Joke books for upper elementary students

As part of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards, the titles in the Funnier Bone Jokes series meet the standards for Reading, Writing, and Language.

This six-title series, written for third and fourth graders, not only includes fun and silly jokes, knock-knock jokes, limericks, tongue twisters, and fun facts for readers to tell each other, it also includes an activity section. In Funny Valentine's Day Jokes, readers are directed in creating their own valentine. Kooky Halloween Jokes instructs students in creating their own knock-knock jokes. Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas Jokes includes a make your own card activity. Corny Thanksgiving Jokes instructs the reader in how to write a limerick. The activity in Brainless Birthday Jokes shows the reader how to make a funny birthday card. The activity in April Fool's Day Jokes helps the reader pull a prank on a friend or family member.

All of the books in the Funner Bone Joke series are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They are available from your preferred vendor, your local independent bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Family Health and Fitness Day

Handy Health Guides, a 12-book series, is written for the middle school reader. Each 48-page book

contains information about the science behind common illnesses and injuries, and includes an activity.

Some of the topics covered include ADHD, bites and stings, burns and blisters, dyslexia, diabetes, and headaches. Did you know that Orlando Bloom is dyslexic? So is Britney Spears! And George Clooney! President Woodrow Wilson was also dyslexic, and he was a college professor before he became president. It seems that dyslexia is detected more often in boys, but just as many girls have dyslexia. It is thought that boys have a tendency to misbehave in class if they have learning problems, which the teacher will notice, however girls have a tendency to keep to themselves and will not try to attract attention.

Interested in any of these titles? They are all available in library and paperback editions, as well as in single-user and multi-user PDFs and as epubs. You can contact your preferred vendor or local independent bookstore, as well as find the books on enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

See Mark Enslow Up Close With Poison Dart Frogs

In light of New York State's and New York City's adoption of Enslow Publishers' Poison Dart Frogs Up Close into the Grade 3 curriculum, company president Mark Enslow recently hit the road in search of these beautiful, but lethal, creatures. Mark was able to get up close with poison dart frogs (as shown in the photograph) during a visit to a Pennsylvania site that humanely showcases benign or deadly amphibians and reptiles.

Right now, young readers can safely up close with poison dart frogs with Enslow's Poison Dart Frogs Up Close. Author Carmen Bredeson's 24-page, Guided Reading Level K work offers on-target informational text, excellent color photographs, and a reader-friendly design. The book is available in paperback direclty from Enslow Publishers for $6.95. A library-bound edition and a multi-user e-book version is also available.

Poison Dart Frogs Up Close is also available from your preferred vendor, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Animal Bodies Up Close

Did you know that honeybees have more than two eyes? Or that squirrels use their tails for balance? Or that hippos have their ears on top of their heads? Or that polar bears have the best sense of smell of any animal on Earth? Or that a cow uses its tongue to clean its nose? Or that one sea star has hundreds of feet?

Discover the answers to these and other questions in the Animal Bodies Up Close series, written for the elementary reader. Each title in this series has a words to know section, a learn more section, and index, as well as a guessing game.

All six titles in this series fit Reading and Language Common Core standards, and are available in library, paperback, eBook, and book/eBook combos. They are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, your local independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Looking for a craft book for Halloween?

978-0-7660-3730-4 Library
978-0-7660-3731-1 Paperback

Haunted House Adventure Crafts is a 32 page book written for upper elementary readers. Not only does this title give instructions on creating crafts, it also has a feature about creating your own story using those crafts.

Want to make a coffin? How about a mummy or a skeleton? How about a haunted house or Frankenstein? Following step-by-step instructions and using easily found materials, if readers are not interested in creating their own story, they can read the scary story included at the end of the book.

This title is available from enslow.com, your preferred vendor, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Biographies about Inventors

For STEM Friday, we are going to focus on two series for the upper elementary/lower middle school reader. Both series focus on inventors.


Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas, a new series for 2013 and written for the upper elementary reader, takes the reader on a journey of learning how different inventions were made and created. One of the books in this series is about Stephanie Kwolek, the woman behind the creation of a fiber, made from petroleum and other products, that was eventually used in bullet-resistant vests.

Other titles in this series focus on Theodore H. Maiman, Les Paul, George Ferris, Philo T. Farnsworth, James Naismith, and Vivien Thomas. All of these titles are 48 pages in length, and are available in library, paperback, ePUB, single-user PDF, and multi-user PDF formats.



The Genius at Work! Great Inventor Biographies series is written for the lower middle school reader. This series also covers six inventors: Madam C. J. Walker, Igor Sikorsky, Thomas H. Gallaudet, W. K. Kellogg, Samuel Colt, and Ralph Baer. Each book is 32 pages in length, and is available in a library edition.

Titles from both of these series are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Review of Body System Disease Investigations in Library Media Connection

978-0-7660-3945-2 Library
978-1-4644-0224-1 Paperback

The August/September 2013 issue of Library Media Connection includes a review of the five titles in the Body System Disease Investigations series.

Here is an excerpt from that review:

"Annie Biotica stars in this series as a 'Disease Scene Investigator.' In each title, Biotica walks us through one of the body systems. Five 'cases' in which the back story and symptoms of diseases attributed to that system are presented...With its colorful, concise format, this series is as delightful as gross body books come."

These five titles, with the help of a supersleuth character named "Annie Biotica," present real-life scenarios of infections, helping middle school readers experience the scientific method that medical teams and scientists use to decipher symptoms and lab test results. Each book contains five chapters, in which each chapter covers a different disease/ailment set up as a "case." This engaging and fun series makes the health and life science content more relevant to the student's own life.

The five titles are:
The Case of the Flesh-Eating Bacteria
The Case of the Infected Tick
The Case of the Rusty Nail
The Case of the Sneezy Popcorn
The Case of the Undercooked Burger

All five of these titles are available in library, paperback, and eBook versions, and are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.