Book Finder

Snook, a small rat terrier, happily lives and works with his monk friend on their isolated island sanctuary until separated by a storm. Poetic language combines with evocative illustrations to convey the range of authentic emotions, happily concluding with dog and man reunited.

Edwin is a translucent ‘wiggleskin’ — a clam — who sheds his shell for the sake of adventure. Not only does he have a fabulous adventure but saves his clam clan from clam diggers. This quirky tale is fast-paced, funny, and illustrated in Ering’s high-energy style.

Billy has heard there is a hole in the ozone layer at the North Pole. With the help of a polar bear, he set out to try to repair the hole.

A Code Blue alarm sounds as a young (monkey) astronaut snoozes in the Astroblast Snack Shack. Other crew members — Apollo, Halley, Sputnik, and Jet — return to address the issue: welcome snacks must be made for their visitors! Readers will enjoy finding things hidden in the colorful illustrations (noted at the bottom of each spread) and just may be inspired to learn more about the origins of the animal crew members’ names.

The Potter children’s adventure to find the long-forgotten but wise Whangdoodle begins when they meet Professor Savant at the Bramblewood Zoo. Their journey to find the reclusive Whangdoodle makes for high adventure filled with extraordinary creatures. Told with a storyteller’s voice, this gratifying fantasy reads aloud well.

Although 2nd grader Alvin Ho admires superheroes, he is quite unlike them. In fact, he is afraid of everything! Alvin’s disarming character is perfectly voiced in this two-book collection.

The Banks family, their children, and a most amazing Mary Poppins are brought to life through the narrator’s spot-on British accent.

On his adventures, Dominique, a singular canine, meets many mysterious creatures. His reputation builds and so do his stories which make this an ideal book to hear expertly read.

K-10 no longer trusts humans but he’s still a special kind of dog just as his mother told him. K-10’s unique voice as well as that of the other canines come alive in this spirited narration.

Product Description: One day Freddie Ramos comes home from school and finds a strange box just for him. What’s inside? ZAPATO POWER-shoes that change Freddie’s life by giving him super speed! But what will Freddie do with his fast new skills? Weird things are happening at the Starwood Park Apartments where he lives, and his friends at school need his help. Is Freddie Ramos ready to be a hero? This is the first book in the Zapato Power series.

Animals and people wise and foolish are presented in these tales retold. Their origins, from a range of Spanish-speaking countries including Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spain, are retold and handsomely illustrated — just right for reading aloud.

Five children finally escape the confines of London to the white house in the country. There they meet the magical but grumpy Psammead. When their wishes become reality, the children find out that what you want is not always what you wish for. Originally published in 1902, Nesbit’s fantasy will read aloud to delight a new generation.

Jane’s yellow plastic duck, Love-a-Duck, was a happy duck who went on an unexpected adventure. It began when Love-a-Duck accidentally fell out of the bathroom window — saw real ducks, met a fish, and more — but made it home in time for Jane’s bath. The large format is ideal for the colorful illustrations and onomatopoeic language.

Their city adventure begins when the four big chickens follow a bag of feed into the farmer’s truck — and off they go! Lively language and comic illustrations combine to create a rowdy fowl adventure which ends happily back in the farmer’s truck heading home.

Andy Shane has only two goals. One was to have the best decorated bike in the Home Sweet Home parade and the other is to be a hero. Both seem unlikely — but when the unexpected happens, ordinary boys become heroes. Andy and his friends are likeable and the action believable in this easier to read novel.

Its gentle journey begins with melancholy: “It was missing a piece and it was not happy” but concludes with greater self-awareness. The main character is depicted as a Pac-Man-like creature who strives to find what it thinks it’s missing. Simple text and line drawings ideally complement each other in this many-leveled tale.

In this installment of friends known as the Time Warp Trio, Joe, Fred, and Sam meet key figures from ancient Greek mythology when they’re transported back to Mount Olympus. It all started during a school play about ancient Greece…

The essence of Homer’s Iliad is captured by Sutcliff’s rich language combined with dramatic watercolor illustrations. The same team also presents Homer’s other well known epic tale in The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey. These retellings present the entire stories that involve the gods and goddesses and their impact on humans. They are fast-paced, sometimes grisly tales that together make fine stories for more sophisticated readers.

Look for a new mystery narrated by King (also known as Buddy), a bright, persistent pup whose first family has gone missing. Once King is adopted by Conner and his mom, he becomes Buddy and solves several mysterious events and helps Connor adjust to his new life. This first of a series will delight new readers.

Louisa May Alcott briefly worked as a nurse during the Civil War before becoming ill herself. In this Magic Tree House fantasy, Jack and Annie travel back to the Civil War, meeting Clara Barton and help nurse the soldiers wounded in battle.

Polo’s adventure begins as his others do: leaving home for an imaginative journey. Here, the small dog sails away in his boat but gets frozen in ice. He gets help from a new friend whose fiery breath allows them to sail off together. Words are not needed in this enjoyable tale.

Though he lives in a small apartment, the boy who wears his sailor suit has an expansive imagination. It takes him to a remote island where a pirate lives and only ends when reality intrudes. Watercolor illustrations add detail but leave imaginative wiggle room in this gentle adventure.

The traditional tale has been retold and newly presented to create a theater within the covers of a book. Scenes unfold and become 3-dimensional with text hidden under “curtains” — flaps that unfold.

Everyone knows that book characters come alive only when the book is opened. In this clever picture book, characters awaken when readers open it; sleep when the book is closed. Illustrations allow readers to literally look down into the book characters’ lives and enjoy the entire notion of storytelling.