‘The Jellybeans and the Big Camp Kickoff’
By Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans / Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
In this new adventure for the group of four friends who call themselves the Jellybeans, the girls head off to summer camp at Camp Pook-A-Wow. There are activities galore for each of their favorite pastimes: crafts, reading and dance, with one exception – there is no soccer for Nicole. The girls decide to create a camp soccer team and naturally, they beat the opposing team with a dramatic final kick. With colorful pictures, a charming, yet predictable story line, topped off with a happy ending, this will be a favorite of little girls, with the focus refreshingly on athleticism, as opposed to dress up, fairies and princesses.
‘Boys Adrift’
By Dr. Leonard Sax
If you find yourself a parent of a son whose grades are suddenly taking a turn for the worse, whose distraction in school interrupts his work or who seems more interested in video games than in any other pastime, then you will find some real answers and solutions in this book. Dr. Sax takes a look at how educational changes in recent decades have impacted the performance of boys, as well as how video games, medications, toxins and a change in gender roles and role modeling have also come together to decrease the drive to succeed and inner motivation from boys and young men in our culture. He also makes a compelling argument for a call back to experiential learning rather than memorization focused learning.
‘The Odd Egg’
By Emily Gravett
In a twist on the “ugly ducking” theme, Duck, who at first has no egg, finds himself a large, strange, ugly egg. All the other bird mamas are busy preparing for the hatching of their babies while Duck diligently cares for his egg in the midst of ridicule. When the babies hatch, there is a teachable moment for reader and child to discuss what each type of bird egg looks like and then what those new chicks look like. And of course, like all good picture books, it ends when Duck’s egg yields a BIG surprise for everyone.
‘Yucky Worms’
By Vivian French/ Illustrations by Jessica Ahlberg
In a compelling and creepy combination of fiction and non-fiction, Yucky Worms is a thorough treatment of the function of earthworms in our gardens and yards. It begins, “One day when I was in Grandma’s garden, Grandma dug up a slimy, slithery, wiggly worm.” The child, whom at first is disgusted, comes to earn a respect for the worms as Grandma explains how they eat, irrigate soil, hibernate in groups, move through the soil without eyes and provide nutrients for the garden as a process of their digestion. The final pages provide extension ideas for children to become “Wormologists” themselves with observation and experimentation.
