The Many Hats of a School Librarian

by Phyllis Root Illustrated by Betsy Bowen I am not sure many of the CV students know what a bog is.  I can be honest and say that I didn't really get the whole ecosystem of a bog until I read this book.  It tells us how the water and trees and animals all work together to keep the bog alive.  I wonder if I visited one, if I would hear it belch?

by Judith Viorst  Illustrated by Lane Smith What happens when a spoiled little girl leaves her house to find a dinosaur for a pet?  Lulu encounters many dangerous animals in the forest, but nothing surprises her more than what the Brontosaurus she meets wants from her.  Read this book and tell me which of the three endings is your favorite!

by Laura Amy Schlitz  Illustrated by Angela Barrett So many of the CV students wanted chapter books about fairies last year.  Here's a great one.  It's about Flory, a night fairy who gets her wings broken and decides she is going t become a day fairy instead.  She lands in a garden with all kinds of birds and animals (and giants) - but no fairies - and has to figure out how to survive on her own.  See how she uses her magic spells and her heart to help the creatures in the forest and herself.

by Brenda Seabrooke  Illustrated by Liz Callen I loved this book!  It's a perfect chapter book for 2nd or 3rd graders about the three little pigs and a big bad wolf.  It pays for everyone to be smart, cautious, and work together. 

by Nadja Spiegelman & Trade Loeffler I love graphic novels.  Zig and Wikki are from another planet and find themselves entering earth and need to bring back a pet for the school zoo.  There are some fun facts about Earthly animals and insects mixed into this fun story.  Enjoy!

by Bob Raczka  Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds This is such a cool book!  I am not really a poetry person, but these Haiku Poems are so interesting.  It inspires me to want to observe things around me and write about them.  The pictures are kind of funny, too.

Photography by Joe Rossi   Text by David LaRochelle Wow! Wow! Wow! I had heard of this book many times when it was recommended to me, but it is so much better than I could have imagined.  The photographs of our alphabet in nature are enchantingly beautiful and the tidbits of information about Minnesota are interesting.  I can't wait to share this will you!

by Marilyn Nelson  Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering This is a beautiful book about a man and his dog and how they are such good friends even though the man is a monk (a religious man, sort of like a nun) so he doesn't really speak. The man gets separated from his dog and the dog has to learn to live alone on the beach.  Some of the words in this book are kind of hard, so make sure you have a dictionary or a much older reader nearby to help if you need to know the meanings of some of the words in this story.

by Charles R. Smith Jr. Illustrated by Shane W. Evans This is a biography about a famous Boxer named Black Jack.  He was the first black man to fight a white man in a real boxing match.  If you want to be inspired to achieve your dreams, this is a story for you.

by David Catrow A dog is a chef? What? He makes pizza? What? This book does sound funny.  I hope you like it!

by Jane Yolen Illustrated by Jim Burke This is a great biography about one of the first players to even be inducted into the baseball hall of fame and whose rare original baseball card sold for almost 3 million dollars! Honus Wagner started as a coal miner as a boy and ended up one of the best baseball players of all time.  He played most famously for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Read about how his love for the game and extra long arms helped him achieve his dreams!

by Michael Ian Black Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes OMG! A pig parade would be so cool!  To see all of those pigs in the street wearing costumes, pulling floats, holding balloons! Wait - would pigs really do that? Hmmm... look at the title.  What do you think?

by Blexbolex I hope someone at Camp read-a-lot can tell me why I should like this book.  This book is a picture book with one word at the top of each picture.  It is a thick book.  There are lots of pictures and words.  It would be nice for someone who is new to Minnesota and is learning the English word for things.  Otherwise, I don't really get it.  But that's ok.  I don't need to understand every book I read right away.  Sometimes, I need to talk to other people and get their ideas in order to really see the hidden meaning in it.  This is why book clubs are so popular.

by Melissa Thomson  Illustrated by Frank Morrison This book is really Keena's journal. She wrote a lot in just a couple of days.  This 2nd grader likes to write!  She left her beautiful journal at another girl named Tiffany's house and this is Keena's story of what happened when the mean Tiffany found it and didn't give it back to Keena.  If you like this book, there are more books about Keena that you can get at the public library.  I really liked this book, and I'm going to try to buy the other books in the series for the Crest View library later this year.

by Sandy Donovan Illustrated by James Christoph If you want to know how a book is made, this book is for you! Perry wants to know what popular ping pong players put on their pizza, and can't find a book about it, so he writes his own.  This book talks about the real world of book making, or publishing.  After you read this, I bet you will want to write your own book, too! Here's a youtube video about it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClBkNTbxoXQ

by Sarah Weeks Illustrated by Jane Manning Mac is a big white cat. Cheese is a small orange cat. Mac likes to play, and eat, and have lots of active fun. Cheese does not.  How do they get along?

by Jessie Hartland I didn't know that one of the Pharaohs (leaders) of Egypt was a woman! This is the story of how one of the Sphinx statues (a lion body with a human head said to be a guard for her temple) for the woman pharaoh was found and brought to a famous museum in New York.  The pictures explain a lot of the vocabulary words that go with the jobs within the fields of history, art, archeology, and museums.  I am excited to share this book with the students at my school.  Maybe it will inspire someone to be an archeologist!

by Phil Bildner Illustrated by John Holyfield This is a book that is based on a man, James Banning, who was the first African American man to fly a plane across the United States.  He asked people who helped him along the way to sign the tip of the airplane wings so everyone who helped could really be a part of the journey.  James and his co-pilot, Thomas Allen, run into some trouble but eventually make it to their destination.  The pictures are beautiful, and the story is full of inspiration and hope.  If they can do what they set their mind out to do, so can I!

by Tom Lichtenheld Bridget loves to draw and she only draws when she is wearing her beret (a hat). One day as she is drawing outside, her beret gets swept away by the wind.  How will she ever draw again? I really liked this book a lot. It makes me want to learn to draw and buy a beret!

by Rukhsana Khan. Ill. by Sophie Blackall A young girl named Rubina is invited to a birthday party, but her mom doesn't really understand American birthday parties and insists that Rubina bring her little sister with her to the party.  If you have ever had a fight with your brother or sister, gotten mad that your little sister or brother is bothering you, or wanted to be just like your big brother or sister, you will like this book.  If you are an only child and don't have a brother or sister, you might be glad after reading this.  In other words, this book is for everyone.