Water Power by Christine Petersen

This is a non-fiction book for middle to upper elementary readers about water power. The book explains how rivers are created and how their power is harnessed through damns. The book also talks about ocean water and how the tides work. New technologies that collect power from ocean waves are explained.

This is a good book for students to read because water power will probably be something that students will encounter in their lifetime. It is important that they understand at least the basics of how water power works and how water contains energy at an early age because as the book explains fossil fuels are running out and alternative energy sources like water power are going to be crucial in the future.

Parakeets by Kathryn Steven, s

This is a non-fiction book for early-middle elementary readers about how to care for their parakeet(s). I would recommend it for a child to read before he or she gets a parakeet for a pet in their household. The book contains basic information about parakeets, such as what they like to eat, how you should hold them, how long they live, what will scare them, etc. It is not a complete parakeet care book, as the author clarifies in the introduction. Rather, it is a book to help young readers on their way to understanding and eventually in time being able to care for their new pet.
This is an interesting read for any young person or beginning reader interesting in parakeets. There are lots of colorful pictures and a glossary defining words from the text that some readers may have trouble with.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

This is a classic children's book by Ezra Jack Keats. It won the Caldecott Medal and is Keats first book, written in 1962. It is a perfect story for young beginning readers, kindergarten through second grade. The story in the book is very simple, a boy named Peter's day playing outside in the snow is chronicled. The simplicity and openness of the storytelling and illustrations reflect the way a young child experiences the discoveries made on a snowy day. The beautiful collage illustrations capture the various textures snow can take on and greatly enhance the gentle feel of the story.

Why the Sun and Moon live in the sky by Niki Daly

This is a retelling of an ancient fable explaining why the sun and the moon live in the sky instead of on earth. It is written for early elementary students. The story begins with the sun and the moon living happily together in their house on earth. During his wanderings the sun begins to visit the sea and becomes infatuated with her. He invites her to his house and the sun and the moon ended up being driven into the sky because the sea floods their house. This is an interesting fable that teaches readers the dangers of infatuation. The only thing I didn't like about this story are the illustrations, which seem very new-agey and lack expression. Besides this I think kids would enjoy reading this book.

Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey

This is a fun book for beginning readers by the creator of the popular Captain Underpants series. Dav Pilkey's unique combination of real pictures and drawings do a great job adding humor and wit to this story. Using photos of his pets, Pilkey tells the story of the monster Dogzilla terrorizing Mousopolis on the day of their annual barbeque.

I would recommend this book because it will entertain young readers and help them see that books can be very funny. The story is full of clever little puns and jokes and will almost certainly be a hit with kids.

Charlie at the Zoo by Marcus Pfister

This is the story of a duckling named Charlie who decides to spend a morning exploring on his own and ends up going to the zoo. While at the zoo Charlie visits several animals and the reader is provided with various facts about the animals diet, origins, life-span, etc.
This book has features that should make it more interesting than it is if they were better fitted together. The cut-out pages and interesting animal facts would be much more effective if they were better ingrained in the story. I felt like this book is more like two seperate books, one is a 'kiddie' story about a curious duckling, and the other is a book about animal facts. The way the information about the animals is just plopped into the rest of the story would probably make reading it boring for kids. Charlie does not interact with the animals at all and this makes the story disjointed and not very interesting.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! By Dr. Seuss

This is a classic book by Dr. Seuss. Although it is written for beginner/intermediate readers, the story is something readers of all ages can relate to.
This book is commonly given at graduation or other 'sending-off' ceremonies. This is because it is about a person going out into the world and making discoveries about how the world works and what life on your own is like. It is a very clever, interesting book because it alludes to things that older readers know about and have experienced themselves in a very general yet at the same time meaningful way. For example, when Seuss warns about getting caught in the 'waiting place', he writes: "waiting for the fish to bite, or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night." Dr. Seuss is able to address heavy life issues like loneliness, confusion, deperation, fear, etc. in a way that both children and adults can relate to. This is a great book because each time you read it you can understand more and more because of your own life experiences.