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Book reviews for children by library staff and guest contributors
Alan the Alligator LOVES being scary. He and his big, scary teeth make all the animals in the jungle run for cover. Snap, Snap, SNAP! But Alan has a secret... his big scary snappers... are FAKE! What will Alan do when his secret is revealed? How will he ever overcome his embarrassment and dismay that he is no longer scary? A hilarious read aloud for preschool and school agers alike, this book gets better and better on every read.
Newsprints by Ru Xu features girls as newsboys, strained race relations and a serious look at robot civil rights in what I would describe as a steampunk variation on Annie! The story is beautifully drawn with complicated gender roles and a somewhat mysterious locale and setting.
This book gave me a glimpse of new and different experiences - while also being very relate-able. It brought up topics that most teens experience - issues of friendship and homework - which helped me further connect to the story and drew me in. I also enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t annoyingly predictable. You didn’t always know what was coming! Other books by Cynthia Kadohata include Outside Beauty, The Floating World, A Million Shades of Gray, and many more.
Written by Victoria Lenius an eighth grade Girl Scout.
Summer comes to a close and it feels like there just isn’t anything NEW to do before school starts. How about revisiting something from the past? August is a great time to slow down and seek out older books that may have been overlooked. The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, 1985, Bradbury Press, New York is an exuberant celebration of summer, gardens, travel and most of all….Relatives! A family drives a long distance to attend a reunion. The excitement of the journey grows until finally they reach their destination. And then the hugging begins, as well as the fun of sharing summer
I read a lot of picture books. Sometimes I love a book for the book itself and other times I love a book for the way children react to it. The first time I read "Dragons Love Tacos" I was not overly impressed. But after reading it with individual children and at storytimes with kids from ages 3-8, and seeing how much they loved the book, I became a fan. So, when I saw "Dragons Love Tacos 2 The Sequel" I had to read it.
