Staff Reviews: For Children
Check out these reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring books and DVDs for children! (For reviews of books for all ages, visit our main Staff Reviews webpage.) Staff book reviews are also published at Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates. The book reviews on this website represent the personal opinions of the individuals who created them and do not represent any official views of the Marathon County Public Library.
"The Scavengers"
Don't miss Wisconsin author Michael's Perry's foray into children's fiction, even if you are a grown up! This dystopian chapter book follows twelve-year-old Maggie, (who later renames herself Ford Falcon) her life living outside of the Bubble Cities, and her quest to find her parents after they mysteriously disappear. Despite the futuristic, sci-fi plot,...
"Moonpenny Island"
The only eleven year-olds on the small island, Flor and her best friend and soulmate, Sylvie, share everything and lead an idyllic life. At the end of the summer, however, suddenly everything changes. Sylvie is mysteriously sent to the mainland to school, Flor’s mother disappears supposedly to take care of her mother, her sister Cecilia is harboring what...
"Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Life"
This awesome little book shares Pete the Cat's favorite inspirational quotes with the added bonus of Pete's own wisdom. A great way to share these thoughts with kids, this book is just as much fun to read as the other books featuring this cool cat. Hang out with Pete and soak up some wisdom! My family loved this book!
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Easy Reader, Picture Book
"Good Night Yoga: A Pose-By-Pose Bedtime Story"
You don't have to be a yogi to love this book. This pose-by-pose bedtime story takes children through gentle yoga poses and focuses their breathing while telling the story about the world getting ready for bed. Complete with beautiful illustrations, this book can be enjoyed by the whole family. Following the story, there is a complete list of the yoga poses...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book, Health
"I Wish You More"
Lovely illustrations and simple text convey the beauty of life's small moments. This book is a wonderful read to share with a special child in your life. I loved the simplicity that still spoke volumes, and having the chance to show my kids through this book that it is all of those little things in life that mean to much.
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book, Read-Alouds
"Stick and Stone"
Stick and Stone are both alone without a friend in the world. Then, Stone is bullied and Stick intervenes. From that day forward they have a strong friendship. Well-written with cute illustrations, this book is an easy read with a great message about friendship. My kids and I loved it!
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book, Easy Reader
"Hero"
Leo has a great imagination. He dreams and playacts at being a brave, heroic gladiator; he even has a homemade gladiator’s hat. In real life it appears that everyone else has something to be proud of except him. When Leo does something he knows is wrong to impress some kids at school, lies about it and is called a hero for saving a neighbor's dog, he...
"Roller Girl"
In this graphic novel, written by a derby girl herself, twelve-year-old Astrid discovers the world of roller derby. When Astrid's mom takes her and her best friend Nicole to a match, Astrid falls in love with the crazy outfits, eccentric nicknames, and fierceness of the sport. Astrid decides to sign-up for summer derby camp, expecting Nicole to sign-up as...
Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction, Award-Winning, Newbery Award Winner
"One Witch at a Time"
Loosely based on the fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk”, the trouble begins when 13 year old Rudi is sent to market with Susanna to trade dairy products for meat and grain and possibly sell a cow. Susanna, in an effort to help him, sells one of his cows for some allegedly magic beans. It turns out that the beans were stolen from a witch in the neighboring...
"The One and Only Ivan"
This Newbery Award winning book offers a beautiful story about friendship and hope. Ivan, a gorilla who lives at a shopping mall, has learned to be fairly content with his life. He sleeps, eats, watches TV, talks to his elephant friend Stella and Bob the dog. Drawing also helps Ivan pass the time. Ivan’s owner gives him crayons and paper. Sometimes he eats...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Award-Winning, Caldecott Award Winner, Newbery Award Winner
"Wish Girl"
Unlike his boisterous, quarreling family, 12-year-old Peter Stone is quiet, thoughtful, sensitive, artistic and misunderstood. After his father loses his job and they move from the city to remote Texas Hill Country, he escapes daily to a magic lonely valley where he can be at one with nature, away from the crying and yelling. On one of his trips to...
"Absolutely Truly"
Who wants to move from sunny Austin, Texas to the small, boring town of Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire where winter lasts at least 6 months of the year and there’s no mall or movie theater? Middle school student Truly Lovejoy has no choice when her family decides to move to her father’s hometown after “Black Monday,” or the day her father lost his arm in a...
"Dear Hank Williams"
It’s the first day of school in September 1948 and Tate Ellerbee from Rippling Creek, Louisiana already has a school assignment—to find a pen pal and practice writing letters to a real person. She picks a relatively unknown country singer who she admires on the Louisiana Hayride radio show—Hank Williams. Through her wonderful letters to him we discover a...
Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
"Sam and Dave Dig a Hole"
Sam and Dave are determined to dig a hole until they find something spectacular. What unfolds in this story is a wonderful mix of what is happening in the story and what is happening in the illustrations. This book is a 2015 Caldecott Honor Book for a good reason. The book as a whole, the writing and the illustrations, play off of each other so well that...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book, Award-Winning
"Monsters Love Colors"
Such a fun book to read with your kids if they are interested in learning about colors! The monsters in this book love colors and love to mix colors. Not only that but they love to scribble, mix, dance, and wiggle. Kids will have such a fun time learning about primary colors and how they mix to make other colors. My three-year-old wanted to read this book...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Easy Reader, Picture Book
"Tony Baroni Loves Macaroni"
Tony Baroni loves macaroni so much that he eats it for every meal! His Nonna, or Grandma, tries to persuade Tony to eat a variety of other pastas in order to have him eat something else until he finally decides to eat something different entirely. This is such a light hearted book with some very beautiful illustrations! My three-year-old loved this book,...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Easy Reader
"The Question of Miracles"
Still mourning the recent accidental death of Sarah, her best friend, Iris and her family move from sunny California to nearly always rainy Corvallis, Oregon for a “fresh start.” She hates the rain, hates her new school, hates her new house, but mostly hates life without her best friend. During lunch a loud burrito-chewing, doglike boy from one of her...
"Wolfie the Bunny"
Wolfie is a baby wolf, not a baby bunny, but Mama and Papa bunny don’t seem to care when they adopt him after finding him in a basket on their doorstep. Their daughter Dot tries to warn them, “he’s going to eat us all up.” Her parents are already smitten but Dot is cautious and maintains her distance. When Wolfie grows bigger and a big bear tries to grab...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book, Read-Alouds
"The Honest Truth"
Sick of being sick, Mark runs away from home with his dog Beau, his camera, and a bag of supplies to fulfill a dream to climb to the top of Mt Rainer while he still can. His cancer’s back, but at least he won’t have to endure yet another treatment. The novel alternates between Mark’s minute-by-minute account of his adventurous journey and the intense...
"A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans"
Just two days after the funeral of her pet human, Fluffy (a.k.a. Amelia), a young girl named Winnie bursts into mournful Miss Drakes’s secret door in the basement proclaiming that she has been sent by her great-aunt Amelia so Miss Drake won't be lonely. Almost immediately, Miss Drake, who happens to be a dragon, theorizes that this seemingly obnoxious small...
"The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights"
The Port Chicago 50 tells the true story of 50 black sailors who were tried for mutiny late in World War II. Port Chicago was a Navy base near San Francisco, CA, and, like other military bases in the U.S. at the time, was segregated. At Port Chicago, black sailors—who could not serve on naval vessels outside of the mess hall or laundry—loaded munitions into...
Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Nonfiction, History
"The Witch's Boy"
Ned’s father could only save one of his identical twin sons from drowning, but the people in the village agree that he saved the wrong boy. Ned is unsure of himself and stammers, yet when the Bandit King threatens to steal the magic his mother, Sister Witch, has spent her life protecting, he finds a courage he didn’t know he had. Crossing the...
Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
"Pluto"
This is another fantastic addition to the "Wonder" story, told from the viewpoint of Chris, the childhood best friend of August Pullman. Truly heartwarming, this short story adds another layer to the wonderful story surrounding a severely disfigured boy named August. Chris, the boy who grew up beside August, faced his own set of challenges being best...
"Echo"
This book is a masterpiece in its own genre—4 interconnected stories, each one masterfully told, and at alternating turns tearing at our heart and infusing us with hope.
40 years before the “war to end all wars” Otto purchases a book, stumbles into a forbidden forest and finds himself in the middle of a fairytale. He is entrusted with breaking the witch’...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Award-Winning, Newbery Award Winner
"Blue on Blue"
This beautifully illustrated picture book portrays an ordinary stormy, rainy day in the country that looks wonderfully extraordinary. The scratchboard illustrations with added watercolor paint by 2009 Caldecott Medal winner, Beth Krommes, are the real stars here. With repetitive, spare, dreamy words and illustrations we see a day unfolding--wash being hung...
Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Picture Book
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