Monday, June 20, 2011

The Day Dirk Yeller Came to Town

The Day Dirk Yeller Came to Town
Dirk Yeller has a reputation for being a mean old cuss.  When he arrives in the small western town of this story, everyone knows that trouble is brewing. Dirk seeks help for his cat scratch fever, and other problems; but the locals send him from store to store without success.  Finally Sam, a young boy, leads him to the library, where Miss Jenny knows the perfect solution for all his problems.  From the team of Mary Cassanova and Ard Hoyt (they also created One Dog Canoe), here is a rollicking picture book for book lovers of all ages.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Celebritrees; Historic and Famous Trees of the World

Celebritrees: Historic and Famous Trees of the World
Trees are the largest plants on earth.  This book introduces readers to fourteen famous trees from all around the world--from Methuselah (a bristlecone pine) to General Sherman (a sequoia), to the Tule Tree in Mexico, the Bodhi Tree in Sri Lanka, and the Boab Prison Tree in Australia. Written by Margi Preus, with acrylic, watercolor, and pencil illustrations by Rebecca Gibson, this might be a resource for 'tree' units in elementary science classes.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Thirteenth Child

Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic)
In an alternative (i.e. fantasy) version of Westward Expansion, we meet a girl named Eff--an unlucy thirteenth child and twin to her brother Lan--the lucky seventh son of a seventh son, and a highly talented magician like his father.  Their large family moves to Mill City, a town at the edge of civilization in the North Plains, where Eff's father wil become a professor of magic at a land grant college there.  Mill City is located on the Mammoth River along which runs the Great Barrier Magic, which keeps steam dragons, woolly rhinoceroses, woolly mammoths, and assorted other monsters away.  When a plague of beetles attach settler communities to the west of Mill City, Eff, her brother, father, and others must try to figure out the correct magic spell to end the plague.  Written by Patricia Wrede, this is the first volume in the Frontier Magic series.  The second volume is due out in August 2011.