Amanda, a sweet little girl, and Alligator, a sweet little stuffed animal, are best friends. Alligator always has a hard time waiting for Amanda when she is not home. These friends like to share surprises with each other such as books and tickles and a great big “boo”. One day Alligator discovers he has a price tag with a cost of only 7 cents and he is disappointed to know he was in the sale bin because no one seemed to want him. Amanda quickly reassures him, “No one wanted to buy you because they knew you were meant to be my best friend.”
After a day at the zoo, Amanda brings home a new surprise – a fluffy stuffed panda. Alligator does not like this surprise. Panda quickly learns that quite a bit of time is spent waiting around for Amanda. Panda does not like all this waiting. Hmm, two bored stuffed animals discover that a new friendship can be the most delightful surprise of all!
Posted by: Wendy
If you were a naked mole rat why would you ever want to get dressed? I mean, based on the name of your species you should prefer to be naked shouldn’t you? Well, not all naked mole rats are alike and Wilbur really enjoys wearing clothes. He likes to dress fancy or funny or sometimes even in a cool outfit. All the other naked mole rats think he is a bit strange and when they sarcastically suggest that he open a clothing store, he thinks it’s a great idea! But the other naked mole rats aren’t happy with Wilbur because as they say “NAKED MOLE RATS DON”T WEAR CLOTHES!”
As any good mother knows, it’s true, children do make terrible pets – they do ruin furniture, they are impossible to potty train, and they have even been known to throw food from time to time. This story is about a bear named Lucy who finds the cutest little critter in the whole forest, a boy, who Lucy promptly names “Squeaker” because that is all he says. Of course Lucy wants to keep him for a pet, and she takes him home to ask her mom. Although her mom has some reservations, knowing how hard it is to care for a pet, she reluctantly says okay. Well, it all starts out just fine – but then Squeaker becomes unruly and makes messes everywhere and things just keep getting WORSE! One day Squeaker disappears, and Lucy follows his scent all the way back to his home, where she realizes he really belongs. This juxtaposition of owner and pet is quite clever, and the illustrations make the story even more enjoyable and funny. This would be great for a read-aloud for kids ages 4 and up, and grown-ups would like the humor too!
One might think that elementary-aged kids wouldn’t understand the humor of noirish detectives like Sam Spade or books like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. When you stop to think about it, though, those books are full of clever wordplay and dangerous adventures, two things that are very appealing to young readers. What could make such a book more exciting to kids? Add humor. And also bugs.
It can be hard to find a beginning chapter book that is also a great story, but Frankie Pickle manages to be both. Frankie Pickle is part chapter book, part comic book, with chapters alternating between traditional text and comic style illustrations.
Frannie Miller is a spunky little girl who can’t wait to be grown up and have an amazing job. She uses grown up words such as “actually” and “certainly” as often as possible in order to impress on everyone that she is mature beyond her years. She puts together a resume and business cards and assembles important “adult” things, such as glasses missing their lenses, in her dad’s old briefcase. Look out world! Well, look out local radio station, where her class is slated to visit for a field trip on the mayoral Election Day in her city.
Mem Fox is an amazing picture book author whose titles are always lyrical and fun to read aloud. Her titles span a wide spectrum from the sweet, soothing bedtime stories like 
Everyone knows the story about Ben Franklin, the key and the lightning bolt. But, do you know the one where Ben Franklin, dead for hundreds of years, is buried in a Philadelphia brownstone’s basement and is re-animated—more or less successfully–by yet another lightning bolt? That’s exactly what happens in Benjamin Franklinstein Lives!
Who knew that something as simple as replacing a broken water fountain would cause such trouble for the principal of Dry Creek Elementary School and some corrupt members of the town? When the drinking fountain outside of Mr. Sam N’s fifth-grade classroom starts to leak, the principal contacts an exotic designer to submit a quote for the replacement. So begins the book, told entirely in letters, postcards, drawings, newspaper clippings and even advertisements, and the fun starts from there. The designer of the fountain, Ms. Florence Waters, is a rather creative type, not bound by deadlines or functionality. She asks the students in Sam N.’s class to tell her what kind of fountain they want and they talk of live fish and milkshakes and every odd item you could name.
