Dear Cinderella by Marian Moore & Mary Jane Kensington

Love. This. Book!  Cinderella and Snow White have decided to become pen pals.  Through a series of letters back and forth, the two stories of Snow White and Cinderella are told in a new way.  Kids will love picking out some of the details of the two stories as they are woven together.  Awesome!

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson

Bear is back with all his forest friends.  As Bear's friends arrive with delicious food to share he suddenly realizes he has nothing to share.  Bear is quite upset but his friends assure him that it is ok because he does have something to share - his stories.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves (Always love Wilson's endpages!!)

Monster Mash illustrated by David Catrow

"He did the mash.  He did the monster mash!  The monster mash.  It was a graveyard smash."

Davide Catrow's funny and somewhat creepy illustrations bring the lyrics/song by Bobby Pickett and Leonard Capizzi to life.  Perfect for the upcoming Halloween season, kids will enjoy Catrow's take on the popular song.

Illustrations:  4 Buckeye Leaves

The Monster's Monster by Patrick McDonnell

There once was three monsters that thought they were each the meanest, strongest, babbest monsters.  They decided to create a new monster.  This monster will be biggest, baddest monster.  But the three are shocked when the monster finally speaks, ""Dank you!"  The three monsters leave adults (and their care givers.)  The three monsters learn an important lesson and decide maybe being biggest and meanest monster is not..

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

ABC Zooborns! Andrew Bleiman

Join adorable baby zoo animals and venture through the alphabet.  Beginning with anteater, each page features a photograph of a zoo baby and a short rhyme describe the animal.

"D is for dhole.  Don't you wish your peepers were as dreamy as mine?"

Text:  5 Buckeye Leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon

A totally adorable lift-the-flap book about animals and the sounds they produce!
"Do horses paint?  Do horses play? All I know is horses go...Neigh!"
Young children will love lifting the flap to peek inside the animal's mouth and "read" the sound the animal makes.  Bright colors and adorable pictures make this animal sound noise a big hit at our house.

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Hush, Little Monster by Denis Markell

"Hush Little Monster, don't you howl.  Daddy's gonna give you a ...screeching owl."

And so begins this monster version of Hush Little Baby complete with a ghost, a vampire, and wolfman.  Adorable pictures will allow even the youngest readers to enjoy.
 

Olive and the Big Secret by Tor Freeman

Olive has a BIG secret.  Her big secret is not HER secret though.  Her secret is Molly's secret.  Olive must not tell anyone Molly's secret.  And Olive does try to keep the secret - she really does but it is hard....After keeping quiet about the secret Olive finally cracks and tells her friend Joe.  Olive tells Joe not to tell anyone but Joe does tell Matt.  And of course as we have all experienced before, the chain of "secret keeping" goes from there.  A great book for teaching kids about being a good friend, a good "secret keeper" as well as the need sometimes to NOT keep a secret.  (And I love the illustration about of Olive telling Joe NOT tell the secret!)

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Bully by Patricia Polacco

Lyla is very nervous and a little homesick when she starts the first day at her new school.  However she quickly meets another new student, a boy named Jamie and they become fast friends.  Together they navigate the first few weeks of school.  Layla decides to try out for cheerleading and is very excited to make the squad.  Her brother and her work together to convince their parents to get them cell phones and a laptop to "stay connect" and fit in.  Soon Layla is hanging out with the "cool girls" and being invited to get togethers after school.  However Layla is not crazy about how her new friends treat some of the others, especially on Facebook and decides to distance herself from them.  Then their is a big test scandal that results in the Layla being accused of stealing a test and cheating.  Layla knows she did not cheat and she knows somehow Gage, one of the "cool kids" is behind the scandal but how can she prove it?  What Layla does not know is that there is one person that SAW the test being stolen...
A great book for middle school and high school students that opens itself to discussion about cheating in the new digital age.

There's A Fly Guy In My Soup by Tedd Arnold

It has been greatly anticipated at our house....FLY GUY IS BACK!  Adam is a huge fan...I think we have all of them.  This time Fly Guy and the family are on the move.  They are staying at a hotel which unfortunately Fly Guy can not eat at.  Fly Guy goes searching for food but does not find anything to his liking and instead ends up in a "bath".  The "bath" is not a bath....but rather soup.....and from there things spin out of control.  Another Fly Guy adventure which will have fans excited.

Llama Llama Time To Share by Anna Dewdney

Llama Llama is back and this time he is learning a hard lesson about sharing.  Llama Llama has a new neighbor and Nelly Gnu has come over to play.  But things go bad, very bad, when Nelly Gnu takes Fuzzy Llama.  Llama Llama does NOT like to share!  Fuzzy Llama is suddenly the object of a tug-of-war and soon is missing an arm.  Oh no!  What can be done to make this right?  Kids will love the new llama book, as with the others, and learn through Llama Llama's experiences.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

OH NO, Little Dragon! by Jim Averbeck

"Little Dragon has a spark in his heart, so he could huff and puff and....PHOOSH."

Mama loves Little Dragon's spark but when his flame goes out in the water, he is worried.  Will Mama still love him?  Little Dragon tries to bring back his spark but nothing works.  Little Dragon learns a big lesson and he feels warm inside again.  Cute and simple book to reassure children about the love their parent feels for them.  Cute illustrations with likable characters!

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

It's A Little Book by Lane Smith

I laughed had to laugh when I saw this book at the library last week.  Knowing the OTHER version of this book, which I love though would never read it at school or to my own kids, yet, I was anxious to see this.  It was pleased to find that this book was rated G.

"Is it for wearing?"
"No."
"Is it for e-mailing?"
"No."

So funny....and maybe a little funnier as when you get to the end, you can't help but wonder....how will it end?


View book trailer HERE!

Olivia and the Fairy Princess by Ian Falconer

The 4 year old BOY here....will listen to ANY books....at least once.  He just loves books (still working on his sister but she is coming around thanks to some serious Sandra Boynton brainwashing...)  He really likes Olivia.  He thinks she is hilarious.  Olivia and the Fairy Princess is the newest Olivia book and we both enjoyed it....with ONE exception (I will get to that).  Olivia is having an "identity crisis" because all the girls want to be princesses.  Olivia does not understand WHY all the princesses have to be wearing PINK!  What about princesses from other parts of the world that do NOT wear pink?  (I love Olivia's reasoning!!)  Olivia just does not understand why everyone wants to be a princess.  Olivia thinks of all the things she could be instead of a princess:  a nurse, a reporter, etc.  But in true Olivia style she decides she could be....A QUEEN!  LOVE it!  Perfect ending!  I laughed out loud when I read that!  So......You wondering the part I was not crazy about?  One page...one sentence....and I read it and cringed as I read it to my boy, born in Kazakshtan.....as Olivia is thinking of all the things she could do....."Or maybe adopt orphans from all over the world."  Yes, I know....this hits close to home at our house.  I waited to see if there was any reaction - and my 4 year old did not.  But other kids, older kids, just might respond to that line.  Just make sure, as always, you know your audience....We do use the word "adopted" in our house - kind of hard NOT to!  We talk A LOT about Adam's (and now EmmeClaire's adoption).  I do not use the word "orphan" as it has always struck me as harsh and neither of my kids are "orphans".  Just be aware....and now, I am off my soap box...for now!

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves - LOVE the ending!
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

But will I read it again to either of my kids.....just not sure,........

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

Rocket has mastered the reading (How Rocket Learned to Read) and is now moving on to writing his own story under the direction of his "teacher," little yellow bird.  Rocket begins by collecting words.  Once he has collected words he wants to write a story.  But Rocket does not know what to write about.  Soon Owl meets a new friend, Owl, and together the two new friends write Rocket's story.  A great story to share with student's of all ages as they learn about the writing process.  A definite purchase for any school library!

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves