Another great kindergarten book
This book was read during our recent Kindergarten Party and was a total hit with the children. The rhyming text made it fun for them to try to figure out the next word. The teacher who read the book was very familiar with it and knew just when to pause for the children to guess. Perfect book for a classroom setting or for a one-on-one reading session. Fun for all.
Cute Kindergarten story
Dexter knows everything there is to know about kindergarten and is not at all scared about his first day there, but his stuffed dog, Rufus, is very nervous. This book is adorable with cute illustrations and funny moments. Appropriate for any child, not just kindergarteners, going back to school.
The Great and Only Barnum
The tremendous, stupendous P.T. Barnum was a man like no other. Barnum was always interested in the weird and the wacky. He was so fascinated by the strange that he established the American Museum in New York in 1842. This museum was filled with artifacts, live animals, and Barnum’s Human Curiosities. Among those who worked for Barnum was Anna Swan who weighed 18 pounds at birth and grew to be seven feet eleven inches when she worked for Barnum. Barnum was always looking for the next thing that would dazzle and delight people of all ages. Barnum was not just into museums but throughout his life he worked as a traveling showman, museum curator, and circus man. Although Barnum did not invent the circus, he increased its popularity and brought to is its most famous attractions.
Very Cute Kindergarten Book
Although kindergarten provides unique challenges for a young buffalo, one who follows the rules and tries his best will get along fine. We read this book for our recent kindergarten party and the kids just loved it. They found it very funny and cute. I would highly recommend it to anyone going back to school.
Two Sticks of Gum ...
I love nonfiction that rads like fiction and this book is a good example. We meet Lt. Gail Halvorsen, who was a pilot assigned to transport basic needs supplies to the Allied Berlin after WWII. Kids would come to the airport fence and watch the planes. He stopped to visit with them one day and he saw how grateful and hopeful they were for the assistance, especially from people who just months before were their enemy. He reached in his pocket and found two sticks of gum. There were 30 kids... He promised to drop candy to them from the airplane. They would know which plane was his because he would "wiggle the wings." That's the beginning of a major candy drop (20 tons of candy and gum over 14 months) to thousands of Berliners. Wonderful photographs, too. Grades 4-6
Cooleoleo! A Newbery Contender!
I predict this to be the Newbery winner, or at least an honor for 2010. Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath, has done it again. Keeper is set on the Gulf coast in Texas, in a small community of three homes along an oyster shell spit and takes place in one day, the day of the blue moon, when everyone has high hopes for great things. It is a story of adventure and family with merfolk lore added to spice up the gumbo. (Even the pets and a seagull play key roles.) If you've ever had a bad day, you should read this story about Keeper and her bad day.
A life in the wild: George Schaller's struggle to save the last great beasts
Follow the life of George Schaller and his quest to save the wild animals he loved. George was always interested in nature. He loved to sit quietly and observe what was going on around him. George pioneered a method of observing animals in their natural habitat without disturbing their daily lives. He would scout for the animals and when he saw one he would remain totally still. Eventually the animals “forgot” he was there and George was able to observe their normal behavior. A Life in the Wild follows George’s observations of: the Alaskan landscape and its inhabitants, gorillas in Africa, tigers in India, lions in Africa, snow leopards in the Himalayas, pandas in China, and the animals of the Tibetan Plateau in China. If you are interested in animals and their natural instincts this book, filled with pictures George took during his observations, is for you!
Spellbinder: the life of Harry Houdini
Skill, knowledge, trickery, and fearlessness, ran through his veins…He was Harry Houdini. Houdini was not afraid to attempt any feat that would dazzle a crowd of onlookers and make some quick money. In this biography, some of Houdini’s most famous illusions are described. Houdini advertised that he could escape from anything and often sought challenges from local police departments where he was touring. Handcuff, jails, straitjackets, packing crates, tire chains: Houdini could escape. Underwater, high in the air, upside down, in the dark: Houdini could escape. This book is sure to leave you asking, “But how did he do it?”
