Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters Shannon Hale 3.5 Stars In this third edition of the Princess Academy series, Miri has her work cut out for her as a governess to three forgotten sisters who live in a swamp. In order to save the kingdom one of these three sisters must be molded into a princess…
Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny John Himmelman 5 Stars Bunjitsu Bunny is a young rabbit girl named Isabel who is studying bunjitsu. Isabel can do all kinds of things: throwing, hitting, kicking, all sorts of bunjitsu type of things. But she is also very kind and smart. When things don’t go Isabel’s way, she is able…
Mrs. Mo’s Monster Paul Beavis 3.5 Stars Mrs. Mo answered a knock at the door when in ran a monster who really liked to “crunch, munch, and chew.” After a comment from Mrs. Mo about how rude it is of the monster to not even say “hello” (“How rude.”) she goes off to find the…
El Deafo Cece Bell Color by David Lasky 5 Stars When Cece gets spinal meningitis at the age of four, she loses her hearing. She soon gets a hearing aid and can start to understand the world a little bit more. Only Cece feels different because of her hearing loss and the hearing aid. Because…
Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger Jon Scieszka 4 Stars In this second edition of the “Frank Einstein” books, Frank and Watson are learning about energy. While inventing an environmentally safe for of energy (the electro-finger) that can be used thanks to the magnetism of the world, evil scientist T. Edison is trying to destroy energy…
Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 4 Stars Jacqueline Woodson let’s us in on some of her memories of growing up in Ohio, South Carolina, and New York. These memories are told in free verse poems which in turn showcase the amazing voice that the young Jacqueline is just learning to discover in the book. With…
Edible Colors: See. Learn. Eat. Jennifer Bass 4 stars In this fun picture book kids learn to think about vegetables in a whole new way. For example, the book opens with a beautiful picture of an orange carrot and reads, “Carrots are orange.” Then the next page reads, “They are also purple.” and has a…
Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads Bob Shea illustrated by Lane Smith 5 Stars Oh what a happy day when two of my favorite picture book authors/illustrators have come together to make this book. “Drywater Gulch had a toad problem.” And since Drywater Gulch looks like a town nestled in the midst of Goblin Valley…
Smek for President! Adam Rex 3.5 Stars Tip and J.Lo are in for even more adventures in this sequel to “The True Meaning of Smekday.” J.Lo wants to head to New Boovworld, the Boov’s new planet located on one of Saturn’s moons, in order to clear his name from all wrong-doings that happened with the…
Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands Katherine Roy 4 Stars This is one of my new favorite nonfiction books. It is all about great white sharks and how they live and survive in California’s Farallon Islands (think San Fransisco). The thing is, this book has beautiful illustrations. Which I don’t…