Age: Toddler-Preschool

Life-giving watercolors accompany this sweet tale about Bo the bunny making friends with an unhatched egg. While the actual plot is often presented in picture books, the illustrations present a variety of emotions and feelings that encourage conversation between reader and listener. Side note: The wobbly face that Bo draws onto the egg is melt-worthy.

Age: Preschool-1st grade
Interactive: Meta

Another fun play on books and stories, Hall presents the telling of Frankencrayon!!!--Well, oh, what's that? It's been cancelled? Pencil reveals the mystery behind the books cancellation including a fun banter between the publisher and Pencil. Delightful turn of a story.

The illustrations and layout were fun to follow, but this is another stereotype reinforcing story about a shy but smart male that saves a demure, docile female from the clutches of a dark, mustache-twirling villain. A cute introduction to fantasy stories and being brave to save another but I wish Marguerite had more personality than a mouse that likes to dance.

Age: 3rd-4th grade

A fast-paced story about a boy with undiagnosed and misunderstood ADHD.

Age: High School-Adult
Art: Painting, Sculpting

A fantastic, rich writing style full of extravagant and life-giving metaphors. I found it remarkable to read how ruthless the twins were to each other--

Spoiler

perhaps making the end feel a little too neat

. The plot was engaging (although the mystery became obvious very soon in the book) and I always love a good dual-perspective narrative--especially when the those perspectives also take place years apart from each other.

"Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world" (Goodreads review).

Age: High School

Unlike many dystopian novels published after Feed, Anderson presents a character-driven, cerebral adventure into the mind of a brainwashed--and brain-controlled--teenage boy. If you're looking for a fast-paced, attention-grabbing plot, look elsewhere. But if you seek a glimpse into a corporate controlled, dumb-down, consumer-driven future and all of its implications on society, then read on!

Spoiler

It felt like the book ended before the real meat of the story was revealed. As most of the American population under Feed control are losing hair and slowly decaying and the main female character gradually dies from a malfunction between the Feed and her brain, the reader is left with more questions than answers--and no sequel to finish the story. Best read for class and with a chance to delve into the issues presented that are becoming far too close to reality.

Word of caution for the audiobook: The narrator's voice matches the character he is portraying. He is privileged, whiny, and sounds like a bro. It 100% works, but it is rather grating--especially if you are listening to it at faster speed. Also, there are fake ads throughout the audiobook that are insane. Once again, perfect for the dystopian story but they are loud, obnoxious, stupid, and made me cry for the future. Think Idiocracy.

Enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book but the last 1/3 was pretty awful and slogged on until the end. However, I really loved the presentation of gender as androgynous, but with female pronouns. Super neat to experience a book with all 'she' and 'her' pronouns considering the majority of classic and even contemporary literature has it the other way (with a token female character every now and then).

Age: Older preschool-1st grade
Food: Vegetables

A silly, 3-part narrative about leeks, carrots, and what happens when they intermingle.

Age: Kindergarten-2nd grade

When Mr. Farnsworth insults a killer zucchini submission at the school's science fair, he ambles along judging the other submissions (listed in alphabetical order), completely unaware of the impending doom of the Killer Zucchini. By utter coincidence, the Killer Zucchini's efforts are thwarted by other projects, making a fun I Spy throughout the book.

Age: Preschool-1st grade
Animals: Dog, Cat, Mouse

The cat can't meow. The dog can't bark, and the mouse can't squeak. Luckily, the wise owl suggests they visit the old lady in the tumbledown house. With a mystery, a healthy dose of humor, and simple illustrations, this will make a perfect read-aloud for Kindergartners--especially as a guest reader.