Ellie McDoodle: Best Friends Fur-Ever by Ruth McNally Barshaw

Ellie McDoodle: Best Friends Fur-Ever by Ruth McNally Barshaw
(Grades 2-4)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans! Don't miss the Ellie McDoodle series, including this third installment, Best Friends Fur-Ever. It has just arrived at our library and is as funny and creative as ever.

Ellie is a middle child that loves to doodle and share stories about her kooky family and school. The series is written in diary format which is peppered with her own illustrations and loopy handwriting. In Best Friends Fur-Ever, Ellie's family (well, except for Mom) wants to add a variety of pets to their household mix. Coincidentally, her school assigns a big project on animals and Ellie must choose an unusual animal to report on in front of her class. When a chance pet-sitting job arises, Ellie has found her subject! But will the pet-sitting go as smoothly as she'd thought?

The series is a page-turner, each a hilarious account of Ellie's daily experiences including a typical family dinner told in coversation bubbles, "Which must rhyme. All of the time," or a random two-page spread entitled,"How to Build a Geodesic Dome." The story flows like a bedtime conversation you yearn to have with your child about their day. Funny, smart, creative - not to be missed!

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

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff

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

Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus

Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus
(Preschool - Grade 2)

Tadpole Rex by Oregon author and illustrator Kurt Cyrus is a refreshing addition to the multitude of dinosaur picture books available to the preschool set. This tale follows the development of Rex the tadpole amongst his dinosaur neighbors. From its first pages readers are drawn in by its rhyming text and figurative language, "Stomp! Squish! Bloop! Swish!" Young children will be captivated by the suspense as Rex thrives even while he dodges dinosaur footsteps. Tadpole Rex is focused on the familiar frog that kids may have seen or even touched, yet maintains the mystery of a 200-million-year old creature that dinosaur lovers will appreciate.

Cyrus doesn't shy away from challenging vocabulary (which is so important as an early literacy or pre-reading skill) yet the text flows beautifully as a read aloud; "primeval puddles were desperate places of ambush and panic and life-or-death chases." I was rooting for Rex to make his mark on the prehistoric setting and smiled at his bravery in the face of such huge dinosaurs. A well-known illustrator, Cyrus truly shines here with big, bold and colorful renderings of another place and time.

This is a fabulous storytime or anytime choice for early elementary and preschool children. Don't miss The Voyage of Turtle Rex by Kurt Cyrus for a similar tale, this time following the ancient sea turtle.

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

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff

The Resisters, by Eric Nylund

The Resisters, by Eric Nylund
(Grades 4-6)

Looking for a science fiction story that will grab you from the first page? Look no further (at least until you've finished this one).

Ethan Blackwood lives in a world controlled by aliens, only he doesn't know it, and neither does his sister or the other kids he hangs out with. Until puberty their supple minds can't be absorbed into the collective, so the aliens have created an elaborate ruse to keep the kids in a creative environment to get the most from their brains.

Sound creepy? When Ethan is approached by two "Resister" kids he has trouble wrapping his brain around the idea until he is launched into battle wearing the exoskeleton of a giant bug with whom he has mind-melded.

This story is action-packed fun at the start, and it doesn't let up! This is the first in a series... So now we just have to wait.

Korie B.
Children's Services Staff
Find this book and more at newberglibrary.org

Ballet for Martha; Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg

Ballet for Martha; Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg (Grades 2 - 6)

Do you know what the word "collaboration" means? It means a time when people work together to make something wonderful that they couldn't do alone. Ballet for Martha; Making Appalachian Spring tells of the collaboration of a dancer, a composer and an artist who create a world famous ballet. Martha Graham is the dancer and choreographer who wants to create a ballet about American pioneers. She asks composer Aaron Copland to write music for the ballet. Then she asks her friend and artist Isamu Noguchi to build the set or scenery for the ballet. The ballet becomes a success, with Aaron Copland even winning a Pulitzer Prize for the music. The book that tells this story is also a collaboration. The writers, Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, team up with illustrator Brian Floca to show us the joy and hard work that went into this popular ballet. You'll find this inspiring book in the non-fiction section of the library.

Reviewed by Susan K. Ankeny, Children's Staff
Newberg Public Library