My six-year-old loves to read! It’s time he shares his thoughts on what he’s reading. I am always pleased when he wants to write about his reading: a budding reviewer in his own right! Rooting for You: A Moving Up Story by Susan Hood and illustrated by Matthew Cordell. This book is about a seed

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My six-year-old loves to read! It’s time he shares his thoughts on what he’s reading. I am always pleased when he wants to write about his reading: a budding reviewer in his own right! Hooray for Bread by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman. This is a picture book. It is fiction. It is written in

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My six-year-old loves to read! It’s time he shares his thoughts on what he’s reading. I am always pleased when he wants to write about his reading: a budding reviewer in his own right! Bad Bye, Good Bye by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Jonathan Bean, is about a boy moving. In the story, the boy

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I have found that since I began homeschooling (two years ago now) and since my second child has been born, I have refocused most of my reading energy to picture books and chapter books, especially those that I loved as a child. This week I revisited the family of five girls, All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney

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Jumping Penguins by Marije Tolman (Lemniscaat USA, 2011) is a nonfiction book about animals with an element of fantasy in the clever illustrations. Each page of Tolman’s book provides facts about a different animal (50 animals are discussed in all). There are no connections between pages, and some pages rather randomly name a few facts

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Moonday by Adam Rex (Disney Hyperion, 2013) answers the question, “what would happen if the moon decided to stay in my backyard?” The town cannot wake up, the tide comes in to the narrator’s backyard, and they cannot hide the bright light of the moon. I really enjoy Moonday because of the ridiculous and bizarre

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I have not read many middle grade or young adult books lately. I’m stuck in picture book world a lot these days. But, as it is poetry month, I have been reading about teaching poetry. One book keeps getting suggested, again and again: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.

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Poetrees by Douglas Florian (Beach Lane Books, 2010) is a creative collection of poems about trees, seeds, and the growing cycle of plant life presented in a colorful and innovative way. The first thing to catch the reader’s attention is the layout of the book. While most picture books have a left-side binding, this one

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Remember back when kids could run free all summer, having new adventures and exploring an ancient old mansion for excitement? No, neither do I. But in children’s literature, there is a classical repertoire of children’s adventure books, all rather delightful and full of fun.  The Penderwicks: A Story of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a

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Friends of Liberty by Beatrice Gormley is a chapter book about two girls living in Boston during the early years of the American Revolution. One of the girls (Kitty) is from a wealthy Tory family, and the other girl (Sally) is from a more modest family that supports the revolutionary leaders. Although the girls are

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