Booked! The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans

Anna loved to read.

She read while grocery shopping. She read while jumping rope. She read while taking a bubble bath.

At school homework was assigned. They had to go to the library, read a book about something they loved and write a report on it. The class was going to have a Book Bonanza!

Anna is thrilled to share her love of the library with her best friends from ballet--Emily, Nicole, and Bitsy--but the three friends are dubious.

"I'd rather be dancing," said Emily.

"I wish I was playing soccer," Nicole added.

"When can I go paint?" Bitsy asked.

Anna and her friends, who named themselves the Jellybeans because, despite their differences, they seem to belong together, set off for the local library. The others are still reluctant readers, but Anna has faith that her librarian, Ms. Beasley-Buzzer, can come through. And indeed she does the Dewey Decimal System with distinction, and in no time Emily is learning all about le danse, Nicole is kicking back with a soccer book, and Bitsy is mastering the Old Masters. With their noses now in books, Ms. Beasley-Buzzer even has time to pull her latest fairy tale anthology for the fantasy-loving Anna.

Book Bonanza Day is a big success, with the Jellybeans, front and center, sharing the limelight for their diverse book reports. To celebrate, of course, the four friends repair to Petunia's Sweet Shop for their favorite treat, all different colored and all equally delicious.

Laura Numeroff, creator of the If You Give a Mouse series, and her co-author Nate Evans have added a second book to their initial collaboration, The Jellybeans and the Big Dance [JELLYBEANS & THE BIG DANCE], In Lynn Munsinger's artistic hands, the illustrations, done in soft springtime pastels, depict the four main characters as individuals, all as appealing yet diverse as their club's namesake. A great lead-in to a Children's Book Week, a library field trip, or big classroom read-in day, The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza (Abrams, 2010) shows that opposites attract--in friendship and in literature as well as confections.

For another Book Week tie-in for reluctant readers, see Margery Cuyler's Hooray for Reading Day! (Jessica Worries) (Simon & Schuster), reviewed here.

A Bibliophile Is Born! Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't) by Barbara Bottner

Miss Brooks is our librarian. She loves books.

I ask her Miss Brooks why she dresses up for reading circle.

"I want you to get as excited about books as I am," she says.

I think Miss Brooks gets a little TOO excited.

And I bet her costumes itch.

Miss Brooks is indeed your over-the-top librarian. With many be-bowed braids and gynormous boots at the end of her skinny, striped-stocking legs, she absolutely pulsates with passion for print. She has no compunctions about dressing as Babar, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, a Wild Thing, or a Runaway Bunny. She predictably plugs her product in every way she can. The kids love it!

All except Missy. Sensibly overall-clad, with a knit toboggan jammed down over her eyebrows, Missy is that kid in the reading circle who makes it all too clear that text is not her cup of tea. Missy doodles on a drawing pad through Miss Brooks' dramatics and yawns to herself as the others are roused to a reading frenzy by their librarian's promotions. Train books? "Too clickety." Cowboy stories? "Too yippity." Animal tales? "Too furry." Nature books? "Too flowery."

And then comes THE ASSIGNMENT. Miss Brooks announces that for Book Week everyone must present their favorite book, costumed as the main character. "Really show us why you LOVE IT," she beams. Now Mrs. Brooks is not just kooky. She's just plain vexing!

Missy appeals to her long-suffering mom. Mom suggests more books. "Too kissy. Too silly. TOO PINK!" Missy hates them all. Mom is exasperated.

"You're as stubborn as a wart!" she exclaims.

"WARTS? I want to read a story about WARTS"!

IS there a storybook character with warts?

WHY, YES. THERE IS.

Soon Mom and Missy are reading Shrek! and designing her ogre costume. Missy even comes up with a product promotion worthy of Miss Brooks--stick-on warts for everyone in the class. And a bibliophile is born!

Veteran author Barbara Bottner teams up with noted illustrator Michael Emberley in a real winner of a Book Week cliffhanger in her new Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010). With a memorable first-person narrator, rib-tickling illustrations, and a theme that there's a book out there for everyone, warts and all, this one definitely deserves a prominent place for reluctant readers on the Book Week shelf.