The Big Snow is a lovely story about how many of the forest animals prepare to survive the long winter months. The geese fly south to escape the cold winter months, while the chipmunk stores food, and the ground hog prepares to sleep until spring. Many common, and some not as common, North American forest animals are shown preparing for winter in their own special way. Then one night there is a very big snow storm. Many of the animals are then struggling to find their food after the big snow. That is when the animals notice that a kind man and woman have started putting out seeds, nuts, and corn. The animals rejoice and happily eat the food that has been so generously left out for them by the kind people and they live through the winter thanks to the kindness of the man and woman.

This story is a little wordy for some small children, but beginner aged children are more than able to sit through this book and still enjoy it. One thing that I really liked was that none of the animals were anthropomorphized in this story, but you still felt connected to them as you read it. There was also some good use of new vocabulary such as the words ebbed and retired. The book didn’t talk down to children by using only simple language, but also didn’t incorporate so many new and different words that a child would become lost. When I read this story to my five year old she never asked about the new words, and only a few times did i quickly explain them to help her understanding. Most of the words were placed so well that context clues made them easy to figure out for any beginner reader.

The illustrations in The Big Snow vary between detailed black and white drawings to realistic watercolor illustrations. The illustrations are very nice, in fact they earned this book the Caldecott Medal. I enjoyed the variance between the black and white and color throughout the book and also liked that since the animals were portrayed through the story realistically they were also drawn realistically.

This is a wonderful book to read to children in winter time. It is also a great introduction or supplement to a unit on how animals survive the harsh winter months. Though the book may be more challenging for younger readers to read on their own, it makes for a worthy challenge or a great winter time book to read aloud to children. Young animal lovers will enjoy both the story, the kindness found within the pages, and the lovely illustrations of forest wildlife that The Big Snow has to offer.

Grade:
Content- A
Illustrations- A
Readability- B
FINAL GRADE- A

This book is a charming and witty story by an author who is well known for writing charming and witty stories! Roald Dahl keeps Mr. Fox and his family one step ahead of the bad guys, farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, while making sure that both suspense and humor fill the pages. Mr. Fox is always portrayed as the good guy, which is funny since he is in the predicament he is due to stealing. But he is of course a fox, and that is what they do. Though the animals are greatly anthropomorphized Dahl is skillfully able to maintain that they are still animals throughout his book. He also keeps you rooting for the animals throughout the entire story, and laughing at every blunder made by the farmers in their attempt to catch and destroy the Mr. Fox.

The illustrations are simple and few, but for a chapter book that is not an unacceptable thing by any means. They help visualize the story to a point, but they aren’t spectacular by any means. The illustrations are drawn to look humorous, which is of course a good thing since the story is filled with humor.

Fantastic Mr. Fox holds the distinguished status of being the very first chapter book that I read to my daughter. I picked it because it is a shorter chapter book, my daughter loves animals, and I knew she would like Dahl’s sense of humor. I am happy to say she liked it a lot, and it made for a wonderful first experience with a chapter book. Though this book could easily be read and enjoyed by an older audience, I think it does make the perfect read aloud for beginners. It is a wonderful introduction into chapter books for skilled early readers to read themselves as well. And as is expected from the author, the book is packed with silly humor that will keep the children laughing and wanting to read more.

Grade:
Content- B
Illustrations- C
Readability- B
FINAL GRADE- B

Pinkalicous is a cute story that most little girls will enjoy. I know countless little girls, who like the little girl in the story, love everything that is the color pink. My daughter happens to be one of those pink loving little girls and I bought this book for her as a Christmas gift. The little girl in the story loves pink so much that she wants the cupcakes her mom and her make together to be as pink as possible. But then after eating too many of them she turns pink herself, much to her parent’s dismay and her delight. I had to laugh when I was reading it to my daughter and she immediately agrees with the little girl in the story that it would be wonderful to turn pink. Just as silly as it is that eating too many pink cupcakes made her turn pink, she has to eat green things to be able to turn back to her normal color.

The story is cute and enjoyable to little girls in the beginner and early reader age ranges. Although it is a fun story it definitely will appeal to more girls than boys. It is fun to read aloud and memorable. The one problem I had with the book was the assumption that green things are yucky. It is a personal pet peeve of mine when I read children’s books or shows tell kids not to like the taste of green things or vegetables. In my experience most kids love vegetables until they hear that kids aren’t supposed to like them. With my pet peeve put aside though, it is a funny story and one I am glad is in our collection for my daughter to enjoy.

The illustrations in this book are interesting and colorful. There is a nice use of showing texture and pattern in the background and in certain objects in the book. It is the use of that texture and pattern that made the illustrations, that would have otherwise been only average, be a little better and more interesting. And of course there was a lot of pink in this book for all those pink loving little girls.

Grade:
Content- C
Illustrations- B
Readability- B
FINAL GRADE- B

In honor of the fact that we played in our first significant snowfall of the year yesterday I decided to read and review a snowy, winter tale. Stranger in the Woods is a cute story about a winter discovery made by the forest creatures. The story takes place on a snowy day when it is discovered that there is a stranger in the forest; and it has all of the animals curious. The animals discuss who should go and check it out to see if this stranger is a friend or not. There are deer, many types of birds, and small mammals in this story. Children will love seeing that the stranger is a snowman made by two children and they will also enjoy the fun treat that the animals get from this stranger.

This story is written with very simple wording and is in the point of view of the animals. The most unique part of this story is that it is illustrated with gorgeous wildlife photography. The husband and wife duo that wrote and illustrated this book have a real talent for getting close enough to wildlife to get the pictures they need for to tell their story. Stranger in the Woods is full of close-ups of wildlife in winter, and it portrays the forest as the winter wonderland that it is to children. The story itself makes the forest seem like an enchanted place, but it truly is the photography that brings the magic to life.

Children of all ages will enjoy this story, with early childhood and beginner readers relating the most with the fantasy of the forest. It is a great read aloud, made especially to be read on a cold and snowy day. Unfortunately many city dwelling children may have not ever had the opportunity to see some of the remarkable common forest animals that are pictured in this book. I think that they those children will not only enjoy, but benefit from seeing the photographs of the wildlife along with learning their names from this story.

Grade:
Content- B
Illustrations- B
Readability- A
FINAL GRADE- B

The Littlest Llama is a cute picture book about a fun animal. The littlest llama in a herd wants to play, but everybody in his family that he asks is too busy to play with him. Finally the poor upset llama decides to leave since nobody will play with him. He wanders and explores his home range of the Andes Mountains in South America before something frightens him and he runs back home to the safety of his family. upon returning home the littlest llama discovers that he is the littlest llama no more; his Auntie has given birth to a new baby llama that he will be able to play with.

This story was a lot of fun. There are a good number of unusual animals for children to discovers, all native to Andes Mountains in South America. The story is a simple one, but entertaining. And there is a good “family love” type of feel to it. The reader finds out in the end that nobody has time to play with the littlest llama because they are getting ready for a new baby to be born into the herd. Also the littlest llama is happy about the new baby because he will have another little llama to play with now, and there are no hard feelings or jealousy over it.

The Littlest Llama is filled with nice, colorful illustrations depicting realistic animals. My favorite thing about the illustrations is that they successfully show emotions with expressions while keeping the animals looking realistic. The native animals of the area are not mentioned within the story but can be found in the illustrations and children will enjoy learning about what these animals are (from the description at the beginning of the book) and then looking for them as the story is read.

This book will be loved by the early childhood to beginner levels. It makes for a fun read aloud story and it flows nicely and has a nice use of rhyme. The story may be simple, but it is a pleasurable read and children will enjoy looking at the illustrations of all the animals within its pages.

Grade:
Content- B
Illustrations- B
Readability- A
FINAL GRADE- B

This is a very simple picture book for children. Lisa the raccoon wants a kiss from Daddy raccoon at bedtime. But her father has a wild imagination and continues to make up silly ways of kissing. He dresses up and uses props to give his daughter kisses like a “witch kiss” and a “circus kiss”. Finally Lisa tells him she wants a goodnight kiss and she gets one. I first judged this book by its cover because I picked it up from the library because it features my daughter’s favorite animal, the raccoon.

This book is incredibly simple. Most of the pages simply have a few words and there is not any descriptive sentences about what is happening until the very end. I was happy to see a bedtime story that involves a father, because so many revolve around mothers. However the quality of the story was very disappointing to me.

The illustrations are not amazing, but they are cute and colorful. They are vital to this story though, because you have to understand what each type of kiss is by seeing what the father does since it is not actually described. Even though they are only good and not great illustrations, they do their job to help you see what each type of kiss is.

Kisses is easy to read and can be funny. It is always nice to find a bedtime story for fathers to read to their children. However Kisses falls short of expectations due to its extreme simplicity and lack of substance. Although it is not a terrible book, it just feels a little too empty and leaves me unable to care very much about it.

Grade:
Content- D
Illustrations- C
Readability- C
FINAL GRADE- C

Wringer is a well written book with a strong message that all children should receive. The story follows a boy named Palmer who lives in a town with a terrible tradition. Every year there is a festival in which adults shoot pigeons which are released from cages. The most disturbing part of the event is that the town uses boys of the age of ten as “wringers” who run on to the field to collect the injured birds and wring their necks to kill them. It is considered an honor to participate in the town’s cruel tradition. However as Palmer reaches this age he struggles with the idea of being a wringer, and decides that he would rather not harm the pigeons despite all of his friends being excited for the day when they can. In the book Palmer has a secret to hide, and struggles with how to go about doing what he thinks is the right thing when the whole town seems to be against him.

Jerry Spinelli perfectly handles a tough topic in this book. It is about so much more than killing or not killing pigeons, the book the topic of how difficult it can be for a child to stand up for what they believe in when they are in the minority. The book does not make Palmer into a hero who is without faults, he is a child, and he struggles with how to go about doing what he thinks is right just as any child would. I think that any child will relate to Palmer’s internal struggle as they read this book because Spinelli does a great job of presenting it in a way that a child would understand instead of as an adult preaching to them.

This book is an easy read because it is both interesting and written in a manner that flows well. Wringer will appeal to intermediate readers, and I believe it is a good book to introduce to young boys who don’t always enjoy reading. The characters are memorable and the moral is very thought provoking. Spinelli won the Newberry Honor for Wringer and it is definitely well deserved.

Grade:
Content- A
Illustrations- n/a
Readability- A
FINAL GRADE- A

We’ll Paint the Octopus Red is a short story about a little girl who finds out her new baby brother has Down Syndrome. It is a simple story, without much content, but it delivers the message nicely. Emma is six years old and she is nervous about becoming a big sister. Her father and her talk about all the fun things that her and the baby can do, including a fun art activity that Emma enjoys which involved painting with a toy octopus. Emma becomes excited about the new baby and all of the fun things that she will get to do as a big sister. Then her father comes home to deliver the news that the new baby, Isaac, was born with Down Syndrome. Emma is worried that her and Isaac will not be able to do any fun things together, but her father assures her that with time and patience Issac can do everything that they had planned.

The story is best for the early childhood and beginner age groups, and does not have enough content for older children to get very much out of it. The book does not dwell on the handicaps that having Down Syndrome may present. Instead the book simply focuses on Isaac being able to do all of the things that Emma had planned on doing with him. It does mention that the parents may seem a little sad sometimes, hinting that there will be some difficulties in Isaac’s life, but the book allows young children to worry about things that young children worry about and nothing more. This book does leave a lot of questions about Down Syndrome, but at least it doesn’t paint it as something terrible or scary. there is even a small question and answer section at the back that attempts to explain a little bit about Down Syndrome.

The illustrations are colorful and nicely drawn. There isn’t really anything amazing about them though. For this story the illustrations don’t help the flow of the story or add to it, but instead they just exist beside the story. This is alright though, because the content of the story is the most important part.

This picture book is definitely meant for reading aloud, rather than independent reading. This book would be a nice story to read to a sibling of a child with Down Syndrome as well as being a good classroom addition about people with special needs. I do think that this story alone does not do a well enough job of explaining Down Syndrome to be used alone. But it is a great addition or supplement to other books on the subject.

Grade:
Content- B
Illustrations- C
Readability- B
FINAL GRADE- B

In my opinion it would be very difficult to find a better series of easy reader books than the Biscuit series of books. Biscuit is a book that beginner readers will enjoy as they learn to read through repetition of easy to sound out words. The story is not complex, nor is it boring. It is simply about a dog named Biscuit and a normal day. Nothing of great importance happens to make the plot fantastic, but that is not what an easy reader goes for. A good easy reader book goes for simplicity while still managing to be interesting to the child. This book does both things beautifully.

The illustrations are well done in this book as well. The drawings are very simple to fit in nicely with the simplicity of the story. Most of all the dog is very cute, which of course will appeal to children. The illustrations also don’t distract from the words, which are large and boldly printed on the same page as the drawings.

This book will be easily enjoyed by the early childhood age range, as a good book to read aloud and point out common words to. Beginner readers will also benefit greatly from the repetition and simplicity of the words as they learn to read on their own. I strongly recommend that Biscuit and the other books in this series belong in the personal library of every young child who is learning how to read and enjoy books.

Grade:
Content- A
Illustrations- B
Readability- A
FINAL GRADE- A

Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry is a cute short story about a little girl who, as the title says, wont say those two simple words “I’m sorry”. Martha isn’t always bad, in fact she does a lot of good things. But when she makes a mistake she just refuses to apologize for it. Suddenly Martha discovers that she wants things (like a cookie or a hug), and that her family doesn’t give things to people who don’t say they are sorry. Martha then begins to apologize whenever she does something that isn’t so nice.

This story is short and simple. It has a good message and delivers it without any excess. You never really learn much about any of the characters as the story simply presents them in a way that could make you think of anybody being in the role. It is definitely a cute story, and is an easy book to read aloud, however it is not one that is incredibly memorable or special. Children in the early childhood to beginner age range would like this book the best, and children in that age range will best relate with the character as well.

Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry has cute illustrations, with the characters portrayed as simple otter-like creatures. There isn’t any background or a lot of details, but it works because the simplicity of the illustrations match the simplicity of the story.

All in all this is a good book, despite the fact that I considered it to be of average quality. I don’t think this story is remarkable in any way, but it doesn’t have to be in order to be enjoyed. It is fun to read this story aloud to children and they will enjoy it, which is what truly counts.

Grade:
Content- C
Illustrations- C
Readability- B
FINAL GRADE- C