Ages 4 – 8

26 Aug 2010 No Comments

The Crate of Danger! It's not easy being a 7 year old mad scientist.

Franny K. Stein is not your average girl — she’s a mad scientist and she is fabulous!   She prefers poison ivy to daisies and piranha to goldfish, and when Franny jumps rope, she uses her pet snake.

In Franny K. Stein’s Crate of Danger (boxed set) by Jim Benton (ages 7 -9) we learn that although being a mad scientist is exciting, it does have its drawbacks. From fending off giant monstrous fiends to getting a lab assistant to battling her own teenage self, Franny has her hands full!  Your book babies can join her in her first four wacky, weird, creepy adventures.

The publisher lists this series at a reading level of 9 -12, but I think it skews younger, more like 7 -9.

Books in this set include:

Lunch Walks Among Us

Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid

The Invisible Fran

The Fran That Time Forgot

Hey wait, there’s more!  You can also get your very own Franny K. Stein “action figure flashlight!”  Go Franny!

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Ages 8 - 12, Reluctant Readers Tags: , ,

25 Aug 2010 No Comments

Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs and more excellent advice from Roscoe Riley

Roscoe Riley Rules #1:  Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs by Katherine Applegate (ages 4 – 8 ) is the first title in this new series for independent readers introducing good-hearted, mishap-prone first-grader Roscoe.  In short chapters filled with simple, snappy sentences, Roscoe tells his own story.

He’s excited about his class’ bee-song performance for the school open house. But the students’ bobbing antennas keep slipping, and kids won’t stay seated. Aiming to help, he tries Super-Mega-Gonzo Glue, a too-successful solution that attaches antennas to chairs and brings chaos, remorse, and a new appreciation for the awesome power of glue.

Roscoe is an appealing, lively kid whose story is both entertaining and thought-provoking (adults may want to review with kids the meaning and repercussions of permanent glue), and Biggs’ expressive pencil drawings add to the humor. A list of Way Cool Things that Somebody Should Invent closes the book.

The second title in the series, Roscoe Riley Rules #2: Never Swipe a Bully’s Bear, is also filled with comic mishaps.  There’s obvious appeal for boys, but girls will like Roscoe as well.  Grades K-3. (Booklist)

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Reluctant Readers Tags: , ,

16 Aug 2010 No Comments

Mind your own beeswax! Take a secret peek into "Amelia's Notebook"

Got a sweet young reader who isn’t crazy about actually reading?  All the Junie B’s and Judy M’s of the world hold no appeal for her? “Too many words!”  Then check out this fun, colorful series.  Your kidlets will be reading without even knowing it’s good for them.

Amelia’s Notebook by Marissa Moss (ages 7-10, strong girl appeal) is designed as an upbeat, first-person story which resembles a real diary.   The cover bears the familiar black-and-white abstract design of a .99 cent composition book, decorated with color cartoons by Amelia, the book’s nine-year-old “author.”

Inside, on lined pages, Amelia writes about her recent move to a new town, doodles pictures of people she meets and saves such mementos as postage stamps and a birthday candle.

She misses her best friend, Nadia, but her moments of sadness are balanced by optimism-she distracts herself by drawing and by writing short stories. In appropriately conversational terms, Amelia complains that her big sister invades her privacy (“So Cleo if you are reading this right now-BUG OFF and STAY OUT”); gripes about cafeteria food (“Henna says they use dog food); and jokes in classic elementary-school gross-out fashion.

Readers will understand Amelia’s wish to put her “top-secret” thoughts on paper, and they’ll notice that even though she’s uneasy about attending a different school, she’s starting over successfully. (Reed Business Information, Inc)

Keep in mind that there are some 15 books in the series.  Also, a mildde-school aged Amelia has another series of journals about life after elementary school.

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Ages 8 - 12, Reluctant Readers Tags:

11 Aug 2010 No Comments

Earn free books for your kid's class with the SunnyD Book Spree

Want to earn 20 free books for your school library or child’s classroom?  Just join the 2010 SunnyD Book Spree and save 20 valid SunnyD UPC labels.

The 2010 SunnyD Book Spree runs from August 2nd – November 30th.  In 2009, they gave away 84,000 books to American classrooms.

In 2009 Connie W., from Haleyville, AL said, ”We received our wonderful selection of 20 free books and are so excited about placing them in our lending library. As I am sure you are aware, Head Start centers serves low income families… Community Action Partnership of North Alabama promotes literacy with various projects…The free books we received from saving and sending in Sunny D labels will be used in those projects.”

Keep collecting labels for your chance to win hundreds of extra books for your school!  The top 10 schools will win up to 600 books.

Visit www.sunnyd.com for complete rules, entry form and additional details.

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Ages 8 - 12, Info

21 Jul 2010 No Comments

“How to Eat Fried Worms” plus recipes!

Got a boy in grades 3 -6 who isn’t crazy about reading? Dare him not to love this book.

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell is a ghastly gastronomical treat that will dazzle young reader particularly boys and tomboys.  But this little novel has been happily repulsing kids in the best possible way since its original publication in 1973.

It seems poor Billy must eat 15 worms in 15 days–but the reward will be worth it: $50 for a shiny new minibike.  Luckily, Billy’s friends cook up these fat juicy grubs in a variety of appetizing ways–drenched in ketchup and mustard, fried in butter and cornmeal, and the pièce de résistance, a Whizband Worm Delight (an ice-cream worm cake).  It’s choke full of memorable lines and refrains like:

“Trout, Salmon, flounder, perch,
I’ll ride my minibike into church.
Dace, tuna, haddock, trout,
Wait’ll you hear the minister shout.”

My Yearling edition comes complete with recipes for such things as Worm Pizza and Crunchy Carrot Worm Salad.  How to Eat Fried Worms is a gem that still holds up after almost 40 years.

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Reluctant Readers Tags:

19 Jul 2010 No Comments

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew. A new twist on an old favorite.

Admit it.  You wanted to be Nancy Drew when you were a kid.

You dreamed of living in River Heights and tooling around in that blue convertible with Ned at your side as you solved dangerous mysteries.

I sat down not long ago and reread “The Secret of the Old Clock” which I hesitate to say suddenly felt very dated to me. This, I confess, was something of a crushing blow seeing as years ago, I had carefully boxed up my rather vast collection of “Nancy Drew” books in the hopes that I would one day have a daughter to present them to.

Now that I have a child nearing “Nancy Drew” age, I was devastated when I realized that she likely will not fall in love with Nancy and her pals the way I did.

Over the years, the Nancy Drew franchise ghost written by Carolyn Keene has had several incarnations, but one of the newest the “Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew” is arguable the cutest.

The Crew Clue series, launched in 2006, was written for girls 8 – 12.  In these books, a modern-day Nancy and her pals Bess and George are 8-year-old detectives solving slightly more domestic crimes like stolen toys and a wedding cake with a slice mysteriously missing!

More accessible than the original series and easier to read, these are great books for your little detective!

by Book Mama in Ages 4 - 8, Reluctant Readers Tags:

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