Monarch Award books, part 2

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy. Martina is 21 days old and must find a husband. Her grandmother advises the coffee test to check the personality of prospective mates. This test eliminates all the obvious candidates, but Grandma knows best and Martina ends up with her perfect mate. This book has beautiful illustrations and repetitive phrases that will draw listeners and readers in.
Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton. Splat is nervous about his first day of school, so he takes his best friend Seymour with him. This leads to a problem when Seymour (a mouse) escapes from the lunchbox and the other cats chase him. The wise teacher tries to distract the students with milk, and Seymour saves the day when the milk cabinet is stuck. Younger readers will like this one.
Tsunami! by Kimiko Kajikawa. This is a wonderfully illustrated folktale about a respected elder who sacrifices his rice fields to save the lives of his fellow villagers during a tsunami.
Too Many Toys by David Shannon. Shannon's No David series is a favorite and this will be too. The illustrations are very similar. Spencer has too many toys and his fed-up parents finally make him get rid of a few. Along the way, Spencer finds a surprising new favorite toy.
The Squeaky Door retold by Margaret Read MacDonald. This is a repetitive story that will make a great read-aloud. Grandma tries to help her grandson Little Boy when he is afraid of the squeaky door. At the end, the simplest solution saves the day.
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas. This is the story of 4 dust bunnies: Ed, Ned, Ted and Bob. As you might expect, Bob has trouble coming up with words for their rhyming game. Luckily the other dust bunnies finally pay attention because Bob has some important information that just might save them! This is probably the only book I've ever heard of about dust bunnies and I wasn't sure what to expect; what I got was a cute story.
Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurrican Katrina, Friendship and Survival by Kirby Larsona nd Mary Nethery. The two Bobbies are a cat and dog that escape from New Orleans together after Hurricane Katrina. When they finally make it to a shelter, it is discovered that the feline Bobbie is blind and wouldn't have survived without her canine friend. This is based on a true story and will appeal to the older Monarch Award readers.
Oh, Theodore! Guinea Pig Poems by Susan Katz. I am usually not a fan of the poetry selections, but this reads like a story. All the poems are about a boy and his pet guinea pig and are told sequentially from the time the boy gets Theodore.
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach. So cute! A young boy runs boring errands with his mom every Friday. But one Friday everywhere he goes they are giving away dinosaurs. He ends up with 4, which doesn't make his mom very happy until she realizes they are good for doing chores.
Mudball by Matt Tavares. This tells the true story of the shortest home run in baseball history, which occurred during a very rainy, muddy game. This will be appealing to most younger kids, and a few older baseball fans.