New Children's Picture Books

Parents of young children will find this a delightful story.The author's Jellybeans books are stories about four clever animal-best-friends. – Nicole, Emily, Anna, and Bitsy – who love adventuring together. This summer they are heading to camp with lots of activities awaiting them. Emily finds there's dancing, Bitsy gets to do arts and crafts, Anna enjoys reading to other camp mates, but Nicole, who loves soccer, finds the camp without a team for her favorite sport. How does she tackle her disappointment? Organizing a team and teaching her friends to play soccer will be a challenge. Can she do it? A fun book for ages 4-8 with delightful illustrations by Lynn Munsinger. Reviewed by Carol

Miss Smith is taking her class on a field trip to the local aquarium, bringing with her a book to read aloud her favorite nautical characters. When Miss Smith's magical characters come to life, the class finds themselves within story adventures aboard the Owl and the Pussycat's Pea-Green Boat, nearly capsized by Moby Dick, rescuing the Little Mermaid tangled in a castaway fishnet, taking on board Long John Silver and his pirate crew as they look for their buried treasure, and then reaching the beach where Robinson Crusoe has been shipwrecked. And that's only the beginning. Garland's rollicking adventure and clever illustrations will delight ages 4-8 with nautical characters they will enjoy visiting over and over. Reviewed by Carol

Splish, Splash, Splat brings back Rob Scotton's popular Splat character. We learn that Splat dislikes and fears water when he's forced to take a bath and finds that swim lessons start at school that day, too. To make matters worse, his mom tells him that his enemy Spike is coming over after school. Splat sums it up at breakfast: "This is not going to be a good day." Does the day turn out as badly as he thinks it will? Of course not! He ends up in the water after all, and finds out that he and Spike might actually have something in common. Age 4-8. Reviewed by Susan