This gentle novel thoughtfully explores grief in all its complexity, particularly the difficulty — and necessity — of finding a way to live with the aching hole left by loss and accept uncertainty. THE QUESTION OF MIRACLES is a quiet, character-driven story: It begins after the major dramatic moment in Iris’ life and follows her as she tries to figure out who she is without her best friend at her side.

The main character, Iris, is warm and smart, the kind of kid anyone would want as a best friend, but she’s uncertain of her footing without Sarah’s reassuring presence. She deliberately keeps the world at bay, unready yet to risk letting anything new into her heart. Without sermonizing or offering easy answers, writer Arnold offers comfort by showing how the crucible of grief, as with any major life change, can lead to renewal and growth. Thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking for middle graders, girls as well as boys.

This is book 2 in the Gadgets and Gears series by Kersten Hamilton. In bits and pieces the reader, who has not read book 1, finds out that Iron Claw is a pigeon with an eye that can mesmerize people into doing its bidding and is a member of an evil organization- the Mesmers. The story is being retold by Noodles, the dachshund, the pet of Walter Kennewickett, aka Wally. Wally’s parents- Oliver and Calypso are scientists and Wally is a scientist-in-training. Oliver and Calypso are working for President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) to help save the world. Wally’s parents run the Automated Inn for Oliver’s brother, the family paterfamilias. Noodles uses quite a few ‘BIG’ words like this one and always explains them for the reader, much like in the Lemony Snickett series. The Automated Inn uses what we today might call robots to run the inn. Some of the robots / automatons are extremely human in appearance and dress, while others are not. So begins this mix of historical fiction and science fiction.

The Automated Inn is holding their annual OPEN HOUSE. The local towns folk get to see the new inventions and have a wonderful meal. But this year the OPEN HOUSE is interrupted by an incognito appearance by Iron Claw and Madini of the Mesmers. It turns out they want Nikola Tesla who is working, at his friends Automated Inn, on how to make wireless electrical charging possible. This would be very bad for Thomas Edison’s and Westinghouse’s power companies because Tesla wants to make the power available to everyone for free. The Kennewicketts discover the Mesmer’s plot shortly after Wally’s Human Kite demonstration explodes.  This sets into motion a trip to Italy to save Oliver’s brother from the Mesmers.  The Kennewicketts are flying to Europe in their air vessel, the Daedalus. while avoiding getting Tesla captured by air pirates along the way. ”  ‘ We will save the world by doing what we do best,’ Wally guessed. ‘ Creating and employing technology.’  ” (85) Once in Europe, Oliver and Calypso are mesmerized along with Oliver’s brother, but Wally, Noodles, and the automatons successfully outsmart Iron Claw to save the day.

The Author’s Note states, after the Epilogue, “Nikola Tesla, the ‘Wizard of the West’ who helped the Kennewicketts in this story, was real, though his adventures and some of the inventions in this book are fictional. The ‘war of the currents’ was real too, and Tesla did discover the alternating current that we all use in our homes today… If you’d like to know more about the science and history in The Ire of Iron Claw, or want to exercise you imagination ramp up your research, and polish your problem-solving skills… www.hmhco.com/shop/books/The-Ire-of-Iron-Claw/9780544225022.”   (163-165)

Too often our students’ understanding of the civil rights movement is limited to the big names of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and maybe Ruby Bridges.  This would be a solid addition to any library collection to broaden the picture we offer our students.  Told from the perspective of a young boy reminiscing about his father’s store, this book tells about Harlem’s National Memorial African Bookstore, and the roll it played as a community gathering place.  It also stresses the importance of spreading knowledge through literacy and discussions to empower people to bring about change.  The end papers and the main body of the text are sprinkled with words of wisdom from a man who had little formal schooling himself but knew the power of learning.

A solid little book that pacts a reasonable amount of information into the constraints of an early reader, clearly outlining the distinguishing characteristics between two easily confused animal groups.  Before reading this, I couldn’t have told you what the difference was, but now I know.  The book addresses traits such as size, tails, noses, family behavior, and intelligence.  It also offers a map showing regions in which both types of animals live, and discusses the relationship both have to humans as fellow primates.  It’s got a solid binding, all the usual non-fiction text features, and color illustrations that support the text.

Yes, the photos are “super cute!” just as the cover proclaims.  And as a beginning reader, it has a certain draw, as it only has a sentence or two per page, supported by the photos.  But because it is an early reader, the information it provides is minimal.  Although, hey, I did learn that a baby giraffe is taller than me when it’s born.  That was interesting.  And it does have a good sturdy binding.

Beautiful color photos illustrate this scientific success story of bringing back this species of monkeys from approaching extinction to a viable population.  Crossing fifty years of concern and study and attempts and failures and more attempts, the book teaches about the needs of golden lion tamarins, about the growth of environmental science, about the interrelationship between animals and their environments, and about how humans can impact that relationship, both for ill and for good.  It honestly shares the complexities of trying to release animals born in captivity into the wild. It’s a book to inspire.

Wow! Fabulous! Amazing! Totally cool! Every library should have this book.  It is basically a history of our understanding of our place in the universe.  The main story is told in first person, from the perspective of the collective human race, beginning with the earliest observations seeming to indicate the earth was flat and the sky a dome above.  It continues on, explaining how further observations led to more and more complex models of the universe, and in so doing shows how knowledge comes to be, as something that grows rather than something stagnant.  On every page, captioned diagrams, photos, and illustrations help to explain the thinking of the times.  It ends not with our current understanding of the universe, but with the questions still to be answered.  It’s a beautiful book, sure to spark curiosity and wonder.

Informative blurbs at the beginning and the end of the book tell about the man who was Davy Crockett, and about the time period in which he lived, and how legends grew out of the truth of the time.  Sandwiched between these blurbs is a tall tale describing how Davy wrestled to the death a gator who was longer than two steam ships, and had been terrorizing the Mississippi River until he met his match in Davy.  It’s a great example of voice, being told in a folksy drawl that sounds like an old-timer rocking on a front porch somewhere telling the tale, full of colloquialisms that suit the era.

Very readable.  Very informative.  Does a good job of recognizing many ways in which the roll of president was shaped by George Washington, and many ways in which the young country was still feeling it’s way at the time of his presidency.  We so often hear in today’s politics people arguing about what the “founding fathers” believed, but this book does a good job of illustrating how much disagreement their was among the founding fathers, and showing that George Washington purposely set out to make sure he would hear from opposing sides before making his own decisions:  the idea of the President having a cabinet of advisers was not in the Constitution, but was instituted by Washington, and has continued ever since, for this purpose.

Okay, I can’t say I’m a fan of encouraging students to think they can wait to the last minute to do their homework, and many of the projects suggested are really more activities than experiments, but they’re still (mostly) good activities, with solid science behind them, and the section after each activity where it lists ideas to, “Keep Exploring — If You Have More Time!” really do offer solid experimentation ideas to extend the initial activities. Also, even though the series is arranged around biomes, and this one claims to explore Temperate Forests, most of the activities are really applicable to anywhere one finds deciduous trees, not necessarily forests.

A good, solid biography of Columbus, it neither glorifies nor vilifies the explorer.  In addition to sharing the facts of Columbus’s life and adventures, it shares many of the misconceptions that have surrounded the explorer, debunks them.  But it does so in a very balanced approach: while shooting down the notions that Columbus “discovered” America, or proved the world was round, and acknowledging his mistakes and failings and cruelties, it also recognizes his talents as a navigator and the lasting impact he had on bringing Europe and the Americas together.

This is not a stuffy science book that’s getting weighed down with such things like the scientific process or school-like topics in which to organize the projects.  This is just science for the fun of it.  All the projects use simple-straightforward materials easily found.  The directions are easy-to-follow and not terribly time-consuming.  There are “icky explanations” offered for each project that explain the underlying science or broader applications.  But mostly they just look fun.  Entertainment for the scientifically minded.

A good beginning text about the Navy Seals in Spanish.  The text is limited to 1-2 sentences per two-page spread, accompanied by large, full-color photos that support the text.  The information is simple and straightforward.  Though the text is limited, the information is solid, although admittedly, more of an introductory text to spark curiosity rather than truly quench one’s thirst for knowledge.

La Llorona is a famous Mexican legend, and is a worthy selection to be included in school libraries, and if your library already has other versions, this one would make a reasonable addition for offering different versions of the same story.  In particular, this one is useful in introducing students to reading script formats.  But if you are only going to have one version of the folktale in your library, I wouldn’t recommend this be the one, as the script version can be a bit confusing, with sometimes Older David speaking as narrator, as he tells the story as a memory, and sometimes Younger David speaking within the memory.  And it’s got a story within a story, which is another useful literary device for teaching, but in combination with everything else going on in this story, it just adds to the muddled feeling of the retelling.

It’s a worthy topic, and the collection of photographs brings it to life, making it real for students.  I just wish the writing was stronger.  It’s adequate.  All the facts are presented.  I just wished they had been strung together more coherently, to actually make a story of the events.  It’s like they were constructing the text to fit the formatting (it all fits very nicely into outlined text boxes, with titles over each paragraph), instead of designing the formatting to enhance the story.

It’s your basic don’t-give-up-on-your-dreams story, in Spanish.  Santiago dreams of becoming a performer, but at the audition for the school play he freezes.  When he confesses to his dad that he didn’t get the part, dad tells him not to give up on his dreams, so he keeps practicing on his own time, which makes him ready to jump in and save the day when the lead in the play is suddenly ill.  It’s fine.  It’s a good little story, with a good message. Just perhaps a bit of a cliche.

It’s your basic don’t-give-up-on-your-dreams story.  Santiago dreams of becoming a performer, but at the audition for the school play he freezes.  When he confesses to his dad that he didn’t get the part, dad tells him not to give up on his dreams, so he keeps practicing on his own time, which makes him ready to jump in and save the day when the lead in the play is suddenly ill.  It’s fine.  It’s a good little story, with a good message. Just perhaps a bit of a cliche.

It’s a collection of 21 traditional stories from around the world, mostly fables, each told in 4 pages.  It’s not that it’s bad, exactly.  But there are way better versions available of all these stories.  The format keeps the telling of each to a minimalist bare-bones version, and the illustrations are cute, but not necessarily culturally relevant.

What is it like to live in a warzone? And what if that war isn’t one you’re fighting?  The tiny island of Saipan was caught in the middle of World War II.  Its residents had to navigate tricky relationships with the Japanese and Americans, as the two countries fought their deadly war.  This is the story of two islanders during those events.  Recommended for collections serving young people, particularly because of its unique topic and setting.

It can be hard to make friends when you move to a new town. When Teddy moves to Richland, he finds himself playing with a series of kids who just… disappear.  And you know how strange noises can make it hard to sleep in a new space?  The tree outside of Teddy’s room seems to be getting more aggressive in its scratching against his window.  This relatively slim volume combines horror and historical fiction in a story that will delight and terrify its readers.  Teddy is an accessible everykid, and his plight is believable and eerie.  Recommended as a strong entry into middle grade collections everywhere.