Patricia J. Murphy

Out on a walk with his mother, a young boy points out a grasshopper, saying: "Mama, Look!" This becomes the refrain of the book, as the grasshopper's children in turn point out an ant, the ant's children point out a butterfly, and so on. The chain of observation and delight continues, as each creature that is observed is in turn the one observing, until finally things come full circle, and return to the human mother and child.

Although in sympathy with the purpose of Mama, Look!, as set out show more in the author's afterword - apparently it is meant to provoke readers to take a closer look at the natural world around them - somehow the book itself just didn't impress me greatly. This is less of a story than a series of encounters, each presented in the same way, textually speaking. What saves the book (and my rating of it), are David Diaz's beautiful illustrations, with their lush color and folk-art sensibility. Recommended primarily to Diaz fans, although those looking for very basic stories about appreciating the natural world might also want to take a look. show less

When I first saw these advertised, I knew they would be huge hits among my patrons. My kids absolutely love nonfiction/fiction hybrids and DK is well-known for picking high-interest topics. I read this as a preparation for my book club, since one of the kids had expressed an interest in horses.

The framing story is about a girl named Emma who, along with her older sister Amanda, absolutely love horses. Emma is thrilled that she can finally join the Horse Club at school. With Amanda as show more president, she's sure they can come up with some great ideas - and they do! After a lot of hard work, they're able to take the whole club to horse camp over winter break. Once there, Emma finds out it's not exactly as she'd imagined; she has a frightening experience with her horse and her older sister has started pulling away from her to have her own friends and interests. But with lots of hard work and some last-minute luck, everything works out and Emma and Amanda come out on top in the end.

The story is interspersed with nonfiction segments about horses and photographs. These include instructions on saddling a horse, parts of the horse, information about gymkhanas, and more. The story ends with a spread on "Help a Horse" which is designed to look like a website. No web address is given, but it appears to be referring to "Help a Horse Day". At least, that's the closest thing a quick online search got me. There's a list of questions about the story, instructions on starting your own club, and a glossary.

Verdict: The story is clunky in places and the emphasis on Emma's special connection with her horse and the perfect ending are pure wish-fulfillment for horse-loving readers, but that's what this is all about! It's not great literature, but it will certainly capture the interest of readers who love horses and want to dream about riding or owning their own. Certain to be a popular title, this is available in both an affordable hardcover and sturdy paperback. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781465418111; Published 2014 by DK; Purchased for the library show less

I would rate this pattern book 4 out of 5 stars. I used this book with a Kindergarten student. My student understood and read along to the pull pages. However, I think the first push example- a hammer into a nail is weak.The shopping cart would have been a stronger, more relatable first example that would have better helped my student understand a push. The hammer threw my kids off He was confused. Overall, the pattern was clear and he caught on to the pull section.

I'm not a big fan of non-fiction, however this story kept my attention the whole way through. I loved how the author, Patricia Murphy inserted interesting facts and real pictures of pioneer life into the historical fiction story of a pioneer girl. Having fiction alongside non-fiction, made me feel like I was looking into the character Olivia's, real life. That being said, it felt a little too closely related to the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. The typical pioneer girl writing a diary while show more traveling with her caring Ma and bearded Pa who played the fiddle at night, seemed all too familiar and unoriginal.

Murphy did a good job at portraying the difficult journey pioneers faced during their long travels across the Oregon Trail. The first person point of view could have been played upon more though, as Olivia only vaguely mentions people dying, but didn't seem to be greatly affected by these misfortunes. Having a serious hardship or two of her own would have allowed the reader to feel more sympathy and understanding of pioneer life long ago. show less