It could be titled, “Dozens of Ways to Die.”  Ninety percent of the 24 possible ending end in death.  Which makes it a great choice for those reluctant reader boys who will be eager to try a new path and find a new way to die.  And they’ll get a little history along the way.  The interactive nature of the book, the simple text, and the comfort in knowing you don’t have to read the whole thing before you get to “The End” are other contributing factors that will draw in the reluctant reader.  It even kept the actual dialogue to a minimum, which I appreciate, as that is one element of these choose-your-path-through-history books that I think calls the non-fiction designation into shady territory.

It is a really quality work: very thorough and well-written, illustrated with lots of full-color photographs.  This is a series I have been generally very impressed with, and I would probably recommend it for middle school or high school, but I hesitate because this is not my area of expertise.  As an elementary librarian, I am happy to put it on my shelf, and it may find some limited interest (particularly if I make a point of pulling up the video feed to the webcam that watches the nests).  The photos would draw some students in, and the text is broken up sufficiently into assorted captions and sidebars so that younger readers may browse through the photos, reading bits and pieces, but I doubt elementary students would read the whole thing, as it’s a bit text dense.

This is fun! I want to try it out with my students! And I want to get the other books in the series (there are 4).  It begins with a basic introduction to what coding is, and defining some key concepts like input and output.  It explains that there are different computer languages and tells where readers can download, or access online two different free resources, Logo and Scratch.  It then goes on to explain quite clearly how each of these work, giving lots of simple exercises to try.

I LOVE the illustrations! They are whimsical and fanciful and delightful, and they totally suit the nonsensical spirit of Wonderland.  They were almost enough to win me over from my usual distaste of abridgments.  But this isn’t even a whole abridgment.  Only if one takes the time to read the inside flap of the dust jacket does one know that this is the first half of Alice’s adventures.  It could have been really fabulous if they’d created a larger volume to include the complete story.  This way it falls a bit flat.

I’m not generally inclined to be a fan of abridgments, as I find them somewhat disrespectful to the author’s original work, but if you’re in the market for such a thing, this would be a reasonable choice.  It is a beginning chapter book, suitable for young readers, with short chapters and full-page color illustrations.  The illustrations suit the silliness of the story. It’s adequate for what it is.

It’s got a great title, and it’s written with a great voice, that brings out the personality of the main character.  The cartoonish illustrations, likewise, are drawn to contribute to the personality of the characters, but there’s a gray undertone to the color scheme that detracts and leaves them a bit drab.  The story itself is fine, but not especially compelling:  dog’s in trouble for wreaking havoc on the furniture, because she thinks she’s battling monsters, but it turns out that she needs glasses, so she gets taken to the doggy optometrist, tries on a bunch of glasses, but opts for contacts instead, and all is well.  It left me a bit flat.

A delightful story with a message we all need reminding of from time to time.  Told in rhyme with a poetic rhythm (without being too sing-songy), the story tells of a meek, tiny mouse who lives at the base of a large rock, perpetually ignored by all the other animals.  Atop the rock is the perch of the lion, whose loud roar and prideful boasting makes him impossible to ignore.  Deciding he needs a roar of his own to get himself noticed, Mouse works up the courage to face the only one who can teach him, and makes the long climb, overcoming his fear of becoming dinner in order to seek his goal.  Upon waking the lion with his timid request, we all discover the lion is afraid of mice, which puts the little guy in a place of power as he assures the lion he means no harm and would like to be friends.  So they both learned that day that no matter one’s size, “we all have a mouse and a lion inside.”  The illustrations give the characters personality and use perspective well to create a sense of drama.

This book is outstanding! The artwork is gorgeous, colorful, and so unique! The story follows a cow (Tina) who has 3 sisters with no imagination. Tina goes exploring and climbs a tree where she meets a dragon who teaches her to fly. Eventually her sisters come looking for her and expand their horizons…literally. The moral of this story is “Yes, Why Not?” Told with a sparsity of words, the reader will come to discover that imaginations and a willingness to try will result in success.
This would be great for story times about dragons, cows, imagination, exploring etc.

If you are looking for a book about how planes work, this book gives only a VERY general overview. It takes a broader approach for a younger audience about air travel in general (including a chapter on airport security). I can’t imagine that students older than third grade or students with knowledge of the Wright brothers or planes would find this book very helpful. Students just beginning to learn about these subjects might, though. For a broad overview of air travel and a younger audience (advanced reader in 2nd or 3rd grade), this is a decent book. Cute illustrations, quiz at the end and a wide array of general info. Some readers may want to go deeper though.

This beautifully illustrated picture book uses the voice of Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson to describe the work and teachings of Gandhi, through the perspective of a young boy not fully the lessons he’s being taught and chaffing at the behavior expected of him.  He says of the eleven principle teachings of his grandfather, the one he struggled with the most was the teaching against waste.  In an act of defiance, one day he tosses his stubby little pencil into the grass, only to be sent into the night to spend hours hunting for it.  Eventually, his grandfather explains that wasting resources is a way form of taking from those who have less, and gives him an exercise to recognize the two types of violence: physical violence and passive violence, and the impacts all our thoughts and actions have upon the wider world.

Highly readable and highly informative.  It covers everything from the lore that surrounds owls from a variety of cultures, to the different types, anatomy, hunting, and mating.  A generally all-encompassing book, illustrated with beautiful watercolors that support text.

This is a book where the illustrations are crucial to telling the story. Told from the perspective of a solitary fox, the story opens with the words, “This is the forest where I lived with my family.”  Yet the illustration shows a suburban subdivision.  As the book continues, the fox reminisces about the times with his family, while he wanders through the human habitat.  The color scheme of the illustrations does an excellent job of contributing to the mood of the story, opening with dark and drab colors, brightening in the end, when the fox watches the strange two-leg humans digging near signs of a future wildlife preserve and a future wildlife underpass.  When his curiosity draws him through this strange empty burrow, he finds his way home, reunited with his family.  An author’s note in the back discusses conservation efforts working to minimize the impact of human encroachment on wild habitat.

A fun book for exploring language — namely words that have multiple meanings, both as nouns (specifically animals) and verbs.  Each page contains one very short sentence consisting of repeating words (Bats bat. Steers steer. Dogs dog dogs.), and silly, cartoonish illustrations that support the multiple meanings.  Just to be extra clear, within each illustration is also a brief definition of the verb (“to steer = to guide”).  A two-page spread in the very back offers further discourse on the origins of the different usages of each word, in case anyone is particularly curious.

It’s fun.  It’s a rhyming story, a counting story, and a build-upon-itself repeating story.  It begins in the middle of the sea with nothing to see; then there’s nothing to see but one tiny island just big enough for me and Annie McPhee; then two wee dogs who thought they were frogs, followed by three perky pigs wearing wigs….By the time they’ve spotted ten rascally rats skipping in hats, Annie McPhee shouts, “Too crowded for me!” and the two original island inhabitants set off to sea on the head of a whale, leaving the tiny island to the rest of the crowd.

It’s okay.  The illustrations are cute.  The theme is a popular one in children’s lit:  the fun to be had in exercising one’s imagination.  It tells of a young boy and elderly neighbor and all they imagine from her front porch swing (the cat that casts a shadow of a tiger, the tree root they imagine to be a dangerous snake in the grass, etc.) But I think there are better books that follow the same theme.  This one lacks much in the way of pizzaz or story arc.

The illustrations alone are enough to recommend this book.  They are beautiful and charming and fanciful.  The story is a bit heavy: an  allegory describing all the troubles that arise as Mother Nature keeps trying to make children of her own (by the names of Fear, Hate, Greed, Envy & Fickle), and then leaving them in the charge of the humans while she goes off to create the seasons.  Every time she returns, it’s to disastrous results, until she creates a set of twins, who managed to bring everyone else together in harmony (most of the time), whom she named Love.  Not exactly a light-hearted tale, but one that gives children a way to ponder some big ideas.

A charming story, told in rhyme, with really cute illustrations, makes the reader think twice about all the classic bad-guy characters.  In this book, the witches, trolls, dragons, giants, etc. are not really evil through and through — that’s just their day job.  In this book we see them gathering together at the end of the day, commiserating over their daily challenges, setting aside their grumbly ways, brushing teeth, reading stories, checking for princesses under the beds.  A good conversation starter to make one consider characters’ lives outside the stories.

It follows a fairly standard format of similar non-fiction counting books:  it’s got larger print offering a couple lines of rhyming text on each page that indicate how each number relates to octopuses, and then smaller text offers a paragraph or two elaborating on the original statement.  The illustrations are rather Steven Jenkins-ish, which attract young readers, and the text presents its information in a simple, direct manner, easy for young readers to comprehend.  The first nine numbers state assorted facts about octopuses; and number ten lists and describes ten different types of octopuses, including scale images to show their sizes relatives to humans.  The octopus crafts outlined on the final two pages seem a bit superfluous, but other than that it’s a solid choice for beginning informational text.

Somehow it seems almost sacrilege to give a Patricia Polacco book anything less than a Recommendation.  And I suppose this would be a worthy book to have if you want to have the complete works for an author study, but as Patricia Polacco books go, I was a bit disappointed.  It’s long and rambling and doesn’t seem to have a point other than telling the story of a woman for whom Thursday was lucky.  It tells about all the good things that happened on Thursday: being born, meeting the love of her life, sons being born, opening a diner, discovering her signature dish.  After her husband dies, she loses heart and closes her diner, until one day (on a Thursday) she discovers a kitten abandoned and wrapped in a towel with Thursday stitched on it, so naturally she names the kitten Thursday, and gradually she returns to cooking, reopens her diner, and on a Thursday a famous critic tastes a dish that came about because the cat knocked a bunch of ingredients together, and so she becomes rich and famous.  It’s okay, but it was a bit disappointing. I wanted it to have more purpose.

The simplicity of the story relegates it to the youngest readers, but there is lots of repetition in the text, which makes it especially appropriate for those students, as a scaffold for emergent readers.  The simplicity and matted color palette of the illustrations suit the story — that of a young owl who wakes up one evening excited to play, packs up his wagon, and sets off to find a friend to play with; unfortunately, all of his friends are sleepy, so he uses the items in his wagon to help tuck his friends in, and heads home at daybreak, sad that he was unable to find a playmate, only to find all his friends  newly awake, waiting at his home to play.  Of course, now he’s sleepy and must turn them down in like fashion (until after his nap).

Well, it’s definitely not an R*, which I really wanted it to be, since I recognized the kitty on the front from it’s partner book, Lost, which I absolutely loved.  I’m sorry to say this one did not live up to my hopes, and out of frustration I almost knocked it down to an additional purchase.  But I decided that wasn’t really fair.  Disappointment aside, the illustrations are strong, and kids will eat up the story of the cute kitty who sneaks into Mr. Fluffy Boots’s bag, gets a ride on his sleight and gets to visit his North Pole workshop, before deciding he really longs to be home.

Nicholas O. Time, authors a new series dealing with time travel – In Due Time. In book #2 – Stay a Spell the main characters Jada and her friends Abby and Daniel are students at Sands Middle School. Their school librarian, Ms. Tremt, is very efficient and then some. It seems at times, Ms. Tremt knows what books you need even before you know. This comes into play when Jada goes to the library to check out self-help books to help her with her spelling problem/ bad spelling test grades. Jada can not seem to wrap her logical mind around the rules for spelling English correctly. While in the library, Ms. Tremt recruits Jada to help her. Little does Jada know that time travel will be involved. Jada may bring her two friends, but none of them will ever be allowed to tell anyone about their time travel. The butterfly effect is discussed. The slightest change in the time traveled to can have far reaching implications. Ms. Tremt has Jada, Abby, and Daniel traveling back to Hollywood, CA, 1977, where Jada’s Aunt Katy works in a Hollywood film company’s costume shop. Something goes wrong, they travel back to 1803, instead  meeting Sagawea. The second time, is successful. They meet Aunt Katy. Aunt Katy is very energetic and shows them around the costume department letting them try on various costumes.  A problem arises that could cost Aunt Katy her job.  Jada’s wonderful math skills helps her discover the problem. Jada realizes the problem was caused by a spelling error, which caused the wrong fabric to be ordered. Oh, this causes a butterfly effect. Then, Tim Raveltere appears. He is trying to track down Ms. Tremt. He wants to take away Ms. Tremt’s ability to time travel for his own gain. Jada, Abby, and Daniel follow Tim through time to stop him, where they meet Cleopatra. Jada, Abby, and Daniel escape ancient Egypt going back to their own time thanks to Daniel’s quick thinking.

That is enough time travel for Jada, Abby, and Daniel for the moment. Ms. Tremt works to keep Tim R. at bay. Then, Jada invites Abby, Daniel , and Aunt Katy over to her house on Saturday have to fun dressing and dancing  1970s style.

Story #2 is over. Nicholas O. Time gives the readers some additional background on the three times to which Jada, Abby, and Daniel traveled.

The reader will enjoy the descriptions of sights Jada, Abby, and Daniel are seeing, especially when referenced to their modern counterparts.

Tim Howard, Dwayne Wade, Stephen Curry, Jim Abbott, Althea Gibson, LeBron James, Shane Battier, R.A. Dickey, Serge Ibaka, Caron Butler, & Jacques Demers.  These 11 athletes began their lives heading down a path that one would not expect to lead to stardom.  Some felt the pangs of abuse – drugs abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, neglect.  Others overcame the challenges of physical impediments.  Each athlete gets 15 – 24 pages of story time.  Dreamed up by a father and sons triple threat, the writing is seamless between the authors.  Even if a student only reads about a few of their favorite athletes, the message is taught and it is a win for libraries.  Highly recommended!

The Grumpasaurus is a small, fearsome creature. You should observe the Grumpasaurus from afar. Edward Hemingway’s book is written as a field guide and features diagrams and colorful illustrations. The book starts out with the Grumpasaurs finding his teddy bear with his arm falling off. It sets him off in a grumpy mood. Eventually his teddy bear is repaired and we soon learn that the Grumpasaurus is a young child in a bad mood. This is definitely for younger audiences. It could be a fun way to talk about bad moods and strong emotions.

Written in the form of undated journal entries, Max Crumbly is sure to be a hit with fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries.

After being home-schooled by his grandmother since kindergarten, Max starts his first public school experience as an eighth graders at South Ridge Middle School.  Finding a niche and fitting in was particularly difficult because Doug “Thug” Thurston goes out his way to make Max’s life miserable after Max threw up on his shoe in gym class.  Only the second week and Max has been stuffed in his locker for the second time.  Max then journals in the cramped locker until his crush hears him and unlocks the door.

After school with a three day weekend approaching Max is crammed in the locker once again with no one is likely to notice him missing until the next week.  Max finally busts out the back of his locker into a dank unused boiler room.  Thinking to escape through the ventilation system he overhears 3 burglars planning to empty the new computer lab.

Max’s misadventures are not resolved in this first book.  Maybe he’ll escape the school and outsmart burglars in book 2