As a parent, grandparent, retired educator, historian, and children’s book author, I am an avid reader and advocate for children’s literacy. My forty years of experience working with children and their families gives me the background and expertise to identify high-quality books and the types of subjects that children will want to read and adults in the family will enjoy sharing with them.
Carole P. Roman has hit a home run with this nonfiction book. It paints an intriguing picture of the life of spies during World War II. Roman details the training, weapons, and tools used in spy craft. I found the chapters featuring biographical portraits fascinating. Chef Julia Child and author Graham Greene operated undercover. Roman discusses double agents and the Native Americans who broke the Japanese code. I would recommend this book to children who love adventure, espionage, and history. It’s a perfect read for middle-grade students, but an eye-opener for adults as well.
Uncover the secret agents of World War 2—an exciting history book for kids 8 to 12
Discover World War 2’s hidden heroes and villains. Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents explores the intriguing world of spycraft and shows you what goes on behind the scenes in war.
From spy schools and ciphers to sneaky tools and secret armies, this guide takes you on a declassified tour of the undercover operations that helped decide the outcome of World War 2. There’s also more than a dozen short spy-ographies that cover some of the most famous (and infamous!) agents that were active…
A group of toys discarded by their former owners get together to find a new home and someone to love them.
I love this book because it shows children that they need to take responsibility for taking care of their possessions. By personifying these toys, kids learn how easily a friend or loved one’s feelings can be hurt. It helps them learn about empathy and compassion. Readers get the message that respecting feelings and the rights of others is a desirable trait.
The Underground Toy Society helps toys find new homes. Sometimes finding new homes is not easy. When Murry Mole takes a wrong turn and digs a tunnel to a toy store, they thought the toy bin would help toys find homes easier and faster. However, only new toys were allowed in the toy bin. How will forgotten toys find a home in time for Christmas?
What a wonderful adventure into a world of fantasy, mystery, and science fiction! While the plot and characters are well-developed, this short book is great for reluctant readers. Children love Christmas and by combining the magic of a store all decked out for the holidays with a time travel trip to a world without yesterdays or tomorrows, kids are drawn into a magical world filled with dazzling illustrations to stimulate their senses. I highly recommend the book, especially for middle-grade readers any time of the year.
Where do light bulbs go when they burn out? Do they stay dead forever, or can they be regenerated to live a brand new life with a brand new purpose?
If they’re lucky, they go to Star Factory 13 to become glorious stars in the sky... after they pass a rigorous personality test given by Carelia the Light Goddess, that is.
But how in the world did 10-year-old Alicia end up in Star Factory 13? All she did was go shopping with her Mother to buy a new lamp for her bedroom. Could there really have been some magic in…
Sally Huss is one of my favorite picture book authors. She teams up with mindfulness coach, Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino to discuss how children and adults can look within themselves to find the best person possible. Trevor looks in the water and decides he will be someone special. Different animals that he encounters show the reader the importance of qualities like patience, cooperation, thankfulness, gratitude, generosity, paying attention, and friendship. All of us could do this. I especially appreciated the certificate children can reward themselves with when they discover and later accomplish practicing these qualities.
This classroom favorite shows kids how to be their best. Young Trevor had a desire to be the best that anybody could be. This was a huge goal, for sure! That’s when an owl flew in to suggest that he merely be “the best ever you.” Other animals are visited, each demonstrating its particular quality that Trevor could use to meet his goal: hard work, kindness, cooperation, etc. Happily, Trevor now had his work cut out for him. “I’ll do nothing less than my very best!”
This story carries a wonderful message to encourage children to cultivate their best and…
I adore the Auntie Lily character who has a penchant for telling silly stories. Each of these stories composed in clever rhymes feature a silly animal doing something outrageous. Children become interactive partners visualizing and acting out the hijinks like a stork riding on a subway train or a fly that works for the FBI. The fun continues because readers get ten riddles to solve at the end of the tale. This book is fun for the whole family from preschooler to grandma!
Have You Ever Seen? is a perfect read right before sleep, as you lighten the mood with Auntie Lily's silly rhymes and thus guarantee bedtime with a smile :)Silly Auntie LilyWho’s tall and also smallImagines silly thingsThat make no sense at allShe tells us silly storiesAnd does so all in rhyme'Cause silly Auntie Lily Is silly all the timeHave fun and help your child develop with Have You Ever Seen? - the hilarious first in the READY TO READ children's books series about funny, silly, and nonsensical situations that will have you and your kids rolling with laughter.
Who was George Washington? Washington is best known as America's first president, but he was also a military hero. If you asked George Washington what he really wanted to be, he would reply, "a farmer." Seeking to revolutionize antiquated 18th-century farming methods, Washington experimented with crop rotation, fertilizers, plowing, and plants. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association began restoring his estate to its former glory in 1853. Today the buildings, grounds, and The Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center reveal the real Father of the United States of America.
Winner of a B.R.A.G. Medallion. Winner of the 2018 International Book Excellence award in children's nonfiction. Winner of the 2018 Reader's Favorite International Book Awards silver medal in children’s educational books.
I’m a thrill seeker when it comes to reading, and I want to be so immersed in a story that I have to read it in one sitting and then can be completely taken by surprise by a plot twist. It was extremely hard to pick only five titles, so to narrow it down, I 1) made an attempt to pick from a few different sub-genres and, 2) stipulated that Agatha Christie could populate the entire list. All of these titles blend wonderful writing with great twists, and I hope you enjoy them. I did my best to avoid spoilers in the descriptions, although by being on this list, it’s a little bit of a spoiler…
"Dizzying . . . Audiences who wished the TV series The Bear had made room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat" - Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie's, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job. Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morozov, offers not only her Louie's job but…
"Dizzying . . . Audiences who wished the TV series The Bear had made room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat" Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie's, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job.
Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie's job, but also…
