Friends: Snake and Lizard: Short stories that teach while being fun and without
being preachy! These are perfect bedtime reads or classroom additions for young kids. The book teaches the food chain (very charmingly in the chapter aptly called ‘Life Cycle’), and also values of friendship and helping.

The book is humorous, quirky, and a little macabre but still works well for children. Snake and Lizard are good friends in spite of the fact that they are different animals and snake is a girl while lizard is a boy. They are in the ‘helping’
business and how they help other animals many times over in this chapter book is funny and sweet. Each chapter can be read by itself and also has some continuity.

Readers will enjoy when the friends discover what the monsters on four round legs eat!  And when they explain the ‘life-cycle’ (humorous and informative at the same time) 

 

You can see examples of the word play and humor here from the book:

 

In Summary: Delightful word play and colorful illustrations make this book a wonderful read while teaching lessons of friendship and nature.

Rating: B+

Reading Level:  Ages 7 to 10

 

 

 

 

B is for Bufflehead:  This
book is wonderful – perfect for bird lovers of all ages and also for anyone who
enjoys the beauty of nature. The book flies through the alphabet leisurely exploring
many birds for each letter of the alphabet.  Each page of the book shows a different bird –
stunning photographs of the bird accompany engaging text that works for youngand old alike while teaching interesting facts about the bird. There is also a
fun quiz at the end of the book where you can try to guess the birds using the
facts and the photographs as well as pair the baby birds shown with their mommies
(with the answers printed upside down) and a ‘More About the Birds’ section
which includes the following information included in a fact-card format for
each bird with a accompanying photo:

My son, who is a budding ornithologist at nine years, loved
this book as did my six year old daughter. We discovered birds we had not heard
of before, learned new facts about birds we knew and enjoyed the humorous avian
tidbits included throughout. You can enjoy a peek inside the book at
the ‘B
is for Bufflehead’ site
In Summary:

Stunning photographs and facts that will stay in your head
to share make this book a must-have.

Rating: B+

Reading Level: 4+ (while young kids will enjoy learning the
alphabet through this book, older kids will enjoy learning about the birds as
will adults)

 

Warriors and Wailers: Did you know you could have been a geomancer? Even a
physiognomist or a bone diviner? How about a professional wailer? Lots of
interesting jobs in this book with great descriptions and a touch of humor – I
was smiling throughout while learning a lot about history, culture and people.
The similarities between how royal dynasties are run struck me as I was reading
this book for I have been reading the trilogy written by Indu Sundaresan which
describes the Mughal dynasties in India.

Night soil spreader,anyone? And if I am going to be a slave, might as well be one
with a dark green head. To read more about these interesting jobs, pick up this
book today.
In Summary: A perfect read for you if you need to learn about jobs in ancient China (and even if you don’t, this makes an interesting read).

Rating: B

Reading Level: 9 to 12 years

Disclaimer:Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a digital
review copy of this book. I was not compensated for my review. My thoughts on
this book were in no way influenced by the author or publicist. They are my
personal opinions formed when I read this book.

 

Currently reading:

And, now the giveaway – thank you to Myrick Marketing (and to Gecko Press) for giving this copy for the giveaway. US ONLY – Ends 3/27

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