A ‘doppelganger’ is a German word for a ghost double.  In this book by the same name, the doppelganger is Brian Bain, a 13-year-old who was born in Korea and adopted twice in the U.S.  His first birth family died in an accident when he was very young, and he was then adopted by his guardians.  Brian doesn’t know much about his real background, other than he was born in Korea.  After winning a design contest, Brian’s picture is in the local newspaper.  This causes him to be contacted by  strange strangers who think he is someone else.  His friend, Roni, finds an old photo on-line of a little boy these strangers ask him about; she ages it to Brian’s age and there is his doppelganger — a boy who looks like him exactly.  At first, he thinks it’s a case of mistaken identity.  But to complicate matters, a family has offered a $100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts (or his doppelganger).  This pricetag is what is causing the nuts to come out.  What Brian finds out is that he actually has a twin who has disappeared.  The story has a lot of action but the main ideas don’t get lost.  A very entertaining and suspenseful read for those who enjoy mysteries.

Uncertainties are for certain in the teenage years.  Astrological signs and daily horoscopes hold as much as meaning as SAT results.  So is the case for Lani, a high school junior who is a bit too concerned with fate.  Every since the near drowning accident where her best friend Erin helped to save her life, Lani has been faithful to their friendship, even though they are growing apart. But then Jason steps in.  Jason is dating Erin, even though sparks are flying between Lani and him.  When Erin leaves for the summer, Lani struggles with fate, chemistry and betrayal.  The beginning of her senior year is shrouded by vicious harassment.  Lani will make decisions regarding friendships that would be tough for most adults.  Though slow at the beginning because of the ongoing references to fate and typical, boring characterization of high school students, this book takes off once the romance is allowed to bloom.  Nothing sexual to worry about here, but one student does come out of the closet despite verbal abuse from his father. If you have other Susane Colasanti in your library, this would be a worthy addition for fans.

Told in rhyme, Pierre the Penguin is about an African penguin living at the California Academy of Sciences.  Senior aquatic biologist Pam Schaller noticed Pierre had lost most of his feathers so she and a friend designed a wetsuit for him.  Within about 6 weeks, his feathers had grown back.  The once ostracized penguin was again accepted by the others.  Noted wildlife artist, Laura Regan, created beautiful paintings to illustrate this story.  Because this is a true story, Pam answers some frequently asked questions in the back.  Also available is a website for downloadable teachers’ guides.

“In a rocky , dry world, it’s good to blend in.” (pg. 4) and from the glossary on page 22: ” camouflage- coloring or covering that makes animals look like their surroundings”

The 11″ x 9.5″ close-up photos of a grasshopper, a tarantula,a kori bustard (bird), a camel, a ground mantid (insect), a bobcat, a thorny devil (reptile), and a sidewinder in their motley variations of  browns, blacks, and white – earth tones and patterns blend in with the dry grasses, brush, and earth of the desert.

Lexile: 540 L

In a world of only robots, ( all in the bright single colors of the rainbow, no metallic silver or gray) R Robot is off to work at the factory. “R Robot’s job today is to help his friends find the missing robot who was last seen at lunch time the day before.”  After looking all morning, when the lunch line gets long, R Robot decides to look into the clogged robot Big Cooker’s belly. There he unclogs the cooker and finds the lost robot at the same time.

The bright colors throughout is book  are  pieces of candy for the reader’s eye!

Cultural diversity is explored in this 7″ x 8″ photo essay of ethnic dress: parkas in northern Canada’s cold places,a  lavalava in the Cook Island’s hot places,  a turban in Morocco to protect your head from sun and / or blowing sand, uniforms on school children in Cuba, colorful skirts as children’s playwear in Peru, and kimonos in Japan and kilts in Scotland on special days for dressing up.

Includes: world map with in set mini-photos of the clothing from the six continents (minus Antarctica) color coded for quick reference to continent / country of origin.

Lexile: 470 L

Little hands explore the triangle shape in photos of plastic ( car lot) pennants, an Egyptian pyramid, tortilla chips, recycle icon, yield sign, cut sandwiches,and  a musical triangle instrument along with a 5 word sentence in this 6″ x 7″ book.

Little hands explore the circle shapes around them through photos of bicycle tires / wheels, the sun, a pie, cereal (ex. Fruit Loops), basketball and basketball hoop, a cake, a pizza with sliced olives, the lenses of binoculars, and with a single accompanying 5 word sentence.

Size: 6″ x 7″

Colonial jobs were jobs done by hand because electricity had not yet been harnessed.The two-page spreads include Jabs at home ( weaving and candle making), miler (grinding grains into flour), blacksmith (shoeing horses, making nails, tools, and cooking pots), cooper ( making wooden barrels and containers), carpenter and cabinetmaker ( built buildings, and furniture), cobbler and tanner (making and repairing leather shoes, belts, and saddles) , milliner ( sold fabric), wigmaker, and trading with the Native Americans.

Each job description is given in a paragraph or two, along with “Words to Know” side-bars, and trivia – “Did you Know?”

Includes museum and/or websites.

Paul Thompson takes on a tough person to research — little is known about Billy the Kid (also known as William H. Bonney, Billy Bonney, Kid Antrim, or Henry McCarty) and very few photographs were ever found of him.  Billy first got in trouble with the law at age 15 when he shot and killed a blacksmith following a card game.  Billy spent much of his short life on the run, even escaping from jail. 

While the reading level of this biography is appropriate for middle school and even younger, I wonder how interested students this young would be with all of the detail and names of other outlaws the author brings forth.

When 3 eyed, 3 legged, no armed, and extremely long tongued Snorp, the window washer, gets a day off work he asks his  no eyed, very big nosed friend Moopy to teach him how to snowboard.  After, Snorp learns a variety of skills from Moopy, he finds out of accident,  he hasn’t learned how to stop.  Snorp’s  tongue gets stuck to the metal of a moving chairlift when trying to stop.

Lexile: 220 L

Combine bully Troy Perkins as he transforms into the evil Pape3rcut, nerdy Chip Stone and his superhero alter ego Rockhead, his nerd friend Spencer with his secret sidekick identity as Scissorlegz in a graphic novel format and the reader has a recipe for comic book escapism. All puns are intended as super villain and superhero (plus sidekick) duel at Banner Elementary School in a classic game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors.’

Includes: glossary, 3 fictitious full-page “Advertisements” ( pg. 15, 29, 36) , and questions and prompts.

Lexile: GN 240 L

The 8″ x 7″ size of this book fits nicely into small elementary hands. The top 2/3 of each page is a full color, close-up photo of the active bug being described in the one sentence  below the photo.

“Most bugs get their food from plants.” (p. 6) while others suck blood, “eat poo”, or eat other insects / bugs.

Includes the “How Big?” page showing actual size of 4 different bugs.

Lexile: 430 L

Hans Solo and his first mate Chewbacca, hired by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to take them to Princess Leia, recently apprehended by Darth Vader.  Princess Leia is transporting the Emperor’s secret plans for the Death Star to rebel leaders.  Content and vocabulary target an older audience (Grades 4 and 5), when in fact the Star Wars fans at my school hover around the first and second grades.  Illustrations of characters resemble the movie actors which is helpful to the comprehension in moving the plot forward.  Sophisticated language is used which makes this not necessarily a selection for reluctant or struggling readers.  The detailed illustrations can clutter the page at times, therefore the reader requires a more familiarity with graphic novels and dialogue format in order to navigate through the text.  Some comic violence appears in the form of generic gun zapping.  Best that this title is a hardback, as multiple circulations are predicted even with the described drawbacks.

In this Rookie Reader, a small girl goes fishing with her grandfather. After trying three different kinds of bait she concedes and goes home having simply caught a cold.

Lexile: 160 L

NASA photos (along with other photos from Photo Researchers, Inc.)  give added visual understanding to the 2 or 3 sentences per page on size, shape, location, surface, and chemical composition of asteroids.

Includes: glossary and index.

Lexile: 590 L

Every now and then a book comes along whose message transcends beyond the text and illustrations.   A book that is more than the sum of its parts.  Liz Garton Scanlon’s rhyming couplets and Marla Frazee’s pencil and water color tackles the impossible job of capturing the sense of wonder and mystery about hour human existence on the planet. Through these pictures and vignettes, we follow a multicultural family from a summer morning, to the end of the day and a quiet night at home.  What a heartwarming celebration of our interconnectedness  in a world that provides us everything.  After reading this simple, exquisite book, I was compelled, once again, to live each day in gratitude.

The ‘who, what where, and when’  information of centuries past Ninja is revealed through large action packed illustrations and photos in combination with 3  to 4 sentences per page.

WHO: special families / both male and female

WHAT: spies and assasins

WHERE: Japan

WHEN: 1400s – 1600s

Ninja trained from a young age in secret villages the arts of invisiblity through disguise, moving silently, and blending into their surroundings, fighting and killing

Lexile:  NC 700 L

Beginning with several pages addressing general concepts (reminding readers to be creative and be willing to make mistakes and try again), it goes on to describe a bit about the history of collage as an art form, define tools, elements of composition, and techniques, using both pictures and words.  After this general introduction, it provides step-by-step directions for six specific projects with lots of photo support for the directions.  It also provides tips for preserving finished projects.

Just a few rhyming words on each page, with bright illustrations capture a small child’s experience of the pageantry and excitement of watching a parade.  It’s a fine little book for very small children, but nothing exceptional.

Told from the perspective of the older brother of a boy with autism, this story does a good job of describing some of the experiences, frustrations, and successes that autism brings to a family.  I think it would be a useful tool to include in any library collection, to help others understand and cope with their own experiences of special needs children.

A book intended for very young children, it’s designed to introduce the days of the week and the idea of journaling.  Each 2-page spread holds 1 sentence telling what that day is for, accompanied by mixed-media illustrations.  A page in the back offers parents/teachers conversation-starting questions for pre-schoolers.  It’s a fine book for what it does, but there are others that do the same, and it has very limited audience appeal.

It’s a rhyming tale describing how the Belly Button Fairy bestows 1 belly button on every newborn baby.  It has words to a song in the back to the tune of “Yankee Doodle.”  There will be some readers who will always be drawn to anything with “Fairy” in the title, but it doesn’t really have much else to recommend it.

I didn’t like it.  It seems rather lame and disjointed:  a group of forest friends build a dinosaur to save their patch of woods from a plastic trees factory, but instead save the woods because it turns out the friends are all extinct or endangered.  It’s got cut-paper illustrations.

Adapted from a folk song that dates from the 1500s, this picture book tells the story of a farmer who brags about his work being so much harder than his wife’s, until she swaps places with him and forces him to recognize how much more difficult her work is.  Though the illustrations depict the couple in modern dress, it still holds a certain timelessness.