Skip to main content

Tiny & Hercules


by Amy Schwartz
Roaring Brook Press, 2009. Unpaged. Picture Book
Tiny (an elephant) and Hercules (a mouse) are the best of friends and have a series of Frog and Toad-like adventures in this delightful new picture book. Hercules is horrified to be invited to an ice skating party because "I can't ice-skate my way out of a paper bag!" Don't worry, says Tiny, I'll teach you. Tiny is a slow learner, alas, but Hercules figures out a way they can both look good at Irma's party. Later Tiny helps Hercules when Hercules takes an art class and needs a BIG, STUPENDOUS subject to paint. And what to do when Hercules' 103 year old Uncle Roy blows and blows and blows at the candles on his birthday cake and leaves 102 candles still lit? Tiny can help with that, too. Friendship and fun are the twin engines driving Tiny & Hercules. May this be the first of many more.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...