Phineas and Ferb

“There’s 104 days of summer vacation, and school comes along just to end it. So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it. Like maybe…”
So begins the theme song of the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb. Phineas and Ferb are brothers with a perpetual summer [...]

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney

Greg Heffley is being forced by his mother to keep a journal (“but if she thinks I’m going to write down my ‘feelings’ in here or whatever, she’s crazy”). Except we really probably ought to call it a diary, since that’s what it says on the cover, despite Greg’s instructions to his mother (“when Mom [...]

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Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman

This is a wonderful book about neighbors, gardening, and summer.   School Library Journal recommends it for grades 4 and up.
The story is told in 13 different voices, each character having its own short chapter. The characters range in age from Kim, a young Vietnamese girl who wants to grow something to feel a connection to [...]

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Bone: Out from Boneville, by Jeff Smith

The Wizard of Oz could have been awfully boring. Dorothy could have traveled to Oz, seen some munchkins and a flying monkey or two, and skedaddled back home. It’s the sort of story that would have entertained young children, but only young children.
And that’s what the Bone series is like, at first. Forced to [...]

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A Visitor for Bear, by Bonnie Becker; illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

A Visitor for Bear is like a mix of the best of Beatrix Potter and Dr. Seuss’ Grinch. Yes, this conjures up an odd mental picture, but trust me: you’ll love it.
Bear does not like visitors. There is a large sign on his door to prove this, “NO visitors allowed.” He is quite happy going [...]

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The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt

One of the Newbery Honor Winners of 2009, The Underneath tells a rare story that will appeal to readers old and young alike. If you enjoy dog stories such as Because of Winn-Dixie and Shiloh you will enjoy The Underneath. The language is poetic and if you like to read of swamps and bayous and chocolate [...]

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The Black Book of Colors, by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria

Illustrations are, hands-down, my favorite part of a book. When it comes to children’s books, they can be simply breathtaking, ingenious in their creativity or hilarious in their portrayal of the story. I could go on and on. But what if you are blind? Yes, there are books in Braille. But those don’t usually provide [...]

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The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book opens with a mass murder in progress. The mom has been killed, the dad has been killed, the sibling has been killed: three down, one to go.
Why can’t all children’s books start this way?
Now if the victim-to-be had not been a restless toddler, this would have been a very short book indeed. [...]

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The Maze of Bones, by Rick Riordan

I’m a big fan of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (The Last Olympian is due in May!), so I picked up The Maze of Bones because it was written by Rick Riordan.  I’ve recently found out that the 10-book series (The 39 Clues) will actually be written by different authors.  That’s OK–I think [...]

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The Father Christmas Letters, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Between 1920 and 1942, J.R.R. Tolkien, best known for his epic fantasy, created these fantasies-in-miniature: yearly letters sent direct from Father Christmas, by Elf Messenger, to Tolkien’s four young children. (He started when his oldest son was three.) Each envelope brought the latest news from the North Pole, hand-lettered in spidery script and colorfully illustrated, [...]

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