*Historical middle-grade fiction *Girl as main character *Rating: Jingo Fever is a well-written book, set in 1918. It is also universal in its themes–situations that Adelle has to deal with, such as racism/bullying, in the book are current in everyday life. Short, short summary: (FROM CRICKHOLLOW WEBSITE) This middle-grade historical novel is set in 1918 [...]

*Picture book, contemporary for preschool through first graders *Scooter the dog as main character *Rating: Kids will love Scooter in the Outside and see a bit of themselves in this dog without knowing it. That’s the best kind of picture book. Scooter is exploring his independence–something children are doing all the time with mixed results! [...]

This fall, I will have a middle-grade historical fiction novel coming out from White Mane Kids. I went to a writing conference in St. Louis this weekend, where the agents said that historical fiction for kids is not selling. It is one of the hardest genres to sell, and agents probably won’t take you on [...]

This is an amazing picture book in my opinion! Susan has written a rhyming text that is clever and teaches children the concept of living things! Tom Slaughter’s illustrations are wonderful, and this is even a bit of a “Peek-a-boo” book. Can a stool grow? No, of course not, but when you unfold the flap–Tom’s [...]

*Concept book, preschool to kindergarten *Forest creatures as main characters *The layout is one of the best parts of this concept book. It’s a cute idea and well executed! Short, short summary: Each pair of pages asks, “Who is in the forest, dark and deep?” and then there is a circle cut-out previewing the next [...]

Every once in a while, I like to take a break from the regularly scheduled program of books and sharing them, and share with you some other cool stuff. Today, I want to share a website/app that I was asked to review and think could be a real benefit to ANYONE wanting to lose weight [...]

*Picture book, (contemporary concept book), for preschool to first graders *Boys as main characters *Rating: If Waffles Were Like Boys (illustrator: Scott Magoon) is an interesting book that really captures children and their imagination. It is obviously targeted toward boys, but girls could read it and write their own version! Short, short summary: If Waffles [...]

It’s Spring Break for us here, and so to say things are a little out of schedule would be an understatement. So, I thought I would do a little different post here. Please share in the comments or on Twitter or on Facebook–what is your favorite Eric Carle book? I’ll post my results and a [...]

Author Darcy Pattison drew my attention to this on Facebook. I know many of you would want to know about this event, so here you go–it will be great to share with your students and/or children! Wildlife artist, KITTY HARVILL is offering a series of black and white, printable creative coloring pages for students to [...]