Reviewed by Joy Hannabass for Readers' Favorite

"I Wonder What It’s Like To Be" is a children’s book about a little boy that walks around all of the time wondering. And the very first page explains wonder, so here it is:
Welcome!
I walk around and wonder,
I have a hat that says I do.
As I see new things I wonder,
DO YOU wonder too?
-Wonder (that’s me!)

Do you ever wonder what it is like to be a bird or a flea, or a fish in the sea? Well, Wonder wonders about these and many other things, but all he can do is wonder.

I love this book! The story is exciting and interesting, and is told in the form of poems. The illustrations are adorable and are sure to capture the attention of any small child, with the vivid colors. The pictures are so in tune with the story that a child can look at them and read the story for themselves through the pictures. And Wonder is adorable. I just love him! And as an added bonus, you can go on the book website and listen to a song written by the author, which is added at the end of the story. And yes, I love the catchy tune so much that I found myself singing it quite a bit! And my four year old niece loves it and listens to it all the time! Go out and purchase this book! You can’t go wrong. Your child will love it, and you will find that it will provide many hours of entertainment for your child.

Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

"Shelly Goes to the Zoo" is based on a series of children’s books that teach parents and their children American Sign Language. In this installment, Shelly takes her friends, Maria and Kasey, to the zoo with her dad. Shelly is very informed about each animal they come across and explains the background information on each animal that they see in addition to showing the readers the sign language that is associated with the animals. There is a picture and a short description attached to each sign language where it makes it easy for the readers, parents, and children alike, to follow along. Shelly and her friends go through many animals in the zoo. There is even a sign language alphabet chart at the back of the book.

Author Kentrall Martin combines education and fun in her innovative new series of books on Shelly expertly. Parents and children can learn sign language while they read, making this a very interactive means to learn about sign language. Parents and children can use what they learn in this book to develop further games later on with the sign language they learn. Illustrator Marco Luperon accompanies the story with cute, instructional pictures throughout the book that enhance charm of the storyline. This book is such a great learning tool for all children that I highly recommend buying these books. I love the unique concept that the author incorporates into all her books. It is education and learning at its very BEST! I can’t wait to read these books to my nephews and nieces so that we can learn sign language together and develop a game out of it together which we can enjoy for hours. We can take the sign language everywhere we go!

Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Authors Anita Elco and Katherine Stelmach have created a book that early grade school teachers will love using for lessons on science and on accepting and aiding others. "Who's in that Shell" tells of elementary school teacher Mrs.Davis and her class as they take on hermit crabs as classroom pets. Illustrator Michael Patch has done a good job in illustrating the text which is formed in the style of "choose your own adventure". The class begins with Merman, the hermit crab, but they quickly add four more hermit crabs when Merman is obviously lonely. The children interact with the hermit crabs who are busy interacting with each other. The text offers the young reader choices, as on page 26 the reader can either continue to a certain page if one hermit crab doesn't help another, or continue to another page if the one crab helps the other. Conversation bubbles on many of the pages in this book offer interesting facts about hermit crabs that are relevant to the information on each page. The story concludes with an online site that offers further information about hermit crabs, their habits and habitats.

"Who's in That Shell" is well-written and a good resource for classroom teachers as well as the young reader who wants to learn on their own. Merman, Mura, Mama Jazz, Purple and the elusive Bleu behave as hermit crabs do with their crawling and falling. The conversation bubbles that offer information on hermit crabs make this book especially appealing. The book's print size is perfect for use by everyone and children's libraries in public and school settings will welcome "Who's in That Shell".