Reviews
My Pen Pal, Pat
“[P]honics-based stories that are designed to encourage and assist children in their reading development. My Pen Pal, Pat is amusing, if a bit predictable. Two students named Pat-one in New York City and one in Boston-are paired together as pen pals. They seem to have everything… View →
Kathy Ross Crafts Triangles, Rectangles, Circles
“This is a delightful book to enhance understanding of basic geometric shapes; its design is attractively whimsical without sacrificing practicality. With the help of well-drawn, colorful, cartoon-like illustrations, the projects are easy to produce. Children will enjoy the… View →
Cooking the French Way
“Each well-organized and well-written book [Cooking the French Way, Cooking the Mexican Way, and Cooking the East African Way] now has a greater emphasis on low-fat and vegetarian recipes. These new titles will be useful for cultural and heritage school projects as well as fun… View →
Cooking the East African Way
“Each well-organized and well-written book [Cooking the East African Way, Cooking the Mexican Way, and Cooking the French Way] now has a greater emphasis on low-fat and vegetarian recipes. These new titles will be useful for cultural and heritage school projects as well as fun… View →
Crafts for Christian Values
“Twenty-eight clever and original designs illustrate a variety of Christian qualities. A loving heart beanbag, a bank for generous giving to missions, a bookmark to honor parents. . . Each one has an appropriate Scripture quotation to reinforce its stated purpose. . .… View →
Crafts for Kids Who Are Learning about Community Workers
“A colorful, glossy cover will attract children to this unique assortment of 20 craft ideas. . . This is a solid choice for teachers to supplement lessons on community workers, and librarians will find many program possibilities. Ross has a special talent for introducing all… View →
Pattern Bugs
“Here is an intelligent math tool that can be used by an individual child or with groups. . . By using the sounds in the poems, the details of the pictures, and the various blocks of color that frame the initial spread, children can find and identify repetitive patterns. . . An… View →
The Bug in the Jug Wants a Hug: A Short Vowel Sounds Book
“Cleary does a masterful job of explaining such potentially dry topics as ‘long vowel sounds with consonant digraphs’ and ‘inflectional endings’ by using comic, incongruous situations to get his point across. . . In his introduction, Cleary states that:… View →
Get the Ball, Slim
“[B]eginning readers illustrated with clear, full-color photographs of people and props dramatically placed on all-white backgrounds. The book. . . feature twins Tim and Jim playing with their dog. . .The characters’ exaggerated expressions give the stories the feeling of a View →
I Like Mess
“[B]eginning reader illustrated with clear, full-color photographs of people and props dramatically placed on all-white backgrounds. The book feature[s]. . .Tess cleaning her room only to begin her messy cycle again. . .The characters’ exaggerated expressions give the… View →
Lemonade for Sale
“These books will add a breath of fresh air to beginning-reader collections. The stories center on a group of friends who live near a small park in an urban neighborhood. The events and dialogue reinforce the “Real Kids” in the series title and will strike a chord… View →
The New Kid
“[This] phonics-based easy reader would make a welcome addition to any collection. . . [This] story [is] interesting, makes sense, and have engaging characters. However, it is the colorful photographs on double-page spreads that make these texts come alive. The children’s… View →
I Like to Win!
“[I]ntended for very beginning readers [that] subtly reinforce concepts of. . . sportsmanship. . . I Like to Win! features an African-American boy and girl. . . who resolve their arguments over winning and losing at board games. The small amount of print per page, the crisp color View →
Best Friends
“These three stories intended for very beginning readers subtly reinforce concepts of friendship, sportsmanship, and emotional expression. I Am Mad! features a bullying older sister, and is the weakest of the lot, due perhaps to the difficulty of telling a complex story with such View →
“Close-up, quality, color photographs of children excelling at activities-physical, mental, musical, and artistic-show that everyone can do something well, that individuals have different strengths and abilities. The brief text suggests that being good at something takes time and… View →
It's Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories From Around the World
“Large, eye-catching spreads introduce the school experiences of children from 11 different countries, including Kenya, Kazakhstan, China, and Canada. Each entry includes the student’s name, age (ranging from six to nine), and place of residence. Then, in chatty style,… View →
Marsh Morning
“Morning comes to the marsh with wildlife awakening amid watercolor mist and movement in grays, browns, green and black, re-creating this unique ecosystem. Rabbit stands in mid-motion, heron is knee-deep in water and red-winged blackbird ‘starts his melody.’ Four… View →
Greetings, Asia!
“These titles focus on each continent’s natural features, highlight many of its animals, and present a brief overview of the people. Useful information is presented in an enjoyable style. Different size fonts and background colors are used to break up the text and add… View →
“Through one-sentence descriptions and full-color, uncluttered photographs, readers are taken on a journey of discovery in the natural world. Rau begins with a star in the sky and then moves to objects that children might be able to examine more closely to find that shape,… View →
Lots of Feelings
“Many readers will find themselves represented in this multicultural array of close-up images of children displaying their emotions. From grumpy squints, excited grins, and surprised shouts, the photos move to whimsical curiosity, sadness (complete with tears), and sleepy yawns.… View →
Jellies: The Life of Jellyfish
“Gorgeous full-color underwater photos and a simple, readable text provide a fascinating introduction to some little-known and often unheralded marine organisms. Less detailed than Elizabeth Gowell’s equally spectacular Sea Jellies (Watts, 1993; o.p.), George’s… View →
Kathy Ross Crafts Letter Sounds
“These attractive books present hands-on projects to accompany phonics and letter recognition lessons. . . Sounds presents phonics activities such as a ‘Most Marvelous Moose’ made from a brown lunch bag for the letter M. . . [Includes] ideas for supplemental… View →
Crafts from Your Favorite Children's Stories
“Children will like these 20 imaginative projects. . . Each one is covered in a two-page spread, with a materials list followed by a numbered list of steps. The directions are clear and well illustrated with cartoonlike watercolor art. . . As a supplement to storytelling or for… View →