Published by Little, Brown and Company

Summary:  The river flows night and day, not realizing it’s a river until Bear falls into it.  He doesn’t realize he’s on an adventure until Froggy hops on his head. As each animal is added to the group, they learn something new about themselves.  Finally, they all go over a waterfall and help one another to have a fun and furious ride. “So many different animals living heir separate lives, but they didn’t know they were in it together…until…the river came along.”  Includes notes from the author and illustrator on the genesis of the book. 40 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  The illustrations are gorgeous and fun (I’ve seen this book mentioned as a Caldecott contender); kids will enjoy all the animals and may even get the message about celebrating differences and working together.

Cons:  The author seemed to be trying a little too hard to push his message, even spelling it out in the author’s note.

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Published by Candlewick

Summary: While vacationing with his grandmother at her cottage near the beach, Thomas becomes entranced with sea glass.  He uses his grandfather’s old magnifying glass to study his beach finds, and his grandmother tells him each piece tells a story.  Some of those stories come to life in Thomas’s dreams at night, shown in black and white, where he sees a woman christening a ship with a bottle, and a Mason jar being smashed in a shipwreck.  The summer finally comes to an end, and Thomas is heartbroken when he accidentally breaks the magnifying glass on the ferry ride home. Fast forward to another summer at the beach.  This time a girl named Annie is staying at the beach, and  she, too, is a collector.  When she finds a cloudy white piece of sea glass, she shows it to her Papaw Tom. It feels strangely familiar to him, and he tells her every piece of sea glass has a story. That night Annie dreams about a young boy named Thomas peering through a magnifying glass on the beach.  32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  A perfect summer story; bring along your sea glass collection to share at story hour, and get the kids imagining where it all came from.  The illustrations of both the present and the past add plenty of realistic detail to the story.

Cons:  What grandfather would willingly go by the name of Papaw Tom?

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Published by Roaring Brook Press

Summary:  The cute little guys with their acorn caps seem to be the underdogs of the forest, working together to share their habitat with bigger, fiercer animals.  But as the book goes on, the illustrations start to tell a different story. The little guys want everything for themselves and are working together to steal the animals’ food, even pushing a bear into the water to steal his fish.  But when their greed causes a catastrophe and the other animals help them out, they realize that cooperation works better than competition. 40 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  Caldecott honor illustrator Vera Brosgol has created a fun story to share.  Kids will laugh out loud at the antics of the little guys, but their tale is sure to provoke some discussion, too, about the do’s and don’ts of sharing space with others.

Cons:  I saw a few Amazon reviewers who thought the little guys were a trifle too nasty; my guess is kids will think they’re just pretty funny.

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