The King's Stilts

Title: The King’s Stilts

Author: Dr. Seuss

The king’s advisor gets rid of the king’s favorite stilts. The king becomes depressed and lazy so the cats that prevent the  Nizzard birds from eating the trees get lazy. Soon the entire valley will be flooded by the surrounding ocean. Fortunately, Eric does not let the king’s advisor get in his way, and returns the stilts to the king who, in turn, leads the cats to attack the Nizzards. 

This funny story by Dr. Seuss shows how one little thing can snowball into a major event. One needs to stand up for what they believe in despite what others say This illustrations are black and white watercolor with some red accenting different objects, such as the stilts. 

Publisher: Random House

Copyright: 1939

ISBN:0-395-80082-6

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5

Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery

Title: Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery

Author:Kevin O’Malley

Captain Raptor and his crew must travel to the moon, Eon, to investigate a sudden flash that landed there. They encounter many mishaps on their journey before encountering the aliens. Captain Raptor rescues one of the aliens and they decide that on the aliens’ return home, they will learn more about each other’s culture. 

The illustrations and text in this book are set up like a comic book, but the pictures are much more textured and detailed. It is funny to see dinosaurs in the role of scienists with a government. They have human characteristics and the aliens are human. They are kind to the humans they encounter whereas I do not think they would get the same greeting if the roles were reversed. This book is also geared more towards boys as there are dinosaurs, spaceships, and rocket launchers.

Publisher:Walker & Company

Copyright: 2005

ISBN: 0-8027-8935-8

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Raising Dragons

Title: Raising Dragons

Author: Jerdine Nolen

Raising Dragons is the story of a little farmer girl who finds an dragon egg and cares for the dragon in it. She raises it despite her parents bias against the dragon. The dragon proves himself useful by creating popcorn that the family can sell and shielding Mama’s tomatoes from the extreme heat. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, so the girl returns her dragon to the other dragons, but returns home with more eggs to raise and care for.

This is a cute story illustrating a farming family. The illlustrator uses a pastel medium to create the illustrations. The story portrays a sense of accomplishment as the girl raises the dragon and is able to do something to help her family.

Publisher:Silver Whistle

Copyright:1998

ISBN:0-15-201288-5

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Math Curse

Title: Math Curse

Author: Jon Scieszka

The Math Curse is a  book about a student who sees everyday life events as math problems. From morning until night, even when he dreams, all he can think about are math problems, but he does not really solve the problems. Finally he breaks the curse and is able to solve the first problem of the day. 

This was an interesting book. The pictures were abstract and some of them were put together in a collage. The text had different fonts and sometimes created a border around the page. A lot of the questions the main character asked was the same question, just repeated differently for a topic. He sometimes was a little too extreme. There were some elements of humor in the story. For some children however, this may be a confusing and overwhelming book. 

Publisher: Viking

Copyright: 1995

ISBN:0-670-86194-4

Monica’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Molly the Brave and Me

Title: Molly the Brave and Me

Author: Jane O’Connor

In Molly the Brave and Me, Beth is invited to Molly’s house for a sleepover, but it is her first sleepover and she is very nervous. She is afraid that Molly will see her as a wimp and not want to be her friend anymore. The girls hang out and get lost in a cornfield, but Beth is the one who saves the day. It turns out that she is brave too. 

This easy reader is relatable for children because it addresses that fear of sleeping over at someone else’s house for the first time. It is told in the first person from Beth’s point of view and encompasses thought that go through many children’s heads when they interact with their friends. The main characters are white and African American which is nice to see too. The illustrations are simple and with colored pencil as the medium. The words on the page are large enough to read with one to two sentences per page. There are also words included that a child may not see as often such as “beetle” and “vampire” and “jerk”.

Publisher: Random House 

Copyright: 1990

ISBN: 0-394-84175-1

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5

In the Tall, Tall Grass

Title: In the Tall, Tall Grass

Author: Denise Fleming

There are many things that can be seen and heard in the tall, tall grass. Follow a little caterpillar as he encounters the other creatures in the grass through out the day and into the evening. 

This book is great for beginning readers. There are only about four to five words to a page. The illustrations span both pages. There is rhyming on each page that relates to the sound the creature may make and what it does in the tall grass. The illustrations use paint and are very bright and colorful. It is also fun to find the little caterpillar on each page. 

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Copyright: 1991

ISBN: 0-8050-1635

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5

Stone Soup: A Tale of Cooperation

Title: Stone Soup: A Tale of Cooperation

Author: Mary Rowitz

In Stone Soup, a lonely traveler comes to a village and goes to each of the houses asking for some food to spare because he is very hungry, but everyone turns him away. He leaves the village and comes up with an idea to get the village together as well as have a great meal. He runs into the village saying he can make soup from a "magical" stone. At first the villagers are skeptical, but he tricks each of them into contributing something so they get excited and turn the stone soup into a big, fun event.

This is a great story about sharing and working together to create something wonderful. It teaches children that no matter how little you have, you can still contribute something, and when it is put together with someone else’s contribution, it can be greater than each of them. This version uses animals as the main characters and bright, fun colors. The pictures match the text on the page so children reading it can easily follow the story line.  It also has a little reflection at the end of the story on cooperation and how it makes difficult tasks easier. 

Publisher: Publications International Ltd.

Copyright: 1996

ISBN: 0785378812

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Title: Beauty and the Beast

Author: Jane Jerrard

Beauty and the Beast is love story where a merchant’s daughter, Beauty, ends up living with an ugly Beast because her father picked a rose from the Beast's garden to bring home to her. Every night at dinner the Beast asks her if she thinks he is ugly and whether she will marry him, but she tells him not to ask her such a question. Eventually she grows homesick, and he provides her with the means to get home and be able to return to him quickly. After being at home, she misses her time with the Beast and returns to find him ill in the garden and professes her love for him. 

This Beauty and the Beast story is much different than the Disney version because Beauty has siblings, there are no magical house objects, and the Beast asks Beauty a question every night. It gives children a different perspective on the classic fairy tale story. There is a lot of text on one page in this version so that the picture only matches one small paragraph at the bottom of the page. The illustrations were very detailed though.

Publisher: Publications International, Ltd.

Copyright: 1992

ISBN: 1-56173-496-9

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Legend of the Christmas Rose

Title: The Legend of the Christmas Rose

Author: William H. Hooks

This is the story of Dorothy, the little sister of the shepherds in the Nativity Story. Little Dorothy hears her brothers’ story of the angel visiting them and telling them about the Messiah who was born in Bethlehem. She longs to go after them and does at a distance, but then is upset because she has no gift for the babe. Suddenly an angel appears and there are flowers everywhere. She rushes into the city and gives the flowers to the baby Jesus, and he turns to her and smiles in thanks for this simple gift. 

This beautiful story tells how the Christmas rose came to be. Children can relate to Dorothy because they often do not want to be left out when an exciting event occurs. Many Christian children will recognize the parallel this story has to the shepherd’s story from the Nativity. The illustrations of the book are large and use pastel colors. The illustrator uses impressionism to emphasize the heavenly figures of the angel and the baby Jesus. 

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Copyright: 1999

ISBN:0-06-027102-7

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars