Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise, illustrated by M. Sarah Klise

Regarding the Fountain is a very unique book created by the Klise sisters. It is the story of a school principal who attempts to order a new drinking fountain for his school, but instead makes contact with a fountain designer who creates the perfect fountain for the school. In the mean time the students, teachers, and staff of the school uncover a town mystery. The story is told in a series of letters, memos, postcards, newspaper articles, and other assorted discovered documents. There is a lot for a reader to discover in this book.

This should appeal to all those students who like mysteries, history, or just being nosey. The designs and illustrations contained in the book are as much of a treat as the story.

Ages: 8-13
Keywords: Letter Writing, Discovery, Imagination, Creativity, Community, Corruption, Pen Pals

Lesson Plan Idea: Art/Language Arts - Have students write a letter to Florence Waters describing the type of drinking fountain that would be most appropriate for their school, and explain why. Include appropriate illustrations.

Rock Star, Superstar by Blake Nelson (TEEN BOOK)

Rock Star, Superstar is the newest book by Blake Nelson, most likely best known for his mid-90's book Girl. Like Girl, this book examines teenage life in the Pacific Northwest. In Rock Star, Superstar the book revolves around Pete McGrady who more than anything loves to play the bass. He plays the bass in his school's jazz band and he is also playing bass in a fledgling cover band. Soon Pete is recruited to be in an up and coming "alt-rock" band. Being in the band affects everything, relationships, family, school, and work.

An interesting book for anyone who has every wanted to be in a band. It does not paint an overly glamorous picture of band life, Pete gets screwed over by his bandmates a number of times. It also deals a lot with Pete and his new girlfriend. This book is aimed at teenagers so there is a moderate amount of sex (but Nelson is never very graphic when writing about it) and a large amount of drinking and smoking pot. He does a good job of writing about sex because he talks openly about the ambivalent feelings that are often connected to it when starting out- Should I do it? Am I doing it for the right reasons? Am I doing it right? When can I do it again? What does it all mean?

Age Level: 14 and up
Keywords: Music, Rock, Bands, Coming of Age, Relationships, Sex

Lesson Plans: Not really appropriate for a class setting.

A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound by John Irving, illustrated by Tatjana Hauptmann

This is the first children's book written by John Irving. The story actually developed from one of Irving's novels, A Widow for One Year, which is about a children's book author. There are lots of things that I liked about this book, especially the gorgeous illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann (her drawing of Tom captures nighttime dishevelment perfectly and her use of shadows are fantastic); but I can not recommend this book as a children's book.

This book is aimed at those in the 4 to 8 year old crowd. It is a story that is supposed to be about calming down a child after a nightmare, but if anything I think it would make children even more nervous.

In the book Tom is woken up by a sound in his house, a sound that he will eventually describe to his father as, "a sound like someone trying not to make a sound." Very descriptive, but also a very scary idea. Tom's father tries to explain to him that the sound is just a mouse in the wall. The part of the story that I didn't like, is that Tom's baby brother, Tim, is in the room as their father explains about the mouse in the wall. Tim is far to young to know what a mouse is, all he knows is that there is a wet, slimy, furry, animal with no arms lurking behind the walls. Not exactly pleasant thoughts before drifting to sleep.

So I do not recommend this book as a book for children, but it does have an interesting story and gorgeous art work so it is still worth taking a look at.

Ages: Written for 4-8, but I would only think of giving this to someone 10 or older
Keywords: Nightmares, Scary Stories, Night, Mice, Shadows, Sounds, Brothers, Night

Lesson Plans: This might be an interesting book to use for Junior High or High School english to start an introduction about descriptive language. Write a description of an unknown sound.

Powell's Books - A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound by John Irving

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

Alice the Fairy is the newest book by David Shannon who is best known for his No, David series of books. This time he has chosen a female protagonist with equally humorous results.

Alice explains to the reader all the skills she has as a "temporary fairy." She can fly, she can turn her father into a horse, she can make it dark, and she can do many other things. Mainly Alice has a very strong imagination. Of course as you would expect in a David Shannon book, Alice's fairy skills also get her in trouble frequently with the Duchess (Mom).

This is a fun book that made me laugh. Alice the Fairy will be enjoyed by lots of young girls (and their parents) for many years. Also as is usual for a David Shannon book the illustrations really make the story and keep things moving along.

Ages: 3-6
Keywords: Girls, Humorous Stories, Magic, Fairy Princess, Mischief, Imagination

Lesson Plans: Creative Writing: If you were a fairy what magic skill would you most want? Why?

Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine by Kathryn Lasky, illustrated by John Manders

Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine is a new take on the story of Sleeping Beauty. Humphrey and Albert are two brothers who have been invited to the birthday party of the local princess. As you might expect, an 8 and a 10 year old boy have a good word to describe a princess's fancy birthday party, boring.

Well excitement occurs for the boys when a witch shows up and casts a sleeping spell on the princess and everyone in attendance at the party. Everyone including the boys sleep for almost 100 years. Though it is never clearly explained, the boys some how wake up first and must find a way of breaking the sleeping curse on the princess and the other party-goers.

In their search for a handsome prince to kiss the princess and wake her up, the boys encounter the scientist and inventor, Daniel Bernoulli. Bernoulli is neither handsome nor a prince, but at least he is not boring.

Lasky concludes her book by telling the true story of Daniel Bernoulli. This made for an interesting mix of fairy tales and science. And the story was silly enough that even the boys that I have read this story to have managed to put up with the kissing silliness.

This is a fun book, with a very original adaptation of the Sleeping Beauty story. Thumbs up.

Keywords: Fairy Tales, Daniel Bernoulli, Science, Inventors, Boring, Flying
Ages: 5 to 10

Lesson Plan Ideas: What other fairy tales could be mixed with science?

Powell's Books - Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine by Lasky/manders

The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant) by Avi

I absolutely loved Avi's The End of the Beginning. It is such an amusing and sweet story about friendship, adventure, and imagination. The story is very reminiscent of the original Winnie-the-Pooh books. Avi does a wonderful job of playing with language that the reader will discover something new in each reading of the story. This is definitely one of those stories that you will want to read over and over.

Avon, a snail, decides he needs to have an adventure in his life. He has learned from all the books that he has read that adventures bring happiness. As he is leaving his home, he meets his neighbor, Edward, an ant. Edward decides to joing him on his adventures. This story definitely illustrates that it isn't where you go, but who you go with that makes for a great adventure.

Older kids might at first declare the story to be silly or stupid, but the deeper I read into the story even the most cynical kid was wanting to know what would happen next. The small pencil illustrations by Tricia Tusa are just the right addition for those beginning chapter book readers who might be willing to give this book a try.

I hope Avi decides to return to these characters again, because I think he has a winner on his hands.

Ages: All ages, this is a definite family book
Keywords: Adventure, Travel, Friendship, Imagination, Fantasy

Lesson plan ideas: Have children write their own song for marching. Have children compare and contrast Edward and Avon. Even though the two characters are very different, why are they such good traveling companions?

Even More Parts by Tedd Arnold

Tedd Arnold has returned with yet another sequel to his fantastic book, Parts. Even More Parts is not a story like Parts or More Parts, but it is a collection of the strange things that adults often say to children. This is an excellent introduction to the use of idioms in language. On one page Arnold shows a teacher saying, "I want all eyes on me." Every student is shown throwing their eyeballs at the teacher. I am guilty of saying that to my students often, after reading this book I think I will need to be much more careful.

This is a very good book, but it does lose some points because it is not the same sort of rhyming and easily flowing book like Parts. Still it is an excellent introduction to lots of different idioms, and his illustrations are even more hilarious than in the previous two books. Each page also contains smaller illustrations to show related idioms.

Age Level: 4 to 8, but I could see using this with older children also
Keywords: Idioms, Language, Body Parts, Humor
Lesson Plan Ideas: An excellent introduction to idiomatic language. Have children illustrate other idioms with which they are familiar.

The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

What a gorgeously fantastic book! I am probably biased because I have been a lover of maps since I was a young boy. I spent many days looking through atlases and dreaming of far off places and people. The Red Book captures that feeling perfectly.

Barbara Lehman illustrates this story (there are no words, which only increases the magic of this book) about two children, with simple, yet colorful drawings. One child lives in a cold northern city, and the other child lives on some warm tropical island. Both children by chance discover the "red book" which shows them about another part of the world with maps and pictures. Their interest in learning more about each other grow until one sets out on a big adventure.

A big thumbs up for this book. This is easily one of my top 10 books of the past year.

Ages: All ages
Keywords: Maps, Discovery, Geography, Adventure, Wordless books, Imagination

Lesson Plans: I would consider using this book while introducing maps to a social studies class. Another possibility would be to use this for a writing exercise; students could write a story that would go along with the pictures.

Science Verse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

I loved the previous book, Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. I've used it frequently as a teacher to introduce math lessons. I smiled when I first saw Science Verse on the shelf and was expecting another fantastic book.

Sorry to say, but the book disappointed me. The authors couldn't decide whether they wanted Science Verse to be about poetry or about science. Often times I felt as if the science explanations were sacrificed to meet the constraints of using familiar poems.

Whereas Math Curse had a story that moved the discussion of math problems along, there was no story that moved one poem to the next. Were there some funny and educational poems in the book? Yes, and I'm sure I will use a few of the poems at one point or another while teaching, but I don't think Science Curse is a strong book when looked at as a whole.

A cd is included of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith reading the poems and adding some silliness to the reading also.

Age range: 8-14
Keywords: Science, Poetry, Evolution, Matter, Biology, Chemistry, Physics

The Road to Mumbai by Ruth Jeyaveeran

The Road to Mumbai is the story of the journey through India of Shoba, a young girl, and her pet monkey, Fuzzy Patel. Fuzzy announces in the middle of the night to Shoba that they have been invited to a monkey wedding in Mumbai, India. Fuzzy is sort of a snob and he doesn't want anyone else to know about the wedding. Shoba and Fuzzy lose their way multiple times during their trip and must seek the help of many other characters including, camels, elephants, monks, a snakecharmer, a snake, and many Indians.

Fuzzy keeps trying to dissuade everyone from following them to the "boring" monkey wedding. But in the end all their new friends follow them to wedding and save the day.

This is a fun story about adventure, friendship, and imagination. Kids will love the rich colors of Jeyaveeran's drawings and all the interesting creatures and sights of India. This story works as a nice introduction to India for younger children and it includes some factual information including a map of India at the end of the book.

This is a good book, especially for someone specifically looking for something about India or other cultures. Its not one of the best books I've read this year, but I have no trouble recommending it to others.

Keywords: travel, imagination, India, wedding, animals, monkeys, other cultures, customs

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Yumi Heo

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo is a superb book that almost any child will be able to identify with immediately. It is the story of Katie Honors who most of the time is a pleasant girl, but sometimes Katie loses her temper and turns into the mean and crazy Bombaloo. Imagine if you will a young female Hulk!

This is a great book for young children and older children who are learning to deal with their emotions. Katie learns the consequences of her actions but she also learns that her feelings are part of her that she must learn to understand. She also learns that her family will always love her even if she does occasionally turn into Bombaloo.

The story is fantastic, but Yumi Heo's illustrations turn this book into something extra special. The colorful drawings that explode and fill the page are amazing. The drawings capture the changing moods perfectly.

I have shared this book with library read-alouds with pre-school aged children and with second and third graders in elementary schools----and both groups, boys and girls, immediately connect with this story. All children have those scary bad moods that even manage to scare themselves. They like this story because it lets them know that it happens to everyone.

I look forward to seeing more books created by Rachel Vail and Yumi Heo. This book is a definite big thumbs up.

Keywords: emotions, anger, fear, siblings, family, love

Lesson ideas: This would be a great book to use for a health class for introducing the topic of emotions.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is a great read aloud book by Mo Willems. The reader is given the task of keeping pigeon from driving a bus. The pigeon pleads, begs, lies, offers bribes, makes up stories all in the attempt to drive the bus. Each time the pigeon asks to drive the bus the reader must tell the pigeon, No!

Kids love the opportunity to participate in this story, and they seem to like it better each time they read the story. Mo Willems pictures are very simple, but highly entertaining. I give this book a gigantic thumbs up!

Mo Willems has a great web page about all his work located at:
http://www.mowillems.com/

Parts by Tedd Arnold (2nd Review)

I spent the weekend with my four-year old niece (and other members of my wife's family). I brought along a bunch of my favorite books from the past several months to share with her. Of all the books that I read she told me that Parts was her favorite. Why because the book is silly and it has lots of funny and gross pictures. What's not to love, this book has it all boogers, loose teeth, peeling skin, and even dreaded ear wax.

Arnold's pictures are hilarious. His eyeballs are the absolute best. His writing is also great, lots of rhyming and a good cadence that keeps the book flowing. This is a great book for all young hypochondriacs in training. He has written two sequels, More Parts and Even More Parts.

Visit Tedd Arnold's web page at http://www.geocities.com/~teddarnold/.
*****Original review follows*****

Today was day 2 of my Story Corner program at the library. I read 4 books again: Turtle in the Sea, Players in Pigtails, Two Old Potatoes and Me, and Parts. My read aloud program isn't really geared at a specific age, but at everyone who is in the children's area of the library at 2 PM. I am reading to a group of anywhere from 3 to 20 kids ranging in age from 2 to 9 (older if we count the parents).

When I originally started the program I was going to have a weekly theme, but I've decided against that because I need to appeal to such a wide range of kids. The only part of the theme I am trying to stick to is starting each Story Corner session with a book that has to do with water or water creatures. Today's theme reading was Jim Arnosky's book Turtle in the Sea.

The book that had the biggest response was Parts written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold. Before you even read a word you can tell it is going to be funny because of Arnold's funny looking pictures---all the characters have oversized heads, undersized bodies, and big bulging eyes. You can't help but laugh.

Once you start reading the book gets even funnier...it is an account of the world's youngest hypochondriac. He thinks he is going bald, losing his brain, losing all his teeth....and that's just for starters. The kids were rolling in their seats laughing as one disgusting thing after another happened.

A big thumbs up.