Counting Sheep

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 10, 2018

Review

Book two in the new series by Kelly based on her Calpurnia Tate character from her novels. A lovely series for emerging readers interested in science and history. Set in turn-of-the-century Texas and starring Calpurnia and her family of six brothers (!), this well-illustrated, large-font series offers an episode in the animal- and science-loving life of a curious, fiery girl who uses her head and her know-how to save the day. In this book, Calpurnia is able to take the knowledge she has acquired in the books in Dr. Pritzker's office (the town veterinarian) and deliver a lamb that is stuck in the breech position. This is to her brother Travis's delight and her ladylike mother's horror. The action in the book moves along quickly, any tricky vocabulary is possible to figure out using contextual clues (consult, organism), and there are plenty of interesting critter facts and scientific explanations for the science-loving early-chapter-book reader to keep them coming back for more books in the series.

Overall Book Score: very good