Purplicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann

Illustrated by Victoria Kann

HarperCollins, 2007, $16.99

9780061244063
Age Level: 5-8

Rating: Very Good

View this book on Amazon

Pinkalicious is determined that pink is still the "in" color until everyone in her art class began liking black. Her parents try to cheer her up to no avail. Then one day in her art class a new girl was painting with blue and mixed it with pink. The results made both girls happy!

This book is very colorful and the illustrations are cute. All in all a great book for a little girl in love with pink or purple.

Reviewer: Kim Bell, Orange County Public Library/Cypress Branch

Living Color by Steve Jenkins

Rating: Recommended
Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $17.00

ISBN: 978-0618708970
Age Level: 9-12

View this book on Amazon

"Living Color" is even more informative than it is colorful. This is an attention-keeping way to introduce children to less common types of animals than the ones they normally read about. It offers short paragraphs filled with fascinating true facts about animals of every color and variety. The back even lays out the animals we have been introduced to in an encyclopedic style for quick reference. The color theme is an innovative way to tie this information together and keep it fresh.

Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library

City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer

Illustrator: Carll Cneut

Rating: Recommended

Clarion, 2007, $16.00
ISBN: 978-0618607037

Age Level: 4-6

View this book on Amazon

The illustrations in this gorgeous and bold book brillantly capture the best possible elements of the sensory overload one may experience in a noisy and crowded city. This is a modern take on a traditional "countdown" type of picture book. While the illustrations are crowded, leaving the feeling that you could look at each one and not even see everything, the words are wisely put on almost completely blank white paper, making them distraction free and easy to read. The author's deptiction of the "growling, grumbling, thumping, rattling" action of the city captures her appreciation and understanding of big city life, and by the end the reader cannot help but be swept up with the same feeling.

Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library

Phooey by Marc Rosenthal

Rating: Very Good

Joanna Cotler, 2007, $16.99
ISBN: 978-0060752484
Age Level: 4-8

View this book on Amazon

This cute story has old-fashioned illustrations that remind me of classic comic strips of the past. The story itself features a restless child, a state of mind that we can all relate to, who unknowingly sets off a comedic chain of catastrophes through his frustrated actions. Very simple, yet laugh out loud funny, I recommend this book for children to read alone or even to have read to them during storytime.

Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots by Michael Sandler

Rating: Additoinal
Bearport, 2007, $22.61

ISBN: 978-1597165358

Age Level: 4-8

View this book on Amazon

A very quick and easy non-fiction read, Tom Brady is a tidy football hero story for interested youth. Football terminology is broken down into easily understood vocabulary words, while the short story keeps the excitement up with the "will they or won't they improve their game to win the Superbowl" plotline. However, this is not a book for those who are already familiar with Tom Brady and the Patriots, as it only dramatizes the stories most of us know. It has very few facts beyond that, skimming over Brady's very early life and tactfully ignoring his recent activities. Overall, this is a very good book for a young football enthusiast who is just "starting out" with their interest, but not the most informative choice for children who are already familiar with Brady and the Patriots.

Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library

Tsunami Warning by Taylor Morrison

Rating: Marginal

Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $17.00
ISBN: 978-0618734634
Age Level: 9-12

View this book on Amazon

Tsunami Warning is great--for needlessly scaring children. The illustrations are devastatingly beautiful as they depict extremely realistic scenes of destruction and near death. These pictures are so detailed that one wonders why real pictures of the disaster were not used instead. Additionally, the reader may struggle with exactly what this book is teaching us about: the science of tsunami warning systems, or the heroism of the Coast and Geodetic Society. Granted, there is nothing wrong with writing a story to celebrate some unsung hero, but why then should the book pretend to do otherwise? I question both the subject motive and the wisdom of making it in a picture book form, because I fear it will trick a younger reader who will later be rewarded with nightmares of these crashing death waves.

Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library

Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time by Rowan Coleman

Rating: Additional
HarperTempest, 2005, $15.99

ISBN: 0060776285

Age Level: 10-14

View this book on Amazon

Enter stage right, Ruby Parker, Britain's thirteen year old soap star. Discovered at six, Ruby partakes in the young thespian's life, basking in inter-continental recognition. But life is no longer a dream, when adolescent angst, coupled with betrayal, combined with her parents' separation and anxiety over a first screen kiss come calling. Fan mail correspondence lends depth to the bildingsroman. Although the first pages are overly populated with "like" a lot of "likes," the writing becomes personal and engaging, the characters believable and the plot plausible. Ruby is a likeable character and readers with an eye for the limelight might enjoy reading the dramatic unfoldings of a young star.

Reviewer: Rebecca Porter, Orange County Public Library/Laguna Beach

The Baby Shower, by Eve Bunting

Illustrated by Judy Love
Rating: Additional

Charlesbridge, 2007, $15.95
ISBN: 9781580891394
Grade Level: PreK - Grade 1

View this book on Amazon

Ms. Brindle Cow is having a baby, and Chipmunk, Rabbit, Turtle, Pig and Duck are on their way to share in the happy event, each with a gift for this special occasion, which is even more joyous when they find out that she has given birth to twins. The animal characters from Eve Bunting's previous book "The Wedding" are celebrating the new arrival in gentle rhymes and a touch of humor, but the jolly, rather cartoonish illustrations (ink on water color paper) dominate the text.

Reviewer: Beatrice Carswell, Orange County Public Library/West Garden Grove Branch

Hey, You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things, selected by Paul B. Janeczko

Illustrated by Robert Rayevsky

Rating: Additional
HarperCollins, 2007, $15.99

ISBN: 9780060523473

Grade Level: 2nd-5th grade

View this book on Amazon

A collection of 30 poems by various authors, all written TO things, all kinds of things, from a dustmote to an octopus, to a black hole, addressing their subjects directly, sometimes even admonishing them. They are presented to the reader to spark his imagination and spur him to try it on his own. An interesting endeavor, even though the poems are uneven and the sequence somewhat baffling. Occasionally similar subjects follow one another and the mixed media illustrations tie them together.

Reviewer: Beatrice Carswell, Orange County Public Library/West Garden Grove Branch