Jennifer LloydBesprekingen

This is a wonderful, inspiring book. It's about an amazing community living on Stowel Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island, BC. The book is a combo of interviews, descriptions and recipes from the farm. I loved the interviews the most, especially with the children living there. It seems like a lovely place filled with individuals who cherish the land where they live and each other.

I was skeptical about the first title in the series; it just seemed a little too quirky. However, I've gotten more into the series since then and really enjoyed this one, although I do still have a few reservations.

Murilla Gorilla's latest investigation is told in six brief chapters, suitable for an intermediate reader who has some fluency but isn't ready for full chapter books yet.

There's nothing but a stinky old shoe in Murilla's refrigerator, so she makes a trip to the market. Right away, she hears Okapi has a case for her. She makes her way through the market, greeting friends, until she reaches Okapi's hammock stall. The mystery: One of Okapi's hammocks has a hole in the middle! Murilla looks around with her magnifying glass, observes the scene of the crime, and writes down her clues in her notebook. Soon the trail leads to the river and Murilla must disguise herself to find the culprit. Murilla has solved the case, now she just needs to finish her shopping.

I really love Lee's artistic style. It has a clean, modern feel but with exciting colors and distinctive images. The endpapers show a pattern of Murilla in several poses and her crocodile friends fishing and swimming, all set against a bubbly light blue background with smiling blue and orange fish. Much of the deadpan humor in the series comes from the art, like the sequence where Murilla takes out a mirror instead of a magnifying glass, then detects her own foot.

My main reservation about this series is that it's set in the generic "African Rainforest". I can see where the creators didn't want to specifically identify a country, but there are so many books that kind of lump all the vast variety of cultures and landscapes into one "Africa" that this is bothersome to me. My other reservation is just that this is different - the setting, art, and even the text flow a little differently than the average easy reader. Kids learning to read at this stage generally are focusing on the mechanics of reading, not the content.

Verdict: Despite my reservations, I do think these are lovely books that would appeal to strong intermediate readers. They're adorable and quirky and kids who love mysteries, animals and humor will enjoy these. They'll just need a little extra booktalking to get them into the kids' hands, since they're a little different than the average easy reader.

ISBN: 9781927018477; Published 2014 by Simply Read; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

I enjoyed this book. It was very sweet and realistic. The students all thought of their favorite thing in kindergarten, which help Ms. Appleby see what her students enjoyed and what they did not. The illustrations showed each student doing their favorite activity and gave a visual and why they enjoyed it. I also liked how the teacher would complement each student how they were great at each activity they suggested. That shows encouragement and is an awesome quality as a teacher. The language used for each student was different so every student knew that the teacher watched them succeed in something and remembered it. This helps support that message which is that students are the most important thing in a classroom. Even though they need the correct activities to grow as a learning, students need to know that they are more important than anything. This gives them the encouragement to learn as much as they can.

A rainstorm has passed through Mango Market. Parrot is upset by a missing parasol at his parasol stand. It is up to Murilla, the disorganized, messy and seemingly hopeless detective to solve the case. Can she do it? Of course she wants to help her friend, but first Murilla needs to find her magnifying glass.

more for adults .... IMHO

Murilla Gorilla is a lovable jungle detective who solves mysteries for her friends. In this case, Ms. Chimpanzee's muffins are stolen and Murilla must crack the case.

One Winter Night by Jennifer Lloyd and illustrated by Lynn Ray seemed like a highly appropriate book to read during our long Canadian winter.

The story centers on ten little mice who go skating “under moonlight”, and one by one scurry off into their warm nest as they meet larger animals. As the group of mice decreased in number, Steven delighted in the backwards counting from 10 to 1. At the end of the book, we revisit all of the mice sleeping safely in the nest and can count again from 1 to 10.

Steven also enjoyed seeing the various “predatory” animals such as a squirrel and a skunk skate along with the mice. It was also pleasing to me to see the mole and the fox joining in typically Canadian winter games of ice hockey and curling.

While it doesn’t paint a realistic picture as to the laws of nature, this is a fast, rhyming read and suitable for cozying up together in the warm indoors. Three and one-half stars plus an extra half for Canadian content for a total of four stars.

Reviews/Awards Source Date
Booklist 2/15/2008
School Library Journal 1/1/2008
Quill & Quire 7/1/2007