Materials from Canada
This book covers such topics as the worm’s habitats (sometimes they live inside other animals), its anatomy (its muscle tube is slimy and gross), and its illustrious history (worms have been on earth for 120 million years). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Worm contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.
A bunny and a pig, explore the world of their emotions as they attempt to put on a play together. Along the way, they must face a few challenges, such as when the bunny wants them to “be sunflowers and sing a duet,” while the pig would rather “be pirates on a shipwreck.” As they work their way to a successful collaboration, they take turns describing the different ways they act when they are shy, scared, eager, angry and sad.
Ella comes down one morning to feed her pets and finds that they have disappeared. She discovers them floating away on balloons, high in the sky. Try as she might, she can’t get them to come back. But although they are out of reach, Ella soon learns they are not truly gone as long as they remain in her heart and her memories. Written in gentle rhyming verse with light-hearted illustrations, Ella and the Balloons in the Sky is a story that tackles the tough subject of love and loss in a new way–with whimsy, magic, and lightness.
At the animal shelter, a young boy and his family choose a pet, Norman, the little stray dog who has been there the longest. Norman is brown and white, with a stump of a tail. He’s so glad to have a home that he does a “hula dance of happiness” whenever he sees his new owners. But the family soon discovers that Norman won’t respond to commands. He doesn’t even seem to know his own name. They conclude that lovable Norman just isn’t very smart until a chance encounter in the park makes them think otherwise.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VII, Issue 2
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
The cupboards are empty, as is the fridge. Thus begins the adventure of a hungry brother and sister as they try to figure out what’s for lunch. But there’s nothing ordinary about the feast the siblings of Letter Lunch are cooking up. From letter-picking in their backyard to browsing through the alphabet at the local market, from an expedition through the woods and up a mountain to sharing their finds with friends, the two chefs and letter foragers set out to create a feast of consonants that’s seasoned with both vowels.
The first in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Fly is a look at the common housefly. It covers such topics as the hair on the fly’s body (requires a lot of shaving), its ability to walk on the ceiling (it’s pretty cool, but it’s hard to play soccer up there), and its really disgusting food tastes (garbage juice soup followed by dirty diaper with rotten tomato sauce, for example). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Fly contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.
Follows the adventures of a duck whose fear of water prevents her from learning to swim until she is assisted by a kindhearted frog and forest birds who reveal how they overcame their own fears.
In a rundown diner, in an unnamed city, an ordinary fish asks itself the big questions in life. Glub finds the answers he’s looking for by listening to the lively characters of the greasy spoon beyond his fishbowl. And it’s through Glub that they, the lonely Foster included, uncover the answers to questions they had long forgotten.
The war is over, but for thirteen-year-old Rachel, the battle has just begun. Putting childhood behind her, she knows what she wants – to prove she has acting talent worthy of the school drama club, and what she doesn’t want – to romantically fall for someone completely inappropriate. Worries about her veteran brother’s failing health and repugnance at her mother’s unexpected and unwanted pregnancy drive her to seek solace from a seemingly sympathetic, but self-serving teacher. The lies she tells herself hoping to reach solutions to the problems complicating her life merely function to make matters worse. Ultimately, she finds a way to come to terms with life as it reaches an end and life as it begins.
Morton, James, Melissa, and their father have just moved into an old house in a new town, and when Morton finds a creepy gargoyle buried in the yard, he and his siblings each make a wish–and find out that they have unleashed chaos.