Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Stronger Than Steel: Spider Silk DNA and the Quest for Better Bulletproof Vests, Sutures, and Parachute Rope By Bridget Heos Photographs by Andy Comins This new addition to the Scientists in the Field series spotlights Randy Lewis, who is at the forefront of researching golden orb weaver spiders' silk. There are many potential uses for spider silk, because it is so strong and flexible. It can be used for fishing line, or even parachute rope and bulletproof vests. The most interesting part of this research is that there are experiments happening with goats! Scientists are studying the effects of implanting the spiders' silk gene into goats, and then processing the silk proteins out of their milk. One of the labs is local, at Utah State University. There are similar studies being done with transgenic silkworms and alfalfa, so it remains to be seen who will reign supreme in mass silk production. Stronger than Steel has the potential to be used for science fair projects, as...

Hattie Ever After By Kirby Larson Delacorte Press, c2013. 230 pages. Historical fiction. Hattie Ever After is the continuing story of Hattie Big Sky . (You won't be lost if you haven't first read Hattie Big Sky , but it would be a shame to not read this 2007 Newbery Honor book.) After struggling to prove up on her inherited Montana claim, orphan Hattie Brooks sets her sights on her next adventure. Following the modest success of her homesteading column for the small town newspaper, Hattie travels to San Francisco in hopes of becoming a real news reporter. The bustling, vibrant setting of post-WWI San Francisco presents a whole new world of challenges for this country girl. The only employment for a woman at the newspaper office is as a cleaner, so she accepts the work. With her smart moves and plucky personality, she tries to earn her place as a journalist. Hattie still writes letters to her beau Charlie, but has yet to answer his proposal of marriage, though he does pop...

Nora's Chicks by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Kathryn Brown Candlewick, 2013.  Unpaged.  Picture Book.      When Nora and her family come to America from Russia, the rest of the family finds something here to love:  her brother adopts a stray dog, her father talks to the cows and horses, her mother fills the house with bright colors similar to what they were used to in Russia.  But Nora misses the forests and hills of her native land and cannot be reconciled until her father gives her a flock of chicks.  He envisions them growing up to become stew meat, but she names them all and says NO.  Soon Nora not only has the chickens for friends, but the chickens attract so much attention among the people in her prairie home that she starts to make friends with people as well.  In MacLachlan's trademark style, Nora's Chicks is an evocative, warm-hearted telling of a story from our prairie past.  The pictures are lighthea...

Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Tony Ross Andersen Press, 2012.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      "Hippopotamus had a spotamus . . . on her bottomus!"  A pink one, to be exact.  Everyone has a theory and a cure.  The weasel thinks it's measles.  Her sister thinks it's a blister. Hippopotamus moves anxiously from one diagnosis to another, one cure to the next (put on your winter clothes, scrub your skin with soot, etc.) but the spot lives on. Finally a young boy reveals the answer, and the (kind of gross) cure.  Some fun, particularly as a read-aloud.

Alien Deep:  Revealing the Mysterious Living World at the Bottom of the Ocean by Bradley Hague National Geographic, 2012.  48 pgs.  Nonfiction      Perhaps you didn't know that "the entire ocean is recycled through hydrothermal vents every ten million years."  That is only one of the not quite ten million but close fascinating facts about life at the darkest, coldest bottom of the ocean found in this informative book.  Logic would suggest that nothing could live at the bottom of the ocean primarily because there is no sunlight for photosynthesis, not to mention, what wouldn't get squished? And yet, scientists using submersibles, camera sleds, and other remotely operated vehicles (RUVs) have found not only microbial life, but enormous tubeworms, sea anemones, hairy crabs, gigantic clams living in and around the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. Chemistry, vulcanology, and biology combine in this book to give science-minded youngster...

UnBEElievables:  Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian Beach Lane Books, 2012. Unpaged.  Picture Book      Actually, Douglas Florian's UnBEElievables is three, three, three books in one. Not only a truly funky picture book, it is also a book of poetry, and a factual book about bees. The name "bees" lends itself to extravagant punning and Florian is a master:  "From egg I hatch in just three days,/Bee-ginning my new larval phase./I dwell in a six-sided cell./My cozy home bee-fits me well./Then as a pupa,  how I change,/Bee-coming something else, so strange!/My body slowly grows until/I'm truly un-bee-lievable!"  Each poem in the book has a description/explanation of what goes on amongst real bees in the hive and out, and Florian's simultaneously sophisticated and childlike paintings are just the bee's knees, if you'll excuse the expression.

  Sarah and Simon and No Red Paint by Edward Ardizzone David R. Godine, 2011.  Unpaged.  Picture Book.      Edward Ardizzone is a name to conjure with in Children's Literature, and this welcome reprint from the 1965 original tells the story of two young children whose father has thrown over the possibility of a comfortable living in business to become an artist. The children's mother is often worried as the family has to sell off the teaspoons and the clock to "tide them over" until the father finishes and sells his masterpiece. Unfortunately the father needs just one more tube of red paint to finish his masterpiece.  He doesn't have money to buy more and the grouchy art supply store man won't extend credit. What to do?  A surprise at the end involving a mysterious old gentleman from the Used Book Store makes for a happy resolution to the little family's problems.  Children may not take to this book at first by themselves because...

Robin Hood Retold by David Calcutt, illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith Barefoot Books, 2012.  112 pgs.  Nonfiction (Folktale)      The Robin Hood legend is well known--and not well known. The original ballads and stories have been told, retold, printed in books, made into movies and songs.  David Calcutt's version is based on well-established sources and includes the story of Little John and Robin fighting with staves, Maid Marion's advent, Robin's capture at the archery contest, and the adventures of Friar Tuck.  In addition, Calcutt prefaces his stories with a consideration of whether there really was a Robin Hood in England in the 13th century and concludes the story with several possibilities of what  happened to Robin Hood after his last encounter with the Sheriff of Nottingham, only one of them a happy ending. He also includes an appendix describing 13th century life in England. Grahame Baker-Smith's pictures are lovely and atmo...

  Cheetah Can't Lose by Bob Shea HarperCollins, 2013.  Unpaged.  Picture Book.      The little cats are excited for the big race because maybe this year, they'll be able to beat Cheetah even though he is "big and fast" and they are just "little and cats."  While it's true the little cats have shorter legs their brains are plenty big enough so they figure to take out Cheetah in the prelims.  He wins every race, but the prizes are special wooden shoes, an enormous ice cream sundae (after the pie-eating contest), and a crown that slides down over his eyes. By the time the big race rolls around, Cheetah is a mess.  Did I win? he asks, blinded by the crown.  See what the little cats do, in an ending that is a bit of a surprise. 

Love is in the Air By Jonathan Fenske Penguin Young Readers, 2012. 31 pages. Easy reader. Love is in the Air is a sweet, breezy read. It's a classic tale, in which Balloon meets Kite and falls in love. The two break free of their strings and are carried off into the wind. They make the most of their freedom, dancing and creating shapes in the clouds, and basking in the warm sun. When the wind stops blowing, they are faced with a tragic separation as lack of wind makes Kite drift down while Balloon floats up. Eventually Balloon meets Bird- rather, Bird's beak- and pops, spiraling into a dizzying descent. He is caught in the treetops by his beloved Kite. They, of course, live happily ever after.

Airman By Eoin Colfer In the late nineteenth century, when Conor Broekhart discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king, he is branded a traitor, imprisoned, and forced to mine for diamonds under brutal conditions while he plans a daring escape from Little Saltee prison by way of a flying machine that he must design, build, and, hardest of all, trust to carry him to safety. Leviathan By Scott Westerfeld  In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts. Behemoth By Scott Westerfeld  Continues the story of Austrian Prince Alek who, in an alternate 1914 Europe, eludes the Germans by traveling in the Leviathan to Constantinople, where he faces a whole new kind of genetically engine...

  Spotty, Stripy, Swirly:  What are Patterns? by Jane Brockett Millbrook Press, 2012.  31 pgs. Nonfiction      Brilliantly colored photographs acquaint young children with mostly manmade patterns in Brockett's terrific little concept book, one in a series of Clever Concepts.  Children are invited to discover the pattern or, sometimes, many multiples of patterns in quilts, brickwork, play food in plastic bins and real food in cardboard boxes. Candies, flowers, lettuce in the garden, buildings and fences are also included with examples of patterns that should appeal to and challenge young minds in this intriguing introduction to mathematical and aesthetic principles.

Mister Orange By Truus Matti (Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson) 156 pages. Historical fiction. Linus is a young boy living in New York City during World War II. When his older brother, Albie, gets shipped off to fight in Europe, Linus must fill in as delivery boy for the family's grocery store. One of the customers on his route is an interesting artist (the painter Piet Mondrian) who paints vivid, graphic artwork using "the colors of the future." He tells Linus to call him "Mr. Orange" because of his ordering oranges by the crate from the store. The two strike up a friendship and have meaningful dialogue about the war, art, and imagination. The war somewhat touches his life, but Linus sees soldiers as the superheroes in his beloved comic books- brave, but also removed from his everyday life. This novel is an exceptionally written, unique work of historical fiction. It is thoughtful, but not bleak, and is appropriate for most readers. There are...

Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer Written by Robert Burleigh Illustrated by Raul Colon Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c2013. Picture book biography. Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born in a time where women were not allowed to explore their ambitions, but she wouldn't accept these limitations. Burleigh writes, "Sometimes she felt the stars were trying to speak, to tell her what they knew." Henrietta had an extraordinary mind for science, and an unending curiosity about the stars. Not only did she study astronomy and work at a university observatory, she went on to discover, chart, and publish new star findings. Burleigh succeeds in writing yet another accessible, inspiring picture book biography. Colon uses nice colors that lend a dreamy quality to the night skies. The afterword has quotes about stars, more information about Henrietta Leavitt, an astronomy glossary, and further reading recommendations.

My First Day By Steve Jenkins and Robin Page Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Unpaged, nonfiction picture book. In My First Day , Steve Jenkins and Robin Page explore the unique, fragile ways that animals spend their infancy. For example, the newborn emperor penguin snuggles up to his father for warmth and safety, while the tapir hides alone as mom forages for food, relying on its coat for camouflage. The sweet little animals will surely capture your heart. This book works as both a soothing picture book for young ones and an informational read for older animal lovers. Jenkins and Page have a keen talent for graphic design and graceful storytelling. These two have certainly set the bar high for the 2013 book awards race!

This display features books and movies based on the interests of August Pullman, the main character of the book Wonder ! Wonder By R.J. Palacio Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.  Video Game Programming for Kids By Jonathan S. Harbour Teaches young video game enthusiasts how to program video games with QB64, a simple and free version of the BASIC programming language. Top 10 Dogs for Kids  By Anne Graham Gaines ome dogs are big, some are small. Some like to play, others like to snuggle. What type of dog should I adopt? This book can help you pick the best pet for you and your family. The top 10 dogs are approved by the American Humane Association and are listed alp...

  Last Laughs:  Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, illustrated by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins Charlesbridge, 2012.  31 pgs.  Poetry      If you like your humor a bit on the black side, and laugh out loud funny, this is the book for you. In rhymes reminiscent of Edward Gorey's pictures and verse ("B is for Basil, Eaten by Bears . . . ), this is a picture book for the Lemony Snicket/Goosebumps crowd.  Most of these funereal verses are short:  "R.I.P. (Really Inattentive Piranha)  The second-sharpest/teeth in the river." or "Ciao , Cow" - "This grave is peaceful,/the tombstone shaded,/but I'm not here--/I've been cream-ated." Some are longer; all are funny.  The pictures in shades of gray, black, brown, and . . . red (some pictures are a bit bloody) are very funny but  would likely frighten smaller children or chicken-lipped adults such as myself, so I would recommend this book for older children, teens...

  Bunnies on Ice by Johanna Wright Roaring Brook Press, 2013.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      "When you're a champion ice-skater, you have to wait for the conditions to be just right."  For little dressed-in-pink girl rabbit, it's hard to wait, though the bunny family do a lot of fun things while they wait, like planting and raising a garden, riding trikes, swimming at the pond, carving jack-o-lanterns and picking apples. Our little champion is so anxious she even puts ice skates on the scarecrow.  When they day finally arrives, little dressed-in-pink skates serenely in front of her many fans (birds in bleachers), does figure 8s (they look like string in the junk drawer) with her eyes closed, and leaps into the air before a perfect landing (on her back).  But no worries.  This champion has a great support team, plenty of hot chocolate, and a warm bath to "keep [her] muscles loose."  What a lovely, lovely beginning to the p...

Doug Unplugged By Dan Yaccarino Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. Unpaged picture book. Doug is a young robot whose very smart parents want him to know all there is to know about the world. So, as they leave for work each day, they plug Doug in to download knowledge. One morning, as Doug downloads information about city life, he happens to see a real live pigeon on his windowsill. Curious, he unplugs, and flies out the window to explore the vibrant, bustling city outside. On Doug's day out, he gains real knowledge as he experiences the city and its people. Yaccarino's art is bright and lively, and his story is a gentle reminder to unplug and see the real world.

  Bill the Boy Wonder:  The Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman, Illustrated by Ty Templeton Charlesbridge, 2012.  Unpaged.  Biography.      Bill Finger, like his character Batman, had several secret identities.  For one, his real name was Milton rather than Bill, but since Jews had difficulty finding employment when Milton was looking for work, he changed his name to Bill.  Secondly, Bob Kane, the man usually given sole credit for the creation of Batman got a number of his original ideas from Bill without giving him credit, and Bill wrote most of the Batman stories as well as coming up with the characters of the Joker and Catwoman, among others. Bill created the back story for why Bruce Wayne, a man without super powers, decided to fight crime and named Bruce Wayne and Gotham City.  Bill was a get-along kind of guy and so never pushed to get a byline on the Batman comics, and Bob Kane never offered one. ...

Great Basin Indians by Melissa McDaniel Heinemann, 2012.  48 pgs. Nonfiction      Heinemann's First Nations of North America series is a good idea, but if the other entries in the set are as inconsistent, as factually selective, and sometimes as sketchy as this volume, the series is in trouble. The book looks great--the cover art is impressive and the photographs in the text are helpful and evocative. But these are the problems I see:  The author places great emphasis on the aridity of the land and the difficulty of finding food in a dry land.  Although this is certainly true for those Indians who lived in the West desert, it was not for the Indians such as the Bannock and the Northern Shoshone (Utes) who lived near Bear Lake, Utah Lake, and in southern Idaho.  Also, the tribe which had the most trouble eking out an existence were the Goshutes, who are never mentioned in this book. Also, the text states that life was hard because not only w...

Castle:  How It Works by David Macaulay Roaring Brook Press, 2012.  31 pgs.  Easy Reader      David Macaulay's masterful work about the architecture and operations of a medieval castle ( Castle , 1977)  has been transformed into an equally beguiling short text for beginning readers.  K-3 readers will find here a brief but thorough explanation in words and pictures of the fundamentals of castle life and construction. With particular emphasis on how a castle is built to withstand attack, as well as why the toilets were so cold, this book should be a particular pleasure for kids drawn to the history of knights and medieval times. 

Greenhorn by Anna Olswanger, illustrated by Miriam Nerlove NewSouth Books, 2012.  47 pages.  Fiction      Why is such a short book in the Fiction section rather than Intermediate Beginning Chapter books?  Because of its sorrowful subject matter. The unnamed narrator is a stutterer and a student at a Brooklyn yeshiva in 1946. One day he and his classmates are called in from their stickball game so their Rebbe can inform them that refugee boys from Poland whose parents were killed in the concentration camps, will soon be joining their school. Daniel, one of the boys, and the greenhorn of the title, refuses to speak and always carries a small tin box with him. When he does start to talk, he will only speak Yiddish.The reasons for Daniel's attachment to his box are desperately sad, but with the help of his friend, our unnamed narrator, he goes on to make a good life for himself and a family. A fine, readily accessible book about the Holocaust, base...

Bad Kitty: School Daze by Nick Bruel New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2013 intermediate chapter book. 158 pages.  Poor misunderstood Kitty is always getting blamed for everything. When she can't seem to behave the owner's decide to send both Kitty and Puppy to school. Diabla von Gloom's School for Wayward Pets is just the place! Of course Puppy is nearly perfect, he just has to learn to control his drool. As the animals endure their time at school they learn a lot about each other and themselves. Maybe Puppy isn't as perfect as everyone thinks. And maybe, just maybe, Kitty isn't such a bad egg after all.  Will their owners ever realize this? Bruel has given us yet another fabulous Bad Kitty beginning chapter book . And for you Uncle Murray fans out there... he does make an appearance, though he is slightly less verbose than in previous books.

Earthling! by Mark Fearing San Francisco, Calif. : Chronicle Books, 2012 graphic novel. 244 pages. Bud's first day at his new school is out-of-this-world! Literally. He got on the wrong bus and ended up at Cosmos Academy: "the best in the galaxy!" To make matters worse, the school is run by an alien species that hates humans. Bud pretends he is not human which proves more difficult than he thought it would. Despite the galactic nature of the school, Bud still has to deal with typical school stuff: bullies, teachers, principals, competitive sports, etc... Somehow he gets tangled up in a plot to invade Earth and realizes he is the only one that can save his home planet. Earthling! is an entertaining and fast-paced read for 4th graders on up.

Mud Puddle written by Robert Munsch illustrated by Dusan Petricic Toronto : Annick Press ; Richmond Hill, ON : Distributed by Firefly Books Ltd., c2012 picture book. 32 pages. Every time little Jule Ann plays outside a mischievous mud puddle is sure to find her. Maybe  it's hiding up a tree or in her sandbox, she never knows where it is going to turn up. Jule Ann goes to great lengths to disguise herself and hide from this filthy nuisance yet she always ends up splattered in muck. Her exasperated mother has long since given up on bathing her so Jule Ann decides to confront the sneaky slime with a secret weapon. Whether you are a long-time fan of the incredible Robert Munsch or not, you will surely enjoy this clever tale.

Time for Bed, the Babysitter Said by Peggy Perry Anderson Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012 easy reader. unpaged. No matter how many times the babysitter asks Joe to go to bed, he always answers, "No!" After numerous attempts and lots of mischief on little Joe's part, the babysitter finally asks, "why, oh why won't you go to bed?" Joe's answer might surprise some with it's magical simplicity. Adorable and uncluttered illustrations paired with short and simple rhyming text make a fun book for beginning readers.

The Super Secret Adventure Club By George McClements Scholastic, c2012. 32 pages. Easy reader. 3 boys have created the perfect (no girls allowed!) structure out of cardboard boxes. But they all disagree about what the structure actually is. Each boy has their own imaginative contributions. Is it a rocket for space travel? A gigantic t-rex? Or is it a pirate ship? When little sister Bea hollers at them to stop fighting over their "Super Secret Adventure Clubhouse," she unwittingly christens their new hideaway. This is a whirlwind of boyish fun, as the three amigos are wild and energetic. The illustrations are fun, and it seems this might be the start of  a new series. A great read for new boy readers, particularly those who might have pesky little sisters!

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, 1987.  168 pgs.  Fiction -or- Book on CD  Listening Library, 2012.  4 discs      Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase , Joan Aiken's classic tale of an alternative England where wolves are a constant wintertime threat.  Ms. Aiken's wolves likely refer not only to the animals which surround and sometimes invade Sir Willoughby Green's estate, but to the beastly humans who take over the care of his daughter and his property when he takes his wife to sea for her health's sake. The dreadful Miss Slighcarp--a very distant cousin--takes over while Sir Willoughby and his lady are gone, abuses and then dismisses the servants and sends the Green's daughter Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia to a school/orphanage that is no better than a workhouse. Though her parents' are thought to be lost at sea, Bonnie and Sylvia, with the help of ...

  Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson Candlewick, 2011.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      The familiar story of Goldilocks gets the old switcheroo in this delightful story of a bear who gets lost outside of the forest and finds his way out of the noise of the streets into someone's apartment in a high-rise. By then he is hungry so he hopes for some porridge, but the first thing he eats is Too Soggy (fish out of the bowl); and the second is Too Crunchy (cat food from the other bowl) and the third is "on the DRY side, but it is better than nothing" (toast). This conventional flip-flop continues until the ending when the family comes home and the bear sees someone he may have met before. The great fun of this story comes at the end, a fun surprise for Goldilocks fans.

Angry Birds Playground: Animals By Jill Esbaum National Geographic, c2012. 127 pages. Nonfiction. This book begins just like the famous app: pigs have stolen the Angry Birds' eggs, and the hunt to find them is on! The Angry Birds search all over the world, including rainforest, desert, ocean, grassland, and polar habitats. They encounter many animals along the way, learning about who lays eggs, and what different habitats are like. There are nice photographs, maps, and interesting facts, accompanied by cartoons of the birds. The birds interject such witty comments as (re: burrowing owls), "They look angry...I knew there was something I liked about these guys!" With more than a hundred pages of animals to explore, the egg hunt is extensive but fun. There is a lot here to entertain your little reader, including quiz questions and bonus activities. Although the Angry Birds-National Geographic connection is a bit of a stretch, it's a successful tactic to get kids t...

  Electric Ben:  The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd Dial, 2012.  Unpaged.  Nonfiction      Electric Ben   is the ever-so-worthy winner of a Sibert Honor award last month, given by the American Library Association in January of each year for the best nonfiction works for children published during the previous year.  Hardly any of our founding fathers has received more attention than Franklin in children's and adult texts, but this book stands out even in that crowded field. Because Franklin's political endeavors came late in his life, Byrd spends a fair share of the book considering Franklin's scientific accomplishments and his life as a printer and writer. His work on the Declaration of Independence and his measured and sage advice to the Continental Congress are also highlighted. And it is good to know that "Benjamin Franklin's final position as a public servant was as president of the Pennsylvania So...

Eight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds, illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke Charlesbridge, 2012.  Unpaged.  Nonfiction      In the simplest possible terms, McReynolds and O'Rouke introduce very young children to the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, not neglecting Michael Collins circling overhead.  Eight Days Gone is so minimalist--four lines per page with an abab rhyme scheme fairly shout for adult intervention, making this book a perfect read-aloud provided one gives enough space for youngsters to ask questions. Bold, clear outlines and rich colors make this an appealing book for curious kids with a scientific bent.  Chosen by the National Science Teachers Association as one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 published in 2012.

Charley's First Night by Amy Hest, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury Candlewick, 2012.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      When Henry finds Charley on a snowy night, he knows the little dog wants to be taken home.  So he does. His parents say Charley can stay but Henry will be in charge of walking him ( I couldn't wait to be in charge of walking Charley forever ) and in charge of feeding Charley ( and I couldn't wait to be in charge of feeding Charley forever ), and Charley has to sleep in the kitchen. But Charley doesn't want to sleep in the kitchen so when he wakes up and cries, Henry runs downstairs, snuggles him, walks him around, and sends him back to sleep until Charley just can't stand it (nor can Henry) and they both fall asleep (by accident!) on Henry's bed. What a lovely story of a young boy's love for his dog, and the dog's for his young master.  It could hardly have been more better pictured, or better told.

Demolition by Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock Candlewick, 2012.  Unpaged.  Picture book      What's the only thing that's just as much fun as watching a building being built?  Seeing it get torn down!  Sutton and Lovelock's Demolition combines a bouncy, rhyming text with graphic renderings of a high-reach excavator, a crane with a wrecking ball, a bulldozer, and a concrete crusher taking down an old building to make way for a playground. Great read-aloud sound effects are built in to one of those repetitive chants that children love:  "Ram the walls. Ram the walls./Bash and smash and slam./First they wobble, then they fall./Thud! CREAK! WHAM!"  Artsy and gritty all at once.  What's not to like? 

  Monsieur Marceau by Leda Schubert, illustrated by Gerard Dubois Roaring Book Press, 2012.  Unpaged.  Biography.      Many will know Marcel Marceau as the greatest mime who has ever lived.  (If you need evidence, haste to You Tube.)  But did you also know that Marceau's original name was Mangel, a Jewish name he changed to escape the prison camps in World War II. And did you know that as a member of the French underground, he led  hundreds of Jewish children from a French orphanage to safe haven in Switzerland, and that in spite of all his efforts, his father died in a concentration camp?  Marcel Marceau's remarkable story is told in flawless and accessible prose by Leda Schubert with lovely, evocative pictures by Gerard Dubois.  Monsieur Marceau won the Orbis Pictus Award for 2013, given by the National Council of Teachers of English for the best nonfiction book for children published during the previous year.

You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! by Jonah Winter & Terry Widener Schwartz & Wade, 2013.  Unpaged.  Biography.      The Say Hey Kid comes up big in this terrific picture book biography of the boy from Westfield, Alabama who would become perhaps the greatest all-around baseball player ever. Mays started out in the Negro Leagues with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and then helped the Birmingham Black Barons win the pennant. After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for the big leagues, Willie Mays joined the New York Giants in the Polo Grounds and in his first at bat there, hit the ball out of the park, literally, against Warren Spahn, for cryin' out loud.  The rest is history and that history is beautifully well written by Jonah Winter and beautifully well illustrated by Terry Widener. A terrific follow up to this dynamic duo's Sandy Koufax biography, You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! is a great book for young baseball fans and kids who should k...

Grumpy Goat by Brett Helquist Harper, 2013.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      Sunny Acres was a fun farm until grumpy goat showed up.  He pretty much took the air out of everyone's tires. When the other animals tried to make his acquaintance, he chased them away. He never noticed the beauty of the farm.  "He just kept his head down, scowled, and ate." But one day Grumpy's discovery of a bright yellow flower on the hillside melted something in his fearsome little heart. He watered the flower.  He at the grass around it with his teeth. He even made friends with the other farm animals as he showed them his flower.  But one day the yellow flower turned white, and a brisk wind blew all but the stem of the flower away. Grumpy was beside himself.  His friends tried to help but he was inconsolable.  Until one day . . . another yellow flower appeared, and then another and another. Dandelions take on a whole new dimension in this f...

About Habitats: Oceans by Cathryn Sill, illustrated by John Sill Peachtree, 2012.  Unpaged.  Nonfiction      One of a series of books about the earth's biomes, Oceans is a fine beginning nature book for early readers or pre-schoolers.  With only a sentence or two on each page leading into simple but lovely illustrations of the ocean and its plants and creatures, Oceans takes on the character of a read-aloud picture book acquainting youngsters with polar oceans, subtropical oceans, Pacific and Indian Oceans, bearing in mind that all these oceans are joined together into one great body of water. Smaller versions of the plates are appended with more information for older children.  Oceans was chosen by the National Science Teachers Association as one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students for 2012.  The book also has an implied spiritual component, extremely unusual for science books these days.  It is dedicated "To the...

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.  257 pgs. Fiction      Thirteen year old Georgie Burkhardt is a crack shot with her Springfield rifle and she speaks her mind plain.  But when she tells her sister's intended that her former boyfriend kissed her, older sister Agatha leaves town with a bunch of pigeoners and doesn't come back, until something that looks like it might be her body--wearing a blue-green dress and with auburn hair--shows up.  Everyone believes these are Agatha's remains except Georgie, and she lights out for Dog Hollow to find her sister. Amy Timberlake's sparkling new novel is a model of frontier fiction for young people with echoes of True Grit and Huckleberry Finn, though Georgie is a complete character (and a complete "character") in her own right. Filled with humor and pathos, based on actual historical events (including the largest nesting of passenger pigeons in history near a small Wisconsin town), One C...

Red Knit Cap Girl by Naoko Stoop Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  Unpaged.  Picture Book.      Red Knit Cap Girl finds time to do a lot of thinking in the forest.  She wonders if she could ever get close enough to the moon to talk to her.  Hedgehog thinks she should ask Owl, wisest of them all, and Owl wisely tells her that although the moon is too far away for her to reach it, she can invite the moon to come visit with her.  A party is arranged.  The moon doesn't show. Red Knit Cap Girl suddenly knows exactly what to do, and soon she and her forest friends are enjoying the company of a full and tender moon.  Nice story, lovely pictures.