Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix is the third book in the Keys to the Kingdom series. Arthur is a human who has been drawn into the bizarre world of the House and has beaten Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday. Now he is taken back into the House with a broken leg where he finds himself among pirates and ships and lots and lots of water. Drowned Wednesday has turned into a whale due to her insatiable appetite. She asks Arthur for his help and he finds himself being chased by Feverfew the pirate, dealing with talking rats, exploring a world contained in a whale’s stomach and much more. This series continues to be amazingly inventive, fun to read, and a joy to share with kids. Recommend it to those who like the Artemis Fowl series and other fantasy.

In the Snow by Sharon Phillips Denslow, illustrated by Nancy Tafuri combines a gentle rhyming text with Tafuri’s glorious pictures. The book shows the joys of feeding animals seeds in the winter. Children will get to see the range of animals hiding in the white landscape until they are tempted out by the seeds. Because the text is brief and rhythmic and the pictures are clear, this is a great choice for toddlers. It will lead to discussions about feeding animals and birds and other things that the children enjoy doing in the snow. Add this one to your snowy story times.

A Truck Goes Rattley-Bumpa by Jonathan London, illustrated by Denis Roche is a perfect book to share with truck-mad toddlers. Unlike many truck picture books, this one has a rhythm and a flair as well as an underlying story of a family building a new house and moving into it. The colorful illustrations are clear and bold enough to project easily to large groups of children. Combine that with the popular subject and lots of truck noises for the group to make, and you have a winner for story times and lap reading.

Cinderella by Barbara McClintock is a gorgeous picture book version of the fairy tale. McClintock has illustrated the story in Louis XIV style, complete with palatial rooms, elaborate gowns, and incredible hairstyles. She has also kept the amount of text to a picture book level, meaning that children will not have to wade through a lot of text to follow the story.
All in all, this is a beautiful rendition of a popular story. If your other Cinderella versions are getting worn, add this one to the collection. It is an accessible and lovely choice.

The Little Green WItch by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, illustrated by Martha Alexander is a Halloween take-off on The Little Red Hen. Little Green Witch lives in a hollow tree with a ghost, a bat and a gremlin. The witch finds some pumpkin seeds and goes through all the planting, watering, and picking with the three others refusing to help her. She makes a huge pumpkin pie and, of course, that is when the others come to help her eat it. Fans of the original story will enjoy the surprise ending.
This is a great non-scary book to share with preschoolers for Halloween story times.

A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma pays homage to the life of a tree. From being covered in huge white blossoms, to bearing fruit, to sowing seeds and creating new trees, and giving a home to many animals, children will recognize that the trees around them are doing the same things. Finally the tree grows old and brittle and falls down, but she is still a home to animals of many kinds and she is surrounded by the trees that grew from her seeds. Yes, this can be seen as a story of death, but I think that many children will just see it as a story of trees. It will lead to discussions of the stages of trees they have seen, so it is a perfect addition to a unit or storytime on trees.

May I Please Have a Cookie? by Jennifer E. Morris is a charming easy reader. Designed for the earliest of readers, the story is silly, fun, and one that small children everywhere can relate to. Alfie’s mommy is baking cookies and Alfie desperately wants one. After demanding a cookie, his mother asks him to think of a better way to get a cookie. It is not until Alfie tries a number of crazy ideas that he remembers that saying please might help. With the brevity of the words, the pictures really carry the story. Alfie and his mom are friendly alligators with faces that show their every emotion. Recommend this to the earliest of readers and they will enjoy it as much as Alfie enjoys cookies.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen is a fantastic book. Right from the first page, I realized I had completely fallen for this early chapter book. Mercy Watson is a beloved pet pig, who dreams of buttered toast. Her owners even let her sleep in their bed if she needs to. But when the bed begins to fall through the floor, only Mercy can hop off and escape. Her owners assume she is trying to rescue them, but she is really searching for some toast. So how will her owners be saved? You’ll have to read it to find out!
The design of the book is so lovely. From the buttery toast on the page numbers, to the perfect ratio of text and pictures, it will immediately draw readers into its colorful world. The story has exactly the right amount of tension and humor. This will be my new number one recommendation for kids looking to move from easy readers to chapter books. Wonderful.

Magic School Bus Sleeps for the Winter by Eva Moore continues the tradition of the Magic School Bus stories by Joanna Cole. Magic School Bus remains popular with the books at our library continuing to fly off the shelves, the videos continuing to circulate and the PC games staying some of our top titles. I like seeing some easy readers being written, because that is exactly the age of child most into Magic School Bus. This book looks at hibernation with all of the favorite characters returning, Ms. Frizzle, Liz, and all the children. The information conveyed through the story is clear and well presented as always. Though the illustrations lack the punch of the older books, this is still a worthwhile addition to a library collection.