Month: September 2020

children, nature

Pop-Up Volcano!

Bergers Book Reviews


Author: Fleur Daugey
Illustrator: Tom Vaillant
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Genre: Children / Nature
ISBN: 978-0-500-65222-0
Pages: 20
Price: $29.95

Buy it at Amazon

Volcanoes can be deadly, but they’re fascinating to study. Pop-Up Volcano! is a fun resource explaining how volcanoes form and what happens when they explode.

Pop-up images fill this short book, along with information on various volcanoes. Whether on the ground, under the sea, or even on other planets, these volcanoes are fun to explore. Kids will enjoy this unique look at one of nature’s most dangerous formations.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

tween

My Life in the Fish Tank

Bergers Book Reviews


Author: Barbara Dee
Publisher: Aladdin
Genre: Middle grade
ISBN: 978-1534432338
Pages: 320
Price: $17.99

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Zinny Manning couldn’t anticipate how her life would change when her brother, Gabriel, is involved in an automobile accident. Her family had always been normal, or at least as normal as it could be. But now Gabriel has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Her Mom has told her not to tell anyone, which means her best friends can’t know about it. And what about the Lunch Club that she’s recently been invited to? Keeping the secret feels wrong, but it’s the only thing she knows how to do. Thank goodness her favorite teacher allows her to work on the class project while she’s supposed to be at lunch, giving her a safe refuge. But is that really all she needs?

My Life in the Fish Tank is an honest but hopeful look at the family dynamics around a mental health diagnosis. Each of Zinny’s family cope in the only ways they can handle, and the family structure appears to be breaking down around them. But ultimately, Zinny and her family come to accept Gabriel’s condition and work with him to get better. Zinny is a likeable and real character, and I highly recommend this heart-warming middle-grade story.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

history, tween

The Summer We Found the Baby

Bergers Book Reviews


Author: Amy Hest
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: Middle-grade / Historical fiction
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6007-9
Pages: 192
Price: $16.99

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Eleven-year-old Julie Sweet and her six-year-old sister, Martha, are on the way to the dedication of the new children’s library in Belle Beach, Long Island. They have been spending the summer there along with their dad, and are looking forward to the big event. But when they discover a baby in a basket on the library steps, all thoughts of the celebration are gone.

Bruno Bel-Eli is on his way to catch a train to New York City when he sees Julie carrying the baby away from the library. Convinced she’s kidnapping it, he follows them.

Told from all three perspectives, this unusual summer day unfolds slowly, like peeling the layers of an onion. Each of the three main characters expresses their thoughts on the world around them in the midst of World War II, and what they’re feeling about the baby. There is a mystery surrounding her arrival at the library, and by the end of the story, the secret is revealed.

World War II has drifted from our collective memory, and this book shows us what life was like when our nation was in the midst of this war. Not knowing if loved ones would return – or tragically finding out they definitely wouldn’t – hangs in the background as we learn more about Belle Beach and its inhabitants. My only question is why the mother decided to place the baby in the basket on the library steps in the first place, since she reveals herself before the day is over. But otherwise, The Summer We Found the Baby is an interesting and enjoyable read.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

children, computers, science

Code This!

Bergers Book Reviews


Produced by: National Geographic Kids
Genre: Computers / Science / Children
ISBN: 978-1-4263-3443-6
Pages: 160
Price: $16.99

Buy it at Amazon

Programming can be fun for kids, even if they don’t actually use a computer. Code This! provides step by step exercises designed to introduce them to this fun and useful skill.

Puzzles and games show how to move robots and frogs based on the instructions they are given. In the process, kids learn algorithms, constraints, loops, and debugging, as well as many other coding concepts. Exercises build on each other, and the processes become more complicated. By the time they complete this book, they will have a good understanding of how coding works, and be ready for the real thing.

Code This! is a perfect introduction to computer programming, and can be used at home and in classrooms. I highly recommend it.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

children, nature

The Big Book of Blooms

Bergers Book Reviews


Author & Illustrator: Yuval Zommer
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Genre: Children / Nature
ISBN: 978-0-500-65199-5
Pages: 64
Price: $19.95
Buy it at Amazon


Author & Illustrator: Yuval Zommer
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Genre: Children / Nature
ISBN: 978-0-500-65229-9
Pages: 56
Price: $14.95
Buy it at Amazon

Flowers are beautiful and they’re also fascinating to study. If kids have ever wondered what a Venus flytrap eats, how strong a giant water lily is, or if flowers bloom at night, The Big Book of Blooms will answer their questions.

After a brief introduction to the various types of flowers and their anatomy, this guidebook visits some of the more interesting varieties for a more in-depth look. Kids will study venus fly traps, cacti, wildflowers, and stinking flowers, as well as many others. Bright and colorful illustrations fill the oversized pages.

And if kids still want to learn more, they can have fun with The Big Sticker Book of Blooms, which includes “more stickers than there are prickles on a cactus.” I highly recommend this fun and whimsical two-book set for all budding naturalists.

Reviewer:  Alice Berger