Welcome to the
Book Nook!
Grades K-2
A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies Grades 3-5
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Ours is a blue planet.
The oceans cover
more than two-thirds
of its surface and
constantly calls to
us to play, explore,
and dream. Our
fascination with the
sea is as endless as our
means of enjoying
it — whether
building sand castles,
navigating by the
stars, or observing
strange and beautiful
marine creatures. In a volume brimming with
information, Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton capture
the magic and majesty of the ocean with stunning
words and pictures. Poems about manta rays, flying
fish, and humpback whales mingle with verses about
harbors, storms, and pearl divers. Glimpses of life in
the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans flow into spreads
about tropical islands, coral reefs, and ancient
shipwrecks on the seabed. Teeming with colorful
details, this treasure trove of knowledge will be pored
over by adults and children alike, and its exploration
of the vast mysteries of the sea will captivate readers
for years to come. For Milo, everything’s
a bore. When a
tollbooth mysteriously
appears in his room,
he drives through
only because he’s got
nothing better to do.
But on the other side,
things seem different.
Milo visits the Island
of Conclusions (you
get there by jumping),
learns about time from
a ticking watchdog
named Tock, and even
embarks on a quest
to rescue Rhyme and
Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes
something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s
exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . .
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Knocked
from her
mother’s safe
embrace by
an attacking
owl, Stellaluna
lands headfirst
in a bird’s nest.
This adorable
baby fruit
bat’s world is
literally turned
upside down
when she is
adopted by
the occupants of the nest and adapts to their peculiar
bird habits. Two pages of notes at the end of the story
provide factual information about bats.
16 | V O L U S I A parent M A G A Z I N E
The Last Egret by Harvey E. Oyer III
The Last
Egret is a Tom
Sawyer–style
narrative of
a journey by
Charlie Pierce
and his friends
through
the late
19 th century
Florida
Everglades. In those days, the vast South Florida
wilderness was twice the size it is today and swarmed
with snowy egrets, roseate spoonbills, green herons
and other wading birds. These birds were the target of
plume hunters, who shot them to get their feathers for
the ladies’ hat industry.
At first, despite a warning from Charlie’s father that
plume-hunting was a dishonorable way to earn a living,
no matter how desperately their family needed money,
they eagerly seek to make a fortune by killing birds for
their feathers. But in the course of their adventures in
the pre-air conditioning and pre-mosquito repellent
Everglades, they realize that plundering nature for
human vanity and greed is wrong.