The opening pages of the book help define the word scat, but the primary focus is on the “animal fecal droppings” one. Yes, this book talks a lot about animal poop, and while kids might chuckle at Finn’s bad luck as she splats into a variety of small piles, they also are getting a serious education on how to identify the types of animals in an environment by both the types of scat and tracks that are visible. Alongside the rhyming story line that follows Finn and her tired old hound dog, are different sections of informative text that share facts about animals such as Eastern Cottontail Rabbits, Red Foxes, and even little Black-capped Chickadees. The tidbits are presented in language accessible to children aged preschool and up, and parents may find themselves learning a new thing here and there, too.

Useful and funny, with cute illustrations by Carrie Anne Bradshaw, this picture book has even me looking more closely at the ground while my own family walks in a nearby park! From avid naturalist families to those who just occasionally take a stroll in a wooded park, Track that Scat! is a literary companion to children’s natural world experiences.

Dawn’s days are spent teaching preschool, parenting her own crazy trio, occasionally fitting in a conversation with her husband, and every once in a while blogging away at my thoughts exactly.

East Dragon lives like royalty in a palace with his eight brothers and sisters and the emperor’s family. He and his siblings are beloved by the emperor who values their advice and provides a beautiful home for them. West Dragon lives in a cave, but he’s happy there… until his cave becomes overcome with kings and knights who try to prove their worth by “waving their silly swords.” West Dragon drafts a plan to get them all out of his hair so he can take a long nap, and soon, the lives of the dragons intersect. Unfortunately, not everyone sees dragons in the same peaceful light, and these different perspectives soon cause trouble for everyone. Can two dragons from opposite sides of the world see past their preconceived notions of each other in order to join forces?

I’m a big fan of this book for its small details and large-scale ideas. (Get it, large-SCALE? Ha!) Scott Campbell’s whimsical illustrations bring to life two very different environments, and depict both dragons in an adorable fashion. The story itself is fun and will bring out giggles from young children, while also presenting the idea that differences aren’t things to be afraid of. No judgment is cast for which dragon is better or right, they simply live in different worlds, which is just fine.

East Dragon, West Dragon will make for a spirited read aloud with children of various ages, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with my own preschool and kindergarten aged children.

Dawn is fascinated with children’s lit, and her life as a mom and a preschool teacher leave her immersed in it on a regular basis. She blogs at my thoughts exactly.

It’s the 100th day of school, of course! My daughter’s classroom has been keeping a chart marking each day of school, and we’re currently in the late 80s. They’re not only learning how to count to 100, but they’re also talking about the concept of grouping and counting by fives and tens. One hundred certainly feels like a gigantic number to a child who’s only been alive for five years or so. To see 100 of anything can be pretty exciting.

Masayuki Sebe’s Let’s Count to 100!, released last August, is a wonderful accompaniment to this type of lesson. Each two-page spread is filled with 100 adorable creatures, from scampering mice to burrowing moles. Some of them are captioned with silly phrases or interactions (there’s even a fart joke with one mole, that probably isn’t too funny to the mole behind him but hilarious to the kindergarten set!), and all are illustrated in a big-eyed, colorfully cartoonish fashion. While all pages feature 100 of something, some pages ask readers to answer different questions that involve counting or sorting the objects, and the final page even challenges children to find one particular creature for each spread. (Not surprisingly, the gassy mole appears here, too!)

I love that Sebe brings all the items together near the end, in groups of ten, to illustrate that ten tens equal one hundred– exactly the math lesson that my daughter’s class is learning as they chart the school days. Look, learning can be fun, kids! (And it can even use bathroom humor while it’s doing it!) Let’s Count to 100! is a great book for any child, but certainly with that 100th day of school right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to read it together.

Dawn’s fascination with children’s literature is fulfilled on a regular basis with her own children, as well as with the preschool class entrusted to her care each day. When she’s not in the classroom, she tries to blog now and again at my thoughts exactly.

The Cybils finalist lists are out! Check out the site for the top picks in categories from young adult, to picture books, to poetry and more.

Dawn and I were thrilled to be invited back to serve as Cybils round I judges this year, her in fiction picture books and me in middle grade fiction.

For me (Jennifer), both this year and last year, I realized that there were going to be some very fine books that wouldn’t see the shortlist. Take seven panelists, 142 middle grade fiction nominees, a shortlist limited to 5 to 7 books that should hit the target of being both well-written and oozing with kid-appeal, and there will likely be some books that just don’t make the cut.

As a panelist, I was happy to discover several new books/authors that didn’t make the cut. Buried in that list of 142 nominees, they might get forgotten, so I’m going to pull them to the forefront.

Please note that this isn’t “sour grapes.” Our middle grade finalist list is fantastic. The list of finalists is varied featuring books that are humorous or serious featuring kids who will look just like those reading it, or possibly will open their eyes to a whole new culture. I’m proud of each and every book on the list and happy that they will be getting some more attention.

That said, here are some others that really stood out to me (all linked to my reviews):

• I liked Calli B. Gold so much it surprised me. I don’t know why. I elaborated more in the review.
• Saving Zasha — A beautiful dog, a war-time setting in a foreign country, and adolescent boys standing up for their family all make this book one that I hope reaches a lot of kids.
• Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading — We know exactly what we think this book is about: Reading is dumb, people who like to read are geeks; OR Kid thinks he hates reading, but picks up a book and loves it. Wrong all around. Charlie Joe charmed me.
• Wolf Storm– Truth be told, I liked Dee Garretson’s first book Wildfire Run more, but her newest one featured a really cool setting — actor kids on set in a snowy wonderland, and just the right suspension of disbelief about what they could do in a crisis.

Now, when you talk picture books, I (Dawn) could talk your ear off. As a mom to two kids still in the age range for picture books, and as a preschool teacher, I live and breathe this genre, and I love every minute of it. The finalists in the Fiction Picture Book category are really some of the best books published in the eligibility period, in my opinion, though there are ones I love more than others on that list. There is one book, though, that I just couldn’t convince the other round one judges to include, and I’m happy to put it in the spotlight here.

Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, and beautifully illustrated by Marla Frazee, impressed me from the moment I picked it up. I looked at it in a bookstore, since it was still too new to be in my public library, and I immediately knew I would be purchasing it that very day, which is not something that I do on a whim. Magic oozes from this book, inviting children to use the imaginative power that comes naturally to them when thinking about all the ways stars can play a part in their lives. And just as in another of my favorite books illustrated by Frazee, All the World, the art perfectly complements the text and the illustrations of children are naturally diverse and alive with emotion. (Incidentally, these illustrations definitely helped All the World win the 2009 Cybils Award, and the 2010 Caldecott!) Though this is definitely a quiet read, I can personally attest to its kid appeal from my experiences reading it to the rapt audiences of my own children and my class of three and four year olds, who all sat big-eyed with wonder. I’ll be giving Stars as a children’s gift for years to come.

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Jennifer feels the same way about being a Round I panelist as one feels after having a baby. She might like to do it again, but doesn’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s just appreciate this baby! She blogs at Snapshot.

Dawn juggles teaching, parenting, and reading on a daily basis, sometimes hopping back over to give her blog, my thoughts exactly, a bit of attention, too.

Warp Speed

Middle-schooler Marley is invisible. No one sees him. No one except the bullies who take his homework, spit on him, and shove him around. His only hope to escape them is to run — and run he does.

Marley is a lovable hero — having become the brunt of the bullies’ attention when he stuck up for their former target — with a quirky family, a reclusive father who runs an historic movie house and a self-sufficient mother who happens to be blind.

Marley loves Star Trek and keeps his own Captain’s Log where he records his thoughts in sparse Star Trek style, and in spite of feeling invisible, he does have some friends — the A/V club including newcomer Max, and there’s even a girl in one of his classes who likes talking to him (although he has to suppress the Klingon that comes out of his mouth whenever he tries to talk to her).

Some of the characters from Yee’s other novels set in Rancho Rosetta make appearances, but Warp Speed completely stands alone. I didn’t feel that I was missing anything, but I enjoyed this novel so much that I definitely hope to read some more of her novels. I loved the way she injected humor into Marley’s story about the ups and downs of his school life, which ultimately showcases the power of friendship.

The Lemonade Crime

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies is the sequel to The Lemonade War, which I read a couple of years ago when it was a “One School, One Read” selection at my son’s elementary school. That one was a summer story, where siblings Evan and Jessie go head to head in a lemonade stand war. This story picks up where that one left off, trying to solve the mystery of Evan’s missing (stolen!) lemonade money. The story pretty much stands alone, though I did appreciate knowing more about Evan and Jessie than was revealed in the story. The school setting is so strong here. Certain details like the school lunch menu of “chicken patty on a bun” leapt out at me (Why can’t it just be a chicken sandwich?? But it never is). I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit, because I don’t see a full-scale mock court really taking place on a school playground, but I like to give authors a little latitude to ramp it up. Kids who like realistic fiction — school stories, sibling stories — will like both of these books. They are pretty accessible to kids from 2nd grade through 5th grade.

Fractions = Trouble

Fractions = Trouble by Claudia Mills is another sequel, though I hadn’t read (or heard of) 7 x 9 = Trouble, which was published in 2004. I didn’t need to know any more of the background than was obvious — Wilson has a hard time in math. When his 3rd grade class starts a fractions unit, his mom decides to help him by setting him up with a tutor, but that’s the last way he wants to spend his time. Again, the school setting is strong, with not only the toils and tribulations of math being featured, but also science fair fun. This book is targeted towards younger readers, and my own 2nd grader enjoyed it a lot.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Though I am a Round I panelist in this Middle Grade fiction category for the Cybils, my opinions are solely my own and are not meant to reflect the final outcome.

Jennifer Donovan liked school. She even participated in a mock trial in high school. She wasn’t a nerd or a nobody, but she never had a tutor or spit on anyone either. She blogs at Snapshot.

I’ve been seeing Jan Brett’s Home for Christmas on several must-have lists this season, and looking through her body of work I’m shocked and a little embarrassed that I have never read any of her books before. Home for Christmas is the story of a Rollo, a troll who runs away from home because he’s tired of doing chores. He encounters many animal families along the way, experiencing the life of owls, bears, otters and other northern animals before he realizes, as one may expect, there’s no place like home.

Brett’s artwork is nothing short of amazing, the details and flourishes are entrancing and keep you coming back for more. It’s the kind of book where you notice something new on each reading. The borders contain images of Rollo’s family back home – continuing their lives but also missing him greatly – along with additional drawings of the animals he’s visiting.

I was first introduced to the story of The Polar Express by the Tom Hanks movie, which my children happen to be watching while I’m writing this post. When I learned the movie was based on a book, which some people feel is far superior to the movie, which can be creepy and even a little scary, I knew I had to check out the book.

And the book is absolutely far superior to the movie. The basic story, for those unfamiliar with it, is of a boy who wakes during the night to find a train, the Polar Express, outside his window. The Polar Express takes children to the North Pole where they see hundreds of elves and meet Santa. Santa picks a child, our hero, to request the first gift of Christmas. He asks for a bell from Santa’s sleigh, but when he gets on the train, he finds no bell in his pocket, only a hole. Christmas morning he opens his presents and discovers one final one, the bell. He and his sister hear the bell but his parents think it’s broken – they don’t believe, so can’t hear it’s chime. It’s a beautiful and simple story, free of the roller coaster ride that is the movie.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas was the third book by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman about the lovable Bear and his woodland creature friends. It’s sweet but simple story and illustrations makes it one of my favorite Christmas books.

Bear’s friends wake him up for Christmas and though it’s winter, so all he wants to is sleep, he helps them cut down a Christmas tree, then they decorate his cave. Bear’s friends all drift off to sleep and he stays up to make them their Christmas surprises. They give him a quilt so once the celebrations are done, he snuggles under his new quilt to finally go to sleep.

Check out Dawn’s post on holiday picture books for a few more ideas for last-minute gifts.

Nancy has been enjoying reading Christmas and winter books, possibly more than her kids. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

The classic story that begins with a large item of clothing that transforms into smaller pieces as it wears down over the years has been told in various forms. Boni Ashburn’s I Had a Favorite Dress takes a new angle on the story, starting with a young girl who adores her pink dress, until she finds one day that she has outgrown it. Well, a mom who is handy with a sewing machine turns that dress into a shirt, and the girl is delighted. But, of course, that young girl doesn’t stop growing, and soon the sleeves are too tight and short, so more snipping and sewing take place, and soon, a cute tank top becomes the girl’s new favorite. On and on it goes in the same fashion, and along the way, the mother helps the daughter learn to cope with the inevitable changes that come along in life. Several lessons are inherent in this story, about reusing and repurposing items rather than simply throwing them away, learning to be resourceful, and thinking creatively. It doesn’t hurt that the young girl’s character is cute and sassy (in a good way), and she appears quite authentic and relatable to young kids. Another fabulous extension activity for children would be to compare it to other picture books that tell similar stories, such as the beloved Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback.

One classic children’s story can be conjured up with two simple words: “Not I!” In Rebecca and Ed Emberley’s new insanely-colorful version of The Red Hen, those familiar words are uttered time and again by the hen’s lazy trio of pals, this time depicted as a cat, a rat, and a frog. (Okay, not by the frog who funnily enough only knows how to ribbit!) The telling of the well-known plot is traditional, but told in short and simple text, making it fun and accessible for the very young readers/listeners in your life. Really what the Emberleys have become known best for are their wild illustrations, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Big blocks of bright colors grace every page, and kids are drawn to them like moths to a flame. If by the book’s end you and your little ones are feeling hungry for cake of your own, you’re in luck, because the “Red Hen’s Simply Splendid Cake” recipe is included in the final pages. Yum!

I love that Jerry Pinkney’s name will forever be preceded by the words “Caldecott Medal winner,” for that recognition needs to be regularly reiterated. Pinkney is a genius illustrator of today, and his books will undoubtedly be revered by young children and their families for many, many years to come. This year, Pinkney published his illustrated version of one of the most well-known childhood songs out there, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It’s clear as day that Pinkney studies the real-life animals that he features in his books, and the chipmunk in these pages is adorable and so life-like. Several page spreads have no words at all, and these pages invite readers to slow down and take a moment to quietly look at the illustrations, for there is much being told here! Truly this is a beautiful picture book that can be given to a new baby to be enjoyed for many years of his childhood.

Though I am a Round I panelist in this Fiction Picture Book category for the Cybils, my opinions are solely my own and are not meant to reflect the final outcome.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Dawn juggles teaching, parenting, and reading on a daily basis, sometimes hopping back over to give her blog, my thoughts exactly, a bit of attention, too.

A few years ago, a friend/teaching colleague of mine spent two summers in Kenya, working at a children’s home. The photos from her trips showed a group of children so eager to connect and learn, and she spoke highly about the experience of teaching children the English language. Though James Rumford’s Rain School takes place in the country of Chad, I was reminded of the fact that around the world, there are children whose schooling experiences are vastly different than those that I take for granted for my own children. Though the text is not very complex, the idea of children building their own school each year only to see it washed away in the rainy season could be fairly mind-blowing for many young readers. The sketchy-illustrations are interesting and give a feeling of immediacy, just as the cover shows.

Though picture books, especially wordless ones, are usually thought of for only preschoolers to young elementary school kids, Jeannie Baker’s Mirror is a difficult-to-categorize picture book. Young children will be drawn in by the illustrations, though I’m not sure they’ll get the “big picture” concept as older children will. When you open the cover, you’re taken to the very middle of the book as the starting point, with two separate books contained within. On the left, scenes of a family living in the author’s native Sydney, Australia are depicted, while on the right, the pages show a family in Morocco, North Africa. As the title suggests, the images shown in intricate collage, are intended to convey similarities of people, families, and experiences from very different parts of the world. Honestly, the illustrations are captivating, and the effect can be profound on readers who may not have much concept of countries outside of their own.

There are parts of our own American history that are painful to share with our children. How do you tell children about a time under Jim Crow laws when African-American people were treated with vast inequality? Books like White Water, by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein, help to bring the big picture down to a personal level. The story of a young boy who dares to defy the “Whites Only” sign above the water fountain in town puts a realistic face to a complex and uncomfortable topic. His discovery that the same pipe feeds the two fountains helps him continue to stay strong in a world in which he is treated as a second-class citizen, for he knows that some things are only an illusion and not a truth. “Maybe everything I thought I couldn’t do was just in my imagination, too. That’s when I realized– I could do anything.” Powerful words for any child.

Though I am a Round I panelist in this Fiction Picture Book category for the Cybils, my opinions are solely my own and are not meant to reflect the final outcome.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Dawn juggles teaching, parenting, and reading on a daily basis, sometimes hopping back over to give her blog, my thoughts exactly, a bit of attention, too.