The film rights for the series have already been purchased by DreamWorks.

That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals: A Book about Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things by Ruby Roth.

A friendly introduction to veganism and vegetarianism for elementary-age children, this book focuses more on the evils of factory farming than eating animals.  This slant makes it more appropriate for the young audience.  The animals are portrayed as whimsical characters.  The pigs have huge nostrils, the chickens stay round as an egg, and the cows are lanky with long-lashed eyes.  Animals are shown in family groups, demonstrating what their natural lives would be like.  This is contrasted with the misery they find on factory farms combined with the environmental toll as well.  The book makes a sound, green argument for reducing animal consumption as well as eliminating factory farms.

This book deserves a place in most public libraries alongside all of those farm animal books.  It offers another perspective that is missing from children’s sections in libraries.  As adults learn that vegetarian and vegan diets are healthier for people as well as animals, parents will turn to libraries to help explain this to their children.  It is a pleasure to find such a well-done book on the subject that provides information without the shocking images that would be too much for children.

Roth has done an admirable job of creating a book on a subject that could easily confuse and upset young readers.  This book instead talks about nature, the importance of kindness, and gives children a way to make a difference right now.  Her illustrations help to keep the subject from being too bleak with their cartoony feel.

Highly recommended for all public library collections, this book will be appreciated by vegetarians, vegans and others who are exploring their eating options.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by David Roberts

Miss Breakbone hates children.  She is harsh, rude, and cruel.  But worst of all, she is also a teacher.  She calls her class Dunderheads, and one day goes too far in taking away a broken cat from one of the children.  His nickname was Junkyard and he had found it in the trash, a perfect gift for his feline-loving mother.  When Miss Breakbone basically dared Junkyard to try to get it back, the class turned to Einstein, a boy with a brilliant mind for figuring things out and the narrator of the story.  The children all had talents that they are nicknamed for.  Together they formed the perfect set of skills to break into Miss Breakbone’s castle of a house and retrieve the cat.

This book is a marvelous mix of impossible mission intrigue and school misfits.  Fleischman has created characters that are unique, strange and great fun.  His text is simple, perfect for readers in first and second grades who want a book with pizzazz but are more comfortable with lots of illustrations.  Roberts’ illustrations are a large part of the book.  Much of it is done with panels like a graphic novel, enhancing the feel that the book is for slightly older children than most picture books.  Roberts illustrations are dramatic, silly, and suit the subject perfectly.  His towering and glowering Miss Breakbone is a frightening figure indeed.  The danger is heightened by his illustrations rather than diminished, much to the delight of readers.

Highly recommended, this book fits a niche for picture books that will be of great interest to newly independent readers.  It is also a wonderful read aloud, filled with tension, drama and humor galore.  Appropriate for ages 5-6 as a read aloud, but also appropriate for ages 6-8 as a self-read.

Also reviewed by Young Readers, 100 Scope Notes, and Books4yourkids.

My Little Round House by Bolormaa Baasansuren.

Jilu was born into a round world.  His cradle was round and soft.  His home, a ger, was round with a round hole at the top.  And the nest he rode in when they moved was round.  Jilu lives in a nomadic Mongolian family, moving each season.  Each time they move, they rebuild their round home, living there until another season has passed.  When summer comes around again, Jilu is a year old, happily playing under the largest roundness of all, the sky.

This book is a vivid depiction of a culture we know far too little about.  Created by Baasansuren, a native Mongolian, the illustrations are filled with small details of daily life.  Resembling folk art, they are warm, familial and colorful.  The words of the book are simple and a pleasure to read, offering the same rhythm as the seasons.  There is a sense of time here that is unusual in our culture as well as a connection to the earth.  People in the U.S. are struggling to find this sort of easy relationship with time and our world.  Here is a picture book that exemplifies a culture where that is simply a part of daily life. 

Highly recommended as a great glimpse into another culture and way of living, this book is appropriate for ages 5-7. 

Breathtaking images from the upcoming Alice in Wonderland film by Tim Burton are now on display at Rotten Tomatoes.  They also have an intriguing website for the film.  I can’t think of a better director for a film based on such a surreal book.  And even better, it has a superb cast!  Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, and Alan Rickman as The Caterpillar.  You can check out the entire cast on IMDB. 

OK Go by Carin Berger

This whimsical tribute to recycling and the environment is perfect for toddlers and young children.  The book shouts Go! immediately and readers are off following bright red sports cars as they race across the page, each filled with strange pointy nosed or beaked creatures.  Turn the pages and they get more crowded with vehicles, all clever and funny, but all pouring out exhaust.  Eventually the page is simply filled with the word “go” repeating over and over again.  Then come the dark clouds of smog, filling the page and a declaration to Stop!  The little creatures figure out many ways that they can help the environment and still get around. 

The words here are so very simple and accessible.  Older children will enjoy the fold-out page with its short rhymes about what to do to be more green.  Younger children will enjoy the cars screeching across the page.  Berger’s illustrations, all done in recycled materials, are very clever.  Even the final tips on the last page are done in a friendly tone just right for children.  Berger has taken a complex subject and made it clear, clever and concise. 

A very successful green picture book, this could easily be incorporated into preschool units on nature and storytimes as well.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Egg Drop by Mini Grey

Grey returns with another fantastical tale about an inanimate object. This time it is an egg.  An egg who would not wait.  An egg who would not listen.  The Egg wanted to fly – like a bird, like a helicopter, like a round brown blimp.  But it did not understand aerodynamics, so it headed up a tower to soar.  At first the egg thought it was flying.  But it was falling instead.  Don’t despair, it did not go to waste.

Grey is wonderfully quirky in all of her picture books.  Mixing in Bernoulli’s principle and aerodynamics just adds to that strange surrealism in her picture books that make them both very different and very intriguing.  Her illustrations are mix graph paper with flying eggs, what’s not to love!  With this book, Grey has once again expanded what picture books can be about and what they can say. 

A strange and interesting picture book that does not nicely fit into units or story times, but is wonderful nonetheless.  Share this one with any quirky kids you know.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

The Goodbye Season by Marian Hale

Released September 2009.

This is Hale’s third historical novel.  Set during the 1918 epidemic, it follows young Mercy.  The member of a sharecropper’s family, she is so poor that her family is forced to send her away to work for someone ten miles from them just to have her fed.  Mercy works hard and soon bonds with the couple she serves and their two hired men.  But after one trip to town, one hired man is dead and Mercy is sent away for her own safety.  She returns home to her family, finding the house empty and her mother and three siblings buried near the house.  Mercy is now alone and penniless.  She finds a job taking care of a woman and her two small children.  But something is strange about the family and Mercy finds herself drawn to the older stepson who may know the answer to the mystery.

An intricate tale of loss, grief, mystery, and love, this book is well plotted and filled with surprises.  Mercy is a heroine who never despairs, works incredibly hard, and makes her own way.  She is gentle, sweet and yet strong and resilient.  At the same time, she is conflicted and unsure often.  She is a character worth spending time with in her complexity.  The 1918 epidemic will fascinate teens who are hearing about swine flu around them.  The devastation of the epidemic is clearly evoked without becoming graphic or overwhelming.

One quibble I have is with the cover art.  Why, why, why is Mercy wearing lipgloss and mascara?!  Love the hair, the face, the look, the setting.  But the makeup just doesn’t work.

An historical novel that is sure to please, this book while about a 17-year-old character would be appropriate for readers as young as 12.

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

Released September 2009.

Head back to the wonderful character of Grandma Dowdel.  In this third novel, it is 1958 and a family has moved in next door to her.  They are poor as church mice, appropriate since the father is a Methodist pastor.  The children include Bob, who immediately falls prey to the town bullies in remarkable fashion.  There is his older sister Phyllis, who is obsessed with Elvis and with one of the bullies who bears a resemblance to The King.  And then there is his younger sister, Ruth Ann, who is a little lost until she meet Grandma Dowdel.  This delightful novel tells the story of the year the family spends next door to Grandma Dowdel who insists that she is neither neighborly or church going, yet manages to always be both.

Peck’s characterizations are as always clever and revealing.  He has such a gentle touch with his characters even as he is showing far more of their psyche and personality than one might realize.  Peck’s humor has a vintage feel as is appropriate to the time and place.  It is uproariously funny.  After reading two werewolf books (and setting both aside) it was a real breath of fresh cold air to read Peck’s novel.

Tightly plotted, humorous and beautifully wrapped up in the end, this book is a real treat.  Appropriate for ages 8-12, I can see entire families enjoying this one as a read aloud.  Classrooms would also enjoy the escapades and fun while learning a touch of history along the way.

Also reviewed on Sarah Miller’s blog.

Siobhan Dowd has won the Carnegie Medal for children’s literature, making her the first author to win posthumously.  She won the medal for Bog Child.  Her first novel, A Swift Pure Cry, was also shortlisted for the Carnegie. 

Dowd began writing in 2003 and died in 2007.  In those four short years, she created four books for young people.  Amazing.