toy .  I like this book even better than first.  The large, bright ill...

Billy & Milly Short & Silly written by Eve B. Feldman, pictures by Tuesday Mourning G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-399-24651-7 Grades K-2 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB: Follow Billy and Milly through thirteen adventures in these funny and simple short stories. Through very basic storytelling, these brief narratives are told in only three or four words apiece. For example, "Stoops (Billy and Milly sit on their front stoops as the ice cream truck drives by.), Hoops (Billy shoots his basketball...), Scoops (...as Milly licks her ice cream cone...), Oops (...until the ball hits the cone and squashes her ice cream!)." I used this book last week with my first and second grade students as an introduction to story elements.  I explained to them that to be a story there needs to be at least three things: characters, setting, and plot.  The short stories in this book worked perfectly to emphasize my point that a story doesn't need to have 100...

Up, Up, Up written and sung by Susan Reed, illustrated by Rachel Oldfield Barefoot Books, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-84686-550-3 Grades PreK-1 Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB : This airborne adventure takes readers ballooning over lands near and far, all the way to the stars. The charming singalong song on the accompanying CD keeps spirits high, while the rhyming and playful text introduces all sorts of settings and vocabulary-building words. Education Market: It includes aerial maps throughout of changing landscapes and seascapes with many items to talk about. It joins Barefoot Books' popular "Singalong Songs" series. Cultural Diversity: It features three children each from a different cultural background. The bright colors and fun song make this a fun read-a-loud.  I used it with both kindergartners and special needs children.  I felt a little self-conscious doing this, since I sung along with the accompanying CD.  I am not a real great singer, but the stu...

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes written by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean HarperCollins Publishers, 2008 ISBN:978-0-06-190622-0 Grades K-2 Reviewed from personal copy.   Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes written by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean HarperCollins Publishers, 2011 ISBN:978-0-06-191024-1 Grades K-2 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB: Pete the Cat goes walking down the street wearing his brand-new white shoes. Along the way, his shoes change from white to red to blue to brown to WET as he steps in piles of strawberries, blueberries, and other big messes! But no matter what color his shoes are, Pete keeps movin' and groovin' and singing his song . . . because it's all good. In the sequel, Pete the Cat is now one fleet-footed feline in his shiny school shoes. I used these two books with my kindergarten and special needs classes a couple of weeks ago.  I downloaded the songs and played them while I showed the pi...

The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School written by Laura Murray, illustrated by Mike Lowery G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-399-25052-1 Grades K-3 Reviewed from purchased copy. Blurb : When a class leaves for recess, their just-baked Gingerbread Man is left behind. But he's a smart cookie and heads out to find them. He'll run, slide, skip, and (after a mishap with a soccer ball) limp as fast as he can because: "I can catch them! I'm their Gingerbread Man!" With help from the gym teacher, the nurse, the art teacher and even the principal, the Gingerbread Man does find his class, and he's assured they'll never leave him behind again. Each year the kindergarten teachers at my school start the year off with a gingerbread man unit, where the students decorate their own gingerbread man (paper). When I first saw this book, I thought it would be perfect to share when the students came to the library for the first time. The kindergarten ...

Desk Stories written & illustrated by Kevin O'Malley Albert Whitman & Company, 2011. Grades 1-5 Reviewed from purchased copy. Blurb: Even though kids spend most of their days with one, desks can be very....surprising. Desks have a long and enduring history -- from the spiked desks of the Middle Ages to the beanbag desks of the 1960s. School desks, in particular, can hide a wide variety of...let's just say "things." In this tongue-in-cheek companion to Backpack Stories, Kevin O'Malley returns with six stories of desks gone wild. ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11451417-desk-stories) One thing I enjoy about O'Malley's work is the variety of styles that he uses.  In this collection of short stories he uses a variety of styles, making each story stand on it's own.  My favorite story was the one about the history of the desk (it was fun reading the made up caveman talk). The jokes were a nice pause in the middle and the desks of t...

Substitute Creacher written & illustrated by Chris Gall Little, Brown & Company, 2011. Grades 1-5 Reviewed from purchased copy. Blurb: The troublemaking students of Ms. Jenkins' class arrive at school one day to discover a substitute creacher has come to put a stop to their monkey business! He regales them with mind-boggling stories about his former students who didn't follow the rules: Keith the glue-eater, Zach the daydreamer, and Hank the prankster, to name a few. But even this multi-tentacled, yellow-spotted, one-eyed monster's cautionary tales about the consequences of mischief-making can't seem to change the students' wicked ways until he reveals the spookiest and most surprising story of all: his own. ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9419182-substitute-creacher )  I must confess, I'm not entirely sure about this book.  On the one hand, the rhymes are fun to read, but it's hard to switch back and forth from the rhyming text t...