Archive for January 30, 2014

Cheery: The True Adventures of a Chiricahua Leopard Frog

Written by Elizabeth W. Davidson, Ph.D.
Illustrated by Michael Hagelberg

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Cheery is a Chiricahua (Cheer-a-cow-ah) Leopard Frog. In his own words, he shares his life with young readers starting at the beginning when he’s just an egg floating in a pond. As he grows from a tadpole to a full-grown frog, he swims and eats and sings songs all night long with his fellow Leopard Frog friends.

But Wise Old Frog warns Cheery of life’s dangers. Invasive crayfish and bullfrogs not only cause diseases, but often feast on Leopard Frogs. After one winter’s hibernation, Cheery wakes to find most of his friends gone. What happened? He learns that many frogs got sick or fell prey to the invasive creatures. Cheery’s loneliness turns to confusion as he is caught in a net, put in a bucket, and whisked away to a strange place. However, upon hearing the familiar call of other Leopard Frogs, he feels safe. Now at a zoo habitat, Cheery and his friends have plenty to eat and can repopulate without the threat of danger. When they are a full family again, they are moved back to their old pond to swim and eat and sing.

This book hits just the right notes for third grade readers, leaving them feeling encouraged and hopeful. The disappearance of the Chiricahua Leopard Frog is just one example of the many frog species that are endangered or extinct. The author, a research scientist at Arizona State University, provides extra information on amphibian decline and the importance of frogs to our ecosystem. A curriculum guide is also included and offers reading strategies and questions for the classroom. Additional materials can be found on the publishers website: www.littlefivestar.com.

  • CheeryTitle: Cheery: The True Adventures of a Chiricahua Leopard Frog
  • Author: Elizabeth W. Davidson, Ph.D.
  • Illustrator: Michael Hagelberg
  • Publisher: Little Five Star / Five Star Publications
  • Reviewer: Lauren Abbey Greenberg
  • Format: Paperback, 40 pages
  • ISBN: 978-1-58985-025-5
  • Genre: Picture Book / Nonfiction / Animals / Endangered Species

Beautiful Ballerinas

Written by Elizabeth Dombey
Illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas

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Becoming a ballerina is the dream of many little girls and this book tells them exactly how to make it happen.

It is a charming combination of cartoon like watercolor paintings of little girls and boys inter-mixed with beautiful photographs of real ballerinas at practice and in performance.

The vocabulary of ballet is explained in text and illustrations. Readers are encouraged to try what they see in the pictures on their way to becoming ballerinas. There is a lengthy explanation of pointe shoes that includes their history, their manufacture, and the length of time that they last. Readers will be surprised to learn how many different pairs of pointe shoes a professional ballerina might go through in one year.

The history of the dance is told in the last section of the book.

The book has been designed and written for second grade readers and third grade readers in mind as well as the core curriculum. Children are interested in the arts and enjoy learning more about them.

It will be a wonderful read aloud for librarians, teachers, parents and ballet teachers, too.

  • Beautiful BallerinasTitle: Beautiful Ballerinas
  • Author: Elizabeth Dombey
  • Illustrator: Shelagh McNicholas
  • Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap, January 2014
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: paperback/unpaged
  • ISBN:  978-0-448-46714-6
  • Genre: narrative nonfiction
  • Grades: K to 3