​I’m Trying to Love Math
Written & Illustrated by Bethany Barton
Age Level: 4 – 8
Grade Level: P – 3

​When I first glanced inside, I didn’t want to read it, but I loved Bethany’s book about spiders so I gave it a shot . . . I LOVED IT! It starts and ends with a quote. In the middle the main character’s talking to an alien about how hard math is. They wind up going through all the ways you use math everyday from  pie charts to fractions to time signatures in music. That’s just a few of the ideas in this book. Math is everywhere, and our main character discovers something new about it. Sorry! You’ll have to read and discover what it is for yourself.

​Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
Written by Kevin Noble Maillard
Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Age Level: 3 – 6
Grade Level: P – 1

​This story is full of heart and traditions. Fry Bread is a Native American story, and the best part –  learning all about it. I’d never heard of it before, and each page showed me what Fry Bread is.
 
Fry Bread is food, and the illustration showed you the ingredients you need to make some. Fry Bread is shape, and the illustration showed the shapes you make as you prepare it. That’s only 2 of the 12 spreads so there’s so much more to learn! I loved this story, and I hope you will too!
 
PS – Back matter includes the recipe for Fry Bread, plus notes about each category. This book is good to the last word!

​It’s a Muffuletta! It’s a Whata?
Written & Illustrated by Patricia Saunders
Age Level: 6 – 8
Grade Level: 1 – 3

Have you ever wondered how or why something was invented? This is one of those stories, about the muffuletta! They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that was true for Signor Salvatore Lupo,  the man who invented the muffuletta at the Central Grocery in New Orleans. Read the story to find out how and why he came up with it. The  muffuletta – it’s a sandwich! It’s brilliant, and so is this book! If you find yourself in New Orleans, stop in the Central Grocery, and try one.

​Sybil’s Night Ride
Written & Illustrated by Karen B. Winnick
Age Level: 5 – 7
Grade Level: K – 2

I loved this story! It was like Paul Revere’s ride – BUT  with girl power! Sybil’s dad is off buying supplies for the Revolution. Her family gets word after dinner that the Redcoats are coming, that they burned down the town of Danbury. Someone has to muster the troops, but there’s no one . . . except Sybil and her newly trained colt. A girl could never pull this off in 1777, but Sybil did. Read this story to find out how she did it. Her story ends, with this quote . . . Sybil Ludington made her ride on April 26, 1777, through what is now central Putnam County, New York.  Sometime later, it was reported that Gen. G. Washington visited her home to praise her brave deed. 

​ Margaret and the Moon
Written by Dean Robbins
Illustrated by Lucy Knisley
Age Level: 4 – 8
Grade Level: P – 3
 
I loved biographies! This one is about someone I’d never heard of – Margaret Hamilton. Margaret grew up learning to think differently, to find answers no one else could. It led her into software when computers were the size of a classroom. Margaret started at NASA back in 1964. Her dream was to use computers to get us to the moon. Her strategy – to think of everything that could go wrong, then work back through those problems. Read this book to find out how Margaret helped the Apollo program make it to the moon!

In a Garden
Written by Tim McCanna
Illustrated by Aimée Sicuro
Age Level: 4 - 8                                                                   
​Grade Level: P – 3

​This book is as beautiful as the cover, and the content will interest a range of kids from preschool to third grade. I’m a retired teacher, and I’d give it to my daughter (she teaches too).
 
This one’s in rhyme, and it tells the story of a garden on a hill and all the creatures that live around it, including humans. It also includes the creatures living IN the garden, including plant parts as they appear.  There’s nothing better than a good story that allows kids to learn something new! The backmatter includes great facts about ecosystems and the relationship between plants and insects, how they rely on each other.

​Sleep Like  Tiger
Written by Mary Logue
Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Age Level: 4 – 7
Grade Level: P – 3

​This is a beautiful book – It won the Caldecott Honor Award in 2013, but the words are equally beautiful. A little girl doesn’t want to go to sleep so she starts asking questions about what animals do. It’s a great strategy to stay awake! She asks about the dog . . . he sleeps on the couch. The whale  . . . . he swims circles in the ocean. Slowly but surely she puts the images together, until she puts herself to sleep. It’s a unique and lovely bedtime story. 

​Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog
Written & Illustrated by Lisa Papp
Age Level: 4 – 8
Grade Level: 1 – 2

Madeline Finn’s celebrating her dog’s birthday this year with the most unusual event ever. No Scooby snacks or puppy pools! Madeline and her dog Star have been working hard to get ready for his therapy dog test. This is one of the kindest books I’ve read in a long time. Will Star get the best birthday present ever? You’ll have to read to find out.
 
BTW – This is the third book in a series about Madeline Finn and her dog, Star.

Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion:
                        The Questioneers Book #3
Written by Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts
Age Level: 6 – 9
Grade Level: 1 – 4

​I didn’t know Andrea Beaty did chapter books! I knew about her picture book series with titles like ADA TWIST SCIENTIST. I love how clever they are! Now Andrea has gotten cleverer – she took all of her picture book characters and put them into a series of chapter books, called the Questioneers!
 
I loved this story! I was looking for one with hope, and this one popped up in my search! Ada’s Aunt Bernice inherits Herbert Sherbet’s house. He was once the ice cream king and a millionaire. The house used to be incredible, but now it’s run down. Nobody’s done maintenance for years. That means it’s going to take LOTS of MONEY to keep it, and to repair it. Aunt Bernice doesn’t have that kind of money, but she hopes to find Herbert’s collection of antique furniture. If she does, she can sell it and use the money to repair/keep the house. I’ll tell you there’s a happy ending thanks to the questioneers, but you’ll have to read it for yourself!
 
PS – There’s Back Matter! A tiny bit on subjects that come up in the book like art noveau, art deco, cats with different eye colors, making ice cream, the science behind it at the molecular level, and finally a short bio about Ida Wells.
 
PPS – Even the end papers are fun, but you’ll have to get the book to see why.

​Contrary Creatures: Unique Animal Opposites
Written & Illustrated by James Weinberg
Age Level: 3 – 7
Grade Level: PS – 3

​If you like animals, you’ll love this book! It’s nonfiction so it’s completely true. The author decided to compare animals across 9 sets of opposite traits. He compared how a chameleon uses camouflage to a peacock. Then he looked at temperature with gila monsters and penguins. One animal lives in the desert, and the other one in Antarctica. Back matter will tell you a little more about each animal. You’ll have to read for yourself to uncover the rest of the traits, and the animals picked as opposites.