November 2017 Booktalks Compiled Title: Stanley s Numbers Author(s): William Bee Illustrator(s): William Bee Publisher: Peachtree Publishers Ages: 1-4 Call Number: Juv BoardBk Bee Stanley and Woo are preparing for a picnic party by bringing various items to set up. Help Stanley and Woo count their party things from 1 to 10! Who else will attend the party? Title: Miffy Can Play! Author(s): Cregg, R. J. (Based on the work of Dick Bruna) Illustrator(s): Based on work of Dick Bruna Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children s Publishing Ages: 3-5 Call Number: Juv Primer Cregg, R. J. Miffy and Grunty love to play! In this very basic primer, Miffy and Grunty show the different ways they play. But once they begin playing hide and seek, will Miffy be able to find Grunty? Front pages have sight words and word families. Back page has basic comprehension questions. Title: Princess Pistachio and Maurice the Magnificent Author(s): Marie-Louise Gay Illustrator(s): Marie-Louise Gay Publisher: Pajama Press Inc. Ages: 6-8 Call Number: Juv Reader Gay, Marie-Louise Pistachio Shoelace has a dog who needs an adventure. All he does is sleep and eat. Finally, Pistachio finds the perfect adventure for Dog, acting! When he gets the part, she devotes all her time to him and forgets about her best friend. Then Dog goes missing! Will her best friend help her find him again? Title: Duck, Duck, Dinosaur: Perfect Pumpkin Author(s): Kallie George Illustrator(s): Oriol Vidal Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Ages: 5-7 Call Number: Juv Primer George, K. Series: Duck, Duck, Dinosaur Branches: All branches Duck, Duck, Dinosaur: Perfect Pumpkin is an I Can Read! My First Shared Reading Book. It is about two ducks and their brother, who is a dinosaur Feather, Flap, and Spike, while they look for the perfect pumpkin to pick. Every time Feather and Flap find the perfect pumpkin it is squished and ruined by Spike. Spike doesn t mean it, but it just happens. Mama is there to encourage them to keep looking. Spike is sad when they do find the perfect pumpkins because he looks around at all of the bits and pieces of the pumpkins he squished. Again, mama comes to the rescue with a wonderful way to use the squished pumpkins. Read to find out. There are few words and fragmented sentences on a page, but it is a good fall story for young readers to enjoy. Title: Snail Has Lunch Author(s): Mary Peterson Publisher: Aladdin Pix, Simon & Schuster Children s Publishing Division Copyright: 2016 Ages: 6-8 Call Number: Juv Reader Peterson, Mary Branches: Main, BAK, BBR, CAR, CEN, DGB, EDE, FAI, GSR, JCR, PRI, SCO, ZAC Snail Has Lunch is about a snail who lives in a bucket and never wants to leave his home filled with brown grass and dirt. Snail s friend, Ladybug, tries and tries to talk Snail into leaving the bucket to enjoy good food and fun things by telling him stories about her other animal friends and some sweet red strawberries that are ripe in the garden. Snails says no until one day his bucket is taken away, and he has no choice because he is alone. Reluctantly Snail follows Ladybug to the garden. Snail meets the other animals, sees wonderful sunshine, and enjoys tasty fruit and vegetables. Snail nibbles and nibbles until he sees a red object. He takes a bite and finds out that red peppers are one thing he should stay away from. Snail gets to find out what sweet red strawberries taste like, and he loves them. Snail, Rabbit, and Ladybug look for Snail s old rusty bucket but when they find it it isn t filled with brown grass and dirt anymore. Read to find out what s in Snail s bucket. The story continues narratively while broken up in very short chapters. The story also includes talking bubbles. This is a great story about snails, ladybugs, gardens, and friendship. Title: My Colors Author(s): Patricia Mitter Illustrator(s): Patricia Mitter Publisher: The Cornell Lab Publishing Group Ages: 2-6 Call Number: Juv BoardBk Mitter
Branches: Main, BAK, BBR, CAR, CEN, DGB, EDE, FAI, GSR, JCR, PRI, SCO, ZAC My Colors is a board book about birds and their colors. There is a different type of bird highlighted on each page with the color of the bird, a short sentence, a fact about the bird, and an illustration. Each page is tabbed on the end with a color for ease. The birds are compared to other Earthly objects that young children may be familiar with in the same color. The words are bold, and the illustrations are brightly colored. There is also a listening QR app mentioned at the back of the book for readers to listen to bird sounds and a website to learn more about the birds. Would be a good read for toddlers learning their colors, but good participatory item for other young children. Title: Please Please the Bees Author: Gerald Kelley Illustrator: Gerald Kelley Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company Ages: 4-8 Call Number: Juv PicBk Kelley, Gerald Benedict the Bear lives a charmed, cozy life. He is a creature of habit and loves his daily routine. Every morning since he was a wee bear cub the bees have delivered three jars of honey to his front door. Every day, he has honey tea and toast with honey and makes his honey cake. But one day, the bees go on strike! Nothing is the same anymore, and Benedict becomes very, very sad. One bee lets him know what s up: Benedict has taken the bees for granted! Read this lovely picture book to see how Benedict finally becomes a good beekeeper. Classically illustrated in softly vibrant colors, this is an irresistible story with a great ecological message. Title: Bossy Flossie: Biz Wiz Author(s): Sheila Greenwald Illustrator(s): Pierre Collet-Derby Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Ages: 2 nd & 3 rd grade Call Number: Juv Step-up Greenwald, Sheila Bossy Flossie is about a girl at school whom everyone thinks is bossy. When it s time to select a partner for a group project, no one wants to be on her team, but she finally convinces the new kid, Billy, to partner with her. Disastrous results follow. Flossie s grandpa has told her to never make your friend your partner, but make your partner your friend. Will Flossie be able to make her partner her friend, despite the disasters she causes?
Title: The Kid Coach Author(s): Fred Bowen Illustrator(s): none Publisher: Peachtree Publishers Copyright: 2016 Ages: 7-11 Call Number: Juv Bowen, Fred The Tigers baseball team is in trouble. Their coach, Mr. Skelly, just quit and the members can t find anyone to coach them. So they decide that one of them should coach the team. Baseball history includes famous players who were player-coaches, so why not a kid coach? One player, Scott Hudson, ends up being the coach. Another player, Benny Myles, is a brain and very good with statistics. Benny is teased often, but loves baseball and his team so much, that he endures all the wisecracks thrown at him. Over time, Scott begins to see the great value of having Benny on the team. The team is complete with diverse personalities who try to solve the team s problems. Do they end up having a winning season? This book was written by a baseball coach who was a Little Leaguer and loved to read. He offers a great pace to the young reader. It is an exciting book with play-by-play action! Title: Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Babysitters Club) Author: Galligan, Gale Illustrator(s): Galligan, Gale Publisher: Graphix: an imprint of Scholastic Copyright: October 2017 Ages: 8-11 Call Number: Juv Graphic Baby-sitter s Club v.5 There are two simultaneous stories in this book. One is about Dawn and her job at the Barrets and the other is about Dawn and her new friends in the Babysitter s Club. Dawn is new in town. She recently moved from California and has become the newest member of the Baby-Sitter s Club. Her first big job is taking care of the Barrett children. But it becomes a big challenge for Dawn. Each time she comes to babysit, the house is a mess and Ms. Barrett, who is divorced, rushes out the door without any instructions for her. Marnie, the youngest, is allergic to chocolate and Dawn almost gives her a piece of a brownie. Also Ms. Barrett does not want the children talking to their father and because of a visitation misunderstanding, Buddy the oldest, is taken by his father without Dawn knowing. Once Buddy is brought home by his Dad, Dawn finds the courage to tell Ms. Barrett she can t babysit for her anymore. She feels that she can t be a good babysitter unless the parent gives her a little
help. She feels overwhelmed by the messy house and Buddy the oldest depends on her too much. Dawn, after some convincing gives Ms. Barrett another chance. At the Babysitter s club the girls are dealing with issues of divorce as well. Dawn s mother and Mary Anne s dad are dating and Kristy, the founder of the club, is moving to a new place with her new family and may not be able to attend meetings. The girls support her and say that there is no babysitter s club without her. Kristy must come up with a solution to keep the club together. I have never read the original babysitter s club and this is the fifth volume in this Graphic Novel series. But you don t really have to read any of the other books to understand this story. The illustrations helped guide the story and the character s expressions were exactly right. The girls in the story are typical tweens dealing with small issues like how they should decorate their room to big issues like moving and divorce. They handle all these issues with maturity and good communication in the end. Title: Around the World Right Now Author(s): Gina Cascone and Bryony Williams Sheppard; illustrated by Olivia Beckman Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press Ages: K-1 st Grade / Ages 4-6 Call Number: Juv 910.41 C336a Booktalk: November 2017 - SCO This book introduces the concept of time zones to young children. On every page, colorful illustrations show us glimpses of what is happening around the world in every time zone. From San Francisco to Dubai, Madagascar to the South Pole, children can look for the clock giving the time in every place. At the end of the book, there are a couple of additional projects for parents or teachers. One is using a globe or map to look up the locations in the book, and the second project is making a simple sundial.