Christmas Stars finds Catharine is happy because she is old enough to help her father decorate the big tree in her yard for Christmas.

While they are working with the tree Catharine is puzzled when her Father tells her that there is too much snow this year. Catharine figures out a way to help the critters who will be troubled because of all the snow.

I like very much the premise of the tale and Catharine’s solution to the problem she discovers.

Writer Toews’ book is well thought out, introduces children to a real problem faced by animals during winter and provides a credible solution.

Vocabulary introduced is a bit advanced for very young readers. Illustrations done by Jennifer Macaire add much to the work.

Writer Toews has produced a delightful work complete with a maze, suggestions for a bagel treat for wild life and a word find puzzle. The book should have great appeal to the 8-10 year old set.

As a teacher I would like to see a word list of vocabulary used with grade level noted as to when the word is introduced in school setting added to the back of the book.

I would also like to see a small blurb added to alert classroom teachers, home school educators and parents as to reading level children will need to successfully read the book alone.

The provided format itself is my least favorite for eBooks. The scattered files unzipped at random, and I hunted and pecked searching for the various pages, etc.

Young Children will likely have trouble with the file. I did not try to put the files in any type folder, simply because young children would not have the ability to do so either and I wanted to read the book as a young child might do.

Classroom teachers do not have the time to fiddle with files and this may prove detrimental to hoped for sales to the school market if the zip always opens in this fashion.

That would be a pity if that were the case. I do feel the book has a place in the school setting if the unzipping can be tweaked so that the files open together, the beginning page is readily accessible to children working independently and kids are able to click from page to page without hunting as I did.

Due to the problem I encountered with the files I would not recommend the book for very young children as either a read alone or a read to book.

I prefer plain pdf eBooks for classroom usage.  PDF does move slower when there are many illustrations, etc, however young children can navigate the format with ease slow or not.

I like the book very much, I just don’t care much for the particular eBook format.

Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews molly martin Twenty + year classroom teacher

  Genre: Children’s book

Author: . Rita Y Toews

 Cover Art: Jennifer Macaire

Line/Publisher: . Books Unbound

Release Date: . 2002 I

SBN: eBook Formats I was sent a zipped set of files for review