Reviews (1)

Another winner for Rosemary Wells!
"Felix Feels Better" tells the story of a little guinea pig's first visit to the doctor with sensitivity and understanding. The text is simple and straightforward, making it easy for a young listener to relate to the plight of the little piggie who eats too many treats before bedtime, then wakes up feeling "not very perky." Rosemary Wells' pictures are a perfect accompaniment to the text. The smallest child will see himself and his fears in going to the doctor for the first time eased by the gentle story of Felix and Dr. Duck, as Felix literally bounces back by the end of the book! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Simple, but Pleasingly Different Story
Based on an East African folktale, this has many of the elements of a good childrens story. Good illustrations, unique and captivating story, and brief enough to keep a child's attention and interest throughout the book.

3-8 year-olds should well enjoy this story. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Very touching story
This is one of the better adoption books we've found. The story is quite touching. Our 4 year olds like to hear me read it. It is well written (no bad rhymes or childish language), which is far too unusual in adoption books for children. My only criticism is that it could have used better editing--tends to go on at times and this is suppose to be a children's book. Sensitive-types, be warned: I can't read this book without crying. Luckily, my children are use to it.

Heart warming and clever
This is a gentle way to introduce the young adoptee to the love of the human birthmother, and there is no need for the child fully to conceptualize yet the concepts of birth and adoption. Brodzinsky very cleverly introduces the fact to very young children that there was no father bird to help, that he had flown away long before the mother built her nest and laid her pale blue egg. The images of the mother bird and her struggles will instill love in the children for the little mother bird and at the same time love for the birthmother is sown and admiration for how hard she tried to protect her baby through all the storms, but failed to do so. The adoptive parents of the little bird are also shown to be loving and understanding of the baby's occasional grief. A charming story.
Gisela Gasper Fitzgerald, author of ADOPTION: An Open, Semi-Open or Closed Practice?

Wonderful Adoption story
We just recently adopted a sibling group of three boys ages 5,4,2. They are so young and had a hard time understanding why they were put up for adoption. This book has helped them to understand that their birth mom did this out of love. What a wonderful story to share with any adopted child!!!!! My oldest son wants me to read this book to him EVERYDAY!

Building a nest
This book is intended for older children who have begun asking why their birthmothers could not care for them. It provides a nice jumping off point for an important talk.

There are deficiencies, true enough. But no single adoption book can explain every situation to every child. Expecting that is expecting too much. After all, every adopted child came to his family differently. Other titles that one might consider to help an adopted child include Fred Rogers' Let's Talk About Adoption, Roslyn Banish's A Forever Family and Did My First Mommy Love Me. The last was written by an actual birthmother for her child.

Older children might also enjoy parts of Touched by Adoption, which includes 75 poets and writers who were themselves either birthparents, adopted or adoptive parents.

Whatever titles one uses, it is important to let an adopted child know that the family nest in which he landed was built to last forever. This book gets that message across. Alyssa A. Lappen

Missing Pieces
As a recent birthmother participating in an open adoption I ordered this story to read to my birthdaughter. Although parts of the story explain the adoption process quite well, I didn't like the allusion to the fact that the Mulberry Bird gave her baby up because of her own incompetence in caring for it. The only reference given to the birthfather was that "he had flown off before the baby was born". I don't like the idea of teaching adopted children that their birthfathers take off and their birthmothers are incompetent.

This book was also extemely wordy and appropriate for older children only. ... Read more

Book Description

Crinkleroot is an expert at finding animals because he knows where to look for them. In his jeep Crinkleroot covers a lot of ground, spotting over eighty different wildlife species in wetlands, woodlands, grasslands, drylands, and more. Along the way, readers will learn tips for finding wildlife in their own neck of the woods. ... Read more

Book Description

A lot of kids don't realize an owl can't move its eyes inside its head-it has to turn its entire head if it wants to see in a new direction. But can an owl really turn its head around 360 degrees? Who-o-o can pass up the chance to find out the answer?

Zoobooks, the 59-book animal series - the "everything you wanted to know but didn't know who to ask" guide to the world's most fascinating creatures. Each exciting edition of Zoobooks is packed with current scientific facts, striking photography, beautiful illustrations and unique activities that teach children about animals and the habitats in which they live. With innovative publications and products, Wildlife Education, Ltd. has enriched the lives of children, parents, and educators nationwide for 20 years. All titles are offered in library-bound hardcover and soft-cover styles.Zoobooks, ideal for the knowledge-hungry 4-11 year old! ... Read more

Book Description

Trans. by Carlos Rivera. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great book for spanish students!
I am a Spanish teacher and use "Eres tú mi mamá because the book is a great review for the preterite, imperfect and future. I have lessons designed for the verb grammar and my students really have fun reading a childhood story in Spanish that is so familiar to them in English. So if you want a fun way to review the past verb tenses and the future use this book and its video.

A Classic , Must read aloud book for Pre-K children.
This is a particularly excellent book for young children just beginning school (Pre-K). It's a must "read aloud" book which all children love. Children easily relate to "loosing their mother" and crying with the baby bird "Where is my mother". There's lots of repetition which children need at this age and they enjoy repeating the phrases...the cat is not his mother, the dog is not his mother etc. It has all the necessary elements of a quality picture book...childrens' interests, repetition of key phrases, large interesting pictures and emotional content. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Really Outstanding Children¿s Book
I am a third-grade teacher who bought this book for my nine-year-old daughter when she requested a picture book about peacocks.

This book is one of the best animal books for children that I've ever seen, as are all the other books in the Early Bird Nature Series. In 45 pages, there are 39 outstanding, full-color photographs. The enlarged text is perfect both for reading to a child, or for a child to read to himself. The language and book design are perfect for a child between Grades 2 and 4, but even quite interesting even for me, as an adult!

Topics covered in the book include: types of peafowl; differences between males, females, and chicks; how peafowl live together in groups; where in the world peafowl are living today, and where they are originally from; enemies of peafowl; what peafowl eat, and how their digestive systems work; the different types of feathers they have, and how each type works, as well as its function; why and how peacocks display their feathers; strutting; fighting; oil, preening, and dirt baths; and all about their eggs, nests, and chicks.

The first page in the book both introduces new vocabulary words to be found in the text, and also explains where to find the small glossary at the back of the book, and how to use it.

I highly recommend this book for your child. It will give you hours of pleasure reading together. It would also be an excellent edition to any school library. I purchased the library-bound edition, which is both beautiful and tough. The cover photo is extraordinary. ... Read more

Book Description

The variety of bird nests is truly amazing. Some birds build nests above ground, but others build them on or below the ground. There are nests that float and some that swing from branches. Some are even made of saliva, and others can weigh more than 5,500 pounds! ... Read more

Book Description

There once was a very hungry little hen, and she ate and ate, and grew and grew, and the more she ate, the more she grew.

Up on the hill lives a cunning fox. He watches the hen every day and thinks, "If I wait just one more day, the hen will be even bigger."

Then one day he can't wait any longer...

Reviews (1)

Entertaining, If Only To Me
The ending of this book has such a twist, that most children I've read this book to don't seem to get it. Actually, only a handful of parents seem to realize what just happened. But that doesn't detract from the fact the story of one incredibly hungry hen and one slowly starving fox is one of the more entertaining children's books to come out in 2001. The illustrations fit the story well, as does the use of repetition throughout the hungry hen's story. While I'm sure the fun twist can be seen coming a mile away, I won't ruin it here for people who don't read reviews. Needless to say, whether you're reading this to one child, or an entire classroom full of chilren, this simply told story entertains them all. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Comedy godfather Bill Cosby teams up with his artistic daughter Erika for a quintessentially Cosby-style story about the importance of being oneself--albeit a slightly weird, if playfully illustrated, tale--involving the antics of a couple acrobatic seabirds.

The "Cos" begins in trademark form, assuming the narrative voice of a bird named Blank, but who goes by the name Slipper (wha...?): "This is not my story, but I can tell you why I'm the bird to tell it. You see, I was the bird. I mean THE BIRD." Crowds gather by a place called the Beach by the Rock to watch a bird named Feathers do his high-flying best: "Feathers has a wingspan as large as a full-grown eagle's. And when he flutters those flappers of his, they sparkle brighter than a peacock's tail.... All Feathers had to do was swoop down from on high and the people would go, 'Ooh.' When he glided inland like a 747 approaching a runway, people would go, 'Aah.'" But Feathers' friend--an ugly-looking "dude named Hog"--has to work harder for the crowd's attention, and that leads to trouble. How will these two friends balance their desire to please with their loyalty to each other? Leave it to the Cos to explain.

As with many celeb endeavors, you can't help but notice the rough edges here--charming Cosbian rambling is one thing, of course, but this "one of life's little fables" could have benefited from some tighter focus and fewer unnecessary (and weird) details. The narrator, for example, has "stink plants" growing under his armpits--literally, geraniums--and a convoluted moral at the end might leave young readers scratching their little heads. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Fantastic Fable with Personal Lesson for Each of Us
I absolutely loved this book on many, many levels.

The illustrations are colorful and at the same time incredible simple AND incredibly complex.

I love that Bill Cosby and his daughter, Erika, collaborated on it.

And then secondarily, reading the reviews from the others, I also see the richness of the whole concept of "Fables" as well. Each reviewer has taken away a special - and different - nugget from the book.

Here is what especially intrigued me:

Hog compared the "raves and applause" that Feathers received
to what he received.... nothing. He craved what Feathers received.
He judged himself unfavorably and risked his life to
have the applause, like Feathers.

Feathers didn't care about the applause. He was just doing what
he loved to do, which included being an excellent friend of
Hog.

The most inspiring moment for them came when they flew out
of the "applause range" and could simply enjoy flying and being
together.

It would be fascinating to read this as a family or a group of friends and see what they people walk away with... my guess is that each would walk away with something inspiring, something different, and some significant unique message especially for them.

Read it to hear your significant message.

FRIENDSHIP
This is a great story about what being a real friend means.
Feather is beautiful and hog admires the attention Feather garners when he flies. What hog didn't understand was that just because he wasn't as beautiful, didn't mean he's not just as good. (or maybe better)
Friends of a feather reminds everyone about being yourself and supporting friends.
The story is written in a playful style that engages the reader in moments of humor and a bit of drama while telling an effective story that I'm sure most will enjoy.

Presents avian characters as if they were paper shapes
Written by comedian and humanitarian Bill Cosby, Friends Of A Feather: One Of Life's Little Fables is a children's storybook with an underlying moral about the importance of having the courage to be oneself. The eye-catching, brilliant style of color illustration by Erika Cosby (Bill Cosby's daugther), present avian characters as if they were paper shapes, in this original story of a pair of stunt-flying comrades faced with choices about how much value to put on the limelight versus one's own goals. Friends Of A Feather is recommended for grade school and community library picturebook collections for young readers. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent collective of diverse bird stories & poems.
Hugh Lupton collects and retells stories and poems from many cultures with Songs Of Birds: while these require good reading skills from ages 8 and older, or adult read-aloud aid, they provide an excellent collection of diverse, involving accounts with Steve Palin's beautiful color drawingsspicing the presentation. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a delightful story about a new family of burrowing owls. From the parents’ preparation of the burrow to the hatching of seven hungry babies that learn to hunt, fly, and survive in a sometimes dangerous world, this beautifully illustrated book is ideal for introducing young children to the wonders of nature. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Inside Out
The simple, yet accurate, graphics of this little book are a favorite in my Kindergarten classroom. The mysterious , invisible growth inside the egg is presented as a link in the life cycle of the chicken. Children delight in the transparent pages and return to look again and again. Non-readers can recall/retell the simple story with the help of the pictures. Older children quickly absorb the facts illustrated and want additional information. FROM EGG TO CHICKEN is a great book to share with a youngster. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Touching,tender story of a mother's return to her babies!
This is one of those "special" books that you won't mind reading to your little one over and over again. I find that a great children's book is a lot like a great children's movie; both the parent and the child enjoy it yet at different levels. Such a tender story of a little one's fear that their parent won't come home. However, the beautiful and touching illustrations almost steal the show! You can see the worry in the little owl's eyes and hear little Bill's anxious "I want my Mommy!" My two year old daughter loves the part when it's "dark" outside because the artwork truly conveys the dark; but not in a scary way! I loved when the oldest owl, Sarah, suggests that they all sit on her limb together. My favorite illustration is when the mother owl returns and the 3 little fluffy baby owls are jumping up and down. You'll snuggle a little closer to your child when you read this one together. Just the sweetest little book you and your special one will ever read!

A very fun book to read with one's children
I bought this book over two years ago, when my daughter was around 14 months and was just starting to visibly enjoy being read to. Two years later she still pulls it off the shelf sometimes and asks me to read it (usually around bedtime).

The plot is appropriately simple: Mama Owl goes out hunting for the night, and the three owl babies get progressively more worried and scared. When they have almost sunk into despair, mom comes home.

The illustrations are beautiful. Benson does an excellent job of evoking the fear of the wee owlets as they wait, and their exuberant joy upon mama's return. They are a perfect companion to Waddell's writing.

Waddell makes good use of parallelism. After a couple of readings, if you're child is verbal, expect her to be wailing "I want my mommy!" right along with you and baby Bill. Also, despite the brevity and simple vocabulary, one gets a real sense of the different personalities of the owl babies. As children's literature goes, this is a masterpiece.

Concurring with several other reviewers, I would agree that this is a great book to share with your kids if any of them suffer from separation anxiety.

Terrified Owl Babies
The beautiful artwork in this book doesn't mask a storyline that is way too upsetting for a young child. From the perspective of a 3-year old, mama owl disappears on page 1 and doesn't return until the last page. The pages inbetween show 3 gorgeously drawn little birds in the throes of anxiety over the loss of their mama. As an adult, I found it unsettling as well. Too bad the talented artist got hooked up with a hold-over author from Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Perfect for a two year old
We started reading to our daughter very young, which she always enjoyed, but this was the first book we read where she clearly followed the narrative. She was in visible suspense when the mother owl was gone and very relieved when she came back. An amazing moment! It was a favorite that we read many times thereafter. She was around 2 years old at the time and I highly recommend this book as a gift for a child that age.

Calm fears - and a cute little brother
Our three kids love this book. Particularly hearing the fear in the littlest owl's wishing for his Mama's return, and his joy at her arrival. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This sweet, simple story from Marjorie Newman (The King and the Cuddly) andaward-winning Scottish illustrator Patrick Benson (The Sea-Thing Child) somehowavoids cliché while teaching one of life's oldest lessons: if you lovesomething, you really shouldn't hold it prisoner in a tiny, handmade woodencage.

With spare text, Newman explains how Mole finds a baby bird that has fallen outof its nest, apparently abandoned. ("Mole waited and waited, but no big birdcame to help it.") He takes the tiny bird home to keep, despite his parents'warnings: "'It's my pet bird,' said Mole. 'It's not a pet bird. It's a wildbird,' said his mother." Eventually, the baby bird tries to fly, and theearnest, industrious Mole builds a cage (with the bird's help!) to keep him fromleaving. ("He put the bird into its new cage. The bird was sad. Mole's motherwas sad, too. But Mole kept his bird, because he loved it.") Eventually, itfalls to visiting Grandad to gently nudge Mole into doing what he knows hemust.

As in The Sea-Thing Child (with Russell Hoban), Benson's understatedartwork helps to keep this fairly adult message accessible for wee ones, withthoughtful compositions that carry the meter towards the book's inevitable end.But Benson's most memorable accomplishment is the subtly sad and comic babybird, who regularly peeks out to look directly at the reader. (Ages 4 to 8)--Paul Hughes ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Just a lovely story...
My husband picked this up for my son (18 months) at our local independent bookstore.Since then, it is a consistent favorite - not just with our son, but with the entire family.It is beautifully told, a lovely tale, and wonderfully illustrated.I actually came on this site hoping to find more of her books in print.I believe it is a story that will bear re-telling for years to come. ... Read more

Book Description

This new series is based on the Peterson Identification System, which uses life-like illustrations to help young naturalists make accurate identifications. The design of each book is straightforward, simple, friendly, and easy to use -- ensuring the success of beginners. Each of the four new titles in the series (SONGBIRDS, WILDFLOWERS, CATERPILLARS, and BUTTERFLIES) features vibrant color photographs of North American plants, birds, and insects in their natural habitats. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

One Duck Stuck -- What Luck!
One Duck Stuck is a darling children's book -- that moms and dads will love, too! We checked this out of the library, and liked it so much we went to amazon.com and bought 3!

It's rhythmic verse is enchanting and the kids recite it like a song. The alliteration is clever, as well.

The illustrations are colorful and alive!

The whole book just draws you in and makes you want to read it over and over again.

It's a feel-good, happy, sing-song little story the whole family will love.

VERY CUTE
A fun book with bright colorful pictures. My son loves to help "read" the book's repeating sentence - HELP HELP WHO CAN HELP?. A nice happy ending as all the animals work together to help the duck.

A fast favorite with my toddler.
My one year loves books - but not just any books. They have to be quick paced (to keep up with his fast page turning), have colorful and interesting illustrations, and have a repetitive but catchy story-line.

ONE DUCK STUCK delivers on all three counts and became a favorite the day we got it. The cheerful rhyme "no luck, still stuck" repeats on almost ever page, the story is cute with a good moral (all the animals work together to free the stuck duck) and the pictures are vibrant and interesting to the youngest of readers. We own tons of books but this is one of my son's top four and is re-read time and time again without him losing interest.

Board Book Edition ONLY - regular edition gets 5 stars
I checked this book out of the library and my daughter and I loved it. So, I ordered the board book version for her (she's 1 1/2), and found that a good 1/2 of the book is cut out. I'm returning it and getting the regular edition. So, if you like the toungue twisting verses, don't buy the board book.

GREAT!
Great Book! My 3 year old loves it. She makes up games and says words and phrases from this book months after we borrowed it from the local library. Great Buy! Everyone needs a copy of this book! I even like it! ... Read more

Book Description

He was not aware that he ever stopped crying.In his sleep a voice echoed down the long dark barrel of a cannon: You have run out of birthdays. In the morning he awoke suddenly to a flutter of wings.

Birthdays are an obsession where Palmer comes from, but if turning a year older means initiation into a violent practice he despises, he'd rather not. Unfortunately, Palmer cannot stop time any more than he can change tradition. So as this next and most important birthday approaches, Palmer knows that it's now or never. Something must be done.

Reviews (193)

The Dreaded Tenth Birthday...
I was a bit hesitant when I started reading Wringer, by Jerry Spinelli. A book about killing pigeons in mass numbers wasn't exactly my idea of an enjoyable book...but I'm glad I decided otherwise.
I was introduced to an eight-year-old Palmer LaRue, a boy without any true friends. Palmer has a growing secret inside him he doesn't even consider telling anyone. Palmer is afraid of being a wringer when he turns ten. This occurs at the annual Family Fest. Pigeons are released and shot at; the wounded ones are what the 10-year-old wringers are for.
On his ninth birthday he's accepted into a group of boys (Beans, Mutto, and Henry, AKA the Beans Boys). Beans is the leader of the group and is quite a mean boy who enjoys tormenting people, especially Palmer's neighbor, Dorothy Gruzik. Beans calls Dorothy 'Fishface', and soon Beans' strong influence on Palmer causes him to call her 'Fishsface' as well. One night a pigeon tapping on Palmer's window causes him to wake up. Palmer doesn't realize it, but this little pigeon (whom Palmer names Nipper) is going to change his life forever. Palmer gets closer and closer to turning ten. As becoming a wringer at the Family Fest creeps up on him, Nipper's life is in danger, Palmer discovers who his friends really are, and he befriends someone he never imagined would impact his life.
I rated this book four stars because I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it. Palmer's strong belief in what he thought was right, even under peer pressure, was truly inspirational. The only thing that prevented me from rating the book five stars was the choice of ages for the characters. If they had been possibly several years older, their thoughts and actions would seem much more realistic, but other than that, this is a book you should look into.

I thought this book was one of the best books I ever read.
Wringer is one of Jerry Spinelli's best books yet. This is one of the best books I ever read in my life. I like a lot of Jerry Spinelli's books, like Maniac Mcgee and the Library card, but this is one of his best books yet. It won the Newberry Honor in 1998. This book is for kids ages 9-12. The book is about a boy named Palmer LaRue. He lives in a town where each boy at age ten becomes a wringer. A wringer is a person who wrings pigeons by the necks after they have been shot by the men at the yearly Family Fests' Shooting Day. Only there is one problem Palmer does not want to become a wringer. One day the worst thing happened to Palmer. A pigeon came tapping at his window. He decided to feed it. The bad thing was it kept coming back to his house for more food. He had to keep this a total secret. Palmer also had another secret. He had a secret friendship with a girl named Dorothy Gruzik. He could not tell his other friends about this because they don't like her. So, they would beat them up if they found out. So whenever he was around her he called her Fishface. I thought this was a good book because the charactors sound like real people. The book was easy to read because it had short chapters. I enjoyed the story because it was interesting and secretive. I would give this book a 4 out of 5.

MY FAVORITE BOOK!
This book is one of the best books ever written, definetely one of Jerry Spinelli's best books. It is such a great book to do a book report on, or read out loud in class! It made me laugh, cry, and sometimes both at the same time :-)! My favorite part? DEFINETELY THE ENDING. Please note: do not skip to the ending otherwise it will spoil it for you. Some people get confused in the beginning but, THINK AGAIN. I noticed some of the reviewers were complaining about it being "hard to understand".If you are thinking that, it's really easy to understand. The only thing Spinelli is doing is comparing Palmer's tenth birthday to an actual living thing, which is very clever in my opinion. I don't think there are too many gory parts, it's mostly about Palmer's forbidden pet and how Palmer tries to fit in with a group of boys, doing crazy things just to be with them. I would recommend this book to ANYBODY. I did not expect such a wonderful book when i bought it. Thank you, Jerry Spinelli, for giving me such a wonderful reading expierience!!!:-)READ THIS BOOK NOW! IT'S A DEFINITE READ FOR SPRING, SUMMER, FALL OR/AND WINTER. I'm already reading it for the 8th time, you'll love it!

The Wringer review-By,Remix Jr.
The book that I read was the ''Wringer''. The book wasone of the best books that I read except in some parts I didn't understand. The book is about a boy named Palmer LaRuethat lives in Waymer. Palmer is about to turn ten there is going to be the biggest event of a ten year olds life. The event is an annual Family Fest and it's a tradition to become a wringer when you turn ten. But on palmer's tenth birthday he has something to tell but is afraid to say it which is that he doesn't want to be a wringer.

Wringer a great book to read
Wringer is about a young man who turns 10 years old and gets a special treatment.But when you turn 10 years old in there part of town you automatically become a wringer (a person who wrings pigeons necks)But palmer does not want to become a wringer. So the next day Palmer hears this storm and at the end of this storm a pigeon comes into his window and stays there. Palmer now takes the bird and loves it and cares for it.But palmers friends are wringers so he has to keep it a secret.Palmer and his friends dis like his neighbor and bombs her house with egg and toilet tissue and they also put a dead carcuss on her door step, but later in the book they become friends ... Read more