Provo Library Children's Book Blog

This is the story of a spider who wants to be a family pet. That's right, a pet. If you’re anything like the family in this story you might have a few reservations about the idea of keeping a spider in your home. No matter how hard our little eight-legged friend tries to impress his family they just scream and throw him out. What does a hard working spider have to do to get a little love and respect? Read this book and find out. This book is a great preschool read aloud. The spider is cute (for an arachnid) and the silly plans he comes up with to impress his would-be family will make kids giggle. Spider webs made of real glitter will draw kids into the story as well. For anyone who has ever given a shiver when the word spider is mentioned, this book is a good step toward recovery.

What really makes the world go round? It's microbes ! These tiny, one-celled bacteria have had incredible effects upon cultures and civilizations since the beginning of time. It's a fascinating history and you can learn all about it in Outbreak - Plagues That Changed History by Bryn Barnard. We learn about six different diseases; the Black Death or Plague, smallpox, the Yellow Fever, cholera, tuberculosis, and influenza or flu. Even more interesting than the sicknesses themselves, is the global impact they had on people, cultures, governments, and societies and how we can still see evidence of this impact today. Barnard is a wonderful historian and researcher. His explanations are worded in a way that doesn't downplay the seriousness of these illnesses, but still maintains its readability for youth. He gives us a background into microbes, bacteria, how germs are passed around, and how we have learned to deal with and treat sickness and disease. Look for this boo...

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Staple Knopf, 1989 240 pgs. Historical Fiction I read Shabanu because Ms Staples is one of the authors that will be coming to the BYU Children’s Literature Symposium in July, 07. This was her first book and it won a Newbery Honor in 1990. The story is set in modern Pakistan. Shabanu is the second daughter of a nomadic camel herder. Shabanu’s older sister is thirteen and has just been engaged to her cousin. Shabanu is 11, but she is beginning to mature and she knows as soon as her monthly cycle starts, she will be engaged as well. When her marriage plans are suddenly changed, she must decide weather she will go through with a marriage to a man old enough to be her grandfather, or endanger her family by escaping to freedom. The book is a fascinating look at a very foreign culture but addresses issues that all girls face as they grow up. Shibanu loves the freedom of her childhood and feels uneasy about her impending initiation into wo...

If you're a dinosaur lover, or have one in your family, check out Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe by Brain Moses. Written in rhyme, with illustrations by award winning Garry Parsons, this fun book describes an unfortunate event at a local cafe, which is frequented by dinosaurs. All the herbivores come in for a leisurely lunch, when who should stomp in, but Tyrannosaurus. Mayhem ensues, with bully TRex threatening to eat everyone in the establishment. A quick phone calls gets the hero, Terry (a triceratops), to come take care of the brute and, with help from the others, convince Tyrannosaurus to leave or be tickled "half to death". Parsons' bright, bold illustrations bring Moses' prose to life in a way that will keep children glued to each page. The triceratops and friends find a way to solve the problem of a bully without violence. They just tickle his feet and that's enough to get rid of him. Would that all the world's problems could be solved that w...

MINNIE AND MOO: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE ; Denys Cazet; Easy Reader; HarperCollins; 2006, 48pp. Our favorite cows, Minnie and Moo, overhear the farmer say he doesn't have money to pay his bills, and immediately visualize his becoming depressed, holing up indoors, and neglecting the farm, until all is lost. Moo decides the bank has lots of extra money--all they need to do is ask for some to save the farm, but the bank probably won't give money to cows so they dress up in some trench coats they find in the barn, and ride into town on the tractor, carrying an old violin case to put the money in. Thus attired, Minnie and Moo bear an unfortunate resemblance to the dreaded Bazooka Sisters, wanted dead or alive. "'The bank just wants people to feel good about themselves. Even if you're dead,' said Moo, 'it's nice to know you're still wanted.'" Minnie and Moo's adventures after they accidentally rob the bank are the stuff of legend and best left fo...

Every person born on the earth has to eat, sleep, and use the toilet. But what did people use before the invention of the flushing toilet? Read Flush ! by Charise Harper and find out! Harper takes the reader back in time to different cultures and countries and gives us the scoop, all in catchy, cute rhymes, on the history of bathrooms, potties, and sewers. Some of her fun poems include; Before Toilet Paper, Bad Sanitation Days, What is a Garderobe?, and The How-Tos of the Chamber Pot. Each page also includes a "Fun Fact" about some aspect of using the toilet. The illustrations throughout are whimsical and colorful. What you'll learn in this book is interesting, at times somewhat hard to believe, and, a lot of the time, just downright gross!

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "I like the Junie B. Jones books, what else can I read?" As a result, I am continuously on the hunt for other series to recommend to those asking me this question. Recently I discovered a fabulous new series by Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens. Bella Baxter is the heroine of these titles. She is the only child of a flustered cook of a mom and a clumsy, wanna-be do-it-yourself dad. The first of the three books is Bella Baxter Inn Trouble . The Baxter clan won an on-line contest, the prize being a run-down Bed and Breakfast on the Eastern coast. They tackle the project with much enthusiasm and soon have The Sea Inn up and running. Bella and her new best friend, the local librarian, are invaluable when it comes to researching how to fix everything, including who to call to remove the skunk from the basement. In the second book, Bella Baxter and the Itchy Disaster , Bella continues her amazing use of the library by resear...

You will not be finding this book on the shelves at Provo City Library. Being a native Californian, I picked up this book thinking I would get a nice overview of the state I now call home. I know enough about Utah to realize how poorly written and edited this book is. My time reading this book quickly changed from a learning experience into a brief episode of entertainment. The laughter began on the second page where a photograph that is obviously of downtown Salt Lake City is captioned as "Mount Timpanogos...rises just north of Salt Lake City"! I have lived here long enough to know that is false! The next section that I found humorous was titled "Utah's History and People". This part was full of confusing sentences and repetitive information. Also, did you know that the first Mormon settlement was called Desert? Amazing the difference one little letter 'e' makes, isn't it? Later on there is a photo of some women on horseback. The women and horses ...