Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package by Kate DiCamillo

What will Eugenia Lincoln do with the package that unexpectedly arrives at her doorstep? It is certainly not in her character to learn to play the joyous instrument that is inside, much to the chagrin of Baby Lincoln, her more upbeat sister. Find out what happens in this new installment of Kate DiCamillo’s series, Tales from Deckawoo Drive. 

In Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package we re-encounter not only the Lincoln sisters, but the beloved pig Mercy Watson as well. Children who enjoyed the colorful, square-shaped Mercy Watson books will likely also embrace this beginner chapter book, which transitions young readers to a more typical children’s chapter book format with frequent black and white illustrations. While the story is fun and appealing, some of the vocabulary (borne, obtuse, auditory hallucinations) seems too advanced for its intended readership. All in all, however, Kate DiCamillo fans and others in the K-3 set will likely enjoy reading to find out how Eugenia Lincoln solves the “problem” of her unexpected package. Recommended with reservations. 2017

Odd, Weird, and Little by Patrick Jennings

5  Reasons Why Your 4^th through 6^th Grader Should Read Odd, Weird and Little by Patrick Jennings

1.      One of the two main characters of this charming book is (spoiler alert!) an owl disguised as a merely eccentric, accordion playing, briefcase toting, hat wearing “new kid” from Quebec.

2.      The above set-up leads to hilarious classroom scenes and wink-worthy word-play.

3.      This book requires suspension of disbelief in the way that fantasy and children’s books featuring animal characters (Cleary’s Runaway Ralph, Birney’s Humphrey series) do, while still reading like realistic fiction--making it appealing to a variety of readers.

4.      Your 9 year old will walk around the house saying “wait a second… I think this kid may be an owl", while your 11 year old will be seen slapping her palm against her forehead saying “I can’t believe they don’t realize he’s an owl!”

5.      Since “the other” in this book is an animal, and not simply an unpopular kid, or one of the typical victims of marginalization in our society, the themes of bullying and “being yourself” can be explored in a non-pedantic, non-moralizing way.  

2014 D. Rosen-Perez

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

The Carpet People

Remember the good old shag rugs of the 70's?  No? If you're too young, picture the glories of a room like this:

  Now imagine if a whole world had sprung up deep in the undergrowth of the fabric, complete with towns and villages and warring tribes.  That is exactly what the popular author Terry Pratchett imagined back in his youth, in 1971.  Now, all these years later, this book has been reissued, and the humor is still fresh, more than 40 years later.

The Carpet People tells the story of the Munrung Tribe, who are forced to leave their home when the terrible Fray attacks (picture a very large noise and a terrible wind that pulls things upwards -- now what could that be on a carpet?).  Led by the tribal chieftan Glurk ("Admittedly he moved his lips when he was thinking, and the thoughts could be seen bumping against one another like dumplings in a stew") and his more educated brother Snibril, they encounter other tribes and lots of adventures as they  wander.

Pratchett's typical dry humor is evident throughout the book, but it is also full of battles and strange creatures, all of which add up to make a very entertaining read.  This is definitely a book for older children, not because of any inappropriate content, but because the humor is dry and at times sophisticated.  However, for any reader who appreciates wit and adventure in a fantasy book, I would definitely recommend The Carpet People.  2013
M. Adams

I Represent Sean Rosen by Jeff Baron

I Represent Sean Rosen

Say you're a kid with a great idea -- a really, really great idea -- that you want to sell to Hollywood.  Then you find out that they won't pay any attention to you unless you have an agent, but you're just a kid, and you can't afford an agent.  What can you do?  If you're Sean Rosen, you just invent one!

This book, told in the first person, perfectly describes Sean's life and thoughts as he develops "Dan Welch," agent for Sean Rosen.  We never even learn what Sean's really big idea is, because he decides to start with a trial run, selling a movie idea.  The fact that he doesn't actually have a movie idea doesn't worry him until he unexpectedly gets a quick reply and has to come up with an idea in a hurry.  But Sean is a 13-year-old who is not easily discouraged, and he is never lacking in ideas.

This is a very entertaining book, and it's great fun to watch Sean's progress as he deals with each difficulty in negotiating with a major entertainment company.  You not only get to see his movie idea develop, you get descriptions of his parents, his friends, and his school, all told in Sean's inimitable style.  "I Represent Sean Rosen" manages to convincingly portray the thoughts of a bright 13-year-old, while at the same time serving up delightful doses of dead-pan humor. 

I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to anyone, especially anyone interested in someday becoming a major figure in the entertainment industry.  2013

M. Adams

Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider

Tales for Very Picky Eaters

In this very funny beginning reader, James is a very picky eater.When he won't eat broccoli, his father has some really disgusting and hilarious alternatives like dirt, already been chewed gum and a sock soaked in sweat. When James won't eat mushroom lasagna, his father threatens to fire the troll that lives in their basement and  cooks for them.  The troll will have to go back to the rat circus, where he worked before moving in to work for them.

The saga continues with repulsive milk, lumpy oatmeal and slimy eggs. James's dad offers creative solutions and alternatives in every case. This is a funny book, written in short chapters that can stand alone as separate stories or read together as one. It would be a fun book for new readers to share with their parents, although if they are picky eaters, they may not appreciate the creative insights their parents may gain from James's dad.    2011

R. Rauch

Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School by Kim Baker, illustrated by Tim Probert

Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School

If the schools in town suddenly have a outbreak of silly pranks, you won't have to look far for the cause -- that'll be proof that someone has read Pickle:  The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School.  Luckily, this good-natured book emphasizes light-hearted pranks that are not cruel or mean-spirited; they are done for the sheer fun of it. 

Ben, the founder of the group, performs his first prank on a whim.  I mean, if you suddenly found yourself the proud owner of a whole ball pit's worth of plastic balls, wouldn't you have to think of something cool to do with them?  After the success of that first prank, the momentum builds, and Ben realizes he needs a group of friends to help him continue the pranks.  And what better cover story for the group is there than a boring sounding name like the League of Pickle Makers?  The book describes their exploits as they each try to come up with a prank, so they can become full members of the group.  But what should Ben do about his best friend Hector?  It doesn't seem right to leave Hector out of the group, but Hector's grandmother is the principal, and Hector is not great at keeping secrets. 

This is a fun, easy read that is sure to please.  Kids will enjoy the escapades of the group as they plan and carry out their pranks, with varying degrees of success, but they'll also appreciate the description of the shifting dynamics of friendship in middle school.  Adults will appreciate that the kids, while certainly mischievious, are basically good kids, who still get along with their families and try to do well at school.  But that doesn't mean that adults are allowed to look at the super-secret website of the Pickle club.  After all, once you're over twenty your sense of humor starts leaking out, and soon you're just boring.

2012

M. Adams

My Rotten Life by David Lubar

My Rotten Life

Nathan Abercrombie, 10, was having a really bad day. He was not invited to Shawna's Halloween party and she made a point of telling him in front of the whole fifth grade at lunch. He was picked last for a team in gym. The coach singled him out for his lack of athletic ability and told him he had seen babies crawl faster than he could run. To top it off, he completely bombed on a video game, earning him the nickname "vidiot."

When Abigail, a very nerdy, quiet girl from his class, offers Nathan a way out of his pain, he jumps at the opportunity. She tells him that her scientist uncle has developed an experimental formula that makes anyone who takes it impervious to pain, physical or emotional.

After Nathan takes the formula, he feels better and even notices that his asthma seems to be improving. But then his ability to withstand pain becomes frightening, as he is stabbed with a fork in the face during a food fight and doesn't even feel it. He has no appetite and his asthma is improving because he doesn't seem to need to eat or breathe. The formula has turned him into a zombie.

Abigail's uncle has disappeared and the government is pursuit of him. Can Nathan, Abigail and Nathan's best friend, Mookie, find the missing uncle or come up with an antidote on their own, in time to prevent Nathan from becoming a zombie permanently?

In the process of their search, Nathan comes to some realizations about people, popularity and the social order in middle school that will ring true with many middle schoolers. It may even open the eyes of others.

This is fun, quick read that will appeal particularly to boys of this age, but can be enjoyable for either gender. It is the first in a series, Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie, and the title pretty much answers the question as to whether or not Nathan remains a zombie permanently. It does turn out to be a matter of choice,however, rather than a failure to find a cure in time.  2009

R. Rauch

The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery, by Kevin Cornell Doreen Cronin. Illustrated by

The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery

J.J. Tully is a retired search and rescue dog, trying to relax and enjoy his new life on a farm. His peace and quiet is disturbed when a hen, Millicent, and her two chicks, Dirt and Sugar, try to enlist his services to rescue her other chicks, who have been kidnapped.

The alternating narrator is Vince, the farm dog,who lives in the farm house and resents another dog invading his territory. The kidnapping is really ruse to set J.J. up to receive the medical procedure for which Vince is scheduled. He also plans to bump off Millicent and all her chicks, laying the blame on J.J.

Can J.J. figure out who is responsible for the kidnapping and lay waste to Vince's plans? Will Millicent, whom J.J. call Moosh for no apparent reason, and her chicks be a help or a hindrance?

This book is a quick read with plenty of the humor that we have seen in Doreen Cronin's picture books. While any mystery reader can enjoy it, it is a good choice for those patrons who approach mysteries with trepidation or are assigned a mystery book report and don't like them because they are scary. 2011.

R. Rauch

The Fox and the Hen by Eric Battut

The Fox and the Hen

This is one of the most delightful of the crafty fox and silly hen stories. A sweet but naive hen gives her newly laid egg to a red fox in exchange for a worm. When she returns to the barnyard and announces the trade, her animal friends are appalled and implore her to go back to the fox and retrieve her egg. Fox, of course, refuses. Hen returns and reports the sad news. And so begins the animals' plan to help hen--each animal takes a turn accompanying Hen to Fox, offering all kinds of wonderful gifts: wool, cheese, feathers, seeds, milk. Fox rejects everything, saying each time how he might cook the egg: fried, scrambled, or hard boiled. Hen and her friends , undaunted, find an enormous oval stone, paint it white, and tempt Fox for one last time. It works! His eyes are bigger than his stomach. Hen is reunited with her egg, which hatches shortly after they return to the barnyard. Happiness prevails. Meanwhile, Fox is wondering why the giant egg is taking so darn long to cook. The illustrations are done in vivid shades of red and orange with the animals outlined in black. 2011.

M.Cooney

Switching on the Moon

Switching on the Moon

Switching on the Moon: A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems Collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas.

Here's an opportunity to introduce your youngster to the pleasures of poetry by reading several selections at bedtime from this charming, as well as accessible, collection. Divided into three sections, Going to Bed, Sweet Dreams and In the Night, the poems vary in length from four lines to three or four stanzas. Written by well-known poets, such as Langston Hughes, Vachel Lindsay and Alfred Lord Tennyson, and lesser known writers too, most of the poems rhyme and many are wonderfully humorous. What makes this anthology especially appealing is the charming illustrations. Each poem is accompanied by a full page illustration which sets the mood, adds to the humor or enriches the reader's understanding.

Three or four year old children will enjoy being lulled to sleep listening to these bedtime selections. The poems and sweet illustrations will hold the interest of young school age children too. With an index of first lines and of poets' names in the back of the book, readers can select their old favorites or try something brand new. Hopefully these sixty delights will open young readers' minds to the joys of poetry.

2010

C. Buchanan

Dial M for Mongoose by Bruce Hale

Dial M for Mongoose

Chet Gecko and his detective partner, mockingbird Natalie Attired, are back for their fifteenth case. Serious shenanigans--a stink bomb, a fire and several thefts--are wreaking havoc at Emerson Hickey Elemetary and Chet's pal and supporter, Maureen DeBree, the head custodian, is taking all the heat. Principal Zero really has it in for her.

When Maureen gets fired and then the problems continue and escalate with a classroom collapse and the mysterious disappearance of several students, Chet and Natalie are determined to find out who is responsible and clear Maureen's name.

This is a fun read and a very light mystery. It is a good choice for anyone who wants a mystery but doesn't want to be too scared. Chet's 1940's style private-eye wisecracks are probably lost on kids, but can be amusing for any adults reading the book with or to children. 2009

R. Rauch

Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes for Hungry Minds, by Ann McCallum. Illustrated by Leeza Hernandez.

Eat Your Math Homework

Don't be fooled by the picture-book format of this fun--and beautifully illustrated--cookbook. It's definitely for older elementary-aged children. The recipes are all about various math (NOT arithmetic) concepts, such as Fibonacci Snack Sticks, Tessellating Two-Color Brownies, and Probability Trail Mix.

The layout is superb, especially considering all that is carefully included. Recipes are clearly given and humorously illustrated, and the math ideas are well defined and explained. A few small sidebars present concept explanations with stumper-type questions (solutions are at the end of the book). Math terms are in bold font, which is effective. And, there is a glossary and an index at the end. 2011.

Yummy!

K. Muhm

Cat Secrets, by Jef Czekaj

A very funny picture book for cat lovers, this starts off with a cat urgently telling readers to "Stop reading right now!" Apparently the "cat secrets" revealed in this book, can only be heard by actual cats. When the cats realize that someone other than a cat may be reading the book, they ask the reader to perform a variety of catlike actions to prove their "catness" The engaging way in which the characters speak directly to the reader, reminds one of Mo Willems, Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus books. A must-read for cat lovers or lovers of just plain funny picture books. Also good for storytimes, since the children can act out the actions to prove that they are indeed "cats"!
2011
P. Sassoon

Lulu and the Brontosaurus, by Judith Viorst. Illustrated by Lane Smith.

"There once was a girl named Lulu, and she was a pain. She wasn't a pain in the elbow. She wasn't a pain in the knee. She was a pain -- a very big pain -- in the b u t t ." So begins this humorous, irreverent story of a very spoiled girl who decides she wants a brontosaurus for her birthday (well, except for an introduction explaining that even though people and dinosaurs never lived on Earth at the same time, the author gets to choose what she writes, because she's the one writing the story).

When Lulu's parents decide, for once, to stand up to her tantrums and refuse to get Lulu a brontosaurus, Lulu takes matters into her own hands and goes off to the forest to look for one herself. Undeterred by any of the ferocious animals she meets on her way, Lulu finally finds her brontosaurus. But little does she know, the brontosaurus is looking for a pet too. And Lulu suddenly finds the tables turned.

Full of humorous asides, and featuring three alternative endings, this fun book would be a great read-aloud. Just practice Lulu's hunting song: "I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, gonna get, A bronto- bronto- bronto- Brontosaurus for a pet." 2010

M. Adams

Ortega, by Maureen Fergus

Ortega is no ordinary 11-year-old. Sure he enjoys hanging out with his friends, disagrees with his mom on a regular basis and is trying to find where he belongs in his new middle school. But the most interesting thing about Ortega is that he's actually a GORILLA! Scientists taught him to talk, read and write from an early age as part of "Project Ortega", an experiment whose goal was to see if a wild animal could be integrated into human society. Dr. Susan, the only mother he has ever known, is Ortega's fiercest champion as he awkwardly tries to blend into middle school life. For not all of Ortega's classmates nor their parents are thrilled to have a enormous gorilla in their midst. When one of the scientists on the team decides to sell Ortega and abandon the experiment, Dr. Susan must find a way to show everyone that Ortega is more than just a science project.

The author does a fantastic job of conveying the conflicting animal/human elements of Ortega's personality, while mirroring the adolescent angst that any typical 11-year-old experiences. Told with humor and heart this tale will appeal to a wide range of audiences while bringing to mind the issues of discrimination and animal as well as human rights. 2010.

P. Sassoon

Math Attack, by Joan Horton

Everyone who has had a good math teacher has had to learn the number facts. Arithmetic strain strikes the main character when she can't recall what seven times ten is. Numbers start flying out of her head and cause pandemonium all over town. Neither the school nurse, the police department, nor the local TV station seems to be able help. When the gears start spinning in her head, the girl miraculously remembers the answer, but what happens when the teacher gives her an example from the nine times table?
This illustrated literature has frantic illustrations which make a common, stressful situation full of humor. 2009

C. Buchanan

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R.A. Spratt

When Mr. Green advertises for a nanny for his three children, he certainly does not expect a pig to show up at the front door. But since Mr. Green is extremely cheap and Nanny Piggins is willing to work for 10 cents per week, a deal is struck. To the childrens' delight they soon discover that Nanny Piggins is a former circus pig who lets them eat sweets all day, takes them on excursions to the amusement park instead of school shopping and on boat rides with the intention of reaching China for a bite to eat. With Nanny Piggins the children never know where adventure will strike next, but they sure know that they want to be along for the ride! 2010

P. Sassoon

I Don’t Like Gloria! By Kaye Umansky

Gloria is the cat who arrives at the family home and immediately grabs all the attention away from our main character, Calvin, the dog. Calvin’s fantastic facial expressions and the heartfelt, repeated refrain, “I don’t like Gloria!” pepper this humorous tale. The two remain at odds throughout the story, until the end, when a new family pet (a bunny, named Jeffery) is added into the mix. Calvin and Gloria now have something in common. “I still don’t like Gloria, and Gloria doesn’t like me,” says Calvin. “But at least we agree on one thing. We really don’t like Jeffrey!” A great choice to share with the preschool storytime crowd. 2007
A. Basso

The Gecko and Sticky: Villian's Lair, by Andrew Clements

Thirteen-year old Dave and his talking gecko sidekick, Sticky, are trying to retrieve the magic golden ingots that make the Aztec powerband that they have work. The powerband, together with the ingots, can give the possessor super-strength, lightning speed or the ability to become invisible. Sticky snagged the powerband from the evil treasure hunter, Damien Black, but the powerband is useless without the ingots. Join Dave and Sticky as they try to recover the ingots from the evil Damien Black, who will stop at nothing to regain the powerband from Dave and Sticky. Their adventures begin at Damien Black's booby-trapped mansion and include encounters with the Bandito Brothers and a hungry, three-hundred pound Komodo dragon. 2009.
R. Rauch

We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

There is a reason young elementary students (and adults) adore Mo Willems. It's an art to a evoke a stirring emotional truth within the necessary constraints of a beginning reader.

A great beginning reader is as tightly crafted as a perfect poem. It has to be concise, emotionally engaging, have a satisfying plot line, and the language must be simple enough for new readers to decode. The illustrations need to support the text by offering clues to the word meanings, on every page.

Willems' latest, We Are in a Book, delivers humor as well as poignancy in this limited-vocabulary story. The two characters, Elephant and Piggie, become self-conscious when they realize they are characters in this book. At first they feel powerful, but when they consider that all books eventually end, they go through a kind of existential angst. They eventually come up with a solution that the reader can choose to implement, by re-reading the book.

We Are in a Book is the twelfth title in Mo Willems' beginning reader series, "Elephant & Piggie." 2010.

K. Muhm