What a neat idea! Grandparents can fill out a form and send photos to this publisher and they will produce a book about your life to share with your grandkids. You use their template that covers your likes and dislikes, your school years and family, too. Send it back to the company with photos and your cherished memories become family history that kids can treasure. It's a 20 page book that covers your life from childhood to the present and can include your grandchild and his parents. For more info visit their website, ISeeMe.com.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009.

Striking 3D pop-ups invite young readers into the rain forests of the world. There are five transparent layered scenes with keys that identify the many animmals and plants found in each setting. The book is also laced with stunning photographs and factoids. It's not a book that kids will likely read from page one to the end. It's more of a book to browse through and get a sense of wonder about the amazing variety of species in the natural world. From the undergrowth to the canopy of the rain forest, this is a visually exciting introduction.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Six of the best known Princess stories are in this lovely collection. Each story opens with an enchanting pop-up and is illustrated with dreamy impressionistic paintings. This is one of those books that will be enjoyed first as a read aloud and again as a read alone. It includes:  The Princess and the Pea, The Wild Swans, Snow White, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the Frog Prince.  

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Remember your old Classic Comics? This graphic novel is a lot heftier and is likely to make a hit with the same audience that found their way into old classics frame by frame. This 21^st Century version is darker and far more elaborate than the newsprint comics, which were considered a cut above the regular super-hero comics.  Still, even in the olden days, when your parents were reading comics there was concern that kid would never really read if they became accustomed to the graphic form. That simply was not true. In fact, the comics were one path into the ‘great’ books.  Besides, the graphic novel has become something of an art form unto itself and although we have reviewed few of them, this just might grab the interest of some otherwise reluctant readers. It is full of action, suspense and adventure. Not a bad combination for kids who need to be enticed with visual treats.  

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Although the mournful folk song of John Brown’s Body is familiar to many, the story of his fight to free the slaves is often over simplified to the events at Harper’s Ferry. This account, illustrated with larger than life folk legend style paintings, tells his story with greater clarity than most. His struggle to convince others to give up slavery turned violent and John Brown became a violent rebel with a cause that others could not support. Hendrix chose not to skip over the many layers of this story and as a result his narrative might have fit a small chapter book better. The content is heavy for a picture book, but well worth sharing with youngsters who are about to study the Civil War. The problem is that many older students who are ready for this story often resist reading or listening to picture books.

Age: Later School Years. Award Year: 2009.

A handsome resource book that students will no doubt use for class projects where a flag of the world is needed. But this book goes beyond that simple image with a short explanation about the history of the symbols on the flags and a little something about the country itself. It also gives the bare statistics about the region, capital, official language, area, highest point. There is a well-labeled world map in the front of the book so students can find the countries they are looking at in the body of the book. A handsome book that will be enjoyed by browsers, as well as those doing ‘research’ for school. 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Eric and his family move back to his mom’s hometown after his parents’ divorce. It’s a bumpy time made all the worse by a bully by the name of Griffin and his ‘gang’ of followers. There’s plenty of suspense and some welcome dollops of humor in the telling of this tale of 7th grade boys who can be as cruel as girls are often portrayed. In fact, the guys tend to use physical abuse along with the emotional taunts so common in this kind of story. But this story doesn’t just focus on the boys, it’s their fathers, one mentally ill and absent, the other an alcoholic, that the author weaves into the back story, as if to explain the boys and their behavior.   Of course the business of belonging and excluding others is so developmentally typical, kids do not need disturbed parents to explain the behavior away, but it does add leavening to the story. In the real world of bullies where kids have been driven to suicide, this is a mild story. Still, it is a portrait of a cruel world that calls for courage as well as strong adults kids can turn to. After making his way into belonging, Eric has to face the truth about going along and being a bystander or being true to what he knows is right even if that makes him a target. In a world where bullying makes the evening news, this is clearly a story that will resonate with middle school boys. 10 & up.

 

Age: Later School Years, Tweens. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

If you have a dinosaur lover on your gift list, here is a coffee table dinosaur book that will be enthralling. Designed with flip open charts that show the dinosaurs through their many ages,  a world map showing where they were found, and may other lift up flaps, this is handsomely illustrated. It is full of small digestible factoids that kids like, and has a life size foot print tucked in at the end. 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Older readers who know Little Women may enjoy reading this biography of the author. While most think of the Little Women as her family’s story, there are many parts of her life that are in this biography that L.M. Alcott did not include in her classic novel. This is not light reading but the lovely illustrations go a long way to brighten an otherwise rather sad story. This is for serious readers who love LMA. 

Age: Later School Years. Award Year: 2009.

Kids are often fascinated by bugs and this oversized book has huge, larger than life size images about them on every page. It's like having a magnifying glass to get a view that's up close and amazing. The information is pretty basic and clearly introduced. Best of all there are see-through layers in each section that add to the visual charm of this book. 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.