Grade: 3

Stuart J. Murphy believes that if math had been explained to him as a child using illustrations, he would have understood math concepts more easily. So he has come up with his own series of math storybooks (divided into three levels) with pictures by well-known children’s book illustrators. In Safari Park, a Level 3 book in this series (ages 7 and up), a boy Paul, his sister, and three cousins have 20 tickets each to spend at the newly opened Safari Park. The Tiger Wheel costs 4 tickets, the Bat Tunnel 2, and so on. How many rides can each child enjoy? This becomes even more difficult to figure out when Paul loses all of his tickets and the others must each share one ride with him. Turn to the back of this book for related activities and games.

Nonfiction can often be a turning point for students who struggle with reading. This new beginning-to-read series, written by award-winning science writer, Seymour Simon, introduces nonfiction topics with colorful photographs and engaging text. These leveled readers progress from two or three simple sentences on two-page spreads to full paragraphs that introduce more challenging concepts. Titles include:

Level 1 (Beginning Readers, grades pre-K-1) Fighting Fires, Killer Whales, Giant Machines

Level 2 (Growing Readers, grades 1-3) Amazing Aircraft, Super Storms, Danger! Earthquakes

Level 3 (Independent Readers, grades 2-4) In fall, 2003, a few titles for this level will be available, including books on pyramids and space travelers.

Eleven-year-old Marty Preston loves to spend time up in the hills behind his home near Friendly, West Virginia. Sometimes he takes his .22 rifle to see what he can shoot, like some cans lined up on a rail fence. Other times he goes up early in the morning just to sit and watch the fox and deer. But one summer Sunday, Marty comes across something different on the road just past the old Shiloh schoolhouses—a young beagle—and the trouble begins. What do you do when a dog you suspect is being mistreated runs away and comes to you? When it is someone else’s dog? When the man who owns him has a gun? This is Marty’s problem, and he finds it is one he has to face alone. When his solution gets too big for him to handle, things become more frightening still. Marty puts his courage on the line, and discovers in the process that it is not always easy to separate right from wrong. Sometimes, however, you do almost anything to save a dog.

Eleven famous leaders — including Pocahontas, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Helen Keller, and Margaret Mead — are profiled in this picture biography. A women’s history time line and bibliography are included.

El Skippito is back! Avoiding a lecture from Mama Junebug, the kitty boy slips into his closet… and finds himself in ancient Egypt. His doggy pals, Los Chimichangos, want to visit the Under Mundo — the underworld — where mummitos rest in peas. But they need El Skippito’s brains and courage to answer the riddle of theFinx and enter the mummy’s tomb. Our hero is up to the task, and he’s in for another grand and whirlwind adventure. Full of Judy Schachner’s rollicking wordplay and bold, imaginative illustrations, Skippy’s latest outsize outing will tickle the funny bones and warm the hearts of his many amigos.

In the bleak winter of 19 0, Nazi troops parachuted into Peter Lindstrom’s tiny Norwegian village and held it captive. Nobody thought the Nazis could be defeated–until Uncle Victor told Peter how the children could fool the enemy. It was a dangerous plan. They had to slip past Nazi guards with nine million dollars in gold hidden on their sleds. It meant risking their country’s treasure–and their lives. This classic story of how a group of children outwitted the Nazis and sent the treasure to America has captivated generations of readers.

This picture book biography tells the true story of a steadfast, resourceful hero. Wilson Bentley (1865-1931) was a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of snowflakes in order to study their formations. When his mother gave him an old microscope, he began what was to become his life’s work, studying the intricate designs of snowflakes. He discovered that no two patterns appeared the same. For three winters, he tried drawing what he saw, but the crystals always melted before he could finish. Then, when he was 17, his parents spent all their savings to buy Willie a camera with a built-in microscope, and he painstakingly perfected the technique that allowed him to capture images of his favorite subject. Graceful, color-tinted woodcuts help tell the story of Bentley’s life, while sidebars on every page offer intriguing facts about snow and Bentley’s experiments. The end of the book treats readers to a photograph of the scientist, a quote from him about his work, and three of his own snowflake photographs.

Presidents have come in almost every variety. There have been generals like George Washington and actors like Ronald Reagan. They are tall and short, serious and filled with humor. David Small’s hysterical pictures will keep young readers in stitches as they learn about the surprising idiosyncrasies of our nation’s leaders.