Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Color Changing Animals by Valerie Yaw Bearport Publishing, 2011. 24 pages. Nonfiction. Have you ever wanted to change how you look? This book tells about eight animals that have the power to do just that--changing their colors to hide themselves, startle an enemy, or even communicate. The large, colorful photographs are fascinating and fun to look at, and the author does a great job of explaining how and why each animal changes. One of the most clever is the mimic octopus, who keeps predators from attacking by changing both its color and shape to disguise itself. For example, when a damselfish is about to attack, the mimic octopus will imitate the wide color stripes of a sea snake, and actually bury six of its arms in the sand so that only two are showing. It spreads these arms out to complete its sea snake disguise, fooling the damselfish into leaving it alone. This book is just one of the Animals with Super Powers series. Other great books in this series are Electric A...

Why Do I Have to Make My Bed? Or, A History of Messy Rooms by Wade Bradford, illustrated by Johanna van der Sterre Tricycle Press, 2011. Unpaged. Picture Book The age-old question, why should one make one's bed since it's just going to get messy again anyway, is answered in the usual unsatisfactory way in this tour through the ages of children asking. As each child asks, each mother is reminded of her grandmother, or her great-grandmother, or her ever-so-many times great-great grandfather and how he/she didn't want to make his/her bed either. The pioneer girl has already "dusted off Pa's fiddle," picked up her marbles, lasso, and rag doll so why should she have to make her bed? The Roman boy has already "unclogged the aqueducts, dusted off the statues, and picked up after the gladiators," and the Viking girl has already "stoked the fire . . . , dusted off the sacred blowing horn . . . , and patched up Father's war wounds," so why should...

Itsy Mitsy Runs Away Written and Illustrated by Elanna Allen Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2011. Unpaged picture book. Mitsy may be itsy bitsy, but she has a gigantic will of her own. She hates bedtime, and decides to run away to avoid it altogether. Her dad helps her pack for her getaway. It starts out easily enough, with Mitsy packing a stuffed animal friend, but her suitcase soon grows heavy as she packs everything from her dog "Pupcake" to a reading lamp. In the end, she is so exhausted from her packing adventure, she falls fast asleep. Itsy Mitsy is a fun twist in the style of "The House That Jack Built" and "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." Author and illustrator Elanna Allen has created a great, spunky character in Mitsy. The artwork and font are detailed and adorable!

If Rocks Could Sing By Leslie McGuirk Tricycle Press, 2011. Unpaged picture book. If Rocks Could Sing is a fun new picture book for fans of Food for Thought by Saxton Freymann. Leslie McGuirk has been collecting unusual rocks along the shore for years. This book is a whimsical presentation of her collection, including rocks in the shape of every letter of the alphabet. There are shapes to accompany every letter, from rabbits to noses, and even a question mark. Some pages have added props which add more color and whimsy to the selection. Overall, this is a cute and imaginative concept. It's a good selection for reading one on one, especially to help children who are just learning their letters.

Words in the Dust Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011. 266 pages. Fiction. Words in the Dust is about a young girl named Zulaikah, who comes of age in Afghanistan as the Taliban is being driven out. She has a cleft pallet, and all the neighborhood children torment her. Zulaikah worries that she will never be married because she feels so ugly. When the American soldiers come into town, a doctor provides her with the opportunity to be healed. Zulaikah also meets a teacher named Meena, who offers to teach her how to read and write. Whereas beauty and education used to be dangerous attributes in a young single woman, in the new Afghanistan they are a measure of worth. Trent Reedy has written a phenomenal first novel based on his own experiences in the Middle East. This is a truly special book that blends culture and tradition with current events. It could be another Newbery contender! Appropriate for 5th grade and up.

Takeshita Demons by Cristy Burne Frances Lincoln, 2011. 136 pgs. Fiction Miku Takeshita's family has moved from Japan to England--and so have the demons who have plagued them since a pillar was placed upside down in their house. Miku places cedar leaves over the door to keep the family safe but when they are removed, a cold blast of a demon gets in under the guise of collecting for the Red Cross. Things get really weird really fast when Miku's substitute teacher, Mrs. Okuda, turns out to be a nukekubi , a creature with a detachable head that flies at night looking for children and puppies to eat. When Miku's mother winds up in the hospital and her father is trapped by a snowstorm, it is up to Miku and her friend Cait to rescue themselves and Miku's baby brother by getting rid of Mrs. Okuda's body before her head comes flying back. Though Takeshita Demons is a quick, easy read, it is also quite scary. In one chilling scene, for instance, Cait is collecting her things...

Predator Vs. Prey Series by Mary Meinking Raintree, 2011. 31 pages. Nonfiction Looking for a book with an exciting fight to the possible death? Do you think you know how Lion Vs. Gazelle will end? How about Shark Vs. Penguin? This series has eight action packed volumes with endings more uncertain than you might think. The suspense builds as you turn the pages until you finally find out which animal is the winner. In addition to narrating the life and death struggles of each pairing, the books also give pertinent and interesting facts and figures about each competitor. The text is short and concise, and the accompanying photographs are remarkable. Other titles in this series are Polar Bear Vs. Seal, Owl Vs. Mouse, Dolphin Vs. Fish, Crocodile Vs. Wildebeest, Wolf v. Elk, and Tarantula Vs. Bird.

Tom Thumb: The Remarkable True Story of a Man in Miniature George Sullivan Clarion Books, 2011. 200 pages. Nonfiction. Born in 1838, Charles S. Stratton looked like any other infant at first. Then he stopped growing. At five years of age, little Charley was discovered by the great showman P.T. Barnum and renamed General Tom Thumb. After that Charley's life was never the same again. Tom Thumb was the first true superstar celebrity of his time. Everyone knew his name and everywhere he went (in the entire world) people flocked to see him. His miniature-sized wedding to a woman even smaller than himself, was nothing short of the event of the century. The newspapers of the time were more interested in printing news of "The Fairy Wedding" than they were about reporting the current Civil War happenings. The story of Tom Thumb's exciting and adventurous life in show business makes for a fascinating read that kids will not be able to put down. Next time a child in your fam...

Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg Houghton Mifflin, 2010. Unpaged. Non-Fiction. When Annie Edson Taylor's charm school ran out of students, the 62-year old widow looked around for some other way to make money. Riding over Niagara Falls in a barrel would not have occurred to most of us, but Annie thought of it right away. Chris Van Allsburg's first foray into non-fiction tells Annie's remarkable and largely unknown story. Finding someone to construct a barrel to her specifications was the first challenge. Then she had to find someone to row her to the middle of the Niagara River close to, but not past, the Point of No Return. After she emerged, battered and bruised, from her ride over the Falls, Annie hope to cash in on her new-found notoriety as the first person ever to go over Niagara and live to tell the tale. Unfortunately, then, as now, no one was much interested in her when they discovered her to be gray-haired, middle-aged, and frumpy-looking. Van Allsburg...

Except If by Jim Averbeck Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. Picture Book. This charming book starts out with the premise that an egg will become a baby bird...except if...it becomes a snake. This begins a guessing game that lasts throughout the book, as the reader tries to anticipate what each "except if" is. The simple illustrations add to the appeal of this delightful read-aloud.

Bug Zoo by Nick Baker Dorling Kindersley 2010. 64 pages. Nonfiction. Nick Baker has been an avid bug zoo maker for years, and his knowledge and enthusiasm shines through in this fascinating and fun book. Every page is packed with information, instructions and colorful photos on how to catch, make comfortable and study different kinds of backyard bugs. Almost all the paraphernalia needed to make your bug zoo can be found at home or made with common items. One such item is a pooter--a serious piece of gear with a silly name that you use to capture very small creatures that would otherwise be very difficult to pick up--made simply out of a lidded jar and plastic tubing. This is a great book for aspiring entomologists, or anyone wanting to learn a bit more about the bugs living all around us.

Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, A Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History by Sue Stauffacher, illustrated by Sarah McMenemy Knopf, 2011. Unpaged. Picture Book. Tillie Anderson began her life in America as a seamstress in a tailor shop, but when she sees a bicycle roll past the window, she is smitten with the idea of having one and riding it at top speed. None of the lazy figure eights carved out by most lady riders for her, nor the ungainly side-saddle bikes with both pedals on the same side. Tillie wanted to race, and race she did, becoming the women's bicycle racing champion of the world even though her audacity lost her many friends and caused her mother to faint! Tillie . . . is a terrific story of a young woman who didn't care what anyone thought of her and did what she was born to do--go fast! (And she gets the guy, too.)

Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell Little, Brown and Co., 2011. Unpaged. Picture Book Many books have been written about Jane Goodall, but few as charming as this. McDonnell brings his patented Mutt comics style to the story of Jane and her stuffed toy chimpanzee (Jubilee) to fine effect. The story begins with a photograph of Jane clutching an actually kind of hideous Jubilee and then follows the story of her lifelong love of nature to her life with the living chimpanzees of Africa. Particularly charming are scenes of Jane and Jubilee hiding behind a pile of straw to watch how a chicken lays an egg and Jane sitting on a tree limb reading and rereading the story of Tarzan of the Apes and that other girl, Jane. Me . . Jane is a lovely, evocative story of a delightful young girl who grew up to change the world. Woodcut-like prints and McDonnell's watercolors muted by the rich ecru paper they are printed on puts this book on this year's potential Caldecott considerations...

Cool African Cooking: Fun and Tasty Recipes for Kids by Lisa Wagner ABDO, 2011. 32 pgs. Non-Fiction Part of the larger series, Cool World Cooking, this book is admirably well-formatted and contains simple but tasty recipes which should appeal to children and adults. Each book begins with a short tutorial on cooking in general. In the recipe section, Tools and Ingredients are clearly listed in separate colored boxes and, coolest of all, each step in the process is listed in a colored number which corresponds to a similarly colored circle around the picture of what is being done. Cool African Cooking is an excellent, accessible cookbook for middle-grade kids with some adult supervision and we are looking forward to acquiring the rest of the books in the series.

Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg Amulet Books, 2011. 119 pgs. Intermediate When Eleanor's parents tell her they have "difficult news," she thinks Grandma Sadie may have died. But the news is even more difficult than that. Her beloved babysitter Bibi is moving away. This news is "like pickle juice on a cookie," or a black banana, or a spiderweb stuck on your leg. All through the terrible August after Bibi leaves, Eleanor thinks of all she is missing with Bibi gone, and all the things her new babysitter Natalie does that are not like what Bibi did. Her parents make her play with the Terrible Agnes because her friend Pearl is gone for the summer, and she accidentally starts reading Moby Dick for summer reading. But one day Eleanor notices that August has become September, that Pearl is back, that she really does like Natalie, and nothing seems so terrible anymore. Sternberg's free verse story of disappointment and renewal, accompanied by Matthe...

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully Holiday House, 2011. Unpaged. Picture Book March, as the young man in this story discovers, "comes with a roar. He rattles your windows and scratches at your door." Not only that, this lion tracks mud and slush all through the house, scatters sleet and hail, and howls like a banshee until . . . one day, a warm breeze brings chickadees, bumblebees, and a little lamb who takes charge. Bauer and McCully combine their impressive talents to make the vagaries of spring memorable for a young child. A beautiful book.

Troubletwisters by Garth Nix and Sean Williams Scholastic, 2011. 293 pgs. Fiction. On a stormy day, while waiting for their father to come home, twins Jaide and Jack get a cream-colored envelope in the mail from a grandmother they didn't know they had. Grandma X's message is odd and short: "The cats have been very restless, so I expect I will see you soon." The twins' mother snatches the card from them and tells them to pretend they have never seen it, but when a surgical strike by a tornado levels their house, she has no choice but to send them to stay with Grandma X, where doors appear and disappear and cats talk. Jaide and Jack are troubletwisters who are soon in training to become wardens, but their training is quickly cut short when a Ward fails, Grandma X is overwhelmed, and it falls upon them to use their newly discovered powers to hold back the forces of The Evil (like The Force, but with only the Dark Side). As we have come to expect from Garth Nix, the a...

The Summer of May By Cecelia Galante Aladdin, 2011. 252 pages. Fiction. May (short for Maeve) is an angry girl. Can you blame her? She's 13 years old, her mother is gone, and she's been ordered by the principal to attend summer school. She graffitied the dreaded Ms. Movado's classroom and, as punishment, has to repaint her room and study poetry all summer one on one with "Movado the Avocado." May's relationships with her grandmother and father are strained, and they all live separate lives though they reside together in a very small apartment. There is a great sense of pain, as they all react differently to May's mother's departure and May's subsequent outbursts. Olive, her even-tempered best friend, is the calm in the storm. Much is revealed throughout the story, and there is some subtle foreshadowing as to the conclusion. May is flawed but her trouble-making is endearing. All the characters, including Movado the Avocado, contribute to her h...

Math Dictionary for Kids: The Essential Guide to Math Terms, Strategies, and Tables by Theresa R. Fitzgerald Prufrock Press, 2006. 131 pages. Nonfiction. Just in time for light summer reading comes the Math Dictionary for Kids! Seriously, this is an extremely informative and clear resource for brushing up on math skills, or for clarifying an unfamiliar mathematical concept. This book is organized by the different areas taught in elementary and junior high schools. Each section concisely defines common terms used in that area of study, and includes many examples and illustrations. There is also a quick reference guide for commonly used equations, and tables of commonly used facts and equivalencies. Keep this book in mind the next time you have to create a stem and leaf plot or inscribe an angle and just can't quite remember how.

The Loser List by H. N. Kowittt Scholastic Press, 2011. 213 pages. Fiction. "Give me that pen. Or I'll put your name on the loser list!" threatens Chantal. Why should Danny Shrine ("I'm no geek. I have a wide range of interests: reading comics, drawing comics, buying comics, and trading comics.") care if Chantal, self-appointed boss of the 7th grade, puts his name on the Loser List? He doesn't even know what the Loser List is. However, a mere two hours later, girls he doesn't even know are greeting him with, "Hi, loser." Then he accidentally starts a food fight in the junior high cafeteria, which gets blamed on Axl, the schools biggest and meanest bully. Things go from bad to worse in this funny account narrated and illustrated by Danny himself. He eventually figures out that true friendship is more important than being cool, and that standing up to bullies doesn't always mean death...of course, this is after he has betrayed his...

Clink Manufactured by Kelly DiPucchio and Matthew Myers Balzer & Bray, c2011. Unpaged picture book. Once upon a time, Clink was the hippest robot on the block. Now, he sits rusting on the shelf of the store, watching newer, cooler robots go home with happy children. Clink doesn't have retractable arms or fancy attachments. He doesn't have much to offer, except for a staticky radio for a tummy, and his ability to make dry toast. As he watches happy families go home with other fancy new robots, he leaks rusty teardrops. One day, a young customer comes in looking for the perfect robot. The boy isn't impressed with the shiny gizmos in the store, and walks out playing an old tune on his harmonica. Once Clink begins playing old fashioned music in reply, he catches the boy's attention and it is instant love. This fun, heartfelt picture book hits just the right note. Matthew Myers' illustrations are imaginative, and Kelly DiPucchio's story is perfection.