This is a fun story.  The lesson of how to truly help others is the main theme of the story.  The Magician learns that doing everything for others is not the best way to help. The pictures are full of fun details.  This is a good story for children.

This is book #6 of 6 in the Supergirl graphic novel series. I have read book #2, but not books 3, 4, or 5. My background knowledge from book #2 was helpful, but I needed to have read the previous books in this series to completely understand the twists and turns in the plot.

GRADUATION DAY, Part 2 tops the pictorial list of characters before the story line begins, but I do not understand this title’s significance.

Superman and Supergirl are in the clutches of Lex Luther’s Lexsoar 7 when Comet ( a horse in a cape) smashes the machine freeing them. Back on Earth, Supergirl finds a frozen Belinda. Then Lena arrives ready to take revenge on Supergirl,only to have them both bound up by MXYZPTLK from the 5th Dimension. MXYZPTLK takes credit for all that has happened to Supergirl, so he could collect all her emotions… “to be amplified and processed through a machine built to replicate your Kryptonian biology and my 5th-Dimensional awesomeness…” ( p. 12) A few pages later, MXYZPTLK escapes from Supergirl and returns to the 5th dimension. The 5th dimension inhabitants “banished [him] to the 2nd dimension. Forever.” (p.21) for breaking the rules.  Back in the 3rd dimension, Lex has helped his sister, Lena, recover from the effects of MXYZPTLK’s capture but Lena has lost the memory of Lex as her loving brother.

The artwork ‘s facial expressions, use of size and color, and the scenes from space are outstanding!

There are 5 Visual Questions and Prompts included at the end of the book.

Bugs and insects need police and in this book it is Captain Bob, Bug Patrol. Follow Captain Bob as he cruises around from 9 AM to 10:08 when ants on a donut need some help with their manners, at 11:30 it is beetles in a fender-bender, at 12:33 it is speeding spiders on motorcycles, at 1:35 it is time for lunch and walking the beat, at 3:15 there is a picket line at the roach hotel, at 4:53 there is a missing baby flea emergency, followed by a loud cricket party at 7:48. Then at 8:00,  “Bug patrolling work is done.”

This BIG 9.75 X 10.25 inch book is filled with big plump, bug-eyed critters at each location. Short concise rhyme awaits the reader at each traffic stop.

“Therapy dogs help people, mainly through visits and temporary companionship… The simple presence of  a dog in the room often lifts the spirits of people and makes them more active in the surroundings.” (page 5)

This 32 page book is broken up into 4 short chapters: A Comforting Presence, Becoming a Team, On the Job, and Off Duty.

Therapy dogs are often distinguished by wearing a special vest or bandana, but they are not service dogs, which are more highly trained. Small and medium sized dogs of no particular breed, who are able to follow basic commands, work well with their handler, and display calmness are the usual candidates for this job, though bigger dogs sometimes qualify, as well. Therapy dogs provide both animal-assisted activities with large groups and animal-assisted therapy with smaller groups.

Therapy dogs are almost a No-Brainer for making people feel good, if the person enjoys dogs in the first place. The joy dogs can elicit is beneficial to a person’s health.

The photos of over twenty therapy dogs throughout this book drive home this point.

Tippy Tinkletrousers has traveled back in time again to undo the trouble he created by changing the past. Now, he has traveled forward in time and is chasing George and Harold to get his revenge on them. George and Harold decide to use their own time machine, the Purple Potty, to return their pet dinosaur to the past so Tippy Tinkletrousers won’t hurt it. By mistake Mr. Krupp, AKA, Captain Underpants is also transported back in time.  Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth through time they go. Harold and George see dinosaurs, meet cave people, and draw the first ‘comic book’ on the  cave wall to help them communicate with the cave people.  The cave people help George and Harold defeat the evil Tippy Tinkletrousers. While in the past Tippy is responsible for the Ice Age and the Big Bang Theory. Too bad Harold and George’s teacher doesn’t believe a word of this when they use their first hand information on their Science Test once they get back to the present.

Captain Underpants fans will enjoy this 10th epic novel with its two flip-o-ramas and George and Harold’s two comic books.

Librarians will enjoy the sturdy binding and heavier(than paperback’s) paper.

The book starts in the early 1600’s, as the founder of the publishing house of Letterford, Miles Letterford, creates a puzzle hiding original works by Shakespeare, intended to be found by future heirs.  Zoom forward to today.  Mull Letterford is now the president of the publishing house and his second cousin is breathing down his neck trying to take over the business.  Odd things have been happening and business has been poor for Letterford’s.  If Mull isn’t able to sign contracts with writers to publish three new books by December 24, the company goes to his cousin.  What Mull doesn’t know is that his cousin has hired some shady characters to destroy his changes.  Mull’s daughter, Coly, and his other cousin, Julian, collaborate to solve the puzzle that’s in the portrait of Miles Letterford.  For almost four hundred years, no one has been able to figure out where the family treasure is hidden, or even what the family treasure is.  It comes down to a race against time as the deadline nears.  There are almost two parallel stories here: one of the clues and the hunt that follows and the second one the disasters that befall Mull.  Both are interesting and funny.  This was a very enjoyable book and I hope it is the first of many to follow.

In this sequel to The Apothecary, Meloy has continued the story with Benjamin, his father, Janie and Pip, but now the kids are the apprentices to the apothecary.  The last book ends with Benjamin giving Janie and her parents and Pip a celebration drink which erased their memories of the last three weeks.  Benjamin also took Janie’s diary in which she had meticulously recorded the events of each day.  Pip becomes a well known actor in England and no longer needs to steal to support himself.  Benjamin and his father have gone to the jungles of Viet Nam in the midst of the beginning of the war, and work thanklessly to save the Vietnamese people from both their wounds and the jungle.  Janie goes back to the U.S. with her parents, however, her parents go to Michigan to work and Janie goes to boarding school in New Hampshire.  Janie is an excellent and serious student who excels in the sciences.   As time passes, traces of her memory from her time with the apothecary begin to return, and she works on an experiment she’s remembering in which you can remove the salt from ocean water and make it drinkable.  Her roommate’s father, Mr. Magnusson, is a wealthy businessman who pays an inordinate amount of attention to Janie and her work, to the exclusion of his own daughter.  Janie’s roommate, in a jealous rage,  finds ways to get Janie expelled from school, thereby halting her science experiment before it is done.  Eventually Mr. Magnusson kidnaps Janie and coerces her to finish her work.  Meanwhile, Benjamin and Pip learn of her disappearance and come to her aid.  Each chapter flips from one character and their problem to the next, giving the illusion it’s all happening at the same time.  The action is non-stop and the book is a real page-turner.  If you enjoyed The Apothecary, you’ll be sure to enjoy The Apprentices.

This nonfiction books gives information about past and present (Sochi 2014) Winter Olympics.  The books has various sections which focus on the problems of the games, such as snowfall, and tragic accidents, and controversy.

In the back is information about the current Olympics in Sochi, Russia and that it is the first time for Russia to host the event.  The Winter Olympic Fact tile is in the back, along with  a map, glossary and websites and books.

Recommended.

The Quick Fix is a novel about kids in middle school, but there are no adults, teachers, parents, present.  The school operates within the boundaries of various groups of kids:  Vincent Biggio, aka Vinny Biggs, is like a mafia boss.  He gets stuff for you, fixes stuff for you, does stuff for you–all at a price.  If you don’t pay, his goons will get you.  He has also figured out a way to get students shunned from everyone at school and make their lives miserable.  The cheerleaders are all beautiful and boys will do anything they want and girls want to be just like them.  The athletes are the stars of the school and have their own bunch of groupies.  The terrible twins have the corner on pixie stix and work on kids’ addictions.  The hall monitors are like the police–they love to write you up.  Throw in a wannabe journalist who’s sniffing for a juicy story and a couple of nerds, and you have Franklin Middle School, commonly called ‘The Frank.’  There is also a student, a boy, who cannot be pigeonholed into any of these categories.  He’s like a detective and has clients for whom he works.  He is a puzzle solver, a mystery solver, who doesn’t do anything that will hurt himself or others and isn’t afraid to stand up to others regardless of threats.  He always seems to do the right thing.  He is very funny and likeable, and reminds me alot of the character Myron Bolitar in Harlen Coben novels.  This book has a lot of action and humor, and just when you think you know whats going on, Ferraiolo throws in some other tidbit for you to ponder.  Kind of also reminiscent of  Chris Rylander’s The Fourth Stall series.  Kids will love it!

Graphic Novel
Four short episodes with villains,  heroes,  Jedis,  Jabba,  Aurra Sing and Obi Wan Kenobi. Stories of battles and run away battle droids.
Star War fans will quickly snatch up this book.

Photographs, short informative text and a scare factor rating (1 scared face icon is a little bit scary all the way to 5 icons which is totally terrifying) will make this a top favorite for students. Scary things include: the Grand Canyon glass skywalk, the CN Tower, aliens, cliffs of Moher, mummy tombs and ghosts, to name just a few. Small blocks of information make it easy to pick up and read non-sequentially and skim over items that the reader may have little interest in. However, the layout makes this a highly engaging book, so I’m am not sure that much, if any, information will be skipped over.

Rocky and Daisy are Owen’s dogs. They do everything together.This year they are going to go camping with Owen and his parents. The family sings in the van as they drive to the camping spot. Owen and the dogs will be sleeping in a tent, play in the water at the beach, play with a ball, go hiking and gathering firewood, before cooking hot dogs over the fire.Thunder in the night scares Rocky and Daisy, so Owen takes the dogs and himself to sleep with his parents inside the van. The End.

Melinda Melton Crow has truly captured a trip to go camping. AND Mike Brownlow’s illustrations are charming and energetic.

Total word count = 432.

Owen’s dogs Daisy and Rocky like to go for rides in the family van to the beach, the dog park, and the pet store. This time “the van stopped. Daisy sniffed. “Oh, no,” she said. “We are at the vet!” Daisy and Rocky began to tremble.” (p. 14)Rocky and Daisy try to escape. Then Dr. Jay petted them, scratched behind their ears, gives them doggy treats, and a shot “they didn’t even notice.” (p. 27)

Melinda Melton Crow has truly captured a trip to the vet. AND Eva Sassin’s illustrations are charming and energetic.

Total word count = 443.

Cute illustrations compliment poems that have to be read in the right direction. Like the subtitle implies, these poems vary between needing to be read from the top-down or from the bottom-up.  At first there appears to be a pattern, but then the reader turns the page and realizes the pattern does not exist.  There is no use of capitalization or punctuation to take clues from, which makes for a fun and interesting challenge.

This would be great to use with beginning readers to challenge their comprehension skills.

ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) racing is a sport that attracts new riders and fans every year.  Machines are built tough to withstand the stresses of various courses.  Popular MX (motocross) races are short – lasting from 15 minutes to a certain number of laps.  XC (cross country) races can last more than two hours.  Riders must have training and wear special gear.  Because of the variety of courses, riders must be in top physical condition to guide their vehicles successfully.  Professional and amateur events are held all over the U.S.  Fast Facts are found on almost every page.  Highlighted text is defines on the page as well as in the glossary.  An index, suggested books for further reading at a similar reading level, and an internet site are also in the back.  This is a good, but short, introduction to ATV racing.

This small (6″X8″) book contains 45 experiments that are easy to do at home.  A cartoon cat and dog, Marvin and Milo, demonstrate the steps in each experiment.  Accompanying test explains the science behind each investigation.  The text on the cartoon page is extremely small.  The font on the explanation page is not large, either.  There are no table of contents or index to indicate which experiments are included.  Some terms are European and may be difficult for children to understand.  (plasticine = clay or play dough, polystyrene = plastic, drawing pin = thumb tack, blu-tack = reusable putty, lolly sticks = popsicle sticks)  There are many fun projects to try at home and this book may be a favorite in a personal collection.  This is not in a form that begs to be part of a school library, but with a few changes, it could be a popular addition.

Dana is a mean, ornery bully who terrorizes classmates at school, in particular Anthony.  She calls him names, pinches, and steals his desserts.  For her birthday, Anthony gives her an awesome, unexpected gift – a white elephant.  This wonderful surprise needs never-ending love and attention so Dana tries to be a conscientious pet owner.  Her own behavior begins to change as she starts to think about one other than herself.  The watercolor and ink illustrations add details to the story and share another side of Dana’s personality.  She wears pink dresses with unicorns, bunny slippers, likes toy ponies, and always has a Band-Aid on a knee – attributes of many happy little girls.  When her friend Gertrude begins to treat her horribly, Dana thinks about how she’s treated Anthony.  At lunch she apologizes to him.  Anthony holds no grudges, accepts her apology, and then asks if she is going to Gertrude’s birthday party.  After thinking a moment, Dana knows she has the perfect gift.  This book is a Theodore Seuss Geisel Award Winner.

Nine year old Sam is looking forward to a fishing day with dad in this story told in verse.  He is irritated when annoying, little sister Lucy wants to come along.  To Sam’s dismay, she hums and wiggles and catches eight fish before he gets a nibble!  His attitude changes when he catches the biggest fish of the day and Lucy cheers him on.  Through the use of a large variety of poetic forms, Sam’s view of the day’s fishing adventure changes.  Each poem, told by different family members, contains a title and the poetic form.  Teachers will appreciate this source of multiple poems, from techniques such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, and similes, to forms such as cinquains concrete poems, haiku, limericks, odes, and triolets.  Each poem is a different example of a form or technique as this complete story is told.  Matthew Cordell’s whimsical, black and white illustrations are a great match for the humor and personalities shown in this poetic story.  A “Poet’s Tackle Box” in the back defines each type of the 40 poems.  This would be a great addition to any poetry collection.