What Ms. Moore Was Reading - January 2017

Here are some of the most recent books I've read and thought my students would like. They're all available from the public library, but any donations towards getting them into our collection are most welcome! All cover images and descriptions are from Goodreads.

Picture Books 

Discover the wonderful world of snow with this companion to the celebrated Raindrops Roll! With gorgeous photo illustrations, award-winning author April Pulley Sayre sheds sparkly new light on the wonders of snow. From the beauty of snow blanketing the forest and falling on animals’ fur and feathers to the fascinating winter water cycle, this nonfiction picture book celebrates snowfall and the amazing science behind it.

Today is the day Nanette gets to get the baguette! Is she set? YOU BET!

Mo Willems' hilarious new picture book, Nanette's Baguette, follows our plucky heroine on her first big solo trip to the bakery. But . . . will Nanette get the baguette from baker Juliette? Or will Nanette soon be beset with regret? Set in a meticulously handcrafted-paper-modeled French village.

In this follow-up to This book just ate my dog! and We’re in the wrong book!, Bella and Ben and that adorable dog are back for another (mis)adventure.

Ben has a new remote-controlled toy; it has all kinds of buttons—Up, Down, Siren, Spin. He and Bella try pressing each one, but the remote doesn't seem to be working . . . at least, not on the toy. As things go haywire on the page, Bella and Ben realize their book is out of control! With a remote on the fritz, it'll take the help of the reader to put things right in this interactive story.

Middle Grade

Jonathan Grisby is the newest arrival at the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys. It is dark, damp, and dismal. And it is just the place Jonathan figures he deserves. Because Jonathan has done something terrible. And he's willing to accept whatever punishment he has coming.

Just as he's getting used to his new situation, however, a freak accident leaves the troubled boys of Slabhenge without any adult supervision. Suddenly the kids are free, with an entire island to themselves. But freedom brings unexpected danger. And if Jonathan can't lead his new friends to safety . . . then every boy on the island is doomed. 

Nonfiction

For hundreds of thousands of years Great Auks thrived in the icy seas of the North Atlantic, bobbing on the waves, diving for fish and struggling up onto rocky shores to mate and hatch their fluffy chicks. But by 1844, not a single one of these magnificent birds was alive.

In this stunningly illustrated non-fiction picture book, award-winning author and illustrator Jan Thornhill tells the tragic story of these birds ...  Their demise came about in part because of their anatomy. They could swim swiftly underwater, but their small wings meant they couldn’t fly and their feet were so far back on their bodies, they couldn’t walk very well. Still the birds managed to escape their predators much of the time … until humans became seafarers.