September 18, 2013

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Pick of the Day: Frog Song

red body, blue legs on frog

a beautifully presented lesson on frogs

Book Review: Preschool to Grade 4 | April 2013

Round Is a Tortilla (Thong) ©2013 by John Parra.

Be sure to check out new easy readers by Michael Garland, Betsy Lewin, and Mo Willems as well as many other exciting new selections for spring.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List | April 2013

That Is Not a Good Idea! (Willems) ©2013 by Mo Willems.

This month’s star listings include That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems, among others.

Pick of the Day: Look Up!

Look Up! in large letters on left

A fun and informative guide to observing and sketching birds

Pick of the Day: Pug and Other Animal Poems

bull dog against a blue background

animal poems with subjects ranging from pugs to geese to fireflies

Pick of the Day: The Highway Rat

goofy-looking pirate on horse

A rollicking tale of a swashbuckling rat, inspired by Alfred Noyes’s Highwayman.

Pick of the Day: Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?

busy green duck in foreground

a small green duck frets unnecessarily about some “misplaced” socks

Pick of the Day: Perfectly Percy

stylized porcupine and blue balloon

This winsome tale about a porcupine and a balloon would make a perfect choice for toddler storytimes.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: March 2013

The Highway Rat (Donaldson) ©2013 by Axel Scheffler.

Check out SLJ’s Stars list. From Julia Donaldson’s “The Highway Rat” to Gail Carriger’s “Etiquette & Espionage.” There’s something for everyone.

Book Review: Preschool to Grade 4 | March 2013

Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle (Raschka) 
©2013 by Chris Raschka.

Here’s SLJ’s latest reviews of books for preschool through grade four.

Pick of the Day: Take Me Out to the Yakyu

Yakyu in bold red capital letters

American and Japanese baseball compared

Pick of the Day: Exclamation Mark

yellow square with smiley face exlamation mark

A fun treatment of punctuation

Pick of the Day: Nelly May Has Her Say

figure posed with a pup and a pail

With one smart heroine and witty wordplay, Nelly May Has Her Say, which is based on the English folktale “Master of All Masters,” will delight.

Pick of the Day: Bunnies on Ice

bunny dressed in pink in foreground

WRIGHT, Joanna. Bunnies on Ice. illus. by author. 32p. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. 2013. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-404-2. LC 2012001187.
PreS-Gr 1–This budding champion (a white snow bunny) loves to ice skate so much that she patiently waits for perfect conditions.  When the other bunnies are doing summer things, she is planning what she will do when the snow falls. She proceeds to wait through the fall as she dresses her scarecrow with a pair of skates. Then when the snow [...]

Pick of the Day: The Goldilocks Variations

bands of pastel colors

AHLBERG, Allan. The Goldilocks Variations. illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. 40p. Candlewick. 2012. RTE $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6268-4.
PreS-Gr 2
–With whimsical illustrations and interactive features such as flaps, pop-ups, and pull tabs, the Ahlbergs showcase six silly variations on the classic tale. The standout of the bunch has the heroine wandering into the “trood (or spaceship) of The Three Bliim.” Full of silly alien words, the tale begs to be read aloud. In other adventures, Goldilocks takes on 33 bears, the furniture (chair, [...]

Pick of the Day: A Trip to the Bottom of the World

small ship in large sea

VIVA, Frank. A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse. illus. by author. 40p. Toon Bks. 2012. RTE $12.95. ISBN 978-1-935179-19-1. LC 2011049499.
PreS-Gr 2
–From the endpapers, Mouse asks the timeless question of many young travelers, “Are we there yet?” Inspired by Viva’s experiences traveling to Antarctica aboard a Russian research ship, the oblong picture book offers basic facts about the region (it is cold and penguins live there, for instance), while Mouse tries to figure out when it [...]

Book Review: Preschool to Grade 4 | February 2013

Check out SLJ’s more than 100 reviews for preschool through grade 4.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: February 2013

Exclamation Mark (Rosenthal) ©2013  by Tom Lichtenheld

Check out this month’s listing of stars! WOW!

Pick of the Day: Henry and the Cannons

Cannon in big red letters

BROWN, Don. Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution. illus. by author. 32p. bibliog. Roaring Brook. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-266-6. LC 2012013450.
Gr 1-4
–As the American Revolution was getting underway, George Washington knew he needed cannons to defeat the British. Unfortunately, he was camped outside British-held Boston, and the nearest big guns were 300 miles away at Fort Ticonderoga, New York. They were thought to be impossible to retrieve, until Henry Knox agreed to [...]

Pick of the Day: Peace

sphere with pink cloud above

HALPERIN, Wendy Anderson. Peace. illus. by author. 40p. S & S/Atheneum. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-689-82552-1; ebook $12.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-6787-3.
Gr 3 Up–A beautiful book with rich watercolor artwork. Most of the paintings are spreads in a nontraditional layout, with sections sometimes divided into shapes by the meandering text. The book is about peace and how it can be achieved: in the world, in the country, in the city, in one’s school, and within oneself. The layout makes it a [...]