Welcome to our July 2008 children's books reviews
archive. We are always looking for new books to stimulate young readers. Whether it's a
simple children's storybook to read your kids to sleep, or a book that shows them the enchanting
worlds they can find only through reading, we continue to search for new treasures in
children's books, and hope you enjoy this backissue of our July 2008 reviews of books for children.
This latest chapter in the Artemis Fowl series begins when Artemis' mother has become
sick, and the cure requires the brain of a lemur. Sadly, Artemis himself is responsible
for the extinction of the lemurs, so he must travel back in time. He enlists the
help of his friends the fairies to take him back many years ago to find a lemur.
But his quest is beset when he faces a cult called the Extinctionists, led by a
Dr. Damon Kronski. Things get even more complicated when Artemis finds himself
pitted against his younger self.
It's a ripping good yarn that upholds the tradition of quality established by
the earlier books in the series. It's a great book for the pre-teen set that
will keep them reading until the wee hours.
Clementine is a third-grader who thinks that teachers just don't make sense.
She becomes convinced of this when her teacher announces that the third and
fourth grade classes will be putting on a talent show and refers to this
news as "exciting". Well, Clementine didn't think it was exciting. It scared
her to death because she didn't think she had a talent, especially when she
compared herself to her nearly-perfect friend Margaret. Throughout the book
she tries very hard to create an act she can perform in the show, and she
grows ever more nervous as the night of the show approaches. Fortunately,
desperation turns into discovery and all ends well. This is a charming book
told in the voice of a young girl in the language of kids. I know exactly
how Clementine felt. In my case, the best friend's name was Mark. We went
through grade school and high school together, and thirty years later he's
still nearly-perfect, the swine! Not to worry, he's also still a good friend.
Carly Biels is a high school senior who longs to go to college at Princeton like
her dad did, and his father before him.
But despite her obvious intelligence, her first try at the SAT Test was a disaster.
She knows she has a second chance and starts to organize a marathon of studying
when she gets a mysterious text message from someone named "The Taker" who promises
top scores on the SAT. Desperate, Carly accepts The Taker's offer.
Carly faces all of the normal challenges of a teenaged girl, and this novel
lets kids see how one girl faces those difficult moral choices. It's a nicely
crafted work that doesn't talk down or preach.
Six year-old Brian has had enough and tells his parents he needs a break. His
parents jokingly throw him a retirement party. But Brian was serious and the
next day he flew to a retirement home in Florida. The residents show him all
of the fun things they get to do, but eventually Brian discovers that he just
doesn't fit in with the senior citizen set and yearns to go back home.
Jon Agee's simple, but endearing story is just the thing to help show youngsters
that they have things pretty good. The illustrations make following the story
very enjoyable while they're learning a valuable lesson.
Based on the hit movie from Disney/Pixar, Wall-E, "Lots of Bots" is a picture
book for preschool children that shows dozens of mechanical marvels in amusing
shapes and sizes, all doing marvelous things. It's a great book that can
encourage young minds to let their imaginations run free.
From the creators of the Baby Einstein comes this fun book for preschool
children that helps introduce the alphabet. The format is the well-worn
"A is for...", but the characters and the embedded lenticular images
(we used to call them "wiggle pictures" when we got them in Cracker
Jacks in the 1960's) that switch between a picture of an animal to
the image of the appropriate letter of the alphabet. It's a great
way to hold the child's interest while visually reinforcing the relationship
between the letters and the words. It's a sturdy board book that
will hold up to many re-readings by your kids.
Be sure to visit us again next month when we'll
review more helpful children's books. Our
children's book reviews are written by our Editor, Richard L. Trethewey.
Rainbo Electronic Reviews' children's books reviews are published monthly. Back issues of our
reviews are available from the Rainbo Reviews Backissues Archive.
We're proud to announce that the reviews archive is now searchable by category so you can find great children's books we've reviewed in the past.
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