Need an ‘epic’ book to get your reluctant boys to read? ( EPIC is the series name.) This might just be the book you’re looking for a young boy who is interested in WWE wrestling.  Randy Orton is highly visual with action shot photos reminiscent of baseball cards and is light on the text.  Five short sections: ‘Debut’, ‘Who is Randy Orton?’, ‘Life Before WWE’, ‘A WWE Superstar’, and ‘Winning Moves’.

Randy Orton is the third generation of wrestler in his family. He follows his grandfather, father, and uncle as wrestlers. Randy wrestled in high school, became a Marine,  has been in a couple of movies, and now is a professional wrestle with the WWE          (your young boys will know what these letters stand for, even if it is not revealed with the book’s text).

Includes: glossary, www.factsurfer.com, and index.

Throughout history, women have first had to battle the prejudice of simply being a woman before being allowed to achieve other greatness. It was no different for Marie Curie, but she also had to battle the prejudice of being Polish under a Russian controlled government. The first chapter begins, ” In a time when men ruled the science world, Marie Curie stood alone as a female scientist. Today, she stands out in history as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She is also the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences: physics in 1903 and chemistry 1911.” (p. 5) First, she needed to study in secret with other Polish women, followed by helping her older sister go to university, before earning enough money as a governess to attend university in  France. Even today it is hard for a married woman to juggle college life with a child, but, in 1897, there were no day-care facilities. Marie’s recently widowed father-in-law helped out with child care. Marie was a good mother. Her working on her doctorate did not distract her from being a good mother. Marie worked with Wilhelm Conrad Rðntgen’s newly discovered X-rays and coined the phrase ‘radioactivity’. She discovered two new elements: polonium and radium. ” Curie believed radioactivity was an atomic property of the radioactive element…In years to come, scientists would reveal that Curie’s hypothesis was correct.” (p. 30) At this time the effects of radioactivity on humans was not known. She didn’t “believe that it was their research that was making them sick.” (p. 31) Her husband Pierre always made sure Marie was given the credit she deserved because it was her research, Pierre was the assistant. After Pierre’s death, scandal erupted in her and her daughters’ private lives. She kept away from the media. That and Marie’s ill health kept her away from research for awhile, but she eventually was able to return. Marie Curie’s work with X-rays helped in WWI by using X-ray equipment with injured soldiers.

She died in 1934 still not believing in the health risks of radiation. “Marie Curie will long be remembered … Because of her, the benefits and the dangers of radiation are understood much better. She also paved the way for the equality of women in the science field and beyond.” (p. 41)

In addition to the story of Marie Curie’s life, author Katherine Krieg has included primary sources and engaging questions for the readers to ponder off and on through the book and at the end in the section ‘Stop and Think’.

Gus is a small book (6.5 in. X 6.5 in.) for small hands* with a limited reading vocabulary. “Gus is a small yellow gosling who likes to be by himself.” Gus is an active observer in the world around him. Gus watches a spider spin a web, watches mice scamper, and a turtle dig a hole. Gus then finds the eggs laid by the turtle in the hole and sits on them until they hatch.

Young readers will be as joyful as Gus in their exploration of this book about Gus’ world!

Simple, though expressive illustrations.

*Beatrice Potter wrote small books a for small hands, too.

Cam is smart teen.  Living in New York City, he as learned how to take care of himself and those he loves.  Unfortunately, this puts him in bad situations.  Taking out a loan from the Chinese mafia to try to save his mother’s house was a calculated risk.  When his bike gets smashed beneath a bus, his bike messengering income is gone, but the love of his life emerges.  As Nikki, the cause of the accident, bounds away doing Parkour, Cam is enthralled.  What this story spins into is one of intense action and teeming love energy.  Nikki has a path for Cam to follow to be able to make good on his loan, but it will involve legal activities.  This story has life and death twists and turns of a high action movie, which it was compressed into starring Taylor Lautner while being released in print.  It was truly a fun read and both high school boys and girls will race through it. Not recommended for middle school though.

Do you need a good scare? How about visiting a cemetery? Not just any cemetery, but “the oldest existing cemetery in the city” of New Orleans. It opened in 1789. The graves are above ground due to flooding and very damp ground.  “In this cemetery, a body stays inside a coffin for a year. Then the coffin is removed from the tomb to make room for another body. The bones are put in a bag and stay in the tomb.” (p. 10)

The book is divided into three very short chapters: A Lost Ghost, City of the Dead, and Haunted Cemetery. Specific people are  mentioned as being possible ghosts which many visitors sense while walking through this cemetery. New Orleans is usually a very warm place and yet visitors often feel cold in parts of this cemetery. Photos taken in this cemetery often have orbs of light in them once they are printed, which the photographer couldn’t see when taking the photo. “Are ghosts really in the cemetery or do people just imagine them? Perhaps the best way to find out is to visit. But keep an eye out for black cats and disappearing guests.” (p. 21) And so ends this book.

There is more photo than text at each page turn. The photos are quite clear in the center of the page, but get blurred around the edges and there has been an eerie florescent green tint added to the blurred edges of pages.

Includes: Glossary, To Learn More with books and www.factsurfer.com , and Index.

Terrorist: Gavrilo Princip, the Assassin who Ignited World War I, a graphic historical fiction novel, is an engrossing account of the young Serbian anarchist whose assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to The Great War (World War I). Henrik Rehr, a Dane who lived in Europe during the early 1980’s, and lived in New York City at the time of 9/11 terrorist attacks, is a well-known cartoonist and author of graphic novels. Rehr spent considerable time researching “old, old books” in the New York Public Library trying to figure out how “a small number of people of limited means carried out an act with broad repercussions.”

Terrorist: Gavrilo Princip, the Assassin who Ignited World War I is a 232-page account, in detailed and powerful black and white drawings and text, of what drove Princip and his fellow Serbian anarchists to plan the assassination of Ferdinand. The account is stark, depressing, and disturbing. While thoroughly researched, Rehr notes “Certain liberties had to be taken for the story to work. I put words into the mouths of my characters that I did not necessarily have historical sources for, but I did my best to stay true to my understanding of the people I attempted to bring to like. There is nothing in the book that I know to be historically false, but there is a lot that came from my imagination.”

The historical information in this lengthy graphic novel is vastly more detailed than what is found in the current McGraw-Hill World high school History text used in the Olympia School District. The historical detail makes this work a good addition to the library collection. The graphic novel format will engage many a teen reader who never would plow through volumes of history books to understand the oppression of the Serbian peoples in the early 20^th century, their struggles for independence from Austria-Hungary, and the backgrounds of Princip and his accomplices.

Some readers may be sensitive to the significant amount of violence portrayed. Additionally there is course language, and scenes with excessive alcohol use, discussions of sex, prostitution, suicide and murder. Teachers and librarians may want to keep this in mind when recommending this book to students. Should the library receive complaints on the content, it may be noted that the book is a Junior Library Guild Selection.

Here is a seasonal book with every two pages depicting and Christmas scene in which the reader is to search for Santa and his elves.  A short description of the event depicted is included.  This would be a good choice for one or two students to use for quiet time.  Similar to I Spy.

There was quite an expense in publishing this full-color book about Bad Piggies.  Lots of pages given to drawing different expressions on faces.  This whole Angry Birds Bad Piggies thing seems, to me, to be a fad and something that won’t last long.  Also, the audience to which this book is geared is limited.  The drawing lessons themselves are simple and easy to follow.  The angry looks are tiresome.

This is book #162 of the series The Boxcar Children, originally created by G.C. Warner.  The last scores of books have been written by ghost authors as Warner has long passed.  These books have the same four original characters, just as charming and wholesome as ever.  They still live with Grandfather Alden and his housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor.  Each book is a mystery which occurs away from home and in which the children solve.  In this particular installment, they are at a friend of Mrs. McGregor, which is a first for me, it’s usually Grandfather’s friend.  The town is called Sleepy Hollow and is almost Halloween.  Running ghost tours, the family friend is trying to raise money to maintain upkeep on the family home.  However, someone is trying to sabotage the tours and make them lose their home.  It’s pretty easy to figure out who the baddie is and even the Alden children pretty much had it at the very beginning.  There are always a few misleading clues but this one was pretty clear.  These books are terrific for the beginning reader, but there are enough of them now.  If beginning readers read all 162 books, they’d move on to harder books.  Time for the Boxcar children to age and move on.

This fun-filled book by Lois Ehlert is packed with underground worlds to explore, right under your feet!  It has the colorful collages that Ehlert is known for and the rhyming text that carries the reader through the tunnels to the end that has fantastic facts about moles and the other critters found in this book.

I love the illustrations.  They are absolutely charming and sweet, but I’m afraid the story doesn’t match up.  It’s a rather long, babbling story about a housewife quail and her day with her seven chicks, hiding under a bush to stay cool, preparing for a picnic, visiting their aunt, taking a bath, and going to bed.  For some unknown reason the text occasionally changes color, but there doesn’t seem to be any discernible pattern as to why.  There’s just nothing about it to make the reader care about what the quails are up to.

There’s not enough information in this volume to give it any real substance.  It is basically a chronological list of the first computers, with dates and names of inventors.  The full-page photos that accompany the text are useful, but the one showing the computer invented in 1975 is sitting on a shelf with a 2001 edition book. And once again we have book including a “timeline” in which the spacing along the line is completely misrepresentative of the time involved.

The illustrations are fun, but the story is a bit flat.  It basically show’s Nina following her ears through the woods, each sound leading her to a new group of friends who is up to something, but they all seem to be acting a bit strange/secretive.  In the end, she hears them all gathering for a surprise party for her birthday.  Basically it seems like a story that’s already been done, without something to make it stand out from the crowd.

In this first-day-of-school story, young Migs learns lessons about over-coming shyness, respecting others’ space, making amends, and making friends.  At first he’s so shy he doesn’t want to go to school, but the dress-up corner helps him create a super-hero costume that helps boost his nerve.  Unfortunately, he feels so powerful he starts racing around the room, ends up crashing into another student and destroying his artwork.  His first attempts to fix the tear just make things worse and worse, and Migs resorts to hiding again, but then he enlists the help of other students to bring the ruined artwork to life, breaking the ice with all, so that in the end he’s eager to return.  The illustrations are bright and cheerful; the problems are ones many kids can relate to.  The rhyming text is occasionally stilted, but generally works.

Like other books by this pair, it’s got cute illustrations to draw the kids in and a good message delivered through a story appealing enough to make the message palatable.  The message in this one: the perils of being a slob.  Sentenced to his room until he’s willing to pick up after himself, young Angus quite contentedly continues making messes, until a mountain of mess begins to grow on his bed, requiring him to use his climbing gear to get to the top to sleep each night.  But as the mountain of mess continues to grow, Angus finds himself approaching the surface of the loch, bringing him into range of scary land-monsters, which finally gives him the motivation to tidy up.

Chronicling the last five minutes of playground time, the illustrations flash back and forth between what is going on in Zoe’s imagination (trekking through the jungle as a great explorer in search of the Addiebeast) and scenes of the playground, where she is chasing her best friend, Addie, as mom offers the minute-by-minute count-down before it’s time to leave. There’s a good parallel between imagination and playground: walking across a log in the jungle shows up as walking on a bench in the playground, etc.  It’s cute.

I like the story:  Amelia and her doll are best friends, and it lists all the many things they would do together, until the day of Princess Sparkle-Heart’s “accident;”  then it goes on to describe the process of putting the doll back together (adding stuffing, choosing new buttons for eyes, etc.) until in the end, she’s better than ever.  I like how the illustrations expand on the text to add dimension to the story:  through the illustrations we see the dog growling at all the things Amelia and her doll do together, we see the “accident” amounted to the dog chewing the doll to bits, and we see that when she’s put back together, she’s been transformed into something that scares the dog away.  But I still find the garishness of the illustrations a bit off-putting, which keeps it from getting a full recommendation.

A very sentimental selection with soft watercolor illustrations with a father waxing poetical about the red shoes he tied on his child, pondering all the things they may do together while wearing those shoes, and how long it’s been since the first steps taken in those shoes.  The real audience seems to be the parent, more than the child, but perhaps suitable for very young children sharing that loving read-aloud time with mom or dad.

It’s aiming for sentimental but it just comes off as dull.  The illustrations look sort of washed-out and the story is just as bland: a girl and her grandma making pancakes, but Grandma is disappointed by the jam that doesn’t live up to the jam she remembers from her youth.  Granddaughter asks if they can go together and get some from the old country, but it is too far, so she makes a label for their new jam that says it’s for grandma, “made with love and sunshine.” And somehow the new label makes everything better.

The simplicity of both illustrations and text make it best suited to very young readers.  The illustrations are both sweet and artsy in their simplicity.  The story tells of a girl who gets on a bus with a red balloon, but accidentally let it go.  The bus continues on, picking up a variety of animals, each of whom is asked if they’ve seen the balloon.  Just when they reach it, a bird pops it, but the group cheers up when they notice the bright red setting sun, which looks like another red balloon, which they will get to see again tomorrow.

I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to.  I think this author has got some real potential, and a little more careful editing could’ve made this a really good book.  The general flow of the writing was engaging, and it drew me in, so I started out enjoying it, but part of the problem is that the author wasn’t real clear on what age child she was writing for:  in many respects it felt like a book for upper elementary, but then there were elements of romance and pranks and alcohol that would’ve been better suited to a more middle-school audience.  And then at the end of the book it wrapped up too quickly without fully concluding all the subplot lines that had felt like they were leading somewhere, but apparently didn’t.

This is a good, solid little series.  The basic premise is a brother and sister who have a magic mirror in their basement that lets them slip through into the land of fairy tales.  While there, in an effort to make things better, they realize they’ve actually interfered in some way that will get in the way of reaching happily-ever-after, so they’ve to to work to put things back on track.  In this one they climb up Repunzel’s braid to visit, but Jonah forgets he’s wearing his soccer cleats, which shred her hair.  I like that the stories are accessible to young readers: enough background explanation is woven into the text so that readers can pick up any book in the series and not worry about reading them in order, and the basics of the original fairy tale are included in case they’re not familiar with it.

Tacky and his fellow penguins have transformed their home into a haunted igloo in preparation for Halloween, but the festivities turn truly scary after the hunters from Tacky’s original 1988 picture book show up, and they’re hungry. Luckily, Tacky shows up just in time, dressed as none other than one of the hunters. The ensuing shenanigans offer lots of laughs! As ever, Tacky proves that even the unruliest of penguins can save the day. Fun reading for all ages!

Equipped with a guide to trees, a girl with a crown of ginger hair walks through an arboretum, identifying and collecting a variety of leaves, including honey locust, sweet gum, linden, and maple. Wellington alternates between scenes of the girl on her walk and those of her at home, where she makes crayon rubbings of the leaves in her Leaf Book. Rubbings and photocopies of leaves appear throughout Wellington’s mixed-media images, while tiny sidebars offer details about the trees and leaves presented. The girl’s clipped narration (“Oak leaves are strong. They are good for my art projects. I make leaf prints in many colors”) is perhaps better suited to children learning to read on their own than to story-time sessions. Regardless, many readers are likely to be inspired to turn their own autumnal observations into creative projects.