Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park
To try and expand my reading and to have some sort of order to it I started a reading challenge of a book per letter of the alphabet. It hit a few bumps (it is not as easy as you might think) but really hit hard with the letters Q and X. I did a little research and came up with Xander’s Panda Party for X (Q will be Queer Ducks by Eliot Schrefer. Hopefully). I thought, “Pandas?” That’s good. A party? Okay, that could […]
The Midnight Zoo by Maudie Powell-Tuck
Author Maudie Powell-Tuck starts in the middle of the story in The Midnight Zoo where we learn Eva has lost her cat Luna. Eva has looked all over and taken all sorts of actions to find them. Of course, as bedtime comes around, and Luna is not found, Eva is obviously distressed. Then, in what you can believe is a real event, or a dream, Eva finds herself at the titled zoo, where the animals help her look for said cat. Overall, things are whimsical, […]
The Secret Elephant : Inspired By a True Story of Friendship by Ellan Rankin
You have heard of Winnie The Pooh and Wojtek the Bear from Brothers In Arms but did you know about the elephant named Sheila? (Or Violet? As I’m finding conflicting accounts, yet I’m going with Sheila as that is what is in The Secret Elephant : Inspired By a True Story of Friendship by Ellan Rankin.) Despite the name difference, the story is one of heroism at another level. And maybe a little silliness. Our young elephant is by themselves, except for their zookeeper. The […]
The Mighty Pollinators by Helen Frost
Too Much!: An Overwhelming Day by Jolene Gutierrez
Steve Irwin by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegar
Helen Frost will have a new pollen book at the end of March-early April 2024 called The Mighty Pollinators. No, this is not a book and/or graphic novel about a new DC or Marvel movie of superheroes, but it is a book about the critters, insects, buggies, and even the wind, and how they make your garden, flowers, and more, grow. This is all done with fairly shorter poems that allow for the facts to be presented, but also in a fun and quick manner. […]
The World’s Loneliest Elephant: Based on the True Story of Kaavan and His Rescue by Ralph Fletcher
Another book that made me tear up is The World’s Loneliest Elephant: Based on the True Story of Kaavan and His Rescue by Ralph Fletcher. This is a story about Kaavan, the elephant that was taken from a sanctuary, given as a gift to a young girl, but lived in the Pakistani zoo for years. Of course, at the time the conditions were beyond horrific. To the point that when finally animal activist Dr. Amir Khalil organized the elephants rescue, it was almost unable to […]
Leave it to Plum by Matt Phelan
Leave it to Plumby Matt Phelan is the story of a “peppy purple peacock” & his trials & tribulations at the Athensville Zoo. Plum is a legacy – the however many times great grandson of the original zoo peacocks, given free wandering rights at the zoo, who are responsible for mingling, guiding & delighting the zoo’s visitors. Plum’s a great bird, if a little flighty (in the always late & a little scatterbrained way, not the bird way), who friends everywhere, and takes his duties […]
