Short List

Well, wouldn't you know it, real life got in the way of my virtual life this week and I did not have a chance to sit down with our mighty pile of library books yesterday. And now I have about 20 minutes until my cold-suffering kiddo wakes up and discovers that Roomba ate most of her pompom collection last night. Ugh. So, this week's review is going to be a bit short...

A New Beginning, Celebrating the Spring Equinox
by Wendy Pfeffer, illustrated by Linda Bleck
I love spring. It's my favorite season. This book takes a look at how people have been celebrating the spring for thousands of years, including that relative upstart called "Easter." Since we don't "do" Easter here but our babysitter does, I wanted to give Elise a little heads up about the various traditions around the northern hemisphere. It also clearly illustrates and describes our axial tilt, which of course appeals to the astronomer in me. Celebrations covered include: Chinese New Year, No Ruz, Holi, the Maya people and their El Castillo pyramid, Maslenitsa, Cree Native American tradition, Passover, festival of Eostre, & Easter

Carlo Likes Reading
by Jessica Spanyol
Carlo, a giraffe, likes to read. Everything in his life has a clearly written tag. Some of the things are obvious, others are easy to guess. Elise first proved she could sound-out words by doing so with some of the least obvious words. I am now in love with this book for obvious reasons.

Pop! Went Another Balloon
by Keith Faulkner, illustrated by Rory Tyger
Elise picked this one and couldn't put it down all week. Bright illustrations, balloons, a birthday and counting down from 10 are all prominently featured. And of course the main characters are turtles so what's not to love?

The Mixed-Up Chameleon
by Eric Carle
Another Elise pick for the week. It's Eric Carle. There's a Chameleon. She likes seeing how mixed up one little critter can get.

Big Truck and Little Truck
by Jan Carr, illustrated by Ivan Bates
I include this book not so much for how much Elise liked it this week but how much she liked it months ago. She saw it sitting on the shelf and had to have it this time around. I stifled a groan because even the finest story wears a little thin after 10000000000000 readings. In this one, a big truck teaches a little truck all about how to do its work. And then the big truck breaks down and the little truck is forced to put all of that teaching to the test. This is a nice departure from dippy little animals in human situations.

And there we have it-our library week in review. Stuff on my Cat is due back this week and I'm anticipating a bit of a fight over handing that one in. Wish us luck!