photo by pdsphil www.flickr.com Happy Halloween! And Happy World Series Champions to the St. Louis Cardinals. I have to have a different post today for these two reasons. SORRY to my teaching/library friends, but hopefully, you are either celebrating Halloween or the Cardinals or both! Last year, I remember saying, “This is the worst Halloween [...]

*Picture book, fantasy (talking animals), for preschoolers through second graders *Young shark as main character *Rating: Gilbert the Hero teaches kids a lesson in a subtle way and in the spirit of Finding Nemo. Shark lovers will REALLY enjoy this book! Short, short summary: Gilbert the shark must take care of his younger brother, Finn, [...]

*Middle-grade historical fiction with Christian themes (WWII) *13-year-old girl as main character *Rating: Last Page in the Diary will really appeal to girls who like historical fiction and like writing in their diaries. It is a great book to use in a home school or Christian school setting as so many tweens deal with this [...]

*Easy reader (I’d compare to Amelia Bedelia books, divided into chapters), fantasy *A loveable giraffe and turtle as main characters *Rating: I won Joe and Sparky, Superstars in a blog contest at Clara Gillow Clark’s blog, and I am so glad I did What a super cute book for those readers transitioning from having Mom [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *An un-scareable bear as the main character *Rating: Scare a Bear is a very cute and fun picture book with wonderful and bright illustrations young children will just eat up! Short, short summary: Scare a Bear opens with the question: “Do you know how to scare a bear?” [...]

This post is going to be a little different than my normal book posts because I want to share with you a wonderful company and their wonderful products. Teachers, librarians, and parents (home school parents, especially) should know about Naxos Audiobooks. If you don’t, then stay tuned. If you do already know about them, then [...]

Today I’m participating in a mass blogging day! WOW! Women On Writing has gathered a group of blogging buddies to write about “Special People We Know and Love.” Why? We’re celebrating the release of Joanne Lewis’s and Amy Lewis Faircloth’s debut novel. Wicked Good (Telemachus Press, LLC, 2011) is about the unconditional love between a [...]

*Picture book, fantasy but gives a true message about Earth Day and recycling *Young Shelby Squirrel as main character *Rating: Trouble On Earth Day is a sweet story for young children to introduce them to Earth Day and/or recycling. The best and absolute most valuable part of this book is the resource section for teachers [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders *Cat as main character *Rating: I am a big Mo Willems fan. I prefer the pigeon series to this cat series. However, I see how young readers, even as young as my daughter, would enjoy Cat the Cat, Who is That? for the simple text and bright illustrations. [...]