Skip to main content

A Pet Named Sneaker

A Pet Named Sneaker
Written by Joan Heilbroner
Illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre
Random House, c2013. Unpaged easy reader.

Sneaker the snake lives in a perfectly nice pet shop, but he is unhappy because no customers ever want to take him home. One day, a boy named Pete comes into the shop, and Pete and Sneaker have an instant connection. Pete takes Sneaker home, and the two pals have fun playing games like "I Am a Necktie," and "I Am a Hat." When Pete has to go to school, Sneaker sneaks into his backpack; when discovered, he turns out to be the perfect show-and-tell object. Sneaker is a natural student, and as he comes to class every day, he learns to spell and write his name. The two friends also go to the pool together, where Sneaker swims to the aid of a floundering little boy. In the end, this heroic act leads to Sneaker becoming the pet pool lifeguard. This is a fun set of mini stories, and is surely a front runner for a Geisel honor!

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...