Forgotten engineering, steampunk pneumatic tubes, political machinations: I love stories of grand efforts that get overlooked by history, and trains, so this would be a winner. But then, the art: the puppets, the sets, the costumes! And excellent back matter! Sadly my local library, like many, wraps the dust jacket in a milar/paper cover which is then taped down, so I couldn't enjoy the bonus material on the art, but I get it's really cool. I'm only sorry it isn't also a short film, because that would be awesome!

Library copy.

This books is about an alien named Horus who is excited to be starting first grade. Sadly,after realizing that 1st grade is different from Martiangarten he doesn't want to go back. However, with the help of his new friend he realizes 1st grade isn't as bad as he thought it was.

This would be a great book to read to yours students on the first day of 1st grade. This book could be just what the students need in order to relax and overcome their first day jitters.

The Lexile level for this book is AD480L

How could I not want to read The Secret Subway by Shana Corey while I'm living in New York City? Truthfully, it wasn't the setting of the story that drew me in. It was the front cover illustration by Red Nose Studio aka Chris Sickels that really caught my eye. His artwork reminds me of old school claymation. His creations are sculpted using materials found around his home and he makes not only books but stop motion animation with them. The Secret Subway is a fictionalized account of the creation of the New York Subway system. The imaginative inventiveness of Eli Beach is factual as is his idea of a subterranean transit system fueled by a pneumatic system. (Picture a giant fan pushing a train car and then reversing its flow to suck the car back the way it had come!) It's the minute details which have been slightly fudged by Corey to liven up the tale (which honestly doesn't really need much embellishment). The back of the book contains the facts of the event which I urge you to read as they are fascinating. It's so amazing seeing what the human imagination can create! This was a visually impressive book but if I'm honest it didn't really WOW me. I'd give it a solid 6/10 but if you're interested in the art (you will be) I urge you to check it out for yourself.

PS Aren't these sculptures gorgeous?

Source: rednosestudio.com

Full disclosure: Shana Corey is a college friend of mine, but that's not what makes this book awesome. The illustrations are incredible and very unique. The story (which is true!) about an inventor who creates a pneumatic tunnel for a passenger train to help alleviate New York's traffic problems -- 40 years before the modern subway system was built -- is both interesting and entertaining. There's a kind of fun, steampunk feel to this book that I loved, and my sons (3 and 5) loved "The Secret Subway" because they love trains and inventions. 

Full disclosure -- my college friend and housemate wrote this, so I might be a teensy bit biased. 

If you've seen A League of Their Own, you probably know that when American men went off in droves to fight WWII, American women stepped up to the plate (literally) to save America's Pastime, baseball. Players in Pigtails tells the story of baseball-crazy Katie Casey, who is one of hundreds of girls who tried out for (and made) the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s. The story follows Katie's journey from her frustrations at home, failing at home ec and other "womanly" pursuits, to Chicago to try out for the new league, to the league's efforts to make "players in pigtails" more palatable to the public by making sure the girls of the GPBL were very ladylike.

My sons, ages 2 and 4, both really like this book, so don't make the mistake of thinking it's only for girls! The illustrations are whimsical and endearing, though I do have one pet peeve: in the last scene, Katie hits a grand slam home run -- but in the picture that accompanies the text, there are no base runners on the pitch, only fielders!