Bubble in the Bathtub

Tiny dynamo Nilly and his friend Lisa, first introduced in Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder (S and S, 2010), return to save the day (and the doctor). At the end of their last outing, Doctor P. headed back to Paris to save the love of his life, Juliette Margarine, from having to marry evil Claude Cliché. A mysterious postcard from the past sends Nilly and Lisa on a mission to rescue him, both helped and hindered by the doctor’s crazy inventions, including a time-traveling bathtub and translating nose plugs. A whirlwind tour of French history ensues, including stops at the Moulin Rouge, the Tour de France, Waterloo, the Bastille, Monsieur Eiffel’s workroom, and Joan of Arc’s jail cell, with our heroes changing history right and left. Chasing them through time is Raspa, Proctor’s one-legged former assistant, inventor of time-travel soap, who makes the ultimate sacrifice to atone for past misdeeds.

Escape: Children Of The Holocaust

Features seven true stories of brave boys and girls who lived through the Holocaust. Their compelling accounts are based on exclusive, personal interviews with the survivors. Using real names, dates and places, these stories are factual versions of their recollections.

Around the World on Eighty Legs

A fun, fresh animal journey! Amy Gibson and Daniel Salmieri take readers on an exciting animal adventure around the globe. As readers explore habitats ranging from the Arctic to the Savanna, they will learn fun and humorous information about the animals who live there. Ermine You’ll easily determine / though weasely, ermine / is clearly no vermin — that’s that. / But if not for the coat / on this elegant stoat, / you might think that this mink was a rat.

Three-Minute Tales

Three Minute Tales compiles delightful collection of entertaining stories from around the world to read or tell on any occasion.

Peace Tales

Maybe it’s the king who spills honey, and then says it is not his problem until it causes a war. Or maybe it’s some sandpipers and whales who get into a foolish fight that almost destroys their homes. Perhaps it’s the man who thinks that a gun makes him strong, or the monkeys who follow their leader into water that’s too deep.

While You Are Sleeping

As one child goes to bed, another is waking up on the other side of the world. Readers can lift the flap to see the same moment of time in different countries: the United States, Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, India, Thailand, Haiti, England, and Brazil.

Seven Little Mice Go To School

It’s time for seven little mice to start school! And it’s up to Mother Mouse to get them there. When the little mice prove reluctant, Mother Mouse invents “the mouse train” — all aboard!

Thanking The Moon

This simple, young, and satisfying story follows a Chinese American family as they celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Each member of the family lends a hand as they prepare a moonlit picnic with mooncakes, pomelos, cups of tea, and colorful lanterns. And everyone sends thanks and a secret wish up to the moon. Grace Lin’s luminous and gloriously patterned artwork is perfect for this holiday tale. Her story is simple—tailor-made for reading aloud to young children. And she includes an informative author’s note with further details on the customs and traditions of the Moon Festival for parents and teachers. The Moon Festival is one of the most important holidays of the year along with the Lunar New Year, so this book makes an excellent companion to Grace Lin’s Bringing In the New Year, which features the same family.

Orchards

After a classmate commits suicide, Kana Goldberg—a half-Japanese, half-Jewish American—wonders who is responsible. She and her cliquey friends said some thoughtless things to the girl. Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior, her parents pack her off to her mother’s ancestral home in Japan for the summer. There Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family’s mikan orange groves.Kana’s mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana’s father. But as the summer unfolds, Kana gets to know her relatives, Japan, and village culture, and she begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. Then news about a friend sends her world spinning out of orbit all over again.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume IV, Issue 4