Reviews
Booklist Advance Review Mindful Music and Dancing
This resource-filled guide, part of the Art of Mindfulness series (4 titles), lets kids explore SEL after-reading prompts as well as an View →
SLJ Review of What on Earth? Climate Change Explained
This series covers the many aspects of climate change from weather patterns to climate events to the effects on animals. Each section is two pages long, and builds understanding of what climate change is and why it is happening. For example, due to climate change “…fire seasons… View →
SLJ Review of X-Treme Facts: Space
An irreverent series that uses humor to engage readers. Each spread has an interesting chapter title, a paragraph of informational text, colorful boxes with facts, photographs, and comic-book style speech bubbles. There are many pictures of children or stereotypical aliens layered over… View →
SLJ Review of What's Inside Me?
A neat trend in children’s body books is to blend cartoon and real medical imagery together, and this series does that very well. Pairing photographs, scientific imaging, and stylized cartoons really helps explain how each part of the body works doing different activities. The… View →
SLJ Review of Forest School
Exceptionally clear photos show readers what they should look for during their forest walks. Most of nature comes in shades of green or brown, so detailed pictures of tracks, seeds, nests, and droppings will help children identify evidence of life. Photos of woodland creatures bring kids View →
SLJ Review of Mindful Cooking
Moving beyond deep breaths and yoga mats, these titles incorporate mindfulness practices into common middle grade activities like dancing and crafting. It is a clever expansion that builds on a secular understanding of mindfulness and its uses in daily activities to boost mental… View →
SLJ Review of Eye-mazing Illusions
The exciting optical illusions throughout this series explore not only the science of optics, but also interconnected STEAM topics like neurology. Covering both two-dimensional and three-dimensional illusions, there are mathematical, health, and artist… View →
Booklist Advance Review of Checks and Balances
This basic civics book presents a defining element of the U.S. federal government’s structure: the balance of power through checks and balances. Giving a nod to ancient Rome’s tripartite government as a model for the Founders, Kenney explains that they created the executive, the… View →
SLJ Review of Life Works!
Using stylized monster characters, these books guide readers through activities to help build empathy and understanding, while developing critical skills like time management and building trust with others. Bright colors and silly monsters keep the serious topics layered with some levity View →
SLJ Review of Spot the Differences
Engaging animal comparisons are presented in a question-and-answer format. Text provides simple facts about the two animals. Readers examine the accompanying photograph, then try to identify it based on the words and image: “A frog has webbed feet. A toad does not. Which is this?” (Frog… View →
SLJ Review of Fossils Uncovered
A graphic novel format brings dinosaur discovery to life in this series. Major finds like Sue Hendrickson’s T. Rex or Jack Horner’s maiasaura are dramatized for readers. Scenes show the process of the dig, as well as the research and other events after the fossils were dug up. Text… View →
SLJ Review of Los trabajos de los perros (Dogs on Duty)
Repetition, early words, and simple narrative structure are major strengths in this series about the many service functions performed by working dogs. Herding dogs, military dogs, search and rescue dogs, and service dogs are profiled in these Spanish/English books for early readers who… View →