Reviews
SLJ Review of Seasons of Fun: Spring
Young readers will learn all about spring in this series. Brightly colored pages featuring simple text and large images describe the season’s weather, holidays, sports, and… Bolded vocabulary words can be found in the glossary. Each book ends with a one-page exploration of a View →
SLJ Review of Intro to Physics: Need to Know
This series delivers straightforward financial information to readers. Topics covered include credit scores, interest rates, budgeting, and saving. The author relates each subject to a real-life money situation, such as saving for a computer or investing birthday money. The books feature View →
SLJ Review of What on Earth? Climate Change Explained
This series covers the many aspects of climate change from weather patterns to climate events to the effects on animals. Each section is two pages long, and builds understanding of what climate change is and why it is happening. For example, due to climate change “…fire seasons… View →
SLJ Review of X-Treme Facts: Space
An irreverent series that uses humor to engage readers. Each spread has an interesting chapter title, a paragraph of informational text, colorful boxes with facts, photographs, and comic-book style speech… There are many pictures of children or stereotypical aliens layered View →
Arlington School District Review of The Red Book: What to do when you're Angry
“The Red Book: What to Do When You’re Angry” is a part of a four book series, Colorful Minds: Tips for Managing Your Emotions – Anger, Excitement, Sadness & Nervousness. This is a great book to add to your school library SEL… View →
Booklist Review of Get Crafting for Your Hip Hamster
Part of the Playful Pets Projects series (6 titles), this guide for advanced-beginner or intermediate crafters outlines four projects kids can make and use with their hamster buddies. A Popsicle-stick house, carrot and hamster-seed cupcakes, a cardboard maze, and a fleece snuggle pouch… View →
SLJ Review of Shark Shock
These engaging overviews use lively text and effective photos to introduce shark species. Each book opens with the animal hunting and finding food. Subsequent pages describe physical features, key behaviors, and mating habits, along with threats and interactions with humans where… View →
SLJ Review of U.S. Government Need to Know
This new hi-lo series from focuses on the branches of the United States government and how they interact together. Each title explores an aspect of the federal government, including how it works and its key… The series successfully conveys very complicated concepts like che View →
SLJ Review of Library of Awesome Animals
Playful chapter titles and occasional interjections like “yikes” and wow!" create a lighthearted feel in these animal profiles, but there’s also plenty of useful, well-organized information. The tone achieves a good balance between enthusiastic (“Elephants… View →
Booklist Review of Filibuster
This brief book packs in a tremendous amount of straightforward, accessible information about filibusters. Two lines of informational text flow throughout the pages. One offers four or five enlarged-font sentences that explain definitions and basic applications, with vocabulary words… View →
Booklist Review of Eco Journeys
“These ecology-minded offerings take everyday objects that young audiences will recognize and tell where they come from and where they end up. Facing spreads featuring full-page photos overlaid with images and word bubbles show how items are made, what they’re made of and how—after View →
Booklist Review of How to Build Our World
“This cheerful How to Build Our World series helps young readers understand environments, layer by layer. Each title builds a particular setting by adding elements one at a time: foundation, surface details, inhabitants, photographs, captions highlighted in bright blocks of color,… View →
Arlington School District Review of Earning Money
This book is in a six book series “Show Me the Money”: “Earning Money”, “How Money is Made”, “Money Now and Then”, “Saving Money”, “Smart Money Choices”, and “Spending… Good early introductor View →
SLJ Review of Oops! Accidental Inventions
Readers who’ve never heard the iconic Bob Ross-ism “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents” will see that concept come to life in this clever, engaging series. Some of these accidents, like bubble gum, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream cones, have led to the invention of View →
SLJ Review of Oops! Accidental Inventions
Readers who’ve never heard the iconic Bob Ross-ism “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents” will see that concept come to life in this clever, engaging… Some of these accidents, like bubble gum, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream cones, have led to the invent View →
SLJ Review of My Emergency
What do you do when something scary happens? Aiming to prepare children for health crises and alarming situations where emotions run high, each situation presented is explained in easy-to- understand terms with photographs that are realistic without causing readers undue… T View →
SLJ Review of How to Build Our World Set Two
An easy-to-understand breakdown of ecosystems from the bottom up that teaches about how each component is integral to their respective… The art mixes illustrations and real photographs to show the elements at each stage of the building process with a partnership betwee View →
SLJ Review Underground Animal Life
Solid introductions to six mammals that live in underground homes. Photos show the animals in or near their homes, followed by a description and a clear two-page diagram showing tunnels and various… Dimensions of the underground spaces are provided for some, but an inset scal View →
SLJ Review of First Experiences
This adorable series will help young children overcome their fear of new situations. Each book is narrated by a child facing an unfamiliar experience. They express their feelings to a parent and receive advice to help them cope. In the end they discover that there was nothing to be… View →
SLJ Review of Math Adventures
Everyday family math situations fill this series. Children notice the various shapes among the kites at the park or check the clock while getting ready for a family… Characters have a range of skin tones, hair textures, and culturally diverse names; some also use medical devic View →
Animal Chefs
This series combines cooking, food styling, and character animals to help readers successfully make a recipe all while learning a little more about their favorite animal. A table of contents starts showing short sections between two-to-four pages long and six recipes per… Anim View →
SLJ Review of Bearcub Bios Set Three
An eclectic mix of famous people are the subjects of these basic beginner biographies for the youngest… Facts presented to readers include Amanda Gorman, who was the first top youth poet in the United States; Eva Longoria, an actor who helps people with disabilities; and View →
SLJ Review of Regions of the United States
A short series about the various regions of the United States. The books open with ideas for educators and caregivers for before, during, and after reading followed by a table of contents with three to four chapters of varying… Each region’s history, location, geography, wi View →
SLJ Review of See a Plant Grow!
Showing the transformative visuals from seed to flower to fruit, these reader styled titles Vocabulary is presented at the front and back of each title with View →