Mama was a first-class, top-rate worrier. She was so good at it, she won awards — and when you think about it, she had reason to worry. She had the whole farm to take care of — the cows, the pigs, the chickens — and Baby Eli, who seemed to be into everything, every minute of the day.
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Terri Schlichenmeyer
Find out why you’ll want to cover your eyes if you visit an Icelandic locker room. See how even Michael Phelps is slow, compared to a sailfish. Get the real definition of a swimming hole. And find out why some people take bandages along when visiting a public pool in Japan.
Dogs, of course, have served on the battlefield for millennia, but history only remembers a handful of brave canine soldiers.
You’re unique, but you have a lot in common with a lot of people, and in the new book “Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare” by Gene Barretta you’ll see how two great men were alike a century apart.
As a very small child, Jazz Jennings knew that something was wrong with the way adults were acting toward her. Her parents dressed her in boy clothes, gave her trucks and said things like “Good boy!” But Jennings knew even before she could speak that they were wrong. She was a girl, though her body said otherwise.
Daddy’s arms are good for hugs. They’re big and strong and colorful, too. They look kind of like one of your favorite picture books; in fact, Daddy says the drawings on his arms are just like a story to him. In the new book “Tell Me a Tattoo Story” by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, each picture says something important.
“Quiet Power” author Susan Cain is an introvert; so is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Beyoncé, Emma Watson and Steve Wozniak, creator of Apple computers.
Once upon a time, there were all kinds of dinosaurs on earth. Huge ones. Ginormous ones, and a little boy wanted to be one ofthem. He wished he could be a great big dinosaur — but he didn’t exactly know how. He was certainly willing to find out, though, and who better to learn from than another dinosaur?
Rules are rules, and in sports you have to follow them. But why are games played like that, with different balls and a field of certain size? “On the Origins of Sports,” by Gary Belsky and Neil Fine, explains those head-scratchers.
Kids and dogs: They create their own mutual Fan Club every time. So wouldn’t a kids’ book about dogs — a book like “Bailey: Puppy Pals” — be perfect? The answer, if you want a gentle book for your animal-lover, is “yes.”
Here’s fair warning: If your family has ever loved a dog, it’s going to be really hard not to get teary while reading this book to your child. Very hard. And yet, you’ll smile through your tears.
Little Shaq had never had sushi, but he was sure he wouldn’t like it. It wasn’t cooked, and he had to eat it with two sticks.
Every child knows that being just slightly outside of normal is way more interesting than doing things the conventional way. It’s more enjoyable, too, as you’ll see in “Normal Norman.”
A hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt “made it his mission” to preserve as much natural land as possible, “so thatfuture generations could enjoy” it. So what’s your family interested in seeing this summer? Do you like history or hiking?Swimming or soldiers? Animals or American statues? You’ll find them all in parks — and you’ll find them in this book.
Kids who hold a fascination with caterpillars and bugs will find a kindred spirit in Linda Vander Heyden’s title character. Mr. McGinty is smart and definitely resourceful, but also a little childlike in his need for the butterflies’ well-being and his zeal to save the caterpillars at any cost.