Books with author Suzanne Lazear

Our world is full of many wonderful creatures!With the help of this book, your child canlearn about many of them. The animals featured in this book will help your child to learn their ABC’s while at the same time, teaching them about some of the many diverse creatures thatshare our planet. As your child gets older theycan use the provided glossary to learn moreabout the endangered and threatened animals featured in this book.

No matter your size, shape, or pedigree--if you love each other, you are a family!Moms, dads, sisters, brothers — and even Great Aunt Sue — appear in dozens of combinations, demonstrating all kinds of nontraditional families! Silly animals are cleverly depicted in framed portraits, and offer a warm celebration of family love.From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 1—Imagine a house with many rooms, whose walls each have a different color or wallpaper, accenting a family portrait hanging there. On a rustic wooden wall hangs the first portrait—a large family of ducks posing beside a still pond. The next spread shows three pandas in pink vests, much like the pink oriental wallpaper behind them. Each portrait features a gently rhyming line: "Some children live with their grandparents…/and some live with an aunt./Some children have many pets…/and some just have a plant." All of these appealing images demonstrate different ways of being a family. "Some children live with their father./ Some children have two mothers./Some children are adopted./Some have stepsisters and—brothers." The cartoon-style critters contrast pleasantly with more realistic elements—a bamboo plant, a slender ceramic dog, a fat ceramic cat. Families of hippos, tigers, lions, ostriches, and whales join the other family groups in the final spread. The loud-and-clear message is that "if you love each other, then you are a family." And imagine the many children who will be reassured because they have found a portrait of a family they will recognize as their own. A solid choice for most libraries.—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TNFrom the Hardcover edition.

Holly Belcher is only 10 years old but is already the cleverest kid in her school. So clever, in fact, that she is moved up a school year early. Her new teacher, Mr. Drew, already deems her as the most intelligent in her new class, and when a national Television programme called ‘Britain’s Cleverest Kid’ contacts him for one of his students to be a contestant, Holly is the only name that springs to mind.Holly and her family then get to embark on an amazing day out at the Television studios, where Holly faces stiff competition from 5 other clever children from around the country. One in particular, Fiona, is very intelligent, and Holly realises she has met her toughest competition yet.She now wants to win more than ever, and will do anything it takes to beat the others – but when she is offered the chance to cheat, will she take it?Join Holly on a whirl wind of adventure, where she learns that just because you have brains, doesn’t mean you actually know it all, and she learns lessons that you can’t always be taught…