Children’s Book Reviews

Nick’s Very First Day of Baseball, a Hometown All Stars book, is a charming book for ages 3-7 about a baseball-obsessed boy’s first day at baseball practice. Leading up to the big day, Nick learns the basic about baseball, and sees baseballs wherever he goes. At practice he gets a jersey, picks a number, and learns some basic calisthenics. In this way Nick’s Very First Day of Baseball is a very thorough look at practicing a sport. It’s an important lesson in fitness as well as a book about baseball.

The illustrations are warm and spirited, and highly optimistic, […]

Sarah in the City of Moon is a sweet story about friendship and curiosity. Five-year-old Sarah takes a class trip to the City of Moon (also known as Jericho, the oldest town in the world and the lowest point on Earth). She wanders away from her group and her bus departs, leaving Sarah to find help, which she does at a nearby mosque. It’s revealed that Sarah has come from a Catholic school and she befriends a young girl who lives at the mosque. In a time of great conflict in the Middle East, and religious turmoil, Sarah in the […]

What to Do on a Rainy Day by Katie Tavella is a charming children’s book about how kids can use their imaginations when it rains. Two kids trudge to the basement on a rainy day and imagine the cardboard boxes, chairs and other items are safari animals. First the kids imagine the box is a cave, with a bear inside, and their imaginations explode from there. In engaging rhyming prose, the kids realize there’s a whole lot to do even when there isn’t a lot to do outside.

In the age of smartphones and endless TV, it’s a good reminder […]

Aoleon The Martian Girl – First Contact is Part 1 of Brent Le Vasseur’s wonderfully illustrated Science Fiction Saga, which begins when young astronomy fan Gilbert wakes up in the night to witness a strange light sweeping across the crop fields of his next-door neighbor, Farmer Johnson’s farm in Nebraska.

Worries about his parents arguing make it hard for him to sleep, and so he ventures out – only to come face to face with the friendly Aoleon The Martian Girl, who is busying herself with making a crop circle in her flying saucer. As Gilbert makes first contact with […]