Big Bad Bunny, by Franny Billingsley

This delightful story for very young children combines a scary story with the reassurance that mama will always be there. The story begins with a horrible bunny monster roaming the countryside. When mama mouse discovers that her youngest child is missing at bedtime, she combs the land until she finds her baby pretending to be the Big Bad Bunny. The baby declares that she isn't a baby anymore and demands some respects, but is very happy to go home with mama to her safe bed. The reader has to go back to the beginning illustrations to see if the clues are there, to realize that the Big Bad Bunny was wearing a costume. This will be a good one for lap reading or pre-school storytime. Children will want to "help" with the bunny's shouts after the first reading.

Tadpole Rex, by Kurt Cyrus

When a dinosaur's foot makes a puddle in prehistoric earth, a tadpole hatches and survives in that footprint puddle. Pictures show the dangers he faces, from carnivorous insects to larger hunters. As this tiny tadpole grows into a frog, he thinks of himself as a fierce creature, meeting triceratops, alamosauruses, and duckbills. The author's note tells that frogs lived 100 million years before these dinosaurs lived. He also warns that pollution and disappearing habitat may cause amphibians to follow the dinosaurs into extinction. This is for the dinosaur lover, the frog lover, and the child who wishes to be stronger than he is. The rhymes, the vivid language, and the sound effects make this book fun. The illustrations complement the text perfectly.

A Kitten Tale, by Eric Rohmann

Four kittens are waiting for their first snow through the other seasons. Three of them are timid, but the fourth kitten is excited and can't wait to see snow for the first time. The artwork is very simple, showing the fourth kitten always trying new things, while the others just sit back and watch. This book if for very young children who also may be afraid of new things.

I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer by Carole Boston Weatherford

This is a beautifully illustrated and well written account of Matthew Henson's life from the age of 13 when he began his first sailing adventure. It is told in the first person. Each page begins with a negative but completes with Henson overcoming that negative. For example; "I did not start as a cabin boy, climb to the ranks of an able-bodied seaman...to drift into humdrum jobs ashore. My dreams had sails." Facts about Henson's accomplishments such as learning to speak Inuit and carrying Peary to safety during during one of the polar attempts are woven into the text and speak to Henson's character. The story is a testament to Henson's determination to overcome prejudice and extreme hardships on his seven sttempts to reach the Notrth Pole. This would be an excellent book to use with character education. It is illustrated by Eric Velasquez and had starred reviews in Booklist, SLJ and Kirkus.

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale

Rapunzel’s tale gets on a new twist as she emerges as a take-charge personality. After her “mom” locks her in her ghastly tower, she realizes her long hair can be very useful. She uses it to escape (no need of prince charming here, in fact, he happens along after she’s freed herself and she tricks him in to continuing to the empty tower!) and teams up with an annoying boy named Jack (of the beanstalk fame!) to seek revenge on her fake mom and release her real mom from a life of slavery.

It’s lots of fun and a powerful female lead. The graphic nature adds to the adventure, more of the rough and tumble fights and stuff happen in the illustrations, not in the text. Easy to follow graphics with distinction between the narrative description (in beige background rectangles) and the dialog (in white bubbles).

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman by Marc Tyler Nobleman; Illustrated by Ross MacDonald

When you read this book, I believe you will know just the hands into which you will put this story. It tells the tale of the two dweebish outcasts – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – whose fascination with pulp fiction and comic strips helped them escape from their Depression era teenage lives of unheated homes and missing parents. The two used their talents – Jerry’s imagination & writing and Joe’s imagination & drawing – to create a character that helped others through the end of the Great Depression, through a world war and continues to offer entertainment and escape for people today.

There is a long note at the end which offers facts about the legal battles between Siegel, Shuster and DC Comics, a bibliography at the end and a note that all dialogue between the two came from interviews.

The illustrations by Ross MacDonald are fabulous – done in the style of the era and genre.

As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson; illustrated by Raul Colón

There are good read aloud picture books about the American Civil Rights movement and good read aloud picture books about the Holocaust, but this is the first title that I’ve seen that draws a simple but effective comparison between the two events for children.

A two part narrative first tells the story of King’s childhood experience with discrimination and then adulthood determination to challenge it, ending with his call for “…all God’s children” to join the movement. The story then moves to Herschel’s childhood in Europe and experience in Hitler’s Germany and Poland, his move to America and his answering of King’s call. The two marched together from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 and were apparently admirers of each other.

There is also a good lesson on self-esteem to be learned in this title - both men were raised by strong, loving fathers who instilled their sons with self-esteem. I really like the way the men's lives were shown to parallel - one father tells a son to look up instead of down when he walks, another tells his son to walk like a prince, not a peasant. Both end up following in their father's footsteps - King becomes a preacher like his father, Heschel a rabbi like his father.

A short note at the end tells of the events after the march, to King’s assassination and Heschel’s death a few years later. Raul Colón’s illustrations during the first half are warm & earth-toned, the second half cool & blue-toned – the illustrator is quoted in a book review as saying he did so to evoke the old blue-toned black & white newsreels from World War II.

Recommended for grades 2 - 5

Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog by Mini Grey

Traction Man must venture to the depths of the Evil Bin with "new toy" Turbo Dog to rescue his faithful sidekick Scrubbing Brush.

This book is witty, adventurous, and shows how great a child's imagination can be. I also think it could be used to introduce children to the comic book/graphic novel format. Overall a great read!

Recommended for ages 4-8.

Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

In addtion to telling a great story about a historical mystery, this book also offers a first class look into how a historian works. The author believes that he has found the real John Henry of the famous folk song in the person of a black prisoner who was sent to work for the C&O Railroad during Reconstruction. That story is compelling by itself, but the story of how the discoveries about John Henry were made is just as interesting. The book explains how the author tracked down elusive primary sources and then used them to connect the dots to make a coherent whole. Period photographs and illustrations, along with side notes, illuminate the text.Marc Aronson's contribution is very readable section called "How to be a Historian." An annotated bibliography, notes about sources, and an index are included. Black history and American history studies can be enhanced by this book. A creative music teacher could use it as well.Grades 4-8.

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Meilo So

This non-fiction picture book details the story of the famed red-tailed hawk that nested with his mate near the top of a New York City apartment building. While many loved watching the birds, the apartment residents disliked their mess and removed the nest, thus setting off an international protest. The well-rendered watercolor paintings are a beautiful complement to this heart-warming story. Any unit on birds or the environment would benefit from the use of this title. Grades 3 and up.