The Wild Garden
by Cynthia Cliff

4 out of 5 stars

Jill and her grandfather love to venture beyond the walls of the village and enjoy the beauties of nature. They see animals, birds, and butterflies. They gather nuts and berries depending on the season, and they enjoy the wildness of the outdoors. But when the villagers plan to “improve” their gardens by expanding outside the village walls, Jill and her grandfather are worried that everything they love about the surrounding countryside will be lost. How can they convince the other villagers to appreciate and respect the wildness of nature?

Big Hedgehog and Little Hedgehog Take An Evening Stroll
by Britta Teckentrup (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

Big Hedgehog and Little Hedgehog are taking walk, and they stop to watch the sunset. They stop to watch the moonrise. It’s getting very late, but they stop to smell the flowers, and say goodnight to all the animals. They stop to watch the fireflies. Will they ever get home for bedtime?

Lisette’s Lie
by Catharina Valckx

1 out of 5 stars

Lisette and her friend Bobbi decide that it would be funny to tell a lie. They tell Popof that they are going on a trip to the mountains, and show him a mound of dirt as the “mountain”. They laugh when Popof believes them. Popof gets a shovel and digs to make their “mountain” bigger. There is a big hole left over from all the digging. Bobbi wishes the hole were filled with water to make a lake next to their little “mountain”. They ask Popof to fill the hole with water, and pressure him into doing all the work of toting water in a bucket to fill the hole.
They all have fun swimming, sitting by a fire, and singing songs. Lisette tells her mother about her day, and Lisette’s mother laughs and says, “That does sound fun! But you know, Lisette, you mustn’t tell lies…”

I don’t know what is wrong with this book. I don’t understand the moral message at all. Lisette and Bobbie are horrible and selfish and manipulative. They get a sick enjoyment out of lying to others. Poor Popof has to do all the work and they don’t lift a finger to help him. And then the only consequence is that they have a lovely day, and a mild reprimand from Lisette’s mother. What kind of moral message is this? Why did Popof allow them to manipulate and fool him? They are in such a toxic friendship, and poor Popof doesn’t have any good boundaries to stand up to his friends and make them take responsibility for their bad behavior. Why didn’t Lisette and Bobbi get what they deserved?

Human Town
by Alan Durant (Goodreads Author), Anna Doherty (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

A family of elephants visit the “Human Town”, which is a protected reserve for the endangered human species. Animals can come to visit and look around to see humans in their natural habitat. The humans are going extinct because they fight amongst themselves and throw trash into their environment. The elephants are shocked to see how the humans are dying out little by little, and they are glad that the last humans are protected in the reserve from carnivorous poachers like lions and tigers.

This is such a fun book! It’s so interesting to see how the tables are turned. Instead of humans staring at endangered elephants in a zoo, it’s the other way around. There are so many cute details in the story that make it really funny and special!

I Really Want to Be First!: A Really Bird Story (Really Bird Stories, #1)
by Harriet Ziefert, Travis Foster (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator)

1 out of 5 stars

Really Bird has intense emotions, and he “really” wants to be the leader today. His friends, the Pup and Cat, agree to be the followers, and Really Bird leads them to a tree and tells them to climb while he flies up to the top of the tree. Pup tells them that he is not a good climber, but Cat and Really Bird encourage him to climb up. They get up to the top of the tree, and Pup is too scared to get down! Cat has to take the lead and carefully help the terrified Pup to climb down. Really Bird flies down, and argues with his friends that he was the first one on the ground. His friends argue for a moment, but then decide to let it go. Really Bird says, “Today I really wanted to be first, and I was!”

I don’t understand this book. Really Bird is a horrible little person. He leads his friends into danger, and then doesn’t even apologize to them for being so insensitive and stupid. The Pup told Really Bird that he was not a good climber, but Really Bird didn’t listen to his friend. He didn’t care that his friend was not enjoying their activity. Really Bird only thought about himself. Selfish mean little bird! What a horrible leader!