Just as the title explains, this is basically a travel journal featuring the highlights of various places across Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the desert, the rainforest, and so on.  Random anecdotal phrases strewn across each page.  Difficult to grasp all concepts as I am unfamiliar with the Australian animals, but would be a good companion for someone who has been there or is writing a report about Australian.  The BEST parts were the extravagantly beautiful watercolor illustrations–the details and colors were absolutely brilliant.  Loved the art!

This is a fairly small book in size, the cover measuring 7.5 inches across and 8.5 top to bottom.  Photos take up less than half of each page, with the rest devoted to explanations of various landforms, parks, rivers and lakes, mountains, vocanoes, just to name a few.  The amount of variety is welcome as are the explanations, however, the jewel of the book are the dazzling photographs.  I wish that this book were much larger, with larger photos, to see all the detail each photo captures.  The clarity of the pictures is amazing, I just want a bigger impact.  (Photo credits are listed on last page.) This book is great for schools and science.

In this first graphics version of a non-fiction book, illustrations and diagrams effectively show the various types of volcanoes, the causes of eruption, the effects of an eruption, and safety tips in case of an eruption.  This is a great beginning earth science book.  It looks as though all titles in this series are about natural disasters.

Lou and her mom take their annual summer vacation to visit Memaw in the country.  Mom misses Richard and Lou misses Tristan, but both meet new guys.  Memaw invites an old classmate, Clem Fiffer, of mom’s to dinner in order to strike up a romance.  Clem, an obnoxious teenager is now an obnoxious, well-to-do doctor, and it doesn’t go so well.  Lou’s friend, Paul, is artistic and musical, as well as understanding.  Both are happy when summer is over and they can get back home.  This is an interesting style of story in which each set of pages is like a new chapter, but no transitions.  The story line is engaging and girls will enjoy the camaraderie Lou has with her mom.

This is a strange story with a surprise ending.  The girls are very different and not very tolerant of others who are different.

The pictures are lots of fun.  They were my favorite part of this strange little story.

This is a story of a girl, Precious Little, who lives at the circus and wants to fly.  Her friends Fat Chance, and Tough Luck encouraged her to try to fly.  They threw a rope across the lucky dip (I don’t know what the lucky dip is).  Precious Little stepped out onto the rope.  She fell into the lucky dip and came out flying.(I am not sure what happened at this point).  She flew around for a while, then she fell back to the earth and Fat Chance and Tough Luck caught her.  The End.  I was confused as to what this was about.

I loved the pictures.  They are wonderful to look at, with so much detail.  I like the way the words swirl around the pages.  The upside down page confused me for awhile.

This is a cute book about an owlet who is learning to fly.  He is scared of the dark and afraid that he might get lost,  but with the encouragement of his mother he takes off.  After a shaky start and a few scary encounters he has had a good flight and heads home.  He is happy to be home and needs a rest.

This is a fun story about a girl named Minty and how her summer changed many things in the life and her neighborhood.  Minty has trouble with her best friend trying out new friends and leaving Minty behind.  There is a secret tree in the neighborhood that notes are left with secrets.  Minty and her new friend Raymond try to match the secrets to the people in the neighborhood.  This makes for some detective work and sneaking around.  Just what every kid would love to do.

This story is fun and cute.  children would enjoy the experience of going through town as a bear.  They do theings many children would probable like to do.

There is a grammatical error on the second to last page “It’s so big and has a lots and lots of windows.” The “a” should not be there.

This would be a good book for beginning readers.  The vocabulary used is full of sight words for early readers.  The font is large and easy to read.

Dudley is a worm, an ugly worm, whom children tease and taunt.  Feeling like an outcast, Dudley meanders along in life, dreaming of a beautiful butterfly girl he saw.  Wanting to run away from home in shame, Dudley is convinced to stay, build himself a home, and wait.  He does, and he is transformed into a beautiful boy butterfly.  He and girl butterfly become friends and get married and live happily ever after.  Simple story.  There are a few more embellishments to the story to make it interesting than just what I’ve explained.  However, the story is sweet and is a perfect complement for a unit of the life cycle of insects.  The illustrations are amazing and are what make this book a treasure.  This story, though simple, is explained in words and concepts that kids understand.  Every school library should have a copy.

How interesting to have a book with so much to say about something that exists only in one’s imagination!  Various myths and lore surrounding merpeople are explored.  No actual findings of any merpeople.  Lots of books and media which feature mermaids are referred to.  A quiz to find out what kind of mermaid you are is featured.  Lots of beautiful illustrations and pictures of mermaids.  Girls strongly in tune with fantasy will enjoy spending time with this book.

Mole is a terrific musician but the problem is, he gets stage fright and can’t play in front of a crowd.  At a school talent show, he doesn’t want to play because of fear, but comes to the rescue of his friend, Pig, whose iPod broke and needs some music for his dance.  Mole overcomes his fear.  The references of Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen will go over young readers’ heads, but the adult reader will know who is being referred to.  Okay, but not necessary.

This book will have limited appeal to students, mainly those who love monsters, cannot read too well, may be prone to nightmares, and who have trouble with comprehension.  This is a graphic novel about ten young monsters who’ve formed a friendship and one day are headed out to the beach for a day of fun.  There they meet Gil, a fish monster, who is afraid to go into the water and is afraid of fish.  They talk him into going with them into the water and he ends up saving their lives from the giant squid.  He then discovers his family.  The story is kind of lame, the dialogue is lame, and what is strange is that the cover is intentionally made to look beat up and well worn, as if it’s been a loved book.  Why?  To fool the kids into thinking this is a popular book?  Some younger kids will enjoy it, but most won’t pick it up.  Most school libraries won’t have the budget to purchase these books.

Using a dog to teach the love of poetry–a perfect combination!  Marilyn Singer has written poems about dogs for every occasion and Miki Sakamoto has created beautiful, colorful, clean pictures in which to display these poems.  Together, it’s a beautiful thing, which all school libraries should have.

Kids, and adults, too, can’t get enough of the pictures of the cute polar bear and cubs.  In looking at the photo credits, I was surprised to see so many people involving in procuring pictures.  The language here is very simple, giving interesting facts about the bears.  Includes a glossary and index which can be used to teach about non-fiction tools.

The title refers to the big, bad wolf, who preens as he looks at his reflection in the mirror.  He saunters through the forest and as he encounters various fairy tale characters, he doesn’t threaten to eat them, he just asks “Who is the handsomest of all?”  Until he finally runs into a baby dragon, who tells him the truth, that his father is.  And he fries the wolf with his breath of fire.  The audascity of the wolf, coupled with the timidity of the fairy tale characters, gives you the feeling of his brashness, until someone finally stands up to him.  Clever and young kids got the humor.

What makes this book remarkable is that each set of pages opens up into a panoramic view of a forested area and a dinosaur.  The forest area looks to be a photograph as does the dinosaur, however, it doesn’t say so in the credits.  In which case, the illustrations are fantastic!  I thought maybe they were pictures of dinosaurs taken at perhaps a science center exhibit of the real-looking robotic dinosaurs.  In any case, the illustrations were credible enough to make kindergarteners and first-graders gasp.  The story is about a young ankylosaur trying to make friends with an old, injured ankylosaur and being rebuffed.  When a T-rex tries to kill the old ankylosaur, the young one steps in to help, and a friendship is made.  Young kids love dinosaurs and this book practically makes them lifelike.

Making a Bully-Free World identifies the various types of bullies and ways in which to handle each situation.  This is a hard topic to teach in schools, and although this book looks to be for the younger audiences, the topic and discussion it entails is actually for the more savvy students.  The book uses good examples of what bullying actually looks like.  I believe the  more opportunity for discussion is worthwhile and this book provides it.  I wish it were larger so that it would be easier to show larger groups of kids in a more intimate fashion.

Lou is a 12-year-old girl living with her single mom.  She’s noticing boys and finding out that playing with dolls isn’t the same now as it had been before.  Also, her mother is attracted to a new neighbor.  Just about each page is a new scenario for Lou, except for when her grandmother comes to visit.  That story takes several pages as ‘memaw’ is quite the character.  Quite a few realities are exposed.  Definitely a girls’ book, they should love the storylines and dialogue.

The last year of Rose Hathaway’s life wraps up her typical dramatic flare in Last Sacrifice, the final installment of the Vampire Academy novels.  Rose is on her way to becoming her best friend Lissa’s guardian when the unimaginable happens – she is accused of murdering the queen, which is also her boyfriend’s aunt.   Well connected, she manages to escape with others help and will be a fugitive, traveling up and down the east coast until she figures out who really killed Titania and why she was framed.  Of course, Rose’s romantic life cannot be left to dwindle while she’s gone.  Though her boyfriend is still back at the court, her true arua-ly connect soul mate Dimitri will put up his guard while traveling with her.  Both will come to conclusions that the physical fighting is easy, but it’s why they fight that matters.   Once again, Richelle Mead’s fast-paced narrative that includes Rose being able to connect to others with through dreams and channeling gives a reader 24 hours of vampire action per day.  The scene of passion between Rose and Dimitri is tame but true.  Rose will never give up and is heck of a role-model for vampire fans to unite around.

Teen Brie literally dies of a broken heart. She ends up in a place like Limbo; not really gone, but not able to connect with the living. She meets a mysterious spirit named Patrick who might be connected to her past. Overall, Brie must relinquish her former life and accept the fact that she is dead.

The author does an amazing job of depicting the character’s emotions and personalities. The well-written plot keeps the reader on ones toes – you will think you know what is going to happen next, but you will be surprised with the story’s twists and turns. There is a touch of romance in this story, but it is definitely not a romance novel, but a high drama read. This page-turner will delight all readers that enjoy the unexpected.

— Maggie C.

In this fantasy graphic novel, the main character, Seifer Tombchewer, has a great life being one of the most popular boys in his small village. But that all changes one day when he is kidnapped by the royal guard. It turns out that Prince Pandemonium, the next in line to the throne, has disappeared and Seifer happens to look identical to the missing prince. Seifer must now take over the prince’s role as diplomat, warrior and Lord Defender of the Realm. He must fool the royal family and their court and most of all, the kingdom’s enemies. Thus, ensues a fun madcap adventure as Seifer tries to fit into the prince’s “shoes.”

The plot is a fun mix of humor and drama. The art is absolutely gorgeous and complements the plot well. Anyone who enjoys a good fantasy story will devour this book.

— Mara B.

In this graphic novel, there is a serious plague that kills off everyone that is over 12 years old. The main character, Lisa Nelson, is one of the surviving 12 year olds. In a world without adults, she must try to keep her younger brother and herself alive. Lisa must keep her family safe from the vicious gangs of children who steal food. In order to keep her family safe from the gangs, she organizes the children in her neighborhood to create a city. Thus, she actually begins creating civilization while battling the Chidester Gang, the biggest and meanest gang in her town.

The characters are depicted age-appropiately and the plot is highly dramatic and thought-provoking. The art is top notch; The color palete works well for the book’s tone of gritty realism. Teens and younger children will enjoy this read for its unique and original idea.

— Mara B.

This book is a clearly written step by step guide to basic horse training for kids.  Every page has several demonstrative photographs along with instructions for training objectives.  The philosophy is horse control through respect, body language and establishing yourself in the hierarchy as leader of your horse.  The authors explain that training a horse is most effective when you “speak” their language.  I appreciate the positive and clear methods described in the this book.  I did find a few typos which is unfortunate but did not detract from my reading experience.

Echo, a bat, is the storyteller in this series. Echo is friend to the Silver family and their three children: Michael, Tyler, and Becca.

This episode begins when Echo sees a mummy  on their way home from a family fishing trip at Lake Placid. Soon afterward an Ancient Egyptian Exhibit opens at the local Fogville Museum. King Tut’s grandmother, Queen Tiye, is part of the exhibit. Legend has it  she tutored Tutankhamen on the ways of being a great pharaoh. She, also, enjoyed playing the ancient Egyptian strategy game of senet with Tut nightly. “Legend has it that the day her grandson won a game, it would be the sign that he was finally ready to become pharaoh.” Now, Queen Tiye is unable to rest peacefully since her tomb has been unearthed until her grandson wins a game of senet played with her. Tyler Silver learns how to play senet and begins to play it competitively. Michael, Tyler, and Becca Silver plan to have Tyler (dressed as Tut ) challenge Queen Tiye to a game in the museum after the museum has closed for the evening. Echo is instrumental in getting them inside the museum and in winning the game.

The color illustrations (12 full page, & 24- 1/3 page) add to the enjoyment of this exotic story line. The grandmother mummy wears granny glasses as part of the light-hearted fun.

Includes: 3 discussion questions, 3 writing prompts,  a glossary, and www.facthound.com.