Reviews
Can You Tell a Bee from a Wasp?
“[An] easy-to-read and informative text.” —The Horn Book Guide View →
A Fraction's Goal — Parts of a Whole
“An entertaining starting point.” —The Horn Book Guide View →
The Lonely Beast
“‘There is only one Beast in each country… and they don’t even know one another.’ A lonely Beast sets off to find someone like him. In a series of humorous episodes, he hitches a ride on a whale, beautifies a park, becomes a media darling, etc. This original story View →
Warduff and the Corncob Caper
“The story’s crisp writing and humorous digital art (an image of the animals in a tower formations illustrates ‘they seemed a little tense’) carry the day.” —The Horn Book Guide View →
"Miss Pell Would Never Misspell" and Other Painless Tricks for Memorizing How to Spell and Use Wily Words
“Cleary uses mnemonics, rhymes, visualization, and other tricks to try to cement in readers’ memories the spelling of difficult words. It’s a good idea, but the examples are generally too convoluted (even for mnemonic devices) to be useful. Goggle-eyed characters… View →
Not a Buzz to Be Found: Insects in Winter
“Glaser details the winter survival techniques of a dozen different insects. Short, rhythmic lines explain each insect’s adaptations (field cricket: ‘Safely hidden, you’d wait and wait’). Evocative paintings move from colorful fall to icy winter and finally… View →
“Hand this to aspiring sailors and chefs alike—but advise them to take a snack along for the journey, as the focus on food is sure to inspire a few rumbling bellies.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books View →
A Leaf Can Be . . .
“Each spread is bursting with natural wonder, and while the animals are cute rather than realistic, the art creatively and effectively supports the text’s evocation of the leafy world. This is an ideal curricular introduction to a unit on leaves, but it will also find plenty… View →
Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean
“Izzy the whiz kid has created the perfect invention, just in time for Passover. Izzy is no ordinary kid; he is an amateur inventor. His mother is experiencing Passover blues as she is trying to tidy the house for Passover and rid it of any hametz. Izzy has just the… View →
“All Jodie dreams about is being a famous archaeologist, just like her dad. As a prize for finding the afikomen at the Passover seder, Jodie is given a new flashlight, so she invites her cousin, Zach, to join her and her father at Hezekiah’s Tunnel, a famous archeological site in… View →
Barnyard Purim
“Farmer Max is heading off to a Purim play and the animals on the farm are a wee bit jealous, so they decide to re-enact one themselves. Chicken decides to direct and assign parts to the other animals. Horse will play King Ahashuerus, Duck will be Queen Esther, Goat will be… View →
The Queen Who Saved Her People
“This book is an imaginative take on the tried and true Purim story. King Ahashuerus is looking for a queen. His loyal followers find Esther, a young and beautiful Jewish girl, who the king selects to be his wife. She lives with her cousin Mordechai, who persuades her to hide her… View →
Sadie and the Big Mountain
“Sadie loves going to preschool at Temple Beth El where she sings songs, climbs on the tall gym outdoors, dresses up in costumes, and plays with her classmates. But on Monday, when her teacher tells the children about the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, Sadie gets nervous. She learns… View →
Hannah's Way
“Hannah is having difficulty adjusting to her new life on the Iron Range in Depression-era Minnesota. She has yet to make friends when her teacher announces that the class will be going on a picnic on Saturday and the children should arrange car pools. As an observant Jew, Hannah… View →
Friend Me!: 600 Years of Social Networking in America
“Unfamiliar words are defined in context, and numerous captioned black-and-white photos and sidebars add additional appeal to this fascinating topic.” —School Library Journal View →
Big Birthday
“Clifton-Brown’s use of color, texture, shadow, and spot-on facial expressions with a bit of mixed-media collage thrown in is a delightful partner to the text…. Hosford’s rhyming text is fun to read, and kids will enjoy hearing about a great idea gone… View →
Marco's Cinco de Mayo
“An age-appropriate introduction to the holiday for the youngest of readers.” —School Library Journal View →
The King Who Wouldn't Sleep
“The humorous watercolor and pencil cartoon illustrations are large and bright, and feature expressive, goggle-eyed characters.” —School Library Journal View →
Out of Control
“These authors pack a lot of drama and sports action into about 100 pages…. Students will appreciate the real-life issues and ethical dilemmas that the players face.” —School Library Journal View →
Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean
“Forget the candle and the feather—here is a charming book for children that tackles the topic of chametz cleaning through a feat of magical engineering. It’s a funny, rhymed tale of a whiz kid, named Izzy, who wants to give his harried mother a break from Passover cleaning. He… View →
Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean
“Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean (Kar-Ben, $7.95) is written for slightly older children, ages 3–8, but also has an infectious energy and sense of fun. Written in rhyme, it celebrates the ingenuity of Izzy, an amateur inventor, who creates a machine to clean the house… View →
A Leaf Can Be . . .
“Dabija, a Moldovan illustrator, saturates her pictures with lush color. Of course, there is lots of green but also dusty orange, misty lavender and deep mustard, in what is as much an exploration of the variation of color as it is of nature’s changeability. . . . Grown-up… View →