One day, the most amazing thing happens! Stores are offering free dinosaurs with every purchase! While this sounds like the greatest thing since sliced bread, Mom is not very happy. I wonder why?

Awards nominated: Monarch Award Nominee 2011

Reviewed by: vverscaj

Date read: 4/10/2010

ISBN-10: 0689869223

ISBN-13: 9780689869228

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You probably know Where the Sidewalk Ends as a favorite of young peoples' poetry. It is the book that introduced poems like 'Smart,' about a child who traded his father's dollar down to five pennies, all the while convinced he was arranging clever deals ('My dad gave me one dollar bill, 'Cause I'm his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters, 'Cause two is more than one!). It also includes poems in the form of colorful cautionary tales, such as 'Sarah Cynthia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out' and 'The Dirtiest Man in the World' that take the results of failing to perform ordinary chores to their extremes. The illustrations add to meaning, often adding twists to the text of the poem, such as in 'The Loser,' when someone has lost his head, and only the reader knows that his head is 'this rock' on which the narrator sits. The poems present lively and sometimes sarcastic takes on the every day as well as the fantastic.

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 12/31/2009

ISBN-10: 0060256680

ISBN-13: 9780060256685

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Arriman the Awful, wizard of the North, is tired. He would like to be able to retire from blighting and smiting, blasting and wuthering, and generally being the nastiest wizard ever known. The trouble is, who would perform all the necessary and evil black magic, if not Arriman? The gypsy Esmeralda has predicted that the wizard 'cometh,' who could take on all of Arriman's tasks, but that wizard has not yet arrived. The answer, say Lester, his ogre butler, and Leadbetter, his tailed secretary, is to marry and have a child who would one day take over for Arriman. To find the bride, Leadbetter organizes a contest, based on the Miss World pageant, among the seven local witches. The contestants include Mabel Wrack, a half-mermaid who performs fishy magic, Mother Bloodwort, who is so old she has forgotten more magic than she has ever known, the Shouter twins, who hate each other, Ethel Feedbag, who has begun to look like her pig familiar, Belladonna, a white witch, and Madame Olympia, who has buried seven husbands. Is it possible that Arriman can find a bride among them? And does the wizard cometh? This is a great tongue-in-cheek fantasy.

Similar authors: Roald Dahl

Reviewed by: vverscaj

Date read: 11/18/2010

ISBN-10: 0525461647

ISBN-13: 9780525461647

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Three kids have to live with their aunt. Guess what- the aunt doesn't turn things on, only the light. For example, she doesn't turn on the air! Read to find out what happens. This is book 3 in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Reviewed by: St. Charles Reader

Date read: 10/23/2009

ISBN-10: 0064407683

ISBN-13: 9780064407687

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A rhyming book about a librarian who drives her bookmobile into the zoo, this story is filled with lively illustrations for the young animal lover. The pictures are bright, dynamic, and engaging, and the rhymes are clever. Younger kids will enjoy the illustrations and the sound of the rhymes, while older picture book lovers can be exposed to new vocabulary as they enjoy the story.

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 7/6/2009

ISBN-10: 037582538X

ISBN-13: 9780375825385

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