This books feels like a cross between "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Dr. Doolittle". The book is written like a journal as Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins journeys to the far corners of the earth to discover unknown animals. I loved that he included illustration of his discoveries, although his cursive writing is a little difficult to read. It would be even better in color! Teachers could do a great lesson with a few chapters to explore adaptations in science! Glory Be is a great novel of historical fiction that has been nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet award for next year. Glory and her sister live in the 1960's in the South with their father, and Emma, their housekeeper. Glory's summer is turned upside down when she hears that the pool is going to be closed "for repairs" this summer, which means she can't have her bitthday party there on the 4th of July. But the story goes much deeper as Glory learns the true reasons the pool is closing, as her best friend and town leaders are upset by the idea of colored people using their pool and library. Powerful story! And fun too! | This collection of poetry has potential to appeal to students who love Shel Silverstein and . There is lots of silly to love in this book. So far my favorite is one that's not so silly, but really makes me think...it's called "Universagrams." First, you have to know what an anagram is - a collection of letters in a word that you can rearrange to make another word. So this poem is really more of a word puzzle... For example: shooting star...soars tonight! Asteroid....It soared! Sally K. Ride...I'll dare sky These would be fun to write! The Great Unexpected is an adventure of twists and turns, in fact, I probably need to read it again to get all the characters and storylines straight. I just know Sharon Creech writes a great story & this one doesn't disappoint. Here's a brief review from Booklist: Readers are first introduced to two orphan girls spirited Naomi and truth-teller |