This is the story of a glass jar of baby food named Tika that desperately wants to be recycled into something else that can help people.  

This is a decent introduction to recycling for younger children.  A group of 3-5 year old children that I read this to thought that Tika was funny and wanted to see her recycled into a medicine bottle.  However, they also knew that the recycling process wasn't just magic like the end of the book suggests. 

The book emphasizes that jars and other household recyclables want to be recycled so they can be made into something else that helps us.  Other than that, though, there isn't much information on why we should recycle, how the recycling process actually happens or exactly why it helps us or the Earth.  


This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

This is a retelling of the Inuit legend of the Northern Lights.  

Read to a group of 5-7 year old children, they enjoyed the sense of adventure, the bright pictures and learning about a new and different place and culture. 

I was glad that there was an explanation in the beginning about names and places, this helped me as well as the kids. This is a good story to read for environmental extension activities, especially if you have some labradorite mineral samples to let the kids see.  All of the animal companions were fun; however I was disappointed that one of them was a penguin since penguins are only present in the southern hemisphere.  Although, There was good information about humpback whales.  There were great resources at the end of the story for teachers as well as a quiz.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Surf War! is a folktale from the Marshall Islands.  I love folktales since they always include a good lesson.  This story has lessons about sharing and ecology.  

I read this to a group of younger children aged 3-5.  The bright, bold pictures were an instant hit.  As Sandpiper and Whale began to argue about who the sea belonged to, many of the children were able to draw parallels from their own lives.  I liked that the story not only focused on sharing, but included environmental implications.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Who Needs A Prairie? is a good introduction to a prairie ecosystem.  The lifelike pictures pulled kids into the prairie setting and gets them interested into the different plants and animals that live there as well as how the prairie is formed and how the seasons affect everything living there.  

I read this book to a group a kids aged 4-8.  Younger kids loved the pictures and finding all of the plants and animals in the pictures that were mentioned in the text.  Older kids liked learning about the different animals and how they lived.  

There were great curriculum tie-ins in the book with ecosystems, biodiversity, food chains, decomposers and seasons.  Best of all, I like that these books explain why we need each ecosystem and how humans impact these environments.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Another humorous but educational take on one of the less desirable creatures that we live with everyday.  

Through cute and funny pictures kids will learn about the common land slug. Great vocabulary words are used such as mollusk, tentacles and predator in a way that kids can figure out what they mean.  The group of 5-8 year olds that I read this to loved the silly things that the slug said as well as learning about how slugs move around, find a mate and the fact that they are both boys and girls at the same time.  

I enjoyed all of the great curriculum tie-ins for learning about the natural world and biology.  I also liked that the slugs importance to humans and the environment was included. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

The Twyning is a middle-grade historical fiction/fantasy novel where two children living in the dump befriend two rats during the human's War Against Rats.  

Peter finds work catching rats for two very different characters.  One, a doctor who is convinced that all of the diseases that rats carry will be the cause of our ultimate downfall; the other a rat catcher for pit fights who believes the creatures harmless.  Peter lives with Caz, a young girl who ran away from a dance school that she was sold to.  

Below the streets, the rat King has died.  When a lowly taster, Efren goes to the world above to find out the fate of their King, he brings back news of just how much the humans hate them and how they plan on getting rid of them.  Efren also finds Caz's pet rat, named Mailika as well as his gift for hearing and communicating with humans.  

When Peter's doctor declares war and complete eradication of the rats, the children and the rats use their unique gift to help each other.  

For a middle grade novel, this had a lot of graphic violence of killing rats, although probably very truthful to the time period early 1900's England. The writing brings feelings of compassion and a sense of great intelligence to the rats with their society and skills.  However, the human side of the rats being disease carriers is also true.  I liked that both sides were presented, but there needed to be more into how the two species can actually live together peacefully.  Anyway, I did like the characterization of the rats and the device of how Efren and Mailika could communicate with Caz and Peter through 'revelation' or thoughts.  The structure of the rat society was also very well thought out with the Twyning being a sort of governing body. Efren's eventual role within his rat society was nice and unexpected, a good character for beating the odds.  The point of view shifts chapter to chapter between humans and rats and it took me a second to realize that fact.  Both rats and children are safe at the end; however, there aren't really any answers given for how humans and rats will coexist.  


This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Another great ecosystem introduction.  This can be a difficult ecosystem to understand.  The introduction pulls young eyes into the biodiversity of the desert with interesting plants and animals then goes on to explain why the desert is the way it is with weather patterns.  

My younger readers and listeners enjoyed finding the animals and plants in the pictures that were mentioned in the text.  Older readers liked learning about new animals and how a desert worked.  

There are lots of good curriculum tie-ins with food chains, life cycles, human impact and vocabulary words

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

This is a great introduction to a coral reef ecosystem.  I loved that it revealed why coral reef ecosystems are important as well as the biodiversity of plants and animals that it contains.  I read this with a mixed group of kids ranging in age from 4-8.  Younger kids enjoyed finding the animals that were mentioned in the text in the brightly colored but realistic pictures.  Older kids were interested in learning the facts about how a living coral reef works, the diagrams really helped with this, and the names of all the creatures. 

I liked that there were many tie-ins with curriculum, information on food chains, habitat and why we should preserve this special habitat.  I also appreciated the glossary and map at the e

A cute but honest book about one of the creatures that we all live with-the rat. Fun, scientific facts and wacky pictures fill the pages.  Some of the facts and blurbs had my group of kids laughing hysterically, the rat has a tail that acts like a hands, useful when the rat  wants to pick it's nose!

The writing is appropriate for pre-k to about 3nd grade, I read it to a mixture of those.  I liked that the book told not only of all of the disgusting things about rats that kids love, but why we need rats and how intelligent they are.  

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.