Title: Clara and Davie: The True Story of Young Clara Barton Founder of the American Red Cross
Author: Patricia Polacco

Young Clara grew up with a lisp that made it difficult for her to make friends with in school. Her brother taught her and encouraged her to be herself. When he injured himself and  almost gave up, Clara supports him and pushes him to walk as he once had. 

This is a cute story about a brother and sister bond. They support each other through their strengths and weaknesses. The story jumps around a little, not giving it a very good flow but the message of the story is good, to encourage others to be the best person that they can be.

Publisher: Babushka Inc.

Copyright: 2014

ISBN: 0545354773

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Title: The Lemonade Club
Author: Patricia Polacco

Tracy’s best friend Marilyn just found out that she had Leukemia. She, her class, and teacher work together to support Marilyn through her trials of battling cancer. Tracy and Marilyn learn that their teacher has breast cancer. They form a group called the lemonade club where they meet after school to talk and provide encouragement for each other.

This story gives children an idea about what people with cancer go through. Children can read this book and have an idea of how to support their own friend who may be battling cancer. The plot line of the story is not very straight forward and jumps from one point to another that may be difficult to follow for some children. 

Publisher: Babushka Inc.

Copyright:2007

ISBN: 978-0-399-2450-4

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Water Everywhere

Title: Water Everywhere

Author: Jill Atkins

Water is all around. This book discusses the different uses of water and how it can be found. It is in the air, in the human bodies, and in plants. Various things use it in different ways and various ecosystems rely on its presence. 

The pictures in this book are a combination of photographs and drawings. It is great for early readers because the text is large and the words starting to challenge. The content of the text changes sometimes, referring to what a whale eats instead of staying focused on the water the whale is swimming in. 

Publisher: DK Publishing

Copyright: 2007

ISBN: 978-0-7566-2532-0

Monica’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sound

Title: Sound

Author: Kay Manolis

This book teaches children about sound. It discusses how it works and how it can be measured. It also explains how people can make sound and how various animals use sound to locate objects.

This book is very simplistic and gives basic information on sound. It is good for beginning readers to use as the text is large with about three sentences to a page. The pictures used are photographs. There is a glossary and index present at the end of the book. 

Publisher: Bellwether Media

Copyright:2008

ISBN: 978-0-531-14728-3

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Penguin Chick

Title: Penguin Chick

Author: Betty Tatham

This is an informational text about the development of an emperor penguin chick. It starts with the passing of the egg from the mother to the father and ends with the chick growing up and becoming an adult emperor penguin. 

Any child who has seen Happy Feet will be able to follow along with how penguins grow up. It adds more detail and gives reasoning behind the penguin’s habits. A timeline is illustrated to show the developmental stages of the penguin. The illustrations in this book are painted. The end of the book provides information on how other types of penguins live as well as how kids can act like a penguin. 

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Copyright: 2002

ISBN: 0-06-028594-X

Monica’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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