Age: Preschool-1st grade
Animals: Penguin, birds

Judge's illustrations are impeccable, as always. Pair this with a delightful story of a penguin with the soul of a soaring eagle and you have a story celebrating the determination of one individual and the help of his friends.

Age: 3rd-5th grade

Now entering the childhood of Jon Scieszka full everything a boy can laugh at. Growing up with 5 brothers, Scieszka recounts his early life in quick 1-3 page stories about everything from rough-housing, picking on his younger brothers, and having "sword fights" in the bathroom. Included are photographs and a hilariously unnecessary index of silly occurrences and giggle-worthy vocabulary.

First line: "For a week Mr. R. Childan had been anxiously watching the mail."

First line: "In Iceland, fairies live inside of rocks."
Age: 5th-8th grade

'Twas an enjoyable read but nothing astounding. Although I was personally annoyed by Bree's shallowness, the author kept an authenticity to her characters that will be appreciated by kids reading it.

Spoiler

Also authentic is the realistic ending, where the two girls have to buck up and accept their new and unknown future and the three friends part ways with promise of seeing each other again.<\spoiler> The three main characters also allow this book to read faster than the size makes it appear.

Any tween can find something to relate with these characters, and those Tweens interested in astronomy or nature will love it.

Age: 1st-4th grade

Although starting this picture book can be quite hard to get into (because Beebe uses bits of Shakespearean and medieval language) the story is unique and suspenseful. This would be a perfect book for discussing early forms of writing, the creation of books, and a glimpse into a monastery. The ending is certainly unsatisfying because the bear eats Brother Hugo's hard work, but older kids won't mind.

Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Math: Counting to 20

A perfectly executed counting book all the way to 20. Light features 20 city scenes with an array of images in black and white as we search for the hiding dragon. Instead of just a search-and-find, Light gives color to the objects we are to count. For example 6 monkeys are colored brown, 15 balloons glow red, and 4 sailboats glisten blue. The only omission is the written word for the number.

Age: Preschool-Kindergarten

I'm not so sure about the random animal parade but the general story is a fun one. Mr. Peek is so concerned about opening for the zoo to celebrate the new baby panda that he's not focusing on his everyday tasks. He polished the turtles shells with show polish, he leaves the penguin gate open, and he turns temperature of the polar bear enclosure up and not down. Luckily, his trusty kid sidekick is there to fix this adult's mistakes. Digital illustrations (that replicate cut paper) accompany this zoo tale.

Age: Kindergarten-2nd grade
Math: Higher counting

A fun and straightforward call for readers to count to 100. Each page includes 100 animals, kids, or objects inviting children to count them. But this book doesn't stop there. There are several other prompts that ask kids to count "the smiling elephants" or asks "How many different kinds of fish are there?" Each page has an animal/object from the next page which would make a great guessing game for what comes next. Dialogue is exchanged between the 100 items, giving life to these spreads.

This book would probably be best read on its own because listening to a child read to 100 ten times might not be the highlight of some adults' day.

Age: Preschool-1st grade
Nature: Seeds

Daisylocks is a tiny seed that asks the wind to transport her to grow in a new landscape but she finds that these distant lands aren't quite what she needs. While the story line is a cute one, the incorporation of nonfiction facts feels clunky and sometimes out of place. In the middle of the book, Daisylocks tells the wind that she needs to be cultivated by hand not by the wind. The story line then continues on as the wind tries to find the seed a new home--but didn't we just establish that she needs to be planted by hand?

The supplementary material is great, providing information on the basic needs of plants, match the habitats, plant parts, and a match the plant game.

Age: Toddler-Kindergarten
Food: Cupcakes

I feel like this book had a lot of potential but fell short on the somewhat boring illustrations and the developing (or stagnant) plot. It appears as though Anderson was trying to imitate Axe Cop (both books are co-created with child and son) but Anderson was too controlling of his child's imagination.

I do like that the monsters only eat eyeballs and ketchup. No words were truer said by a child.