Books | Page 62 of 82

Exquisite, a picture book on Gwendolyn Brooks that lives up to its name

The cover and thickness of Exquisite might turn off some audiences. The subtitle of the book is The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. Many elementary aged kids we know don’t like poetry. This is also a thick illustrated book, implying that there’s a lot to read about poetry and an author that they might not have heard of. It’s worth having young audiences hang in there for Exquisite. While it is a book about a poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, the text in it doesn’t rhyme and isn’t boring. The book is thick, but the pages use the words sparingly on some of them. The result is a gorgeous book that will entertain readers aged five an up.

Exquisite, a picture book that’s equal parts art, education and entertainment

History Comics, The Roanoke Colony is a top notch graphic novel

:01 First Second produces one of the highest quality book series that you’ll find for middle school readers on science. Science Comics tackles any science concept topic, natural wonder, astrological body, animal or plant species and creates a graphic novel around it that captures the imagination and desire to learn that upper elementary readers and up innately have. Now, :01 First Second has taken that same approach, but shifted the focus to history in a new series appropriately called History Comics. One of the first books in this series is The Roanoke Colony, America’s First Mystery by Chris Schweizer. The Roanoke Colony is a great example of graphic novel storytelling; perfectly blending illustration and text in a way that makes middle grade students laugh, smirk or otherwise enjoy themselves as they’re learning.

History Comics, making history engaging for ages 9 and up

Willow the Armadillo, mixed results on a book with many messages

Somewhere between reality competition shows, Marvel movies and the love of books lies Willow the Armadillo. She’s an armadillo who wants to be a hero. She also loves picture books. A way to engage both of her passions is to become a hero in a picture book. The result is a cute book that never quite boils over with interest, but will entertain kids four through six who are looking for animal fun.

Willow the armadillo, it’s a good library read

Paint By Sticker Kids Dinosaur, interactive craft for busy, young minds

Our eight year-old is what I envision me when I was that age. It’s not destructive or malicious, but impossibly active. I always wanted to be doing something, anything and if it engaged my hands, as well as my brain then the activity would’ve been a win/win for my parents. Alas, back in the “vintage 80’s” as my children call it, there were no Paint By Sticker books. That’s right kids, it was the dark ages of children’s interactive books and we had to walk to school uphill both ways. However, now, for kids aged six and up they can entertain themselves for hours with Paint By Stickers Kids Dinosaurs.

Paint by Sticker Kids Dinosaurs is perfect made for kids six and up

Ick! National Geographic Kids is disgusting nature loved by students

Ick! is the National Geographic Kids equivalent to bad words in another language. “Did you know that the Dung Beetle can push something that weighs 50 times more than itself”, our 10 year-old said as he came into my office. After he finished this tidbit of trivia he showed me a photo of the little creature doing just that. In my mind’s eye I saw the Dung Beetle from Larva, except I never knew that it was a Dung Beetle. I always thought of it as that smart beetle that pushes balls of poop around, much to the chagrin of the two larvas that always fought. Ick!, the book from National Geographic Kids had been in our house for less than an hour and our oldest son was already enthusiastically reading it and sharing things with us.

Knowledge, kids 8 and up get your disgusting animal 411 here

Sloth Went, gets better the more that you read it

My knowledge on the digestion tracts of animals other than human is limited. Some domestic animals are in that Venn diagram, while jungle animals don’t have any representation. Sloths are jungle animals. I knew that sloths are slow movers, and had I known how infrequent they have bowel movements I would’ve loved Sloth Went the first time I read it. As it reads for people like me, it’s a soft entry into potty training or ad casual glance at the poop cycle of a very slow and cute animal. The

It’s the #1 book on sloths going #2 that kids will enjoy

Alien Tomato, a charming book on imagination and possibility

Alien Tomato is the kind of simple children’s illustrated book that gives a loving wink and nudge to the early adopters while playfully teasing those who are slow to accept. What’s great about the book is that its story is as equally entertaining for anyone on any side of the argument. Perhaps it’s best if we explain the plot of the book, then that description might be easier to draw parallels to children or even adults in your respective circles.

Alien Tomato is a lovingly weird book about life, but in the garden

The Word For Friend is well meaning, but gets lost in translation

The Word For Friend has an inspiring message that is impossible to disagree with. The lead character is an anthropomorphic pangolin. To us, a pangolin is a dog-sized version of a roly poly with a long tail. Kemala has just moved to a new place and she doesn’t know the language. The kids in her class don’t speak what she speaks, everything sounds funny and it’s weird to hear the strange new sounds coming from her mouth.

The message is great, the book has its moments