First There Was Forever

Over the course of a sophomore year, everything can change.  This is the experience of Lima.  Attending a private school where students call their instructors by first names, Lima’s life has always been simple.  She was the only child.  She had the best of best friends since grade in grade school in Hailey.  She didn’t get herself caught up in the drama around boys.  And she did well in her classes.  But the realities of high school life begin to creep into her world starting with Hailey’s 1st sexual encounter.  Hailey’s lack of desire to discuss it with Lima began the mixed messages she would receive, send and feel throughout the year.  Lima watches Hailey start to hang with a crowd who parties and pull even further away because of a new girl friend, Skyler.  Hailey toys with Lima’s emotions, coming back into her life over the course of the year whenever things get too out of control with her new scene.  Lima’s frustration bends to confusion when Hailey’s long time crush, Nate, shows interest in Lima instead.  But this is so much more than a battle for the boy book.  Lima meets an edgier group of students in seniors Meredith, Walker, Henry and Lily who will allow her to test out who she is and establish who she is not.  And slowly, the path to Nate will open with all of the physical and emotional connections going full boar.  Juliana Romano takes an honest look at a year in the life of Lima as she truly comes of age.  Lima even says “We had all played our parts in the things that happened over the course of the year.  No one person was to blame.  Maybe growing up was about being able to live with the fact that things weren’t ever totally black or white.”  Romano handles the most personal of choices with raw emotion and delicacy, just as it probably is for most teen girls who are deciding how to keep friendships alive and whether to have sex.  First There Was Forever is definitely for high school libraries, but can be a justifiable addition to a collection as Lima stays true to herself throughout the book.

Come Count with Me!

I have always enjoyed counting books with pictures little children can physically touch and count along with the story.This book fits that bill.

Little chicky is showing off her counting skills for Nana by counting from one to five. But when Nana tries, she starts off fine, then she puts in numbers higher than five. After reading Marika’s dedication, it must be that Nana is just having fun with little chicky. Little chicky takes it all in stride and shows Nana how to count again and again. Then little chicky brings in items to count for a happy wordless conclusion to the book,  counting all the way to ten.

1 snail, 2 butterflies, 3 mushrooms, 4 flowers, 5 bumble bees, 6 frogs, 7 leaves, 8 lady bugs, 9 ants, and 10 clouds

My ABC Book

This is a reissue of a book originally printed in 1953. There is a reason why this book hasn’t been reprinted in over the last 50 years. It’s old! The illustrations are simple, the colors are dull and muddy. There is no challenge for kiddos to name various things beginning with the assigned letter; there’s just one image. I believe that today’s technology in book making and in general have made kids too sophisticated to make one of these ‘vintage’ books one of their favorites.

Sleeping Beauty

This is the traditional Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, but Sarah Gibb has added her own distinct style. Her artwork is beautiful and the twisting vines and flowers seem to take you from one page to the next. She uses black silhouettes on many pages, just as she did in Rapunzel. There is no lingering fright in this story; the evil fairy is quickly mentioned and then quickly a quick-thinking fairy helps to soothe things. This is a lovely version of the scary Disney fairy tale and won’t cause any nightmares.

When Otis Courted Mama

This is a story about a divided family, a family affected by divorce, told from the point of view of the child, Cardell.  Cardell had a perfectly good mama and a perfectly good daddy, but they lived on different sides of the desert, and Cardell spent time with both of them.  Cardell was a coyote.  Daddy had remarried and Cardell’s stepmother and stepbrother were fine.  But now a new neighbor, Otis, was coming around and trying to court his mother, and he wasn’t sure that was okay with him.  His mother had chased off other suitors but Otis was different.  After a time, Cardell got to know Otis and found him to be a good guy and good for his mother.  This story takes a difficult situation and makes it easier for kids to understand.  A great read aloud for younger and middle grades.

Unleashed

Gordon Korman is a popular author among third through seventh graders.  It almost feels like you are eavesdropping on conversations while reading his books, the dialog is so natural.  Unleashed is book 7 in the Swindle Mystery series.  Korman’s popularity is oftentimes based on having so many series with multiple books in them; kids enjoy getting to know the characters and then want to read another story that is based more on the plot.  In this episode, as in all other episodes, there are a number of side stories intertwined.  The kids’ school is having an ‘Inventa-palooza’ — an invention contest.  Griffin gets sucked into entering by his arch nemesis, Darren, namely because Griffin’s dad is a professional inventor.  But Darren’s ploy is just to make a fool out of Griffin; he already has what he thinks is the winning invention made with the help of his father’s company.  Griffin is stumped; his dad’s creativity just didn’t passed along with the genes.  He hopes to rope in his brainiac friend Melissa, but she has already entered the contest herself.  Her invention is a system to keep Luthor, a Doberman dog, from chasing a truck down the street.  The first time it’s used, it works brilliantly, but then it gets stolen.  They can’t figure out why or by whom.  Griffin’s invention involves a household appliance, and although it seems to work, it causes power outages whenever its turned on.  The humor is pervasive throughout the whole story, especially during the blackouts and Darren’s hysteria.  Those familiar with Korman’s other books will enjoy this one as well.

Encyclodedia Brown and the Case of the Midnight Visitor

This is the newest in the beloved Encyclodedia Brown detective series (# 13) . In The Case of the Midnight Visitor, Encyclopedia solved ten baffling mysteries, including the case of a kidnapped millionaire, a dangerous dog and it’s mean owner, a well known big-town crook, and more.

As is usual in this series, at the end of the book are the solutions to each case.

 

 

Kakapos

Kakapos are the largest parrots on earth, endangered, and living on an island off of New Zealand.  These large birds are nocturnal and cannot fly.  These birds have been indigenous to New Zealand for at least a thousand years, since records started being kept.  This book has some highly detailed photographs showing these unusual birds and their habitats, traits, and life cycle.  I’m not sure that the kakapo qualifies as one of the world’s weirdest animals, but certainly in the endangered series.  It seems to be merely a holdover from a time long ago.  This book will make an excellent addition to the bird shelf in an elementary library.

The U.S. Civil War: A Chronology of a Divided Nation

The U.S. Civil War is part of the A Chronology of a Divided Nation series. Also included in this series are The Battle Over Slavery, Yankees and Rebels, and the novel The Songs of Stones Rivers. The series includes chronology, biographies, and cause and effect.

The U.S. Civil war title includes time lines, info-graphics, color illustrations and black and white photographs, maps, a glossary, an index, references to text and web resources, and questions aligned with the Common Core.

The Untold Story of the Black Regiment

The Untold Story of the Black Regiment is part of a series including The Untold Story of the Battle of Saratoga, The Untold Story of Henry Knox, and The Untold Story of Washington’s Surprise Attack. Written for mid-elementary aged students, this particular title tells the inspiring story of the black soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War.  Many people do not that black soldiers fought in this war of independence, only to never realize freedom in their own lifetimes.

 

This book contains info-graphics, timelines, color paintings and maps, a glossary and index, and text and web references for further reading.

The Revolutionary War: A Chronology of America’s Fight for Independence

This is part of The Revolutionary War series that also includes Battle for a New Nation: Causes and Effects of the Revolutionary War, Patriots and Redcoats: Stories of American Revolutionary War Leaders, and A Rebel Among Redcoats: A Revolutionary War Novel.T

 

This title includes info-graphics, sidebars, fact boxes,  definitions, critical thinking questions, a table of contents, glossary, referrals to other books and internet sites, and an index.

Andrew Luck

Andrew Luck is the son of a professional football player and was a standout quarterback for Stanford, and was the first player chosen in the 2012 football draft.  Chosen by the Indianapolis Colts, Luck was to be the golden boy to deliver them to the promised land.  Luck set new records in his first year, but in four years he has not yet gone to the big game.  Luck is one of the premiere players in the league.  This book will be a big hit for boys in particular who are in grades three through five, who are just getting interested in sports.  Andrew Luck is a great role model for them to hero-worship.

The Wisdom of Merlin: 7 Magical Words for a Meaningful Life

T. A. Barron is a prolific writer and student of all things relating to Merlin.  In this small book, Barron has condensed the secret to a happy life in seven little words: Gratitude, Courage, Knowledge, Belief, Wonder, Generosity, Hope, and Love.  Sounds pretty easy, but to paraphrase Confucius, ‘life is simple, it’s people who make it confusing.’  And Barron seems to adopt this philosophy. After reading his book, it seems to be accurate.  We need to stop and think about what we have, what we need, who we need, and so on.  These seven words pretty much convey everything in life that is important.  This would be a perfect gift for a young adult, or someone who is confused and floundering.  It’s a great recipe for life.

Where’s Rudolph?

This Christmas themed book is a spin off of “Where’s Waldo” with six characters to find on each page layout in addition to a list of toys to locate. It includes 15 colorful Christmas puzzles of searching for the hidden objects and characters. An answer key is included in the back of the book. This is a fun search and find book that will entertain primary readers.

The Iron Trial

Callum, a teenager who deliberately failed the Iron Trial, wants no part of the magic taught at the Magisterium. However, even with the lowest scores possible, Callum is selected to attend the school against his will. Teamed up with two other teens, Tamara and Aaron, the group will develop their magical skills through completing the most challenging tasks. The masters of the school are pleased to finally, after many, many years, find a Makar in the teenage group that will have the strength to battle the Evil leader. However, what Callum learns about himself is the greatest twist of all. This book is very action packed, keeping the reader wondering. Harry Potter fans will love the parallel events!!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

There seems to be a disconnect with the age of kids who play with My Little Ponies and the age of the reader of My Little Pony; the reading age is higher.  Also, this is volume 7 of 8 and I haven’t had the opportunity to read the previous installments, so judging solely on this volume, I think it’s a pretty dark story.  Does My Little Pony really need to be in graphic novel form?  Really?  This is not something I would recommend school libraries spend their money on.

Eloise Has a Lesson

Eloise is a poor little rich girl who lives on the top floor of a hotel with a nanny and a tutor.  When her tutor comes to give her a math lesson, she gives him a hard time and is very disrespectful.  Not much is accomplished by the time it’s over, but the picture at the end does leave the impression that Eloise is smarter than she lets on.  As an elementary school teacher/librarian in a difficult school, this attitude really bothers me.  Eloise is allowed to get away being rude, disrespectful and uncooperative.  Granted, her tutor seems kind of lame; he must know what she’s going to do, yet he continues in the same manner.  Where is his creativity and love of learning?  I see this as a bad example of behavior and I hope kids don’t copy it.  I can also see it being funny if read by kids who are not like Eloise.  Beautiful illustrations.  Great reinforced binding, but pricey.

Picture Perfect

In this beginning to read book, the main character is a Hispanic girl who wants to get noticed.  She is tired of being lumped together with her two sisters.  When school picture day comes, she plans to stand out by borrowing her aunt’s big pink bow for her hair.  It does make her stand out and she does get noticed.  Very simple story.  There are some highlighted Spanish words which are also basic and a Spanish glossary.  Will probably purchase the other Sophia Martinez books.

Lock and Mori

Lock and Mori, written by Heather W. Petty, is a young adult CSI read that both genders will enjoy.  James “Mori” Moriarty is a teen who has lost her mother to cancer and is basically in charge of protecting her brothers from their violent father.  Their father, who is a London cop, drinks too heavily because of the loss of his wife and takes his frustration with life out on his kids, especially Mori.  Mori has that oldest sibling stamina to handle her horrible home life while being a start student.  When she meets Sherlock Holmes, there is something about his aura that both provokes her and attracts her.  Circumstances put them together at Regent’s Park on an evening after the brutal murder of a schoolmate’s father.  Both Lock and Holmes discuss how botched the crime scene investigation seems to be going.  Intrigued, Lock challenges Mori to a game to figure out who committed the murder.  The only rule is that both people have to share their information with each other.  Lock is mysterious because of his brilliance and because he is not the narrator.  With the story coming from Mori’s point-of-view, this reader kept wondering if Petty would have Lock would upstage the protagonist by the end, because, after all, he is Sherlock Holmes.  But Mori will go all the way to the end to maintain her control and fight her own battles.  Readers on either side who want one to out-maneuver the other will not be disappointed with the finale.  The only criticism involves the short scenes of passion between the two.  One character is about to go into the scariest situation of her life yet body groping kisses must happen first.  It doesn’t ring true for these super smart kids.  Their attraction to each other would have had enough tension without them having to get into bed together, especially with all of the other mysterious plotting and violent nature of the storyline. Still, the mystical London setting keeps the hints of the original Sherlock Holmes novels around and introduces this next generation to their past success.  Recommended for high school libraries.

 

Minnie: Hocus Bow-cus!

In this Disney book, Minnie and the twins substitute as magicians for Penguini when he has to leave to get a bowtie.  All goes well until they make the audience disappear. Penguini comes back and fixes everything.  Very beginning readers, especially girls, will enjoy this Disney book; it’s colorful and has familiar characters.  It is also has library reinforced binding which will help it withstand the rigors of young children.  I think it’s a good book, however, the cost prohibited me from giving it an R rating.

Meta-Rise

Meta-Rise picks up right where Bot Wars, book one, left off.  Trout St. Kroix has found his long lost father and brother and has joined their team.  Trout’s dad is now the leader of the revolution; he’s half human and half robot and can see both sides of the issue.   This story is science fiction and futuristic in that robots do most of the heavy work humans used to do.  They even have human emotions.  But there is a division of alliances: one side is for making them unfeeling, as they were to begin with, and the other side to give them rights, as humans do.  What started as a disagreement and now evolved into an all out war, and as with any war, there are splinter groups trying to become leaders.  Mr. St. Kroix, the leader, has to watch his back as others try to jockey into position to take over.  Now it’s a question of who you can trust on your side.  The outline for this war story could take place anytime, anywhere.  Kade has chosen the future and as such uses technology that is believable.  Again, as with the first book, action is fast-paced and the characters are interesting, however, too much robot slang for my taste.  I wouldn’t mind some new, creative vocabulary introduced instead.

Egg

“Butterflies,

frogs, sharks, and

humans all begin life as

an egg. So does almost every

other animal. The eggs of some

creatures–including most mammals

–are nurtured inside their mother’s

body, where they develop into babies

that are born alive. But many more animals

lay their eggs — either one at a time, by

the dozens, or by the millions. Eggs come

in  a  fantastic  range of  sizes,  shapes,

and colors. Animals that lay eggs bury

them, carry them, guard them, or

simply leave them alone. And

each egg contains everything

needed to create a new

living creature.”

So begins Steve Jenkins & Robin Page’s latest book – EGG. This book might just be what every young reader wants to know about eggs, but was not sure to ask. Jenkins and Page share 54 different creatures which emerge from eggs from the millions of possibilities: fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and mammals. Too bad an index was not included or this would be an even better reference book for young readers.

Some of the eggs are shown life size(with magnification to show detail), while others are not. The egg is shown with an adult creature, too.  The size of an egg does not determine the size of the adult creature. Unusual locations for where eggs are laid are shared, as well as, how many eggs , who eats eggs, egg protection, egg packaging, carrying eggs, incubation, getting out of an egg, and inside an egg.

After the usual Jenkins’ picture/text format, at the back of the book are 54 thumbnail size pictures of the adult animal with its length, habitat, and diet. These are in alphabetical order.

Castle Hangnail

Ursula Vernon, the creator of the Dragonbreath series, has another winner with Castle Hangnail! This book is twice the length of the Dragonbreath books for twice the fun.

Castle Hangnail is a proper ‘evil’ castle, full of dark dread because it is in need of a new master or mistress. If a new master does not come forward soon the Board of Magic will decommission the castle. Bedecked in a silver vulture necklace, 12 yr. old Molly knocks on the castle door to fill the position. Majordomo, the castle’s guardian, answers the door questioning whether 12 yr. old Molly is or should be the new mistress. He has his misgivings about her qualifications, but Molly does have an official invitation in her possession. There are five tasks the Board of Magic insist the new master must complete. Molly starts by looking for a book of spells in the castle’s library so she can prove she is a wicked witch. Soon, Molly discovers a spell for turning a cow into a dragon. She substitutes a word here and a hair there and is able to turn a local farmer’s donkey into a dragon.  The old cranky farmer makes up his mind to retire from farming and move to the big city to live with his daughters. This fulfills two of the tasks Molly needs to complete.

When the Castle Hangnail’s plumbing falls apart, through no fault of her own, Molly , as master of the castle, must get it repaired. The plumber’s bill is enormous. Molly enlists the help of the moles living under the castle’s grounds. The moles search for hidden treasure (36 old coins and 9 glass bottles, etc.) in exchange for some of Molly’s magic. Meanwhile, a real estate developer tries to buy the castle from Molly. No way. Two days later, the real estate developer breaks into the barn. Molly catches him trying to light matches and set the hay on fire. Molly’s shadow spell causes him to run away in fear.

Now three of the four tasks are completed. Suddenly, Evil Sorceress Eudaimonia shows up to claim the castle for herself. It was her invitation Molly gave to Majordomo, after all. Molly and her castle’s five minions ban together to fight off Eudaimonia. Molly uses her dark shadow to terrify Eudaimonia and take over the castle once and for all. The Board of Magic installs Molly as the master of Castle Hangnail.

Now all Molly has to worry about is whether or not her parents will let her stay there. After all, Molly is only 12 yr. old, but Molly’s friend and minions have a plan for that.

 

Fast paced, always wondering what will happen around the next corner, and minions that include: a pair of Minotaurs (Angus & Cook), a talking sewing stuffed doll (Pins) with a pet goldfish, and a talking walking suit of armor (Sir Edward), helped out by the castle’s bats and moles make for an exciting read!

 

A Pirate’s Mother Goose

Ahoy, mateys!  A selection of well-loved Mother Goose rhymes have been taken over by pirates!  Black Beard and scallywags stomp and roar about pirates and treasures.  “Yo-ho, pirate! Have ye any gold?  Yes, sir!  Yes, sir!  Three bags told!”  Grab your eye patch and parrot and join in some swashbuckling sea chanteys!

Loula and Mister the Monster

In this adventure of Loula, she overhears her mother say, “I can’t live with that MONSTER anymore!” and Loula immediately assumes she is talking about Loula’s dog, Mister, a Great Dane.  Loula knows Mister is a little too undisciplined most of the time and is determined to change his behavior – and quickly!  She enlists the help of Gilbert, the family chauffeur, and they take Mister through a series of lessons so Mother will allow him to stay.  Villeneuve’s water color and ink illustrations are amusing as they show each attempt and failure of trying to teach Mister some manners.  When they wearily return home, they discover Mother carrying a monstrous Venus Fly Trap out of the house!