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283 pp.
| Penguin/Paulsen
| July, 2016
|
TradeISBN 978-0-399-17204-5$16.99
(3)
4-6
After her parents' acrimonious divorce, twelve-year-old Fizzy has a new school, a new home, and two new stepparents; everyone "starting fresh" makes Fizzy feel like "a leftover." The Southern Living Cook-Off taps into her culinary passions and gingerly provides a poignant metaphor for Fizzy's believable emotional journey. With a bag of unexpected ingredients, Fizzy ultimately creates something original--and delicious.
40 pp.
| Free Spirit
| September, 2015
|
TradeISBN 978-1-63198-049-7$14.99
|
PaperISBN 978-1-63198-027-5$9.99 New ed. (1997)
(4)
PS
Illustrated by
Melissa Iwai.
These purposeful stories will be appreciated by adults who want young children to examine their behaviors and improve relationships. Each double-page spread features a colorful background, simple line drawings, and a cheerful full-color illustration. The characters' diversity (e.g., a girl with a headscarf, a boy in a wheelchair) is a plus. A substantial "Note to Caring Adults" and many related activities are appended. Review covers these titles: Just Because I Am and We Can Get Along.
40 pp.
| Free Spirit
| September, 2015
|
TradeISBN 978-1-63198-051-0$14.99
|
PaperISBN 978-1-63198-052-7$9.99 New ed. (1994)
(4)
PS
Illustrated by
Melissa Iwai.
These purposeful stories will be appreciated by adults who want young children to examine their behaviors and improve relationships. Each double-page spread features a colorful background, simple line drawings, and a cheerful full-color illustration. The characters' diversity (e.g., a girl with a headscarf, a boy in a wheelchair) is a plus. A substantial "Note to Caring Adults" and many related activities are appended. Review covers these titles: Just Because I Am and We Can Get Along.
266 pp.
| Amazon
| October, 2012
|
TradeISBN 978-0-7614-6225-5$16.99
(4)
4-6
Fifth-grader Lula Bell wants desperately to fit in, but her best friend has become a bully intent on exposing Lula's freakdom. When her grandmother dies unexpectedly, Lula tries to take her advice to ignore mean girls and simply "let her light shine." Lula's troubles are resolved too tidily, but her longing for acceptance and the book's lighthearted humor may win over younger readers.
192 pp.
| Barron's
| May, 2008
|
TradeISBN 978-0-7641-6112-4$19.99
(3)
4-6
With plentiful color photographs and clear captioning to illustrate sequences of tacking, riding, and jumping, this manual covers choosing a stable and the initial lesson up through taking fences and eventing. The British English prose can be dry, but the book's logical progression, sound horsemanship, and broad treatment of the topic will give beginners a good overview of the sport. Glos., ind.
32 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| May, 2005
|
TradeISBN 0-374-37291-8$16.00
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Gabi Swiatkowska.
This book begins with a poem celebrating the nights of summer; individual lines are then illustrated on double-page spreads. The mostly surrealistic art may be off-putting to young readers, but the comforting text ("Smell of the water / on pots of geraniums. / Lovely the lateness / in summertime dark") is appealing.
32 pp.
| Barron's
| September, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-7641-5798-1$12.95
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Emily Bolam.
Plummet and Be-Bop are flying frogs. When they meet, Plummet wants to play but is embarrassed to tell Be-Bop that he doesn't know how to fly. Be-Bop lets him in on a secret: he just has to glide--none of them flies. The simplistic story line is as rudimentary and flat as the drawings, but it ends pleasantly enough.
32 pp.
| Scholastic/Orchard
| February, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-439-56418-2$$15.95
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Guy Parker-Rees.
Portly, a young hippo, is bored by sitting in water and eating grass all day. He ventures into the jungle and mimics characteristics of rhinos, bats, elephants, and giraffes. In the end, Portly returns home where the "water felt wonderful, and the boring old grass tasted better than ever." The brightly colored illustrations infuse humor into this unoriginal tale.
32 pp.
| Front
| October, 2001
|
TradeISBN 1-886910-16-2$$15.95
(4)
PS
Illustrated by
Adam Payne.
"Bird fish bear snake / Ocean river puddle lake." A girl with a lantern embarks on a dreamlike exploration of a landscape that is both familiar and mysterious. The terse, poetic text is compelling but may be confusing to young children. Cut-paper collage illustrations vividly portray a child's discovery of an archetypal yet imaginary world.
101 pp.
| Linnet
| December, 1998
|
LibraryISBN 0-208-02414-X$$18.50
(4)
4-6
This unpolished oral history of the seventeenth child in the combined marriages of Pency and George Walthall describes Mabel's experiences growing up on sharecropping land in a rural county in Virginia during the Depression. The series of vignettes are related in such nostalgic terms that even the poverty and prejudice this large African-American family experienced seem quaintly appealing.