Primary (ages 6-9)

Material appropriate for primary age groups

Jumpy Jack & Googily

Meet Jumpy Jack, a very nervous snail who’s afraid of monsters, and Googily, who is a—well, who is a very good friend, indeed. Wherever they go, Googily kindly checks high and low just to make sure there are no scary monsters about. But as every child knows, monsters come in many shapes and sizes. Some are even blue with hairy eyebrows and pointy teeth.

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas

Every night, Timothy tries to make himself stronger. He drinks milk. He exercises. He thinks STRONG thoughts all with the help of his faithful stuffed monkey. Then his mother fixes up his holey, missing-button favorite pajamas, and suddenly Timothy has super strength! He catches an elephant falling off a cliff! He rescues a princess in a tipping tower! He drags an alligator back to the zoo! But when Monkey gets trapped and the pajamas rip! Timothy finds his real power in his friends.

The Night of the Stars

The hero is a simple peasant who does not like the night because it is dark. Every evening he complains to the night, who can do nothing to change its ways. Finally, the man pokes his finger through the night and makes a star. He finds the effect so wonderful that he creates many more, and even uses his fist to punch a hole large enough to be the moon. To celebrate the lightness of the night, the whole town turns out for a nighttime celebration.

Hurricane!

One moment the sun is shining on the slopes of El Yunque, the largest mountain in eastern Puerto Rico. The next, everything has changed. The sky has turned deep purple, and you feel as if the air has been sucked from your lungs. That can mean only one thing: A hurricane is coming!

Freedom Child of the Sea

A young man, swimming off the shore of a Caribbean island, is saved from drowning by a mysterious boy who appears from the depths. His body is scarred, yet his face is beautiful, and he leaps and swims as joyously as the dolphins. When the young man tells this to a passing stranger, he in turn is told a story of the days of slave trading. When one of his ancestors came to these islands aboard a slave ship, a pregnant woman was thrown off because it was thought she wouldn’t survive the journey. It is said that she and her son live in the ocean to this day, and he is called Freedom Child of the Sea. Only when there is harmony among all people will he and his mother be able to live on land as others do. Reassuring the young man that there is hope for all humanity, the stranger goes on his way.

In the Land of the Jaguar: South America and Its People

South America’s story is as varied as its geography of soaring mountains, scorching deserts, and lush rainforests.  This  book combines an often tragic history with the problems and triumphs of the present. The information ranges from “the Requirement” (a document read out by the conquistadors each time they came upon a new group of indigenous people to justify their actions) to drug cartels, from the hidden and secretive Elders (a civilization that retreated to the mountains to preserve its customs) to Gabriel García Márquez. Includes maps, an index, and bibliography.

Nim at Sea

This time Nim’s the fish-out-of-water as she stows away on a cruise ship to save her kidnapped sea lion friend. Accompanied by her likeable iguana, Fred, the island girl lands with a splash in Manhattan, on the run from a very Bad Guy, and on her way to reunite with her friend, cowardly adventure novelist Alex Rover.

The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War I

When Jack Simpson was a boy in England, he loved leading donkeys along the beach for a penny a ride. So when he enlists as a stretcher bearer in World War I, his gentle way with those animals soon leads him to his calling. Braving bullets and bombs on the battlefields of Gallipoli, Jack brings a donkey to the aid of 300 Allied soldiers — earning both man and donkey a beloved spot in legend. Two unlikely heroes rescue hundreds of men wounded in war in a poignant picture book based on a true tale of World War I. This engaging nonfiction tale includes a map and brief bios of key characters.

Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 2.