It is sort of hard to find the books. (Under the wagon, written very small.) Once you get there, there's some pretty good stuff. The catalog is nicely displayed and easy to click on. Not all books are free, and the catalog is rather vintage, but the read along books are a great idea. Everything is in jpeg form, so things don't load as well. It's not very child-oriented, and rather dull and precious. It's designed more for the tea cosy set's nostalgia than for modern-day readers. There also seem to be some links that don't lead to anything.

We really like it because it's easy to navigate and very colorful and hands on. You can get right to specific books that can be read on sight. It's frantic, in a good way. You can limit your search by innovative terms like language, cover color or child-friendly subject. It has a lot of different languages, but leaves out some that normally appear (Chinese), however they may be found elsewhere. Text can be easily enlarged, which is great. Nice website overall!

The childrens' books are difficult to find. Searching for "childrens' books" gives the user a list of books ABOUT books for children and very few actual books for children. It isn't very kid-friendly, but the books themselves look great. However, a lot of the popular books are preview versions and are missing pages. Might be good for obscure subjects.

DJ has picked up the slack at the dairy farm ever since her father hurt his hip, and now their neighbor wants her to train the rival team's quarterback!
This is a riveting book. Now, a lot of books have been written about farming, but never one about a high school girl trying to run a dairy farm all by herself. This fact alone makes the reader feel for DJ. Then the addition of a spoiled boy who needs to be trained for the rival football team really starts the action, but slowly. This is one of those stories in which nothing seems to happen as it is read, until the end and the reader realizes how much went on. It's a lovely story, with unexpected twists that will leave the reader cheering for DJ and her right to go for something she never knew she loved.
Recommended for high school and public libraries, especially ones with readers that need a little push.

Jane finds a creative way to fit in when her parents move the family to the suburbs.
This isn't a new story, but the author manages to put a nice twist on the usual tribal drama. The idea of a renegade group of girls forcing art on an unsuspecting town is both exciting and different. It would be good in a standard novel form, but the graphic novel format really brings the whole thing to life. The Janes have a true chance to become superheroines, and it is delightful to watch them come into their own. The parents do seem a bit intense and they overreact to the point of making the reader grit teeth, but it is a YA novel, so some angst is to be expected.
This is a great addition to any graphic novel collection, especially considering how few graphic novels for girls are out there.

At only 4, Young Ju immigrates to the US with her parents.
Sad, hopeful, inspiring are all good ways to describe this book. It clearly shows how much work goes into moving to a new country and all the struggles that are part of that process. It is beautifully and meticulously written. The transliteration of what Young Ju hears before she learns English is especially interesting. The author keeps to Young Ju's point of view even when things start to go wrong, and it is very moving to hear the thoughts of a small child who does not fully understand what her parents are dealing with. It is even more striking as the character gets older and realization dawns.
This lovely book is a good choice for any high school or public library, and would be very useful in a social studies unit on immigration.

Dionne stands on the sidelines as his parents' marriage dissolves and his sister struggles with anorexia.
Between Kate's anorexia and Dionne's depression, there isn't a more angsty novel than this one. It is compelling, though. The choice to tell the story through the eyes of the victims younger brother is an interesting one, and it really brings the pain of anorexia into focus. It also shows the pain of not fitting in and not knowing how to deal with fighting parents. In other words, this book is trying to tackle a lot of separate issues, but manages to succeed for the most part.
This is definitely a book for high schools. It's very dramatic and could upset younger children.

Adam's father is missing, someone named Bateman seems to want him dead, and there's a dinosaur following him!
This book has a very cinematic sensibility. It will make an amazing movie if it is every filmed. Although the premise is a little flimsy, and the science is never fully explained, the likable main character makes it easy to suspend disbelief. The idea of a sentient and violent dinosaur roaming the world with a teenage boy on his back is very exciting and will definitely interest a lot of young boys.
It is a very violent book, which should taken into account before adding it to a collection. However it will excite those readers who would love a video game to come to life.

When you're running late, people can forget the important things.
This is a sweet book, but it isn't anything terribly special. It's very much in the vein of "Goodnight Moon," and other bedtime books. Although this one is just a bit sadder. The illustrations are very pretty watercolors, but they are fairly generic.
This is a good book for preschoolers who are worried about going to preschool, but it covers ground covered by many other books.

Ni-ou is the strongest man in Japan, but he wants to prove he is stronger than Dokkoi, the strongest man in China.
This is a really fun book. It is a nice take on wits winning over brains, especially since brains only win out by accident. The story is quite amusing. The reader knows that the main characters will never ace an I.Q. test, but will find them endearing anyway.
The illustrations are detailed and quite funny. They also really invoke Japan, especially in the fabric and the waves. A lot of the humor comes from the calm, rational tone of the text in contrast with the pictures. For example, the text reads, "He climbed out the window," but we can see that in fact, Ni-ou crashed through the wall. It is also great how the story starts before the title page.
This is a great book for any collection. It's funny, interesting and different from a lot of other picture books out there.

This is the official website for Disney's The Frog Princess. Explore games, downloads, trailers and more!
As a movie website goes, this one is pretty extensive. It's easy to navigate and the more the user clicks around, the more there is to find. The games are engaging and challenging, but not too hard. All five of them are very different, so there really is something for everyone. From the adventure of finding Tiana's Tiara to the classic arcade game challenges of the Bayou Adventure and Louis's Band, it is very easy to lose an hour or two. The games are also challenges of skill and wit rather than of violence. A personal favorite is Love at First Bright with it's brain-teasing spacial puzzles.
Since it is intended to make kids want to see the movie and buy all the related paraphernalia, there is a lot of advertising, but there's enough for free that it would be really easy to distract kids from the Nintendo game back to the free ones.
Overall, it's well-designed and a lot of fun. Well worth a visit!

Nickie goes to Yonwood to clean out her great-grandfather's home. Little does she know that Yonwood wants to be the safest place in America.
Although published two years ago, this book resonates as particularly topical now. We all want to protect ourselves and our way of life, but we are not all in agreement as to how to do that. This book looks at what happens when an entire village lets its desperation overshadow reason. It has echoes in 1930s Germany and the rhetoric that comes from the extreme right wing demonstrators that make the evening news today. It also considers just how easy it is to be taken in because the first steps always seem so reasonable and logical. The book really makes the reader think critically about why a society chooses its rules.
This is the best of DuPrau's trilogy, and it should really be included in Middle School and Public Library collections.

After escaping from the City of Ember, its citizens must learn how to live above ground from the villagers of Sparks.
While a bit preachy at times, this book makes a very clear anti-war point. It uses DuPrau's premise from The City of Ember to illustrate how easy it is for humans to deliberately misunderstand and take advantage of each other. Parts of is are reminiscent of the movie Dogville in that way, but appropriate for a younger audience.
Although a bit predictable at points, the characters really set the novel apart from other "message" books. Everyone is fully developed and flawed. The author really thought about these people, and that makes the book difficult to put down.
This book is great for junior high school and public libraries, although high-level elementary students would enjoy it as well.

When Ojo the Unlucky accidentally turns his Uncle to stone he must travel throughout the land of Oz to collect the items to restore Unk Nunky to his old self.
This book was originally published in 1913 and it seems very quaint in the 21st century. Although there is a vague through-line, the book is not terribly plot-driven. It is more a series of vignettes to show off Baum's imagination. Each chapter could almost stand alone, especially since the characters explain why they are on their journey every time they meet someone new. This amounts to just about every other chapter since they cover a great deal of ground and meet a large number of creatures. The book is charming, but can be difficult to get into. It is more about exploring Oz than exploring the people there.
It would be a good book for elementary schools and public library youth collections, but it is not as special as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Theo, her adopted brother Ian and their friends must stop Demogorgon before he can detroy the world.
For the first book in atreasure hunting adventure series, The Oracles of Delphi keep is not bad. Who doesn't enjoy tales of children crawling through tunnels to find treasure? For a new twist, it looks to Greek mythology and a vision of the Nazi march through Europe rather than magic. It's interesting, but not really that new. However, as a twist on an old favorite, it is not bad. The characters are engaging and the settings exciting. It really picks up in the second half, once the fight really begins.
Unfortunately, it does not make the reader really want to read the next book. It has more of a "well, I'll read it if it's there, but I won't seek it out" feeling at the end. While, well written, it did come across a bit like an American throwing in Brishisms rather than actual English people speaking.
It is a perfectly servicable adventure, though, and would probably be enjoyed most in a middle school library or a public library's tween section.

No one believes Chicken Little when he says the sky is falling.
This is the Walt Disney's company's attempt to compete in the computer generated animation market without Pixar. It pales in comparison. Like many movies designed for children, this one is full of one liners and references for their parents. It almost works, but the lack of coherent story development ultimately sinks it. There are at least three endings, none of which feel satisfying. The animation is good, but nothing special.
All in all, this movie is OK, but it never reaches the level of a lot of similar offerings.

Octavian lives in a house where only he and his mother have names and he is treated like a prince. Can it last forever?
This is an extraordinary book. One of the problems with studying American History is that we have been a very busy country and events and themes constantly overlap. This book takes an interesting look at the years before the Revolution, but also at the lives of the slaves. It also uses the idea of the College of Lucidity to look at humanity and how socialization can form personality and lead to success.
This is called a Young Adult Book, but it reads at a very high level and uses a lot of "$10 words." It seems more appropriate for college students. It is an important novel, though, and it raises a lot of important questions.

A written account of the guidelines alluded to in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
This is a movie tie-in and not much else. There is some good information about piracy that appears to be accurate, but it would make no sense to someone who has not seen the movies. It is beautifully illustrated, though. There is a list in the back crediting at least 15 separate artists who contributed, and nearly every page is lavishly covered with pictures. Some of them may even be concept or storyboard sketches from the movies' pre-production.
This book is pretty flimsy, so it won't hold up long to library use, and it seems out of date now that the movies are out of the theatres. It would be a good book to grab if the library has a number of pirate-obsessed readers, but there may be a non-fiction book that covers the same information.

After her mother kills herself, Yuki must find a way to go on.
This book is absolutely heart-wrenching. It is a literary version of one of those movies women have to remember to bring tissues to watch.
Well-written, the language is very poetic, however some of the characters are a bit one-dimensional. The reader gets a full picture of Yuki, her aunt and her grandparents, but her father and step-mother are just shadows. There is no indication of why they are so cold.
This is a pretty safe book for most high school libraries, although the suicide at the beginning is pretty detailed. It is not a happy book though. Not happy at all.

Mary Church Terrell was a pioneer in both the Civil Rights and Women's Movements
This is a concise little book that would be a good starting point for a report. There are lots of photographs, and all new words are in bold with a good glossary in the back. It is also nice to hear about a woman who was from a good family, had a good education and then proceeded to do the most with it.
This is a great book for elementary and youth collections, especially if it could also be paired with a more in-depth book about Terrell.

Eva is going to walk on the bottom of the sea by herself for the very first time.
The gorgeous illustrations catch the eye first with this book. They radiate the cold and light on Northern Canada exquisitely. The text also draws the reader in because most of us don't understand what "walking on the bottom of the sea means, much less want to do it by ourselves. When Eva climbs down the hole into an under-ice world the text and pictures work together to really bring the reader somewhere new.
This is a lovely book, and I would recommend it for any elementary or public library, particularly if the library has no other books featuring Inuits.

Egg is deliberately boy proof and revels in being a loner. Then Max moves to town.
One would suppose that all geeks need to be the prom queen is a makeover. At least, that's what most books and movies tell us. Boy Proof looks at the geeks that are happy being geeks. His protagonist loves sci fi and even dresses up like her favorite character every day. It's nice to see that although she may eventually drop the character, she never gives up what makes her different from other people.
This books belongs in every high school that has "alternative" people.

The City of Ember's blackouts are getting longer and it's up to Lina and Doon to figure out how to save everyone.
The question of what the human race is going to do when the world ends has interested dozens of writers. This book is another example of the genre, bit it takes everything one step further. It's the story of what to do when the world after the world ends is ending. The author's underground world is very detailed, especially the culture of saving and reusing everything again and again and again. Otherwise, it reads as a treasure hunt with the lead characters trying to decipher clues and follow the trail to a new life. It's a well-written treasure hunt, though. It also never gets preachy about what exactly happened to cause Ember to be built. The book leaves it to the reader to wonder exactly what happened.
This is a great book for middle school to high school, although high-level elementary school readers might also enjoy it.

Will is new in town, and she's not sure how she'll like it. . . .until she finds out that she's destined to be the leader of the Guardians of the Veil!
This graphic novel has some nice messages: girl power, figuring things out for yourself, people are stronger if they work together, etc. At the same time, it also never forgets that most of the time its magical characters have to be regular girls with school and boy trouble. Parts of the book resonate as very feeling, especially any scenes involving Hay Lin's grandmother.
The illustration is very appropriate for the most part. There is a distinct difference in the colors of the worlds, so it's easy for the reader to know where he or she is as the pages turn. The only criticism is that when the main characters "change" they get very sexy. It doesn't quite cross the line, but the book certainly flirts with it. However, tweens really like the idea of dressing like college students going to a club, so one could say the series knows its audience.
This is a rather fun series and I would recommend it for any library looking to add some books to hook reluctant readers.

Zelda and Ivy are sisters, and Ivy will do whatever Zelda tells her to do.
Sisters have a unique relationship, and this book captures the dynamic extremely well. Younger sisters will often do anything to keep their big sisters happy, while big sisters can be protective of their younger siblings. This books shows that.
The pictures are perfect. The frames around each page make it feel as if the reader is paging through a family album. The warm colors and simple drawings are fun and could be copied by a young reader without much trouble.
This is a great book for both public libraries and elementary schools. Parents could read it aloud until the big sisters are old enough to read it to their little sisters.

Echoing "Happiness Is . . . " Langston Hughes looks at what is misery.
Though dated, this book makes some very clear points about being African-American in the U.S. It also looks at the world through a child's eyes and sees that the world is not always perfect. It stresses that children can be cruel, teachers can say stupid things, and that parents can be snobs or snubbed. The language is very simple, and that makes this book all the more affecting.
Due to the fact that it was published in 1969, it may be tough for parents and teachers to explain some of the references to younger elementary school students. However, it would be particularly good to use while explaining the Civil Rights movement to older elementary school students. It makes it very easy for a white child to see through the eyes of a black child.

When a member of the community is falsely accused of kidnapping and murder, Rabbi Leib prays. He is told to make a golem, but be careful what you wish for. . .
The writing of this tale is beautiful. Singer has a wonderful way with this type of prose. Although, the fact that there was a Golem of Prague is common, it's not as well known in gentile circles. The way this version is told kept the pages turning and was very interesting. THe pictures are also lovely. The black and white emphasizes the grim nature of life in the Jewish ghetto while still keeping a sense of the fairy tale.
There are some violent ideas (children's blood baked into matzohs) that are probably unsuitable for young elementary school students, but this book would be great for 5th-8th graders.

Max wants everyone to listen to him, so he runs away one night to find somewhere that suits him.
This is a beautiful movie. It echoes the book while fleshing it out into something that almost feels too short. Most importantly, the Wild Things look just like the ones in the book. The creatures are perfect, and it was a very wise choice to combine puppets with CGI. Just goes to show that no one does monsters like the Henson Company. The only question is whether younger children will "get" it. The whole movie feels like a love letter to the adults who grew up with the book.
It's a little scary at times, but most kids could handle it.

Tianna's telekinesis is spiraling out of control and pusing her to make a huge choice.
This is cheesy romance for teenagers. The story clicks along, but there isn't really anything new here. It is very reminiscent of the movie The Craft, except the characters are called goddesses instead of witches. One thing that sets it apart, though is the intricate detail given over to the fashion, especially in the first chapters before the plot gets going. All in all, a fun read, but not great literature.
This perhaps only belongs in public libraries, as it will be hard for a school librarian to justify something this fluffy. Subject matter may upset some parents, but it's no worse than anything on prime time TV.

Something strange is happening to the people of Hameln and it's up to Salz to figure it out.
What a depressing book. If nothing else, it's a detailed description of how ergot poisoning moves through a medieval German village and how superstition and religion can get in the way of problem solving, especially if everyone's on an acid trip. However, it's as if the author got lost on the way to a more interesting story.
The cover flap implies that this is a retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and it is, but not in the way a reader would hope. It almost feels as if the author got lost in her research and decided to do a completely different book, but was under a contractual agreement to include the Piper. It would have been stronger without him.
Due to some graphic imagery, this book is unsuitable for anyone under 13 or 14. It is also written to a middle school level, so isn't quite right for grades 11-12.