Summary
Tiger's owner is having trouble enjoying a book or getting to sleep because of Tiger's antics.
Review
These are two of my favorite books to read out loud. The tiger is so sweet and he does great, crazy things that kids love to see. He dresses up in costumes, does cartwheels and loses his whistle. Every time, his owner admonishes him to cut it out and Tiger says, "Tiger sorry."
4.5 out of 5 stars for both
AR ratings of 2.0 and 1.8 respectively
Recommended for: 2nd grade classrooms and younger, readers between 5 and 8, story time/read-alouds, home and school libraries.
Cautions: none
Dwight has an origami Yoda finger puppet that spouts words of wisdom in Yoda speak ("Cheetos for everyone you must buy")
Tommy has a dilemma. Origami Yoda has given him some advice, but Tommy isn't sure he should believe it, so he does some research, asking kids to share their stories of Origami Yoda's advice and the outcome. Is Yoda the real deal? Or is Dwight just playing all of them?
Tommy and his friends are something of the outcasts in the 6th grade. But Dwight is the oddest one in the bunch, even if you don't consider the finger puppet. I liked the story. I thought it was a good portrayal of the social scene at this age, with reasonable dilemmas for the students. Great ending. But I had no luck making my own origami Yoda....
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Piper McCloud stands out a bit... She's never gone to school outside her home, has never met any of the other children in her community, and.... oh - she can fly.
Piper's unusual skill causes an understandable stir. To spare her parents the drama, and to be with people who are more like her, Piper agrees to go to a special school.
Stories like this usually go one of two ways - either the character finds a home for the first time with people just like him/her (a la Harry Potter), or the new school is not what it at first seems. This second scenario is what Piper finds at her new school. There were some great twists in this story - characters you thought would be one way who turned out to be something completely different. Piper does well staying true to herself and looking out for the kids who are like her. Great story.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
One hundred gifted girls chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity - a spot at Alpha Academy. The rules are simple - engage wholeheartedly in the customized study schedule, and stay away from the founder's sons.
Told primarily from the perspective of three of the girls - Skye, the dancer who is always trying to live up to expectations, Allie A who is masquerading as famous songwriter Allie J, and Charlie, who had to give up everything to get to Alpha, even though she was one of the primary designers of the academy.
There's a bit of "teen-speak" like "hawt" which got a little old for me, but would probably appeal to the target audience. It's a fun story - definitely one I would have read as a teen. I was really rooting for Charlie. There are more books in the series - Movers & Fakers (Alphas)
and Belle of the Brawl (Alphas) due out in October.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
This is a sweet story about a class of fourth graders who spend some class time with a local author. The things they write tie in with what's going on in their lives in beautiful ways. I thought a lot of my writing students as I read this, hoping that they discover, like the students in the book did, the connections that can come through writing. This book also reminded me of why I write, which is really important to me at this stage in life.
It was beautiful. I was in tears through most of it. I would read it to my students but I know I would never make it through the book without choking up.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
As if it wasn't bad enough that Ben was running late to class, then he got stuck sitting with a janitor who had just broken his ankle and was waiting for an ambulance. While Ben waits with him, things get weird. The janitor starts going on about how it's now up to Ben to save the school from the developers who are set to tear it down when summer break starts. He even gives Ben a coin with a message from the school's long-dead founder. It's so weird that Ben tries to just put it out of his mind...until he finds out the janitor has died.
Ben shares the whole story with his best friend, Jill, and together they dive into the clues they've been given.
It is no secret that I am a fan of Andrew Clements. When I saw that he was kicking off a new series this spring, I put the first book immediately on my list. I didn't fall in love with the story and the characters like I did with stories like Frindle and No Talking, but it was interesting enough that I would read it to my son or my students and I will read the next book (Fear Itself (Keepers of the School)
due out September 7th).
There are side stories about sailing, Ben's parents' separation, and another boy at school who likes to "tweak" Ben. (I did love the story of what happens between the boys during a boat race). The side stories fill in gaps between the parts of the story that focus on the main mystery - I skimmed through some of the sailing parts to get back to the mystery. I also like that the main characters get to learn some things about history, maps and other things as they work on their quest.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
A young friend of ours talked to me often about the Percy Jackson series of books so my husband and I decided to read the series. I got distracted with some other books after finishing the first one, but my husband blew through the series and has been hounding me to finish the series. And now I have.
I enjoyed the series, based on Greek mythology - Zeus, Poseidon, Medusa, etc. Percy is a "half-blood" - the son of a Greek god and a mortal woman. At first, Percy just thinks the "glitches" in his life are because of his ADHD and his Dyslexia, but in reality it is because he is a half-blood and Greek monsters are on the hunt for him. Throughout the series, Percy and his friends take on these monsters, and the powerful forces behind them in various quests.
I didn't love this series like I loved Harry Potter, but it is a great series that pulled me through from book to book. The last book really made the whole series for me - it was fantastic. I enjoyed so many of the characters (Percy, Clarisse, Poseidon, Rachel, Nico, Tyson, Grover) - and a few of the critters (Mrs. O'Leary, the hippocampi) - and cared about what happened to them. I liked Percy's voice as the narrator of the story. There are some pretty scary critters and moments in these books - I wouldn't recommend them for young readers.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Horrible Harry really isn't so horrible, at least not in these two stories.
In The Triple Revenge, Harry sticks up for a classmate who make a beautiful - and complicated - origami praying mantis and another student crushed it. Harry takes "revenge." In The Locked Closet, Harry and his friends decide to investigate the closet in their class room that has never been opened. Eventually, even the principal gets involved in trying to discover the secret.
Fun school stories that will appeal to early readers.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Two great graphic novels.
First is Rapunzel's story - it starts fairly close to the original. Then Rapunzel escapes her "tower" (a tree) and she meets up with Jack and they try to make their way back to Mother Gothel's fortress to ruin her and save Rapunzel's real mother. Lots of great adventure - fighting sea monsters, coyotes and a horned bunny - and great hair.
In Jack's story, Jack and Rapunzel head home to make things up to Jack's mother from the whole beanstalk fiasco. But when they get there, they discover that the giants have taken over, Jack's mother is being held hostage to bake the giant's bread, and a friend has become a foe.
Both stories are well told and well drawn. There are plenty of good twists and reveals. Both books are "chunky" reads - well worth the price with heavy paper and great color. Jack is over 140 pages in hard cover.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
The Grimm Sisters' ongoing adventure takes them this time into the Book of Everafter - a magical book of fairy tales that visitors can go to and experience the story first hand. But they aren't there for a vacation. They are chasing the one who has orchestrated all their recent trials and who has taken their baby brother.
I enjoyed this "chapter" in the sisters' saga. The series is a little dark for younger readers, but it is a great "twisted" tale series. I wasn't familiar with the book versions of the stories highlighted in The Inside Story, but it didn't impact my understanding of the tale.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
I picked this up as an Easter gift for my Star Wars-loving son, but I was actually the first person in the house to read it. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this book.
Each episode gets 6 or so pages of full-color coverage. It includes character information, weapon and ship information, still shots from the episode, and tons of background information on the episode - voicing, name choices, species choices, rationales for decisions made, etc. The detail is exceptional.
If you have a Clone Wars fan in your house, run to the store for this one. I know we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will do a book of this quality again for the second season of the show.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
The latest book from Megan McDonald and Peter H. Reynolds in the Stink Moody series is a hit in our household!
Stink finds out Pluto has been demoted and he refuses to accept it. The boy who is small in stature (but big in ideas) just has to defend the small underdog of the solar system. In the process of fighting for Pluto's planetary status (at least in his second grade classroom), Stink learns some things about how to win friends and influence people.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Kiki Kitty has a run in with some fashion magazines at her birthday - they come tumbling down on her head.
Later, she becomes a super hero called Fashion Kitty who saves others from fashion faux pas.
I loved Fashion Kitty. Immediately I thought of my eight-year old niece. I knew she would love the story, the fashion angle, and the dress-up doll pictures in the middle of the book.
I was right - she loved it. I think this is a great introductory graphic novel for girls - along the lines of Babymouse and Lunch Lady.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
My eight-year-old niece has enjoyed these fairy books since she started reading chapter books. The author has added more "themes" to the series - the petal fairies, the dance fairies, the music fairies, etc.
The books follow a general pattern and involve the same main characters. The fairies loose something important to them (usually stolen by Jack Frost and his goblins), and Kirsty and Rachel help them find each object - the flowers, the musical instruments, magic ribbons, etc.
These are cute books and I think they are great for new readers. The pattern helps the reader anticipate what's coming.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
This new series involves the younger siblings of the kids in the A to Z mystery series.
Twins Bradley and Brian, along with their friends Lucy and Nate, are on the hunt for aliens... because aliens have kidnapped the A to Z mystery kids!
Great mystery - the kids list the clues, make a plan and solve the mystery. Great early reader-level chapter book. The mystery is fairly simple - I figured out what happened fairly early on - but it is just right for it's age group.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Very fun book of short stories geared to "geekdom." This "children's book" is for teenagers or older people.
My favorite stories were "The Stars at the Finish Line," "Once You're a Jedi, You're a Jedi All the Way," and "One of Us."
If you check out Geektastic, and love "One of Us" like I did, be sure to check out The Messy Desk - You don't want to miss out on the missing part of the story - "The Five Rules of Girls" which is a tool one of the characters uses to teach another about the different Star Trek story lines from TV. Check it out!
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Matisse spends his afternoons at the art gallery where his mother is head of security. While he's there, he paints copies of the masters. One day, a Matisse exhibit opens at the museum. Matisse - the boy - tests out his painting skills on the work of his namesake. He even has a chance to see what it would be like to see his own work on the museum wall.
That's when everything starts to fall apart....
Matisse's story is a little stressful, but enjoyable nonetheless. I loved the lessons Matisse learns about art and about being an artist, and staying true to himself.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
Max is on the hunt for a giraffe who has gone missing from a spot that seems escape-proof. But Big Max is just the right detective for a difficult job like this.
King Punchapillow from Ah-Ah-Achoo has lost his pet giraffe and needs Big Max the detective to help. Max and the king have a great adventure exploring Ah-Ah-Achoo on their search for Jake the giraffe.
Fun "I Can Read" book with a story that engages the reader. I mean, really. How do you lose something as large as a giraffe? As with most stories for this age group, the solution to the mystery is a little silly, but it leads the characters to learning something about one another that they didn't know before.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.]
Daniel's family moves to a new town in order to help take care of his grandmother. Daniel discovers that his new friends have superpowers. But he also discovers that someone - or something - is taking their powers and their memories on the day they turn 13. Can Daniel - a boy who can't fly or turn invisible, and isn't super fast or super strong - save his super friends?
This was a great story. The basic idea reminded me of a favorite series of mine - The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy. But this story is wholly original, which made me love it even more (I have read some books lately that were too much like the books they tried to emulate). I really liked the characters - even a couple who were temporary stars and then lost their powers and disappeared from the narrative. The whole idea of them losing their memories was a key part to the plot, but I liked them and it made the story even more captivating to lose their voices as the story went on.
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.]
Amelia is a princess, but she never quite fits in with her older sisters. She's not as good as they are at princess-y things and she even struggles with school. Her family loves her, but she still feels out of step and "ordinary." But when her parents die from a mysterious plague sweeping their land, and an evil uncle swoops in and takes over the kingdom, Amelia is the only one who can rally her people and save her home.
I loved this book. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. The story meanders a bit at the beginning. The author doesn't lay out the back story in a linear way. In other books I find that distracting, but in this one I was enjoying the characters and the writing so much, I didn't care. Once the stage is set, the story moves forward quickly with plenty of conflict and danger for the characters to keep the reader flipping pages to see what happens next. Check this one out!
[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
