Dear Fish
 | author: Chris Gall rating:  asin: 0316058475 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.99 USD amazon price: $11.55 USD |
DESCRIPTION: Dear Fish, Where you live is pretty cool. You should come visit us sometime. Plus, my mom makes good pies. Sincerely, Peter Alan What happens when the creatures of the sea take Peter Alan up on his offer? Something fishy, of course! Watch out for a bucking bull shark at the rodeo, the invasion of a slimy school of fish, and other playful pictorial puns hidden within the illustrations. Endpapers identify more than 30 species of fish that appear in the book!This is a fantastic flight of fancy that every child will savor!
Love That Dog
Another great chapter book that I read in about 40 minuets was Love that Dog by Sharon Creech. Jack (age 8 or 9?) has a diary of sorts for school in the subject of poetry. Laurel is especially fond of journals, especially journalsthat are shared with an adult for the purpose of learning and expressingoneself. This journal is funny and sad and so moving. This novel also deals with the death of a loved one, in this case a dog. Ella especially enjoyed this story and gives it 4 1/2 stars. I think it's a great book too and I look forward to hearing the next in the series.
 | author: Sharon Creech rating:  asin: 0060292873 binding: Hardcover list price: $15.99 USD amazon price: $10.87 USD |
"I guess it does
look like a poem
when you see it
typed up
like that."
Jack hates poetry. Only girls write it and every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won't stop giving her class poetry assignments -- and Jack can't avoid them. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say.
With a fresh and deceptively simple style, acclaimed author Sharon Creech tells a story with enormous heart. Written as a series of free-verse poems from Jack's point of view, Love That Dog shows how one boy finds his own voice with the help of a teacher, a writer, a pencil, some yellow paper, and of course, a dog.
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat (Young Puffin Modern Classics)
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat is the 2nd chapter book in a series by Ursula Moray Williams, published in 1942. The first, The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse is a family favorite. This tale of a kitten trying to find a home is very interesting, a great book for young children to hear.
 | author: Ursula Moray Williams rating: asin: 0141323264 binding: Paperback |
Summer of the Monkeys
This book is an absolute gem! We all loved this book as a family. Set in the late 1800s, Jay Berry is a 14 year old boy who has an amazing adventure trying to capture 29 monkeys that have escaped (from a circus trian) and are living in a wild part of his family's 60 acre farm. It is hillarious, it made us cry, it was a little scary at times. At one point I thought it was to scary to read to our girls (then ages 9 and 6) because when Jay Berry is catching a couple monkeys, the rest of them jump on him and bite him and his dog all over. However, they are not seriously hurt, Jay Berry simply lays in bed for 3 days and he's better. Also, know that Jay Berry's goal is to get a pony and gun, it was simply part of the lifestyle of a boy living back then. Overall, this is a fabulous read and I'm sure we'll return to this book over and over again throughout the years.
 | author: Wilson Rawls rating: asin: 0440415802 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
The last thing a fourteen-year-old boy expects to find along an old Ozark river bottom is a tree full of monkeys. Jay Berry Lee's grandpa had an explanation, of course--as he did for most things. The monkeys had escaped from a traveling circus, and there was a handsome reward in store for anyone who could catch them. Grandpa said there wasn't any animal that couldn't be caught somehow, and Jay Berry started out believing him . . .
But by the end of the "summer of the monkeys," Jay Berry Lee had learned a lot more than he ever bargained for--and not just about monkeys. He learned about faith, and wishes coming true, and knowing what it is you really want. He even learned a little about growing up . . .
This novel, set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century, is a heart-warming family story--full of rich detail and delightful characters--about a time and place when miracles were really the simplest of things...
Actual Size (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))
 | author: Steve Jenkins rating: asin: 0618375945 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.00 USD amazon price: $10.88 USD |
Steve Jenkins (What Do You Do with a Tail Like This ?) returns with another inventive, involving picture book--this time inviting young readers to see how they measure up against a variety of different animals (represented in colorful, cut-paper collages at actual size). Each spread of Actual Size presents a new animal or two for readers to check out, along with a few interesting facts and physical dimensions.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Board Book)
The song you know plus 5 more verses of how the itsy bitsy spider keeps going through obstacles. The last verse is sweet completion: "The itsy bitsy spider climbed up without a stop. / She spun a silky web right at the very top. / She wove and she spun and when her work was done, / The itsy bitsy spider rested in the sun."
 | author: Iza Trapani rating:  asin: 1580890148 binding: Board book list price: $6.95 USD amazon price: $6.95 USD |
A board book version of a favorite nursery rhyme with added adventures.
Catwings (4 Volume Set)
Ursula K. Le Guin wrote Catwings in1988, when she was 60 years old. This is a short chapter book, only 40 pages,with illustraions on every page. These 4 flying cats have an interesting start in life, and their adventures were quite appealing to Ella, who gives this book 4 1/2 stars.
 | author: Ursula K. LeGuin rating: asin: 0439551056 binding: Paperback list price: $15.99 USD amazon price: $12.53 USD |
The four award-winning stories of the Catwings are brought together in a brand-new, beautiful boxed set for the first time ever. Now readers can follow all of the adventures of the winged cats who escape the dangerous and dirty city to live in the countryside. From the original four cats, James, Roger, Thelma and Harriet, to their new friends, Jane and Alexander, the fantasy that is so wonderfully realistic is brought to life by S. D. Schindler's delicate, yet vibrant illustrations.
The Hotel Cat (New York Review Children's Collection)
 | author: Esther Averill rating:  asin: 1590171594 binding: Hardcover list price: $17.95 USD amazon price: $12.21 USD |
One wintry day a lonely stray cat named Tom wanders into the Royal Hotel. He chases mice so well that he is given the job of Hotel Cat. Tired of always spending time in the cellar, Tom ventures upstairs and meets the gentle Mrs. Wilkins, a longtime hotel resident who has the ability to communicate with cats. She encourages Tom to become less bossy and to keep an open mind about the hotel guests.
One night, during the winter of New York City’s Big Freeze, Tom detects three cats in one of the rooms. It turns out that due to a boiler breakdown in his house, Captain Tinker has brought Jenny Linsky and her brothers, Edward and Checkers, to stay at the hotel until the boiler is fixed. Other homes experience boiler breakdowns, too, and soon other members of the Cat Club can be found staying in rooms at the Royal Hotel. Before long, plans are underway for the Cat Club Stardust Ball, with the help of Tom, who has proved himself helpful and considerate after all.
Miss Suzy
 | author: Miriam Young rating: asin: 1930900287 binding: Hardcover list price: $17.95 USD amazon price: $12.49 USD |
Miss Suzy is a little gray squirrel who lives happily in her oak-tree home until she is chased away by some mean red squirrels. Poor Miss Suzy is very sad. But soon she finds a beautiful dollhouse and meets a band of brave toy soldiers. How Miss Suzy and the soldiers help each other makes a gentle, old-fashioned tale that has captured the imaginations of girls and boys alike for forty years. Arnold Lobel's enchanting pictures are sure to make the kind squirrel and the gallant soldiers the everlasting friends of all who turn these pages.
Farmer Boy (Little House)
What an amazing look at how families used to farm - what a lot of work! We all really enjoyed this one.
 | author: Laura Ingalls Wilder rating: asin: 0060581824 binding: Paperback list price: $8.99 USD amazon price: $8.99 USD |
For the first time in the history of the Little House books, this new edition features Garth Williams’ interior art in vibrant, full color, as well as beautifully redesigned covers.
While Laura Ingalls grows up in a little house on the western prairie, Almanzo Wilder is living on a big farm in New York State. Here Almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for fun comes when the jolly tin peddler visits, or best of all, when the fair comes to town.
This is Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved story of how her husband Almanzo grew up as a farmer boy far from the little house where Laura lived.
