Those Pesky Rabbits by Ciara Flood

Bear likes his quiet life minus of others.  He is not happy when a family of rabbits builds a house near him.  Then the rabbits start showing up at his house wanting this, wanting that, asking of help, etc.  Bear wants the rabbits to JUST GO AWAY!  One day bear finds a basket at his door from the rabbits.  Was he wrong about those rabbits?  And suddenly bear starts to feel something he has never felt before, lonely.  Maybe he was wrong to push those rabbits out of his life.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Be sure to check out the endpages!  I LOVE when illustrators make good use of endpages!!

Duncan the Story Dragon by Amanda Driscoll

Duncan loves books.  Unfortunately Duncan gets so excited about his books that his fire breathing took over and he has never finished a book.  Duncan decides he needs a friend but a fire breathing dragon finding a friend is not an easy task.  Duncan searches and searches to find that special friend to help him finally enjoy an entire book.Will he find that special friend so he can finally read those words, "THE END."

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrator:  4 Buckeye leaves

Maddi's Fridge by Lois Brandt

Sofia and Maddie love to go to the park and race and climb until "the taxis stop honking."  But one day after playing Sofia runs to Maddie's house hoping for a snack and instead gets big surprise when she finds nothing but milk in the fridge.  Maddie explains that they do not have enough money to buy more food.  Sophie being a good friend decides she will try to help Maddie and her family.  She does not want to break her promise to her friend and decides she will not tell her mom.  But when Sofia's attempts to help Maddie's family ends badly, she must make a big decision and hope her friend understands her decision.  A great introduction for students to learn about hunger and the world around them in a gentle story told very appropriately for younger audience.

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves - I LOVE the illustrations in this book!!  AND the endpages are amazing!!!  I am anxious to see other books from this illustrator.

Olive and the Embarrassing Gift by Tor Freeman

Olive's good friend Joe has given him a gift, a hat that says "best friends" on it.  Olive does not like the hat.  He thinks it looks silly.  Apparently many others think the hat looks ridiculous also as they laugh when they see him wearing it.  Olive is so tired of being laughed at that he takes the hat and throws it in the trash can.  Unfortunately Joe sees him do it.  Olive realizes he has not been a good friend but how can he make it better?  How can he get his friend Joe to forgive him?  Another great Olive book that teaches valuable life skills.  Great starting point for discussions.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Dangerous by Tim Warnes

Mole loved labeling things.  One day he comes across something unusual.  He decides to label this unusual thing in his path.  When that big thing yawns Mole realizes that this unusual thing may just eat him!  This unusual thing is dangerous and soon eats all of Mole's labels!  Mole soon realizes that the words he made might not be the best choices for this unusual creature.  Great use of words - fun describing words.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Peanut Butter & Cupcake! by Terry Border

Peanut Butter and his family has just moved to town and he is looking for someone to play with him.  His mom encourages him to go outside in search of some new friends.  Peanut Butter meets Hamburger, out walking the dogs.  Hamburger can't play so Peanut Butter continues on his way.  Peanut Butter then meets Cupcake but Cupcake is building a sprinkle-castle and declines as well.  Peanut Butter's search for a playmate continues in this way until he meets Jelly.  Maybe Jelly is just what Peanut Butter needs!  Interesting illustrations to go along with the simple text to create a story that many kids can relate to, trying to find a friend. 

Text:  3 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

PS I have read the book a couple of times....and I am still not "getting" why the title is Peanut Butter & Cupcake......I just "don't get it" so assuming I am missing something......

A Perfect Place for Ted by Leila Rudge

Poor Ted!  He has been at the pet store, well, FOREVER!  No one ever notices him.  Ted decides it is time to head out on his own to find a "job" that is perfect for him.  He tries the circus but that does not work out for him.  He tries a pet pageant but that does not work either.  Nothing Ted tries seems to be a good fit.  Then one day he sees a young girl placing posters up.  She is looking for a "furry friend" to be her friend.  Finally a perfect fit for Ted and his new friend, Dot.  A very sweet, simple story about fitting in and finding the perfect place for you.  I absolutely LOVE the illustrations.  A definite purchase book! 

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Hooray for Hat! by Brian Won

Elephant is grumpy.  He finds a box on his doorstep and in this box is a hat.  He can't be grumpy now and is off to show Zebra.  Zebra is grumpy too until Elephant shares part of his hat.  It continue along this way until Turtle, Owl, Lion and Giraffe also enjoy part of the hat and with each sharing of the hat, each animal is no longer grumpy.  A story of friendship for younger students with simple text.  Happy, un-grumpy illustrations to support the text.

Text:  3 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Ben Rides On by Matt Davies

Ben loves his new bike.  He loves to take the long way to school just so he can enjoy it more.  What Ben does NOT like is arriving at school and coming face to face with Adrian Underbite, "...perhaps the world's largest third-grader."  On this particular day Adrian has decided to take Ben's bike.  Ben is devestated.  As he makes the long walk home he is very upset and thinks of nothing except his bike.  On the way he comes across his bike....and finds Adrian HANGING in a rather unforunate situation.  A great book for tackling the somewhat difficult topic of bullying.  Students will relate to Ben's excitement of getting a new bike as well as the disappointment of that bike being stolen and ruined.  Great for discussing decisions and doing the right thing, even when sometimes you do not really want to.  This one is being added to the "must purchase list" at all 3 of my schools!   

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves

Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira

A pond, home to a family of frogs, is suddenly altered one day when a pink pig is found sitting on  a rock in the pond.  The frogs have no idea what to do wit this visitor.  Soon the pink pig starts, "Ribbit!"   Other animals soon shows up asking about the visitor.  The go off to ask the chief frog as to why the pink pig is still at their pond.  What will they find out?
Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

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

Silly Goose's BIG Story by Keiko Kasza

I am a big fan of Keiko Kasza's books!  This one is no exception.  Silly Goose is known among his animal friends as being a great storyteller.  From pirates to dinosaurs to kings, Goose's stories are always entertaining.  But the animal friends are not so happy when every story the hero is played by Goose.  One day a BIG SCARY wolf shows up and the animals all take off running.  All the animals are able to escape except Goose.  Goose uses his great storytelling skills to try to convince the wolf that a WEM, Wolf-Eating Monster, lurks in the forest.  As Goose tells the story, something.....perhaps WEM, appears behind a bush....or does it?  Great book for middle elementary kids that will appreciate how the wolf is tricked.  Great lesson on being a friend.

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

Dave & Violet by Sarah Adams

The book has a dragon on the cover, which hooked a certain 4 year old at our house into reading it.  Violet wants her friends to meet her dragon Dave.  What Violet does not know is that Dave is very shy.  When he is nervous he gets red, redder and fire springs from his mouth.  Violet tries a few times to introduce Dave without much luck.  Finally Violet and her friends come up with a positive way to use Dave's "nervousness" in a positive way.

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  3 Buckeye leaves

Bug and Bear by Ann Bonwill

All of us have been there.....one of those days.....you just want to be left alone!!!  Bear is feeling this way and his friend Bug won't leave him alone.  The more Bug bothers Bear, the more annoyed Bear becomes.  Bear says some mean things to his friend and suddenly Bug is gone.  Once Bear is alone he realizes that he was really not a good friend to Bug.  He decides to go find Bug and is not able to find him.  Where is Bug?  Is he ok?  A good book for explaining that everyone has bad days....and how to be on both sides of that situation:  the bug and the bear!


Text:  4 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Rosie Sprout's Time To Shine by Allison Wortche

Rosie and Violet are very different.  Violet is the BEST at everything and she has no problem letting everyone know it!  Rosie on the other hand is not the best at anything.  When their teacher Ms. Willis announces that each student will be planting pea seeds, Violet is quick to announce HERS will be the best.  Rosie takes great pride in her little plant and one day notices a tiny bit of green poking through the dirt.  But no sooner has she noticed and Violet announces her plant is growing!  The next morning Rosie goes inside to take care of her tiny pea plant and decides to cover Violet's plant with dirt.  Once school starts, Ms. Willis announces that Violet will not be at school because she has chicken pox.  Rosie's guilt begins to grow.  Rosie begins taking care of both plants and when Violet finally returns to school, she is in for a big surprise.  This is a great book for teaching kids about "being the bigger person" and how to best deal with individuals that are not always nice.  Sometimes it is hard to be a "good person" when you are not treated nicely by others.  Great character building book!!

Text:  5 Buckeye leaves
Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Zorro Gets An Outfit by Carter Goodrich

Zorro and Mr. Bud are back!  But now Zorro has an outfit!  Zorro does NOT like his outfit and is teased and laughed at by the other dogs.  Mister Bud tries very hard to cheer his buddy up but nothing works.....until they meet Dart another dog at the park, a dog in an outfit.  He is fast and stylish and suddenly Zorro does not think his outfit is so bad anymore.  In fact he feels kind of sorry for Mister bud for not having an outfit.  Simple book written about friendship self image and self confidence.  Kids will be amused by the fun pictures.  

Text:  4 Buckeye leaves

Illustrations:  4 Buckeye leaves

Scary Mary by Paula Bowles

Mary is very scary. When the other animals ask her to play, she scares them away. She does everything she can to make them go away. She makes signs and makes a big fuss. When she is finally alone she realizes that being scary is also very lonely. She misses the other animals and changes her mind about being scary. Adorable illustrations accompany this simple story about getting along with others. Scary Mary could be used with any level to spark discussion about treating each other nicely.

Text: 4 Buckeye leaves

Illustrations: 5 Buckeye leaves

The Jellybeans and the Big Art Adventure by Laura Numeroff

The Jellybean friends are back again!! Bitsy and the other girls are given the honor of creating a mural on the side of Petunia's Candy Store. Each girl decides on what they want to add to the mural but Bitsy has the hardest time deciding what the add because she is worried about others not liking what she adds. Will Bitsy be able to decide?

Text: 4 Buckeye leaves

Illustrations: 5 Buckeye leaves (Lynn Munsinger is one of my most favorite illustrators!)

When Blue Met Egg by Lindsay Ward

"One SNOWY morning, Blue was awakened by something extraordinary flying through the air..."

So begins a journey for Blue, a little bird, and a rather quiet, cold egg. Blue is determined to find Egg's mother, figuring the mother would be very worried. Blue travels all around New York City looking for Egg's mother, without any luck. Blue continues to search for the mother while caring for Egg until slushy April arrives and Blue begins to notice that Egg is getting smaller....and smaller....and one day is gone and in its place something pink (flower) has bloomed and a new friendship begins. Sweet story - with adorable pictures. Small children may miss what "Eggs" truly is.

Text: 4 Buckeye leaves

Illustrations: 5 Buckeye leaves

Endpages: 5 Buckeye leaves (scenes of NYC!)

Marshall Armstrong Is New to Our School by David Mackintosh

Marshall Armstrong in new at school. His supplies are different, his hair is different, his shoelaces are different...everything about Marshall Armstrong in different. But Marshall invites the kids over to his house to play and soon the students are not so concerned about Marshall being different. And when Elizabeth Bell arrives at their school, the kids seem more concerned about helping her adjust to her new school. Good book for discussion about differences and acceptance.

Text: 4 Buckeye leaves
illustrations: 3 Buckeye leaves