Siblings Books

GO LONG! is a football story starring Tiki and Ronde Barber as young, up-and-coming players. This fast-paced, inspirational sports tale is sure to be popular with the middle grade crowd. Tiki and Ronde draw on their early years in the sport to encourage young people to use their talents and play the game with a sense of fair play and teamwork.

The story begins as Tiki and Ronde start their 8th-grade year. They are anxious to take the field as starters this year, but the coach upsets the entire team when he announces that he is moving up to coach the high school team. Sure that all of their previous success has been due to his excellent coaching abilities, the players nervously await the naming of their new coach. It is a surprise to all when the history teacher, Mr. Wheeler, is given the job. He is a terrific teacher, but that doesn't guarantee anything about his coaching skills.

Tiki and Ronde try to roll with the punches when the first few games end in defeat; however, Cody, the team's quarterback, is not being a team player. Cody argues with Coach Wheeler and questions his every move, causing team morale to sink to an all-time low. It is not until Tiki and a few loyal players take the time to get to know Coach Wheeler and his plans for the team that things start to look more positive for a winning season.

GO LONG! presents a message of cooperation and team spirit, and that along with a strong plot line and likeable characters make it a book that won't gather much dust on the shelf.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

In Trina Wiebe's delightful story for young readers, Goats Don't Brush Their Teeth, Abby is a young girl who spends a week on her grandmother's farm where there's a lot to do including a new animal to take care of, a garden to tend, and a big barn to play in. So there's no reason for her little sister Tess to be following her around! But then when Tess disappears somewhere every day, Abby gets curious. And there's apparently something wrong with Gran too. It in trying to find out about Tess and Gran that Abby comes to learn that keeping secrets can sometimes lead to trouble. Goats Don't Brush Their Teeth is highly recommended as a splendidly written story that will engage the total attention of young readers from first page to last!

Our 6 and 8 year old children eagerly look forward to releases of "The Pain and The Great One" cds. They can really relate to the stories. No childhood secrets are ruined (like in Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing), but the stories are very realistic and the emotions are, too.

My grandson Sam loves to have this series read to him. Beautiful artwork and fun, happy stories of Stella and Sam. Oh yes, Fred the dog too!

This book is a great one for early readers. It is also a sweet bedtime story about a brother and sister. Our kids enjoyed hearing the story and telling it to each other.

In fact we found this cautionary tale of probiscus thievery and sibling rivalry downright enchanting. The "drawerings" are top-notch, the sound effects well-oiled and the story glows with originality. ( It does make you wonder though just what sort of horrible things the author's brother must have inflicted on him growing up. ) My four year old daughter called it "A laff riot!" and my 2 year son gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up. Which is good because that's exactly what I asked them to do. They're good kids. Not like Horace & Boris. They have issues. Nose issues.

Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa, Green Cat is a vividly colored picturebook featuring brightly colored, eye-catching artwork in a simplistic yet powerful modern style. The Story is about a brother and a sister who quarrel over having to share a room. Each thinks that the room is too crowded - until the Green Cat comes and shows them how crowded a room can really be! Enthusiastically recommended for family, school, and community library picturebook collections, Green Cat is an entertaining and memorable storybook lesson about sharing.

I really liked this book because I think its really exciting. The way you don't know what's going to happen. I think this one was my favorite!

This is a great new series even if it's for little kids. I just wanted to check it out and it's really good. I've read # 1-6. In this one, Frank Hardy is 9, his brother Joe is 8, and they're the new kids on the block in Bayport. They're looking for new friends, and they've found one-Chet Morton. But they're also finding plenty of mystery, fun, and adventure. A bully threw Chet's baseball mitt into a spooky old house, but all Chet sees inside are two glowing red eyes! Is it a ghost? A monster? The Hardys go on a search for clues-in a house with a skeleton, a brain, and blood!

I don't expect this review to be terribly helpful, but I had to write, hoping Marisabina Russo might see it. We discovered her books at the library because our daughter, Hannah, saw the title "Come Back, Hannah" (an earlier Russo book.) Later we found this one. Unbelievably, my wife, Marissa, had just given birth to our third child (just like in the story). Hannah had hoped it would be a girl (just like the Hannah in this story), but it was a boy. Our Hannah already had a brother named Sam (just like in the Russo's story) and we had named our third child Ben (Just like in the story!!) Her grandmother also came out for the birth (as in the story) and made oatmeal and played the piano (as in the story.) It's really a bizarre coincidence. I plan to keep buying and reading Russo's books to find out what's going to happen to my childen as they grow! :-) I do, however, recommend her books for everyone, even if you don't have children named Hannah, Sam and Ben. The art is vibrant and the stories simple and lovely. Keep up the great work, Marisabina.