Category: childrens

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy, illustrations by Kimberly Shaw-Peterson (Suggested reading level: Pre-school through Grade 3) I admit it - I'm a spaghetti-aholic. I love pasta of all shapes sizes and with a variety of sauces, but my all-time favorite is spaghetti with plain old tomato sauce. And by favorite I mean I could eat it three meals a day everyday. I don't, but I'd love to. So you can see what attracted me to this book. I don't read many picture books now that Amber's older, but I couldn't pass this one up. Lucy is a sweet, pretty girl whose grandfather has taught her that everyone is different, but that everyone has a heart with feelings. It's a shame that Ralph, a boy in her class, wasn't taught the same lesson. He teases Lucy about everything from her hair to her food, hurting her feelings. When she gets the chance to tease him back, though, she helps him...

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Suggested reading level: Grades 4-6) Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.  -L. Frank Baum Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan The Egypt Game for me is all about imagination. Two sixth-grade girls, unlikely friends, come together because of their love of imaginative play. The girls, April and Melanie, along with Melanie's little brother, Marshall, sneak into the local antique dealer's back lot, and begin the Egypt Game. They set up altars and temples using what they can find. The read all the can about ancient Egypt in the library and base their ceremonies and activities on history and their imagination. The game becomes more and more elaborate as the kids create costumes and two sixth-grade boys join their group. When a girl is...

Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley (Suggested reading level: Grades 4-6) Another good adventure for the Sisters Grimm. Amber (10) and I read this together and it picks up where The Problem Child left off. The Grimm sister, along with their grandmother, Mr. Canis the Big Bad Wolf, and Mr. Hamstead, one of the three little pigs, are taking an injured Puck to New York City. Faerie is there and Puck's family are the only ones who can heal him. I think this is a series that you really need to read in order. Puck's injury and what happened to the girls' parents were explained in an earlier book, but you really need to know what happened to understand what's going on in this one. I like Sabrina's character. She's growing some, realizing that she can't control everything and that just because she believed things were one way doesn't mean they were. She is truly becoming a Grimm, and is not just the...