Fabulous illustrations with deep, rich colorful pictures. Simple text on each page showing things around us that are green.  This would make a great addition to a preschool or kindergarten class.

Freelance sportswriter Doug Williams has compiled a five chapter book dealing with five National Women’s Basketball Association (NWBA) star players and five valuable basketball skills. Each chapter is matched up with one of these five WNBA players and the skill which has made her so valuable to her team: Chapter 1- Jump Shooting with Maya Moore, Ch. 2- Passing with Lindsey Whalen, Ch. 3- Rebounding with Tina Charles, Ch. 4 – Defense with Tamika Catchings, and Ch. 5 – Ball Handling with Sue Bird. The first part of each chapter tells of the key player’s performance  in specific past games, before going on to briefly describe the mechanics of her skill.

Each of the five chapters includes a  (1/3 of a page) Quick Tip: Around the World, Step Towards the Target, Keep Arms and Hands Up, Defense Starts with Stance, and Attack the Cone Zone.

Other NWBA players mentioned, in side bars, are: Teresa Weatherspoon, Sylvia Fowles, Lisa Leslie, Courtney Paris, Ticha Penicheiro, and Katie Douglas.

Biggest Blunders in Sports is a stew of mainly old stories and outdated, grainy photographs of goof-ups in sports, some going back as far 1912.  Who cares?  There are plenty of video clips of current teams/sports goof-ups that could have been used and of more interest to the reader.  Oftentimes the text did not match the photo, and the ‘fun facts’ were non-existent.  This is a boring, outdated book.  Why not do something new rather than rehash old stories?

Any one who loves sports, especially baseball, will thoroughly enjoy this book.  The table of contents will help to direct you where your interests lie, however, every double set of pages contains photos and info for the top ten in the category.  I especially enjoyed the photos of clean players, such as Derek Jeter.  My only drawback was that some of the photos were in the middle of the book and therefore cut in half by the gutter, but not many.  A great addition for all libraries.

Boy Meets Dog is a clever  play on words, making different words by just changing one letter at a time.  the illustrations show lots of action and emotions, are colorful and fun to look at, yet distracting from the text or intent of the book.  I far enjoyed looking at the pictures more than reading the word lists.  The CVC and CVCC words that were supposed to rhyme didn’t always; the vowel made a different sound, which I thought would be confusing to young children, say first graders learning to sound out words and read.  It will be a fun book to read and look at, but not a necessary purchase.

Author O’Connell is an elephant expert.  She is an assistant professor at Stanford, has won awards for other elephant books, and has spent the last 20 years of her career studying elephants.  The strength of this book is it’s photographs, which were taken by the author and her husband, Timothy Rodwell, while in Namibia, Africa.  The technology in today’s photographic equipment allows the finest of details to be seen in the beautiful photos in this book.  One shot shows 19 elephants ranging in all sizes.  The comparison is remarkable.  The shots of the newborns show their hairiness and vulnerability.  The accompanying text is simple and not distracting, and tells the reader what they are looking at.  This is a beautiful book and would be terrific addition to any school library.

Therapy dogs are becoming more and more well known, especially as wounded soldiers are returning from the Middle East.  This book is based on a true story which took place in London at a children’s hospital.  Children, as well as adults, love a good dog story and this one fits the bill.  This dog, which looked like a white cockapoo, is named Dr. White and he worked making children better.  No, he didn’t actually dispense medicine nor do any other medical things, but the power of unconditional love and affection and loyalty, which Dr. White possessed, worked to bring children back to health.  Children would respond to Dr. White in a way that they wouldn’t to even a parent.  He put a smile on their faces and changed their attitude from despair and hopelessness to wanting to get better and taking those steps to do so.  In this story, a health inspector forces the removal of Dr. White from the Children’s Hospital, claiming he was unsanitary.  But when his own child becomes very ill and the situation looks hopeless, he looks for Dr. White to work his magic. Therapy dogs are used in nursing homes with the elderly, VA hospitals, pediatric wards, and even in schools.  Just the warmth from their wiggly bodies and the occasional lick empowers the ill and elderly to reach out and grasp life again.

Lots of attention to detail makes this an exceptional book.  First of all, the font size is large and easy to read.  Second, the language is sparse.  Just enough to tell the story without any unneeded embellishments.  Third, the illustrations of events are finely detailed without any distractions.  Expressions on the faces of the animals are clear.  And, finally, the story itself is very clever, very minimal.  There are only three main characters:  the shoemaker, the cat, and the monster.  The poor shoemaker has no business, no money, so the cat tells him to make him some fine boots and he will be his messenger and drum up some business, which he did.  The cat comes across a castle in which lives a monster with the ability to change into whatever animal he wishes.  The cat sells the monster a pair of boots for every animal he becomes.  The monster doesn’t want to pay the cat so the cat thinks of a scheme.  He has the shoemaker make the tiniest of books and takes them to the monster, saying he probably isn’t powerful enough to change into a creature small enough to wear the boots.  The monster accepts the challenge and turns himself into a mouse, which the cat promptly eats.  No frills, just a great story.

Quicksilver is described by author R. J. Anderson as a companion novel to her 2011 novel Ultraviolet.  Having not read Ultraviolet, the test of this companion label would be if one could enjoy this new addition without the confusion of not already knowing characters personalities and back stories.  This is the story of Tori Beauregard and her quest to be free — free from a relay that is imbedded in her arm and could send her to a different world at any time, free from a guilt that is haunting her for what happened to a friend named Alison in the previous book, and free from a genetics company that is tracking her every move.  Tori has a special DNA that makes her more than unique.  As readers go through these months in her life, Anderson’s creativity in developing Tori for the audience is a wonderful amusement ride.  There’s action, re-action, drama, sensitive topics, surprise skills, and tension throughout.  Tori takes on a false identity and is constantly having to cover her tracks to keep her secrets.  Mischievous characters emerge that Tori has to work with but can not completely trust.  And of course there’s a love interest, but even this is extremely complicated.  Tori is unlike any other heroine I’ve read before.  She’s got a girl power and go-get-’em attitude coupled with computer/engineering skills that should make anyone stand in awe.  And all she wants to to have nothing of it.  To live a quiet life as a normal teenager.  There in lies the rub.

So can it be read as a stand alone?  There might be slight confusion in the references to her friend Alison who begins the novel in a psych ward and then again toward the end when Alison and Farraday reunite in a scene that has a lost sense of passion because of the missing backstory.  This sense of lost passion might also be due to the fact that by this point in the story a reader knows Tori feels no passion because she’s asexual.  Wow is right.

Quicksilver is recommended for those teenage girls who can handle stories with an edge, who want some twists and turns along the way.  It will be a great addition for those libraries who already have Ultraviolet and a possibility for those that don’t.

Tedd Arnold’s illustrations are so distinctive that even the youngest preschooler can recognize his golf-ball eyes on characters.  His artwork  inA Pet for Fly Guyis no exception to the rule.  The colors are sharp and the pictures go so well with the dialogue.  Another great thing is the larger book format.  I have only seen Fly Guy in the 7″ x 9″ size and this book is 9″ x 11″.  Not a huge difference but big enough to make a difference for kids to enjoy the details even more.  This book should be on all elementary school library shelves.

This sci-fi/fantasy novel begins with a feline epidemic, a disease that cats can acquire and become fatal to humans. Because of the disease, the government has put a regulation on felines; one must have a cat from a government breeder and have a permit, both of which are incredibly expensive. The story begins with a teenage girl, Jade, who finds a cat in her backyard. This cat and a boy named Finn change her life and take her on an adventure to find out about the truth of the disease and the cats.

This fast-paced novel has strong main characters. The plot was well-written and deeply thought-out; it gives the readers questions and will later answer those questions. It leaves the readers entertained and will keep the reader wanting more. Cat lovers will especially enjoy this book. A fascinating read for teenagers and adults alike.

— Kellyn S.

For the library that has How To Rap, adding How To Rap 2 is a natural and worthwhile purchase.  How To Rap 2 is a technical manual for the aspiring rapper.  Author Paul Edwards details out rhythm and vocal techniques as well as rhyming techniques.  Precise examples from real rappers clarify what can’t be explained in words or reinforce what is said.  Interwoven into every page are items of advice, information, and inspiration from rappers around the world.  The rapper just looking for ideas and “how-tos” will gloss over these parts and the reader who can’t get enough of the world of rap will soak in each idea. For the lay person who knows nothing of rap, the words of wisdom from specific artists will get ignored but they could make their way through Edwards technical explanations, much like one does with most college textbooks — it’s that technical.  As said, if How To Rap is checked out by patrons already, this will be a further lesson in the art of rap to enjoy.  High school audiences and above.

This installment in Abdo Publishing’s Contemporary Lives Series, Pink, is an easy to read, fun pick for students in grades 6 and up.  Rowell’s writing is formulaic, but with Pink as the center of attention, the content is still very interesting.  Even the chapter titles amuse a reader:  “Glitter in the Air”, “A Yummy Life”, and “Channeling Heartbreak”.  From this biography, a reader will learn that Alecia Beth Moore was born into a home that was “World War III” every day.  She spent time with kids who were considered druggies and punks.  At 13, her focus on music and natural instinct landed her jobs in clubs singing and being further exposed to drugs.  All of this, as well as dropping out of school, shaped the hard core, intense artist she became.  The 3rd chapter and beyond catalog the climb Pink would make between 2000 and 2013.  Chalked full of glossy pictures, text boxes of quotations from Pink, asides from the author of interesting tidbits, decorative background imagery of reflective lights on every page and less than 200 words per page because of the larger font used, this is a visual feast for pop-culture fans.  Still, the depiction feels honestly representative of a woman who had made a huge impact on the music industry.  As Pink compares herself to Cher, the reader knows Alecia will be in the business for a very long time to come.  Student researchers will appreciate the timeline, data page, and selective bibliography in the back of the text, as well as the author’s note for writing about credibility in their annotations.  This reader will be looking at more books in this set, including Lil’ Wayne, Bruno Mars, and Rihanna.

Through the use of their very sharp spine and venom, plus camouflage and nerves that sense the electrical fields of prey, stingrays are excellent survivors in the wild.  Being ovoviviparous, their young hatch from eggs inside the mother, then are born live and self sufficient.  Having first developed around 200 million years ago, stingrays have close relatives in the sea world.  Stingrays live close to shore and thus are heavily  affected by human pollutants.  These topics and more fun facts are covered in this amazingly informative text, which is also full of equisite photos.  Front Matter includes a fact file list of Class, Order, Families, Genus, Species, World Distribution, Habitats, Distinctive Physical characteristics, Habits, and Diet…helpful to elementary researchers.  Back Matter includes, Glossary, Habitat Map, Find Out More, Index and About the Author.  If all of the books in this Nature’s Children series are this quality, I’m going to be purchasing others.

In a world of robots, who act like humans (the Jetsons, without the people), Tin is asked to babysit his little sister Nickel with the help of their dog Zinc. All is well until Nickel floats away holding onto the string of a balloon. Tin and Zinc follow in hot pursuit. Eventually, Tin and Zinc return Nickel home just before their mother arrives home. The plot is cliche, the artwork carries the story.

The artwork is very geometrical with straight lines, angles, and minimal curves. The artwork appears to be simple on first glance. But then , the use of multiple shades of one particular color per object draws the eye in for a more in-depth look.

I fell in love with the cute hand-knit stuffed toy dogs [Barry & Stella] in their little hand-made clothes as they hop and jump through the Adobe Photoshopped pages of this book.

The story line hops and skips through the pages, as well, just like the young children they portray. Barry and Stella don’t stay on any activity for too long.

Barry and Stella have just received a hand-made gift of a sweater and tutu from their grandmother. Their imaginations go wild as they play outside in their new clothes in the crisp fall air. After a child’s disagreement over climbing a tree, they begin to pretend they are elephants. The story ends, after Barry and Stella have eaten a snack and the tutu has now become a lion’s mane.

Author, illustrator – David Shannon can make any topic cute and adorable! The cover of this 2013 book (11.5″ X 9″) has a rumbled insect looking out at the reader from what might be a bunch of shredded carrots, if only the title were not Bugs in my Hair!  It is still cute.

It all begins when “One day, my mom made a terrible, awful discovery… Head Lice!” Shannon’s over dramatic illustrations lighten-up the topic of what is often a common childhood maledy – head lice.  Oh the itching, the blood sucking, “the humiliation”, and the not knowing exactly where the lice came from.  A few ‘treatments’ are comically illustrated [child with his entire head looking out from inside a mayonnaise jar] while mom researches for “battle-tested anti-lice weapons.” Finally, the lice are gone. BUT they come back. And “so we went through the whole thing again…”    Closing illustration of a child’s head inside a knight’s helmet is captioned, “I’m not taking any chances!”

The reader comes away with the idea that “Lice-a-palooza” are not the end of the world, but it is a relief when they are gone.

I absolutely love the illustrations in this book:  they evoke the mood, create the setting, and give personality to the characters.  The story itself is a nice tale of a young harbor cat who listens to the stories of the old cat who’s travelled the sea.  When young Jim insists he wants to share in such adventures, the two set off together to stow away on a sea-going boat.  And adventures they find, including seasickness and rats and waves and storms.  When they do make it safely back to the harbor young Jim is ready to return to the safety and familiarity of the harbor, but the old cat says he’s had enough of land and is setting out on one last voyage.  By the end of the story Jim has become the old cat telling of stories of adventures at sea to the younger kittens on shore.  My biggest gripe with this book (keeping it from getting a better rating) is not with the author or the illustrator, but with the editor/publisher — whoever it was who decided on the text layout.  Someone made the decision that the lines of text should be aligned along their centers, giving it the look of poetry, though it’s not, which interferes with having any proper paragraph indentations to show when their is a change in speaker: the result is that there are times when confusion over who is speaking interrupts the flow of the dialogue and the story.

Bright, vivid illustrations accompany this cajun version of the folktale of The Fisherman and his Wife.  Something about the text draws one into feeling the urge to attempt a cajun accent while reading the story of the poor but happy fisherman and his wife who one day catch a magic catfish.  Though the fisherman is content enough, his wife comes up with more elaborate wish after another to ask of the magic fish, each granted wish leading to more wants, until having all her wishes granted land her in ruin and she realizes there’s nothing she really needs.  A brief glossary at the end offers explanations for the Bayou lingo sprinkled throughout, though context is usually sufficient to make the meaning clear.  It’s a fun read, which gives the reader something to ponder.

It’s a rather odd little story about a family having guests to dinner in the middle of a rain storm.  When a crocodile arrives unexpectedly, he is invited to join the party, and proceeds to calmly eat each of the guests (who, granted, were not terribly polite), and then goes away again.  The illustrations do not particularly enhance the strange story,  as they appear half-finished.

Definitely a book for the very youngest students.  It’s got lots of repetition and rhythm and the illustrations support the text, which makes it useful for beginning readers.  It would also be helpful for building enthusiasm for a reluctant swimmer about to face lessons:  it consists of repeated phrases describing different aspects of swimming, interspersed with the mantra, “Learn to swim!”

A small book, written for early learners, it’s got color photos illustrating the two sentences per page which describe what coins the child in the picture has, and how much cents that equals.  It’s broken into chapters by type of coin. It’s got other text features of non-fiction books (table of contents, glossary, index). It’s not that it’s a bad book.  It’s just that there’s not much practical point to it:  no child is going to choose it for the fun of reading, and it’s not particularly necessary as a teaching tool, as actual money that children can handle would work better, so I don’t know that teachers would find the book particularly helpful.

The illustrations are fun, and the colors are bright and rich.  The text is written with good rhythm and rhyme, telling the story of a young squirrel whose mother sends him off with a shopping list, insisting that the most important item on the list is cheese, as she’s planning to make pizza for dinner.  When Simon Squirrel and his friends see the moon, they declare that everyone knows it’s made of cheese, so they borrow a hot air balloon to go fetch some, but a comet blows them off course, so they end up shopping for the other items on their list at various planets.  After a meteor shower punctures their balloon they head home, but realize they still forgot the cheese.  Though it lacks enough purpose or cohesion to rate a recommendation, it’s silly and fun and kids would enjoy it.