Parents Books - Page 12

Room One: A Mystery or Two

Andrew Clements

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Book Review by Brooke 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Ted Hammond is a boy who loves mystery books. He goes to a school with only one room and one teacher and three of four grades. Ted is the only one who is in sixth grade.
I think you should read this book because you have to think about it carefully. And you solve mysteries. Some mysteries that are going the right way go the wrong way at the end. Is the school going to stay open or not?

Editorial Review:

Ted Hammond loves a good mystery, and in the spring of his fifth-grade year, he's working on a big one. How can his school in the little town of Plattsford stay open next year if there are going to be only five students? Out here on the Great Plains in western Nebraska, everyone understands that if you lose the school, you lose the town.

But the mystery that has Ted's full attention at the moment is about that face, the face he sees in the upper window of the Andersons' house as he rides past on his paper route. The Andersons moved away two years ago, and their old farmhouse is empty, boarded up tight. At least it's supposed to be.

A shrinking school in a dying town. A face in the window of an empty house. At first these facts don't seem to be related. But Ted Hammond learns that in a very small town, there's no such thing as an isolated event. And the solution of one mystery is often the beginning of another.

I Wanna Iguana

Karen Kaufman Orloff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

GREAT ART, FUNNY STORY LINE, GOOD TEACHING TOOL. GREAT BOOK! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Karen Orloff and David Catrow have teamed up in this one to give us a very funny story of a little boy, Alex, who wants very, very much to have his own pet Iguana. The problem is...obviously, Mom! The entire book is consists of notes, or mini-letters, written between Alex and his mom. The little boy of course is pointing out the obvious advantages of having his own lizard in his room (in his eyes), and his mom counters each note with her own note pointing out the obvious disadvantages of having a reptile in the home..a reptile that can possibly grow to several feet long!. The unique exchange of letters is absolutely hilarious.

Each letter, both from Alex and from mom, is highlighted with some wonderful illustrations and pictures by David Catrow. They fit the text perfectly which makes this book quite easy to read to an individual child or to a group. Each letter allows the reader to open up discussion as to the arguments presented by both mom and Alex. It is fun to have the kids think of other reasons for both sides of the argument.

All in all, this is a fine little book and I do recommend you add it to your library. You certainly cannot go wrong with this one.

Editorial Review:

Alex just has to convince his mom to let him have an iguana, so he puts his arguments in writing. He promises that she won't have to feed it or clean its cage or even see it if she doesn't want to. Of course Mom imagines life with a six-foot-long iguana eating them out of house and home. Alex's reassurances: It takes fifteen years for an iguana to get that big. I'll be married by then and probably living in my own house. and his mom's replies: How are you going to get a girl to marry you when you own a giant reptile? will have kids in hysterics as the negotiations go back and forth through notes. And the lively, imaginative illustrations show their polar opposite dreams of life with an iguana.

RAMONA FOREVER (Ramona Quimby (Paperback))

Beverly Cleary

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Enjoyable For All Kids 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Ramona Quimby and her sister, Beezus, stay at a neighbors' house after school. But when their neighbors' rich uncle comes for a visit, embarassing and irritating both girls, they beg their parents to stay home alone. Their parents agree, but a lot can happen when you're home alone, especially when one of the most fiesty, trouble-making eight-year-olds has to try to be obedient! And as if that isn't enough to keep Ramona busy, many more problems arise. Her father is having trouble finding a job, and her mother, who Ramona and Beezus notice is becoming unusually tired and concerned about gaining too much weight, seems to be keeping a big secret for someone, one she refuses to tell the girls. How will Ramona manage?

This book was so interesting that I read it twice. I just finished my second reading, and though it became boring in some parts because I had already read it a previous time, it was entertaining and enjoyable. Ramona is a fun character that will enchant children young and old, as well as a few children-at-heart. If you like Junie B. Jones, or have enjoyed previous Ramona books, then I guarentee you will like this book! It's a good one!

Editorial Review:

Ramona's year in third grade is highlighted by the arrival of Howie's rich uncle, a change in her after-school situation, a surprise wedding, a death and a new arrival in the family, and her father's getting a job.

You Are My Miracle

Maryann K. Cusimano Love

Amazon Price: $10.87 List Price: $15.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Philomel Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $4.90

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Sweet book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful book at the chirstmas season, to help parents take a moment and read with their children. It is such a sweet book.

You Are My Miracle 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

!!!!!!Wonderful "lyrics" and beautiful message- reads like a song. This is a beautiful gift from any parent to a child who brightens your life. This would also be a lovely gift to a new parent.

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

What a sweet, sweet message this book has...describes in a unique way just how much a child is loved.

you are my miracle 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

an outstanding children's book - nice price break on it - arrived on time and in perfect shape

Wonderful book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My in-laws got this book for all of their grandkids one year at Christmas. My son is only two and a half, but I've read it to him the past two Christmas seasons and it always makes me cry. It is a beautifully written book, with words that speak to the heart. It's nearly impossible to express in words the love that parents have for their children, but this book does a great job at doing just that. I will definitely be buying "You are My I Love You" as well.

Editorial Review:

Nothing beats the magic of time spent between parent and child, and perhaps no time is more magical than Christmas. Presented in gentle rhymes and illustrations as warm and glowing as a winter’s fire, here is one such Christmas. Maryann Cusimano Love and Satomi Ichikawa, the team behind the international bestseller You Are My I Love You, pair up once again to bring you this instant classic.

How I Learned Geography

Uri Shulevitz

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $6.78

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

If life were only moments, then you'd never know you had one. 5 out of 5 stars.
25 of 26 people found this review helpful.

Your story is your own, and when you choose to share it with the world you may find it hard to stop. There is no subject you are better familiar with, of course. Human beings can write diaries with a lifetime's worth of memories. They can pen autobiographies that go from cradle to near grave and still find enough information for a couple thousand pages more. Maybe that's why I have so much respect for the picture book autobiography. Particularly when it's not even a look at an entire life, but a snatched moment in a person's youth that made them who they are today. Look back on your own life. If you had to synthesize it down to the one moment that defined who you are right now, what would it be? For Caldecott Award winner Uri Shulevitz, it all comes down to a map. And so, with brevity and wit and a feel for what makes a picture book worth reading, Mr. Shulevitz recounts a time of trial from his life that is touching in its seeming simplicity.

When young Uri Shulevitz fled Moscow with his family to the relative safety and security of then Turkestan (now Kazakhstan) they had little money and littler food. One day the boy's father goes out to buy bread, but when he comes home it is not with anything edible but with a map. Uri is furious at this dad and has to put up with his neighbors noisily smacking their lips as they devour their own miniscule dinner. Yet when Uri's father hangs the map on their wall, it offers the boy unexpected joys. Through its presence he goes round the world, exploring everything from cold mountain peaks to the thrill of beautiful temples. The map offers the boy escape from his hard life and perhaps helps to set him on his way as an artist and illustrator. An Author's Note explains more about Uri's life with a photograph and two drawing samples, one from age ten and one from thirteen.

My co-worker Rebecca made a remarkable point about this book. She recounted to me a story in which a person referred to himself as poor. His mother was quick to correct him, saying that they weren't "poor" they were just broke. If you are broke you're simply going to bad times, but if you're poor then that's a state of mind from which you can never escape. As Rebecca puts it, the moment Uri's father bought that map instead of bread he made a conscious choice to be broke. Not poor.

Many of us will recognize Mr. Shulevitz's work because of his remarkable Caldecott Honor winning book Snow. That was a book of cold blues and an almost Maurice Sendakian feel for children's playfulness. How I Learned Geography replicates that playfulness, but the art is where Shulevitz does what may well be his best work. The watercolors in this book run the gamut from the blood red overtones of a Warsaw sky to the bleak sand-colored roofs of Turkestan homes. Because the map has long since been lost to time, Mr. Shulevitz had to replicate it here from memory. It really is a splendid, colorful creation too, and when Uri recites the exotic names he finds there in a kind of incantation, he is seen flying over its flattened surface. I loved the tiny details of this imaginative journey. Look at how Shulevitz has somehow created the undulating lines of little ripples of sand in a burning desert. And the view of the city with all its buildings becomes a model of impossible angles and jutting towers. Little Uri even engages the reader directly when his father first comes home with the map. As his mother holds out her hand for the bread that will not come, Uri looks directly at the reader and points to his father, as if to say "What is up with this guy?"

The natural comparison to make when considering this book is to hold it up against Peter Sis' The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. This isn't a particularly fair comparison, though. Sis' autobiography had an adult slant to it. He was actually summing up his early life in a thousand bits and pieces, as opposed to Shulevitz's minimalist view of his own. And while The Wall had child-friendly sections below each picture, it didn't feel like something made with an entirely child-aged audience in mind. What's so interesting about How I Learned Geography, in contrast, is that it feels wholly and entirely child-friendly. Yes, it has an Author's Note in the back that's directed at adults, but the book itself has a wonderfully young feel. Sentences are simple and beautiful and short. The flights of fancy Uri goes on are so much fun to read that kids will find quite a lot to grab onto and love in this author's story. It's a remarkable mix of memory and storytelling that works beautifully in its current elegant format.

It's one thing to have a life worth telling and another thing entirely to know how to tell it. In How I Learned Geography, Uri Shulevitz presents his masterpiece. Image, heart, and story combine to show us the best of the autobiographical picture book format. A book that will touch all who read it because it reminds us that once in a while our dreams bleed into our reality. A beautiful piece.

Editorial Review:

Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy’s father brings home a map instead of bread for supper, at first the boy is furious. But when the map is hung on the wall, it floods their cheerless room with color. As the boy studies its every detail, he is transported to exotic places without ever leaving the room, and he eventually comes to realize that the map feeds him in a way that bread never could.

The award-winning artist’s most personal work to date is based on his childhood memories of World War II and features stunning illustrations that celebrate the power of imagination. An author’s note includes a brief description of his family’s experience, two of his early drawings, and the only surviving photograph of himself from that time.

The First Part Last

Angela Johnson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 83 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bobby is a typical urban New York City teenager--impulsive, eager, restless. For his sixteenth birthday he cuts school with his two best buddies, grabs a couple of slices at his favorite pizza joint, catches a flick at a nearby multiplex, and gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever: He's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and fun times with friends are replaced by visits to Nia's pediatrician and countless social workers who all say that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption. Then tragedy strikes Nia, and Bobby finds himself in the role of single, teenage father. Because his child--their child--is all that remains of his lost love.

With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson tells the story of a young man's struggle to figure out what the "right thing" is and then to do it. The result is a gripping portrayal of single teenage parenthood from the point of view of a youth on the threshold of becoming a man.

Spot Loves His Daddy (Spot)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Spot Loves His Daddy 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is written in the same style as all other Spot books. My daughter, 2, loves this book, especially when Daddy reads this with her. My son, 4, loves this one too. Great book, simple and easy to understand.

my boys love it when daddy reads this to them 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

my toddlers love the simplified drawings and the very easy to follow storyline. and daddy loves reading to them too.

Cute book for Spot lovers 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is on par with the other Spot-series books. Cute little pictures, basic vocabulary and storylines, etc. My daughter loves to point out interesting things on each page, like the ducks at the park and the boat at the beach. Cute book about all of the fun things that Spot does with his daddy.

Spot Board Books 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

These books are very entertaining for children. They can't wait to hear them.

Great Board Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great addition to our Spot board book collection - cute story and perfect for kids who are too young to read the flap books on their own without tearing them(no flaps in the board books), but still want to read independently. In many years of teaching young children I never met one who didn't love Spot.

Editorial Review:

Whether playing ball in the park, feeding the ducks, or reading bedtime stories, Spot and his Daddy are great buddies. Perfect for Father's Day, as well as all year long, this happy and heartwarming book is great for sharing.

The Runaway Bunny (Book & Bunny Gift Set)

Margaret Wise Brown

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

great gift set 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I was extremely happy with my purchase as well as the timely manner in which I received it.

A Great Little Story 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I remember this story when I was a little girl. It's just the cutest little book. I haven't opened this up yet, since it's a christmas present for my daughter, but I come in Excellent condition! And the story is one that every child will enjoy!

Editorial Review:

This classic children's story and soft,
cuddly plush baby bunny make
the perfect companions for storytime.

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, "I am running away."
"if you run away," said his mother, I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny."

The Report Card

Andrew Clements

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

PCE Student Review 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My favorite book is the `The Report Card' . It is a really good . When you start reading it , you can't put it down . The author is Andrew Clements. He is my favorite author. The book is about a girl named Nora Rose Rowley . She pretends to be dumb , but she is really smart. Why do you ask? Because everybody is making a big deal about grades. The kids are dividing into the `smart' kids and the `dumb' kids. She wanted to change that. I think every age group will `Love'' this book, I did . Go check it out at your local library.

Editorial Review:

SHHHHH

Nora Rose Rowley is a genius, but don't tell anyone. She's managed to make it to the fifth grade without anyone figuring out that she's not just an ordinary kid, and she wants to keep it that way.

But then Nora gets fed up with the importance everyone attaches to test scores and grades, and she purposely brings home a terrible report card just to prove a point. Suddenly the attention she's successfully avoided all her life is focused on her, and her secret is out. And that's when things start to get really complicated....

Ida B: . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

Katherine Hannigan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An entertaining story 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This fun novel is made up of glorious similes, metaphors, and intense descriptions. Ida B is a strong character that comes to life. You can really relate to her feelings. She is unpredictable and makes you want to keep reading to see what she will do next. Ida B is a moving story with a great theme and message about nature. Dealing with a loved one who is diagnosed with cancer is another inspirational theme woven into the plot. After I finished reading, I had to stop a moment to take in everything I had read. It truly made me think, and I believe it will have the same effect on anyone who reads this book. I confidently recommend Ida B.

Editorial Review:

Who is Ida B. Applewood? She is a fourth grader like no other, living a life like no other, with a voice like no other, and her story will resonate long after you have put this book down. How does Ida B cope when outside forces—life, really—attempt to derail her and her family and her future? She enters her Black Period, and it is not pretty. But then, with the help of a patient teacher, a loyal cat and dog, her beloved apple trees, and parents who believe in the same things she does (even if they sometimes act as though they don't), the resilience that is the very essence of Ida B triumph...and Ida B. Applewood takes the hand that is extended and starts to grow up.

This first novel is both very funny and extraordinarily moving, and it introduces two shining stars—Katherine Hannigan and Ida B. Applewood.