The Fairy Tale Detectives

The Sister's Grimm, Book 1 of The Fairy Tale Dectective series by Michael Buckley is a modern fantasy about two sisters who are orphaned after the mysterious disappearance of their parents. Several foster homes later, they are placed in custody of Mrs. Grimm, their grandmother that they have been told is dead! The sisters arrive at Mrs. Grimm's house and meet Mr. Canis and Elvis the dog. Mr. Canis rarely talks and acts oddly and soon the sisters discover things are not what they seem!

Grandmother Grimm tells the sisters they are the great-great-great-great- granddaughters of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the collectors and re-tellers of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The story gets stranger still when Grandmother Grimm tells them that fairy tale creatures, known as Ever Afters live among the people of Ferryport! The oldest of the two sisters does not believe this could be true until evidence is shown to her that Ever Afters do live among them!

An adventure story, mystery, and classic fairy tale rolled into one, this story will capture reader's attention until the very last page! Creatively developed plot lines and representation of famous fairy tale characters such as "Prince Charming" and "The Three Pigs" is intriguing! The traditional elements of magic, and good versus evil are present in this story.

I could not put this book down! The mystery elements combined with the fairy tale elements left me wondering what would happen next. I am happy that there are 4 more books in this series. I am eager to share them with students!

Suggested reading level: 4-6

Keywords: fairy tales, Brother's Grimm, Sister's Grimm, mystery, modern fantasy, magic

The sky is falling?

Henny Penny, told and illustrated by Paul Galdone is a fable about Henny Penny who is hit on the head by an acorn and decides she must tell the king "the sky is falling!" As she sets out on her journey she meets Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey who will help her deliver her urgent message to the king.

Along the way they meet Foxy Loxy. Foxy Loxy will help them by showing them a shorter route to the king. Or will he?

The repetition of the writing makes this a great read-aloud for young children! They want Henny Penny to make it to the king even though the sky is clearly not falling! Through the illustrations we see Henny Penny's urgency and nervousness at her discovery. Once the acorn taps her head, her beak does not close. We feel her urgency and can almost hear her say "the sky is falling!" Finally, when they are lured to Foxy Loxy's cave we see in the illustrations that Henny Penny's beak is closed. Does she sense what might happen?

My favorite part of this story is how "simple" the text is, but that a great urgency is created in the reader or listener. This technique makes you root for Henny Penny against all logic!

Suggested reading level: Pre-K-1st

Keywords: acorn, chickens, foxes, kings

Giant Lizards!

Kalman, Bobbie. 2005. Endangered komodo dragons. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company.

Bobbie Kalman's, Earth's Endangered Animals Series acquaints students with the endangered komodo dragon and its habitat, physical characteristics, life cycle, eating habits, and endangered species information. This is a non-fiction title that is used by students for both entertainment and the purpose of learning information about the komodo dragon.

The use of factboxes, photographs, headings, sub-headings, and diagrams convey information about the komodo dragon. Colors behind the factboxes aid in "easability" of reading. Photographs throughout show komodo dragons in various scenarios such as hunting for food, hiding in self-dug burrows, and in various stages of growth. Bold text of glosary words further assist readers in attaining facts.

My favorite part of the book dealt with the explanation of Komodo National Park, a park built especially for the protection and conservation of the komodo dragon. This section of the book explains why komodo dragon's are endangered and the steps being taken by scientists to make sure that komodos are around for much longer.

Recommended for grades 2-4.

Keywords: Komodo dragon, Endangered species.

Baseball and World War II

Mochizuki, Ken. 1993. Baseball saved us. Ill. by Dom Lee. New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc.


Ken Mochizuki tells the story of how one group of Japanese Americans survives the internment camps they were forced to live in as a result of treatment of Japanes Americans by the United States government during World War II. The story focuses on a boy whose love of baseball helps him survive during his time at the internment camp and in difficult situations after the war is over.


The book, inspired by actual events, describes the isolation, loneliness, and frustration of the Japanes Americans of the forced internment. They are forced from their homes and jobs and relocated to Idaho. In the book, the Father realizes the frustration and "that's when Dad knew we needed baseball." Illustrations created by applying encaustic beeswax on paper then scratching out images and adding oil paint over them, make the reader feel as if you are there in the dusty, desolate, camp. As Shorty begins to feel more comfortable and gain happiness from playing baseball, the illustrations began to change. More colors are added such as red, blue, green until the last celebratory illustration in the book. Written in short sentences, the text conveys the emotions of the characters.

Upon a first reading of the book, I thought more could have been added to the text. However, a second and third reading allowed me to see that the short, clipped sentences without elaboration allows the reader to sense the desperation, finality, and uncertainty of the real-life event.


Recommended for grades 2-6.


Keywords: Japanese Americans, Internment Camps, World War II, Courage.

Play with your words!

Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant is a collection of poems by Children's Poet Laureate, Jack Prelutsky that introduces the value of playing with words through poetry. Familiar animals are poetically mangled together with everyday objects to create mythical-type creatures such as the Toadster, the Cloktopus, and the Umbrellaphant to name a few.

Combining animals with everyday objects to create new creatures will produce giggles in Prelutsky fans. Humorous creatures created give rise to the reader creating their own. After the last poem in the book, there is even a blank, lined, notebook page to encourage readers to write their own mixed up creature poem. Exquisitely crafted collage illustrations by Carin Berger bring the make believe creatures to life.

One of my favorite poems in the book is the "Tweasels of the Forest." A wonderful rhyme scheme is utilized to enhance the sound the tweasels make in the mind of the reader. I could almost hear them as they "tweasled" across the forest. The "Pop-Up Toadsters" stands out and the illustrations of green hopping toasters will bring smiles to faces of readers. The ability of Prelutsky to bring together two seemingly incongruent objects such as a toad and a toaster is heightened by the play on words technique of the poem.

Recommended for grades 2-6.

Keywords: poetry, imaginary animals, word-play.

Hummingbird visits

Award winning author-poet, Kristine O'Connell George crafts a book of poems based on a real life event at her California home entitled, Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. The book is a chronicling of a hummingbird and its activities through the course of its stay in the nest it built on George's porch.



The chronicling of the hummingbird visit is reflected both through the poems and watercolor illustrations. Each illustration is dated. Readers understand that the activities of the hummingbird and the keeping of the poetry journal lasted aproximately two months; from February 3-April 1st.



I like the idea that the hummingbird activities were monitored for a certain time and written about through the format of poetry as poems can be expressions of moments in time. The water color illustrations by Barry Moser add a depth and appreciation for the natural world that also comes through in the words chosen for each poem. Added information through the author's note, informative and interesting facts about hummingbirds, and further reading about hummingbirds will create future birdwatchers along with the book's poems.



Recommended for grades 3-6.



Keywords: poetry, hummingbirds, nature journal.

Love that poetry

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech is the story of Jack who keeps a journal for his teacher in the form of free verse poetry. Surprisingly, he does this even though he does not like poetry. His teacher, Miss Stretchberry introduces Jack to poets like Robert Frost, William Carlos Willliams, William Blake and Walter Dean Myers. A special reward awaits Jack at the end of the school year as a famous poet visits his school and inspiration strikes.

Despiste Jack's belief that he doen't like poetry and poetry isn't for boys, poems of famous male poets inspire him to attempt his own poem based on a tragic personal loss. Readers will relate to Jack's loss and his attempts to express his feelings through poetry.

Creech's choice to write about the topic in a free verse novel format adds a hightened sense of emotional intensity to the story. Jack's feelings were more poignantly expressed through the format of free verse rather than the novel format. The format of the verse novel allows readers to connect with their own emotions of tragedy and loss.

Recommended for grades 4-6.

Keywords: free verse novel, poetry, dogs, famous poets.