200 stunning photos from the NASA archives help document the missions to the moon, explain the space race, phases of the moon, and even myths and legends of the moon.  The accompanying DVD contains footage of the Neil Armstrong’s first walk on the moon, as well as future missions.  The DVD is so good, I plan to shelf it with other DVDs in my media section.

Forbidden love begins as soft lapping waves, building and building until it is tidal in nature, only to wash out to sea, leaving behind memories and nothing more.  So is the terse story of Illyria, where two cousins fall madly in love, trying to make sense of their world, their families and their passion for each other.   Rogan and Madeline live across the street from each other, spend most waking hours with one another, and the family mostly ignores them as they hide their romance.  But once cast into Twelfth Night together, the play charts a new course for each character rapidly–maybe too rapidly.   With hints of magic realism, Elizabeth Hand’s story is feels old-worldly at times and then spot on in today’s world.  But a reader knows from the very start that this is a love that can not last.  It’s rapid decline is that crushing tidal wave, only leaving remnants behind.  Anyone who has knowledge of Twelfth Night will enjoy this tale, but it is not required to be enjoyed.

Earth gives us air, water, and soil to live. “But people do things that hurt Earth.” (p. 8)  Author Peggy Hock stays objective as she mentions air pollution from power plants which burn coal and car exhaust, water pollution from chemicals used on lawns and gardens, and land pollution from littering and improper disposal of garbage.

Pages 20-21 “Five Ways to Help Earth”  1- Don’t litter…, 2- Recycle and buy recycled products…, 3- carpool…, 4- turn off lights…, 5- Plant a tree…”

Page 23  Four Pollution Fighting Inventions: electric car, solar plane, soybean-oil-powered bus, pedal-powered bus

“Spanish missionaries set up missions to spread Christianity to Native Americans. Even if the Native Americans did not want to become Christian, the missionaries forced them to follow Christian religious practices.” (p. 21)  The Spanish were not friendly in their methods of establing missions in New Mexico with the various groups of Native Americans.

Author, Robin Lyon, shows missions, not just as a church, but as a place – village- a governmental institution. The missions’ timeline consists of 1500 to 1800.

6 chapters include: 1- Into New Mexico, 2- Exploring New Mexico , 3- Mission Life, 4- Missions of New Mexico, 5- Growing Conflicts, and 6 Times Change.  Also includes: True Statistics, Resources, Important Words, & Index.

* Photo on page 18 is incorrectly labeled – “The Navajo”.

“Palominos are not a true breed. Instead, they are a color type… occur in many different horse breeds… most are classified as light horses.” Since palominos are not a breed, the book gives general information on “Care”, “Feeding”, tack, growing from birth, and training after it talks about palomino horses’ coloring and markings.

Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, meets up with his father, in Africa, after 30 years apart, only to have him snatched away by scientist- Frederick Kiber who’s been working on teleportation. Tony is able to rescue his father, save the day, and keep his secret identity for awhile longer.

An action packed graphic novel with some higher level vocabulary to boot.

This book is fascinating!  Bredeson has done a terrific job in explaining health, disease, and medical practices done during the Middle Ages.  The explanations are short, to the point, in easy to understand language, and totally entertaining.  The accompanying illustrations are equally well done.  In order to get kids hooked on history, this book should be in all school libraries.

The subtitle for this book is “Bizarre, weird and Wonderful Puzzles with Science,” which pretty much describes the random acts of science questions throughout this book.  Example:  “You are in a room filled with 100% methane gas.  What would happen if you struck a match.”  The answer (found at the back of the book0: Nothing would happen because there is no oxygen in the room.  I plan to share this book with our science teachers, who might enjoy asking the class a puzzle a day.

Why does a tea kettle go strangely quiet just before the water begins to boil?  Which two liquids, commonly found in your home, when poured together will not mix?

These and other science questions are posed, with the answers at the back of the book, making a great read for those students with inquisitive science minds.

Abyssinian cats are a recognized breed of the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA). Abyssinian cats get their name from the former name for Ethiopia from which they were once thought to have originated.

“Unless they are eating or sleeping, these busy cats are always on the move…Abyssinian cats are athletic and smart.” (pg. 8)

This breed’s physical description: weight, body shape, coloring, ears, tail, eye color and shape are described.

Eight two-page spreads explain basketball terminology ( jump ball, dribbling, passing and stealing, foul, air ball, jump shot, slam dunk, and basketball scoreboard) in three or four sentences with an action basketball photo.

Rules of the game are not covered.

Page 11’s photo is of a wheelchair game of basketball.

Includes: Word Hunt, Your New Words, Four Basketball Greats (two are women), Index, and Find Out More.

Clean sources of energy are briefly introduced using water –dams, wind – wind farms/turbines, and sun – solar panels in 3 or 4 sentences per 2-page spread next to an accompanying photo.

Subtle, factual, and not preachy.

Includes: Word Hunt, Your New Words, The Sun’s Energy at Work, Index, and Find Out More.

Judy Moody’s  2nd grade younger brother, Stink, has earned a $5.00 gift certificate by helping in a college study.  After using his gift certificate to buy a Super-Galactic jawbreaker, Stink writes a letter to the jawbreaker company to state, “It did NOT (I repeat NOT) break my jaw.” The company responds by sending Stink a letter accompanied by an assorted box of 21,280 jawbreakers. Stink’s ensuing dilemmas begin.

At the end of each of the nine chapters, there is a child drawn comic explaining an idiom found in this book.

There is a complete list of 30+ idioms, found within this story, at the end of the book.

In this book we find adventure, mystery, and intrigue.  All wrapped up with a werewolf, a couple of ghosts and some creatures.  It’s a fun book.

The large, up close photographs are a wonderful way to  illustrate the measuring concepts presented in this primary text.  Will Sue use her foot or her nose to measure how tall her newly sprouted flower is growing?  It is obvious by the photo of the foot and the nose, next to the sprout, that one is too big and one too small.  Enlarged and bold photos of rulers, yardsticks, and tape measures show the standard tools that are used for measuring.  When a ruler is used to measure the height of Sue’s plant, the text says…”The ruler shows that her plant is 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) tall.”  First of all, throwing in a decimal into a primary, introductory book just doesn’t make sense…and second, it is obvious from the exquisite close up photo that the plant does not even measure as tall as 5.5 inches.  Also, why include the centimeters, when you can not see 14 centimeters on the ruler, due to the fact that you measure inches and centimeters starting from opposite ends of the ruler.   This was quite confusing.  A few other photos are equally confusing, with respect to the text.  Other pages have the visual and concepts work quite well together.  The kids will love the “Cool Measuring Facts” in the back, listing things like tallest dog, longest hair, tallest man, etc. (Photos of each of these would have been very “cool”.)

Using animals in the zoo, the author explores the use of different graphs to organize and understand data.  Each two page spread explains  specific graphs such as pictographs, tallies, bar graphs, pie graphs and line graphs.  With clear, uncluttered graphics, the visuals greatly support the text.  Yet, the undersized book would be better  presented as a larger book or with a document camera, to be shared with the whole class.  I’m glad to have this comprehensive introduction to graphs to add to our collection.  Other titles in this set include primary books on analyzing data, probability and sorting.

Soo Min, a young Korean girl, is adopted by an American Family where most everything is new and different for her. She makes a friend in the family cat, but her world is turned upside down when the cat goes missing. Although she is comforted by her mother, her world is righted again when the cat returns. Readers will be able to feel with their hearts the story of Soo Min’s intercountry adoption. Korean words are written on each page that say: family, home, mommy, daddy, child, safe, love, and cat. Illustrations are made in paper collage and acrylic and oil paint.

This well loved fable will be loved even more! Although the concept stays true, it is told in rhyme with great modifiers and verb choice! The illustrations are are fun and bright.

Kaycie Shay has a fairy tale childhood. However, her life is about to change when young Kacie Shay is told that her dad will be moving to another neighborhood. The issue of divorce is handled very well with statements of having no one to blame, and even though there was sadness, over time mom and dad got along better. The story is told in rhyme which seems to lighten the weight of this topic. Water color illustrations enhance the story line.

This Garfield graphic novel is based upon the characters created by Jim Davis. It contains 3 stories that are simple and nonviolent. Garfield lovers will appreciate the same humor in these stories as they would find in the comics and the TV series.

This Garfield graphic novel contains three stories based upon the characters created by Jim Davis. The stories are nonviolent, simplistic, and last from 6-11 pages each. Readers will find the same humor in this book from this lasagna loving cat as in the comics and the TV series.

This 24 page book contains very basic facts about our earth and the pollution that plagues it. Each page has 1-2 sentences of information with a color photograph to enhance the message. This book is written so simply that it does not report information beyond common knowledge. This would be appropriate for preschool through kindergarten.

Dave Wencel takes a look at unidentified flying objects and reports  from those who claim to have seen them.  This 24 page book defines UFOs and provides data about accounts of sightings.  Other books in the Unexplained series are: The Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, ESP, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, The Loch Ness Monster, and Near-Death Experiences.  A glossary and index are included along with books to read and a website to visit for more information.

Miss Smith returns with her Incredible Storybook in this ocean-based adventure.  he class goes on a field trip to an aquarium.  The high-seas voyage comes to life as Miss Smith and the class are transported with the Owl and the Pussycat in the pea-green boat.  Their action-packed day continues as she reads Moby Dick, The Little Mermaid, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver’s Travels.  The characters from each story join Miss Smith and the children in the pea-green boat until the final adventure with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Michael Garland’s computer generated illustrations are brightly colored and are well-matched with this quick introduction to seven well-loved classic stories.

Laurie Halse Anderson is a well-known author of award winning chapter book.  This story of Zoe’s wild hair is one of her picture books.  Zoe’s beautiful red hair has a mind of its own.  It opens cookie jars, plays with the cat, and even learns how to fly!  In kindergarten, it helped out around the classroom, but in first grade, Ms. Trisk had rules!  No wild hair!  It wasn’t until a disastrous science lesson about the planets, did Zoe’s hair finally win Ms. Trisk’s approval.  Ard Hoyt’s energetic ink and watercolor illustrations are a terrific match with Zoe’s rambunctious hair.