The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis

The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis
(Preschool - Grade 2)

The Bog Baby is a new picture book in our collection that takes young readers (and listeners!) into another time and place, a woodsy fairyland of sorts, where dragonflies glide over bluebells and caterpillars crawl across fiddlehead ferns. The young narrator and her sister venture to the magic pond in Bluebell Wood to fish for newts and end up catching more then they bargained for when the rare Bog Baby jumps into the water. They are delighted with their find and decide to keep the Bog Baby with eye-opening results.

Readers will delight in the soft watercolor illustrations, some pages bright, some muted with the look of a child's sweet pencil sketch. This is a fabulous book to share with young and old to learn a little something about habitat, great imagination and real love. Author Jeanne Willis even invites us to search for our own Bog Baby, sketch its features, and take notes on such things as its favorite flower or identifying noises.

Subtle, beautiful, not to be missed!

Visit http://www.newberglibrary.org/ to find this and other books at our library.

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff

Sassy: The Silver Secret by Sharon M. Draper

Sassy: The Silver Secret by Sharon M. Draper(Grades 2 - 4)

The latest offering in this lighthearted series is sure to appeal to kids facing their own everyday challenges at school and looking for a likeable, relatable character like Sassy. In The Silver Secret, Sassy yearns to have a singing part in her school's musical despite her lack of vocal talents. She does have a secret love and skill for the piccolo given to her by her beloved Grammy (along with a shimmery bag) and imagines adding piccolo music to the school show. For now, though, she must be satisfied with a different sort of role in the production. When an unexpected hiccup threatens to halt the performance, will Sassy come to the rescue?

Fans of Judy Moody, Allie Finkle and other satisfying fiction will love author Sharon Draper's strong, bright characters and will surely yearn for more Sassy in their own stylish book bags.

Visit www.newberglibrary.org to find this and other books at our library.

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff

A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (Preschool - Grade 3)

Newberg Public Library recently added to our children's gardening collection with funds from the Chehalem Garden Club and the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs. Among these is the beautiful book, A Seed is Sleepy.

Author Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrator Sylvia Long (An Egg is Quiet) have once again gifted us with a new book to read over and over. A Seed is Sleepy is already an award-winning introduction to seeds for any age. Each page (even the end papers!) is filled with lovely, sweeping illustrations of both familiar and unfamiliar seeds including sunflowers, orchids, dandelions, sea coconuts and monkey's comb.

The text is simple, effective and poetic,"A seed is sleepy. A seed is secretive. A seed is naked...yes, naked!" even appropriate for a read-aloud which is unusual for a non-fiction selection. Older children will appreciate the extra bits of information scattered throughout, "A parachute of fine, silky hairs can take a dandelion seed 100 miles from its parent plant." One two-page spread walks the reader through varying seeds' lifespans laid out on a timeline with fabulous illustrations showing how they are different from each other.

Our household found much to pour over every single day of our three-week checkout and more! This is truly a gift for young gardeners or naturalists-to-be and worth sharing each season.

Visit http://www.newberglibrary.org/ to find this and other books at our library.

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff