Linguistic Book is the Cat's Meow!

Books Kids Will Love RATING: BBBB
Book: There's A Frog in My Throat
By Loreen Leedy & Pat Street
Recommended for ages 5-9
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Kids love animals and what better way to teach them some part of the English language - like simile, metaphor, idiom, or proverb, then with 400+ animal thoughts. This is a book, that even kids who do not like to read will enjoy. The illustrations are bright and humorous. The book is divided into 6 different categories, like the farm, under the waves, and on the wing. There is even an index in back. At the beginning, there is a glossary of the linguistic terms mentioned above.
Here s a few examples:
"My head is full of cob webs"
"A leopard can't change his spots"
"Stop badgering me"
"I'm living in a goldfish bowl"
"The tail is wagging the dog"
Your child will spend hours reading and laughing with this book.
This is a great book to add to a lower elementary student's reference library.
My first-grade daughter is getting this book for Christmas!
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Distributed by Scholastic
Released in 2003
48 pages
$17.95 hardcover
$4.99, paperback

Doing Your Best With Arthur

Books Kids Will Love RATING: BBB
Book: Arthur's Teacher Trouble
By Marc Brown
Recommended for ages 4-7
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We purchased this book at the Framingham Library book sale, for the bargain rate of 50 cents. A bargain and a favorite of my daughter, who also watches the Arthur television show every morning on PBS before catching the bus. (Fans of the TV series; This book was adapted into two episodes.)
In this book, Arthur has been asked to represent his third grade class in the school spellathon. There typically is a morale in each of Brown's Arthur books. In this one, children will learn that hard work has benefits and your effort determines your outcome.
I asked my daughter what she learned from this book and she said "To do her best!"
Thus the morale is subtle, albeit still there.
If your child is a fan of Arthur, by all means add this book to your home library
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Little Brown & Company
30 pages
$4.95, paperwork

Rainbow Magic Fairies Chapter Book Series: Ruby The Red Fairy (#1)

Books Kids Will Love RATING: BBBB

Book: Ruby The Red Fairy (Rainbow Magic Fairies chapter book series)

By: Daisy Meadows

Recommended for ages 5-9

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My daughter Bella, who is entering first grade in the fall, is obsessed with fairies. I bought her this book last month as school got out for the summer. I thought we would try this chapter book series just for fun summer reading. (The first book - Ruby the Red Fairy, is available at a reduced price $2.99. That's a good thing as many girls, from what other parents have told me, get hooked on this series and each book costs $4.99 thereafter.) There are seven books in this first fairy series - Rainbow Magic fairies - with more series to come, according to Scholastic.

The series is set in Fairyland, home to seven colorful fairy sisters. In this first book, two non-fairy girls (Rachel & Kirsty) discover the Ruby the Red Fairy in the pot at the end of the rainbow, while on vacation.

In this book, and in each subsequent book, Jack Frost and his goblins do as my daughter puts it "something mean" to the fairies.

In this series, Frost whisks away all the Rainbow Fairies and the two girls must find each and return them to the pot.

In this first book, Rachel and Kirsty finds one fairy but there is no conclusion until your daughter reads all seven books in the series.

The girls are warned by the Queen Fairy if they do not find all seven Rainbow Fairies, Fairyland is doomed to be colorless!

This book and the rest of the series will NEVER be classic literature and will unlikely be found on a school system's summer reading list, but if your daughter loves fairies and is reluctant to read, these books will get her to LOVE reading. Trust me.

Unfortunately, for advanced readers, these books can be read in 1-3 days.

The good news, is many girls like to re-read these books.

This is not a read aloud book. Many parents I talked to find the book and the rest of the series terribly boring! The book and the rest of the series, has a very limited vocabulary and little to no plot. But then again, the books are for kids! (Seriously, think about the books and magazines you read as a parent at the beach or lake!)

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Scholastic

Released in May 2005

80 pages, 6 chapters

$2.99, paperback

A to Z: Creating a Colorful Garden-Variety Vocabulary

Books Kids Will Love RATING: BBBB

Book: The FLOWER Alphabet Book

By Jerry Pallotta

Illustrated by Leslie Evans

Recommended for ages 4-10

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I adore Jerry Pallotta's alphabet series books. We have several of them on my daughter's bookshelf. My daughter is equally fond of the books, too. This spring, my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout Troop planted daisies. She then expressed an interest in flowers and gardening. I purchased this Flower Alphabet Book for help teach her about the different types of seeds and flowers that could be planted in a garden.

There is Jasmine, Nasturtium, Queen Anne's Lace, and Unicorn Root. (Personally, my favorites are the orchids and the tulips.)

Parents (and kids) will enjoy the artist's notes at the end of the book. Evans delivers a beautiful bouquet of colors with her illustrations.

Pallotta is known as the Mr. ABC. He has written more 20 alphabet books since 1986. A Massachusetts resident and native, his Icky Bug Alphabet Book has sold more than 1 million copies and his The Bird Alphabet Book was voted one of the best by Bird World magazine. Visit his Web site at http://www.jerrypallotta.com/. He does school visits.

Last summer, I assigned a writer at the magazine, where I am editor, to profile author Jerry Pallotta. Marguerite did a fabulous job on the profile. Check it out at: www.baystateparent.com/news/2006/0901/articles/021.html

Pallotta's book make terrific ABC books for younger readers and wonderful reference books for lower elementary students. For those reasons, I gave it a BBBB rating.

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Charlesbridge Publishing

First published in June 1988

36 pages, paperback

$6.95

Combating Obesity With Humor

Check out my interview with Arthur-fame author Marc Brown in this month's issue of the magazine, I edit: www.baystateparent.com/news/2007/0301/articles/013.html
Brown co-authored the book The Gulps, with Rosemary Wells (Max & Ruby fame.)
It hits bookstores this month!
I recommend this book highly!