Gertrude, The Bulldog Detective

What child doesn't like a mystery? Better yet what child has never thought of being a detective? Well this book has the best of both worlds! Gertrude (gotta love the name) is a bulldog that wants to be a detective. She starts off her career by following and spying on her friends. They get a little annoyed with her (what friends wouldn't?) and decide to play a little, innocent trick on her to teach her a lesson. They strategically place notes with directions on them from a gang to lead Gertrude on a wild goose chase so she will leave them alone. Turns out the museum that they had Gertrude staking out was actually the victim of a theft at the exact time Gertrude was there. Gertrude ends up solving the mystery and catches the thieves. She is the hero and the police are looking for the rest of the gang that wrote the notes. Funny little pay back to her friends who tried tricking her.
The illustrations are are quirky and match the text perfectly. This book would be great for the more advanced readers. Those of which would also appreciate the more mature illustrations.
One side note that I wanted to mention: At the end of the story the POLICEWOMAN caught the thieves with Gertrude's help. I love the female term used for a commonly thought of male dominated profession.

One-Dog Canoe

Grab your paddle and jump aboard this cute little red canoe story. Then grab your friend, and his friend, and her friend and the story continues.
The story starts with a little girl and her dog. But as they head down stream they add an assortment of other creatures to her little red canoe. The rhyming text flows along nicely until the tongue-twisting list of all the animals that have joined in the party.
The canoe stayed afloat even through bear and moose jumping in but once frog decided to hop in, all of the canoe's passengers went for a swim. The little girl ended up leaving all her new friends in the end in her one-dog canoe.
The illustrations are great! They are so detailed and the emotion on the faces of all the different animals are perfect. It is interesting to see their facial expressions change from page to page. There are a lot of little details in the illustrations as well if you look closely. Definitely a title I will keep in mind!

The Featherless Chicken

This is an adorable story of a chicken that is being left out because he doesn't have any feathers. All of the other chickens are beautifully adorned with "feathers". The featherless chicken ended up falling in some mud and getting plastered with some garbage by the wind. As the story goes along, the end reveales that all the chickens were featherless. It is a great story about fitting in and some of the hardships that accompany that. The book is written in a humorous manner. There are many fun, unique words that are used throughout the story. This book reminded me of "The Ugly Duckling" which is a more recognizable story.

I felt that the pictures were a bit bland and wouldn't catch the eye of a child. But the more I looked at them the more I started to appreciate them. The water color and the same details that I didn't notice the first time through grabbed my eye the second time while I was trying to analyze them.

In the end all the chickens are the same and become friends as expected.

Old MacDonald Drives a Tractor

So this book is a spin off the original, the classic Old MacDonald. This book is just about farmer MacDonald and what he uses his tractor for on the farm. I am not such a fan of this version though. I mean what kid needs to know what a plow, cultivator, seed drill, etc. are? I feel like this book is too specific to an audience of little boys either growing up on a farm or one that is completely interested in a farm. I grew up on a farm and know this stuff only because my little brother went through his "I want to be a farmer" stage. Other than that I have no reason to believe that any child, especially a girl, would need to know (or have the desire to know) the types of machinery that a tractor pulls. Needless to say, the original version covers a broader range of children all of whom need to know their animals while fitting it into a cute, rhyming song.
The illustrations of the book look like clay models which is really cool. But other than that nothing more out of the ordinary. I maybe would have enjoyed this book a bit more if the words would fit to the tune of the real Old MacDonald.

The Boxcar Children

When I found out we needed to review a book from a series, I begin to think about the books I read in elementary school. I remembered that I loved the Boxcar Children's books but couldn't remember what they were about exactly. I went to the lab and looked up to see if they had any of the books. It turned out that the only one they had was the first one. I thought that this was the best one they could have had because I hadn't remembered the exact story.

The book is about four brothers and sisters. Their parents passed away and they are just trying to survive. They know they have a living grandpa but they think he doesn't want them. The book is about their adventure and survival on their own. In the end they find their grandpa and realize he is a good person and has been looking for them the entire time.

I think this book is great for any child looking for adventure. I think it is a great plot line for a series because the children have so much growing to do. Their story could continue on with their grandpa and the reader would enjoy to continue on the journey with the four children. Each of the four children have completely different personalities and so I think any reader would be able to relate to any of them.

Sable

Sable is a great book for any young child learning to read. This book is about a little girl named Tate who doesn't like to do traditional girl things. She would much rather hang out with her father in his furniture shop than help her mother in the kitchen. One day this dog shows up on the porch. The story is about Tate's friendship with this dog that she names Sable. The dog was a stray and her mother wasn't so keen on keeping the dog. I feel like this is a classic story about a child and their best friend. The story goes on to tell about Tate becoming responsible to take care of this dog.

I feel this is a great story for children because I think at that age, many children have a pet that they are really close to or want a pet and have the same feelings that Tate had in the beginning. Tate goes through some hard times in trying to keep Sable as her own dog which also shows children perseverance.

There are a few illustrations in this book. They are pencil sketches that occur at the right moment to highlight certain points of the story. This novel is intended for children in the 3rd-5th grades, which is around the age that I remember one of my first dogs. I feel that this heart-warming story of determined friendship is a great read.

The Three Billygoats Gruff and Mean Calypso Joe

So everyone knows the story of the Three Billygoats Gruff. This is a fun retelling of the familiar story. This version of the three billygoats takes place in the Caribbean Sea.

I think it is so cute that the mean Calypso Joe has a Caribbean accent in this book. It makes it fun to read in his dialect. Also many of the comparisons in the book are made to island things such as coconuts and seaweed. The illustrations are perfect for the book. There are crabs, and coconuts, and palm trees making it feel tropical. The only thing is that the troll doesn't look like a troll to me? I maybe have the wrong idea of a troll though.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has or hasn't read the original version. It follows the same story line but has just that hint of the islands. The book is recommended for ages 3-7 but any age would enjoy it.