Shelley Swanson Sateren

This is an easy read, great for independent reading in classroom libraries. The plot starts with the main character, Zoe, who has always excelled in Art, but this time was not the case. She struggled with drawing facial feature proportions and become so agitated with herself that she nearly gave up. Her friend, Max, kept encouraging her to do her best and keep trying. Finally, Zoe decided to call Max and ask him to come help her with her drawings. Max did so and soon Zoe was trying her best show more and pleased with the work she had accomplished. This story is great for elementary students learning about friendship and how hard work really can pay off. show less

This turned out to be a much abbreviated collection of Theodore Roosevelt's childhood diaries. I was frustrated by some of the photos which weren't well captioned. I couldn't tell from the description which person in the picture was Theodore or Bami, etc. Nice book for children that need primary sources for a report, but it is only his childhood and not a lot of entries. I will have to look for a more complete edition for myself.

This is a good book that teaches social skills and problem-solving skills at the same time. The story is about a child named Anna who has a peanut allergy. She has to pick a student every day to sit with her and all the kids want to sit with her at the same time. Max and Zoe get in an argument about who will be able to sit with Anna so the problem solve and come up with an idea. They create a signup sheet in the form of a peanut so kids can schedule themselves in to sit with Anna. This is a show more good book that teaches children how to resolve conflicts and how to problem solve. show less

This book was about the life of Vincent Van Gogh and his struggles and inspirations that created his world famous art. It shows a few of his famous pieces on one page while the other had the informational text. It talked about him moving around Europe and how he only became an artist for the last ten years of his life and how his brother's wife collected his art and shared it with museums. This text is a good informational text about Vincent Van Gogh for the younger ages.