If Dogs Were Dinosaurs by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by James Warhola looks like a book for preschool dinosaur lovers, but it is acutally a book for elementary-age children that demonstrates the math concept of relative size. The silly concepts combine wonderfully with the vivid illustrations, bringing humor and fun to math. Children will enjoy the book and it easily extrapolates into them coming up with their own relative size humor. Recommend this one to elementary math teachers to get it into the right hands.

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen with illustrations by Mark Teague is another success in Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs picture book series. The books combine huge realistic dinosaurs with vintage feel homes and families. The dinosaurs first show kids how not to act at the table and then demonstrate how to be polite diners. I have used the previous books in storytimes and they work very well. Just be prepared to find the long dinosaur names on each page and pronounce them for the group. This one will be great in a food-related storytime.

Truth Cookie by Fiona Dunbar is the story of Lulu, whose father is dating the model Varaminta le Bone. Lulu knows that Varaminta’s son Torquil is a monster who enjoys torturing her, but her father doesn’t believe her. Add to that the fact that Varaminta is cruel to Lulu too, but only behind her father’s back, and you understand why Lulu had to find a way to show her father what monsters these people really were. But how? It is not until she is escaping from Varaminta’s disastrous birthday present that she discovers the little golden book that will give her the solution. Could it be a gift from her dead mother? And how will the cookies made from such strange ingredients work?
This is a light fantasy perfect for young girls. It reads like a movie script, with broad humor, a fast-moving plot and truly villanous characters. There is little depth here. Even at the end the villains stay villains and no new realizations are made by any of the characters. But as a light read with a twist of magic, this book will be popular. The fun cover will help sell it to exactly the right audience. Recommend this one to girls looking for a sweet read.

Indigo Blue by Cathy Cassidy is a book about Indigo, a preteen girl who is hiding a secret. Indigo lives with her mother, baby sister and stepfather in a lovely house, but all is not as nice as the surface. Her stepfather is beating her mother. When the beatings finally get too be too much, her mother flees across town and hides with the girls in a dingy basement apartment. When Indigo confides in her best friend, Jo, she doesn’t find the support she needs. In fact, Jo is becoming more and more jealous of Indigo at school where Indigo gets a starring role in the class musical and has a boy who is interested in her. Indigo’s entire world is falling apart, and as her mother falls deeper into depression, Indigo worries who will look after them and whether her stepfather will reappear in their lives.
This easy-to-read book is a perfect book for girls who will read Lurlene McDaniel in a few years. The violence of the story all takes place out of sight, so that readers onlly see the aftermath. Indigo is a real girl with real issues and real reactions. The adults in her life are also well-rendered characters where the stepfather has a nice side, her mother is often capable, and her stern teacher surprises her. Add this one to your collection if you need more books for preteen girls that read like teen novels without the sexuality and violence.

If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty and illustrated by Steven Kellogg is an amazing book on moon travel. Combining poetry-like prose with scientific facts, the book draws you in so that you actually experience traveling to the moon and walking on its surface. Combine that with Kellogg’s always-wonderful illustrations and you have pure magic in a book.
Even though this is a picture book, the length of the text makes it better for Kindergarteners and older rather than toddlers and preschoolers. This is the perfect book to hand to parents who want something to read aloud to first and second grade classes, or to teachers in those grades doing space units. Simply wonderful.

Mimus by Lilli Thal (1550379240) is not a book that I normally would have picked up and read, but I am very glad I did. It is the story of Prince Florian who travels to meet his father the King at a peace ceremony with a neighboring kingdom. The prince is thrilled to be attending such an important event and intrigued to meet the princess who may become his betrothed. But the entire ceremony is a trap. Florian’s father is imprisoned in chains and tortured in the dungeons. Florian is forced to become the apprentice of Mimus, the court jester, or his father will be killed. Can Florian escape and keep his father alive?
Thal is a medieval historian from Germany, so through her book we learn a lot about medieval life and the societies that kings were able to create. The book is fast moving and fascinating. I enjoyed the historical details as well as the lack of magic. Florian’s struggles with anger and depression ring very true, and the characterization of Mimus is complex and well rendered. Florian is trapped within the walls of the castle, and that setting is brought to life wtih amazing detail. From the Monkey Tower where the jesters live to the bustling kitchens to the royal wing to the darkness and fear of the dungeons, the castle is a society of its very own.
Unfortunately, the cover of this book will not get kids to pick it up. It is the perfect book for teens and good reading late elementary children who enjoyed Avi’s Crispin. Recommend this to kids interested in history, especially the medieval period. It is also good for those who enjoy fantasy, because the setting is so similar and readers will enjoy a book with knights, kings and jesters that does not have magic. Highly recommended.

The Knight Who Took All Day by James Mayhew is a bright colored, silly picture book that would have been a perfect addition to our summer reading program on dragons. There once was a knight who wanted to impress the princess, but she didn’t pay much attention to him. So he headed out to find a dragon. He couldn’t find any sign of a dragon anywhere, but children will be able to spot the dragons hiding all over. Finally, a dragon appears at the castle. The knight is thrilled! This is his opportunity to show the princess how brave he is. So he sends his squire to get armor, but it has to be his shining armor, then he needs a plume for his helmet, and much more to make him even more dashing. Meanwhile, readers will notice that the princess is quietly getting herself ready and heading out to meet the dragon. At the end, the princess proves that she did not need the knight’s help after all and flies off on the dragon with the knight’s squire.
The bright-colored pictures are done in a cartoon style that minimizes the scariness of the dragon’s attack. Plus, the twist at the end is wonderful. The amount of text on each page is inviting to small children and the book doesn’t hesitate to offer wonderful long words for kids to add to their vocabulary, like marvelous and tangled and trusty. This is a great addition to a storytime or unit on knights and dragons. Great fun.

A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper is a wonderful new picture book. As the reader you get to walk down the block, watching all of the houses, yards and people. Then you return back to the beginning, seeing that as evening falls things in each home are changing. With faceless people on a street, Cooper has created a neighborhood that could be anywhere. Filled with animals, activity and people of many colors, the street is welcoming and invites the reader to explore.
This one is perfect for smaller storytimes and lap reading, because some of the details may be lost with larger groups. The pictures will inspire discussion about neighborhoods and could lead to a project of map drawing of the children’s own block. I enjoyed that the walk is described with other senses beyond just sight, so the reader is invited to imagine smelling and hearing things. This would also make the book a good addition to a unit on the senses, and talking about what they would hear and smell at their home.

Releasing in mid-September, Inkspell by Cornelia Funke is the the sequel to the well-received Inkheart. The sequel continues the story of Dustfinger, Farid, Meggie, Mo and Resa. Dustfinger has discovered another reader, Orpheus, who can not only read characters out of books, but can return them into books by rearranging words from that book. After Dustfinger is read back into Inkheart, Farid is desperate to follow him and warn him that Basta, the villain, is after him. So Farid goes to Meggie to try to get her to read him into Inkheart too. But Meggie does more than that and reads herself into Inkheart with Farid. Soon afterwards, Mortola and Basta force Meggie’s father Mo to enter the story of Inkheart as well.
Once into Inkheart, the reader and the characters begin to see the magic of Inkheart with their own eyes. This is perhaps the most charming part of the book, as we are allowed to see the tiny fairies and complex society of Inkheart. Funke’s prose is weighty and heavy as it was in Inkheart. She has a unique style of writing that can take some getting used to. But this writing is exactly what creates the world of Inkheart with such vibrancy. Inkspell is a masterpiece of setting, with an imaginary world so well-rendered that it makes the real one pale. We are introduced to a new group of fascinating characters in this book, each complex and distinct.
Recommend this to good readers who will be able to see their own love of books reflected back to them, and see themselves as people who would like someday to enter their favorite books too. I enjoyed Inkheart, but would say that this novel is even better. It is more vibrant and evocative. There are many great quotes about reading in the book, but my favorite comes early:
“Isn’t it odd how much fatter a book gets when you’ve read it several times?…As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells…and then when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you, like a pressed flower… both strange and familiar.”
A sigh-worthy quote that will hopefully get you to try this series.