Books for children - June 10

BOOKS TO BORROW

"Gotta Go! Gotta Go!" by Sam Swope, illustrated by Sue Riddle, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 32 pages

Read aloud: age 3 and older.

Read yourself: age 7, 8 and older.

When a little creepy-crawly bug hatches, she is all alone. She knows she doesn't know much, but there is one thing she knows for sure, and that is, "I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!" The problem is, she doesn't know what Mexico is, where it is, or how she is going to get there. But she travels on all the same, with her singular mission in mind. Then, one miraculous day, a wonderful change takes place that helps her make that journey - the day she develops into a Monarch butterfly.

Rooted in fact but presented in a charming story that young children can understand, this book will elicit demands for repeated readings.

LIBRARIAN'S CHOICE

Library: Westerly Public Library, 44 Broad St., Westerly, R.I.

Library Director: Kathryn Taylor

Head of Children's Services: Helen Mochetti

Children's Librarian: Krystal Laharty

Choices this week: "Dear Levi: stories from the Oregon Trail" by Elvira Woodruff; "Rescues!" by Sandra Markle; "Patrol: an American soldier in Vietnam" by Walter Dean Myers

AT THE BOOKSTORE

"Hope and Tears: Ellis Island Voices" by Gwenyth Swain, photographs various sources, Calkins Creek, 2012, 115 pages, $17.95 hardcover

Read aloud: age 8, 9 and older.

Read yourself: age 11, 12 and older.

What would it have been like to have traveled from your homeland to Ellis Island in New York, risking everything to try and make a new life in America?

Through meticulous research, author Gwenyth Swain has imagined the stories of people who were among the estimated 12 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Once the largest and busiest immigration port in the United States, the author considers Ellis Island "a collection of voices," and her masterful, fascinating book paints precisely that picture.

"Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas" by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm, illustrated by Molly Bang, Blue Sky Press, 44 pages, $18.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 5, 6 and older.

Read yourself: age 7 and 8.

The sun is our "golden star," and all life on land and in the sea depends on the sun's energy. But how does the sun provide life to the ocean, especially the deepest, darkest parts of the sea?

The complexities of this process have never been more understandable or enjoyable than in this well-executed book. As fascinating for the old as it is for the young, readers will never look at food chains quite the same again.

www.greatestbooksforkids.com