Author, Jim Bartell, succeeds in giving elementary children a quick overview of the world’s largest country – RUSSIA. With a country so large, much of the information is told in generalities, though two pie graphs give quick specifics on ‘Where People Live in Russia’ and ‘Where People Work in Russia’.  Other topics of this 32 page book include: The Land, Lake Baikal, Daily Life, Wildlife, Food, and Going to School.

He follows the series “Exploring Countries” format of including “Fast Facts” or “Did You Know?” trivia on every two page spread, from page 19-“Only one-tenth of Russia’s land is used for farming. The rest of the land is too wet, too cold, or too mountainous.”

The year is 2041, and it’s been ten years since the Collapse.  Most people have evacuated the cities, and there is no more oil, but 16-year-old Molly’s family is doing well.  They live on a small island in Vancouver, B.C., and have a self-sustaining farm to keep them fed.  However, when the island’s doctor is unexpectedly killed in an accident and Molly’s mother’s pregnancy has complications, she must make a journey to Portland, Oregon to retrieve her grandfather (who is a doctor) and grandmother and bring them back to Vancouver.  While this book is set in a harsh dystopian future, this is a relatively gentle story about family relationships and a teenage girl’s search for home.  The core of the story revolves around the relationship between Molly, her grandparents, and a mysterious boy named Spill who is inexplicably sweet, but may have a dark secret.  Molly is a fiddle player, and Anthony excellently portrays her connection to music, family, and the earth.   A few writing quirks (too many exclamation points!) keep this book in R and not R* territory, but it’s a good read-a-like for those who loved The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd or Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

Victor Godwin is a science nerd, a perfectionist, and a middle schooler.  He has calculated the odds, and knows that the most surefire way to win the science fair is to create a perfect volcano replica of Pompeii, complete with villagers running away in fear.  Victor also knows that Benjamin Franklin, inventor extraordinaire, died hundreds of years ago – until someone who looks suspiciously like him moves in to the mother-in-law apartment in his house.  Of course, the tenant does turn out to be the reanimated Ben Franklin, and trouble ensues when Victor gets involved in helping him stay animated.  Filled with silly humor, cool looking diagrams of science fair projects and inventions, and madcap adventure, this book is enough to get any reluctant-to-read middle-school boy excited.  While not quite as hilarious or well-written as Scieszka’s similar Time Warp Trio serious, this book could definitely turn the right kind of kid on to reading.  The message of the book pushes it from AD to R — sometimes it’s more important to actually learn something, than to just get a good grade.  Stay tuned for the sequel, Benjamin Franklin Meets the Fright Brothers.

Little Blue is lost in the woods, and cannot find her way home.  When a boy stumbles upon her, they begin a journey to find the blue-haired girl’s native land, and it turns out the two children’s homes may not be worlds away from each other as they first seem.  In the simple style of a folktale, Chapman weaves a lovely story about searching for home, complete with a sweet surprise ending.  The illustrations are magnificently detailed – Little Blue’s descriptions of home comes to life with sketchy blue colored pencil, and the terrain through which the two friends travel is softly colored and intricate.  Every detail, from the simple prose to Little Blue’s beautiful dress, is lovingly and carefully created.  A perfect book for story time.

This is a book that you never want to end–it’s that good!  A high school girl, Elizabeth Rew, has changed schools and feels somewhat like a outcast.  Her history teacher recommends her for the position of page at the New York Circulating Material Repository–a library of objects rather than books.  The objects all have some historical value–think of the Smithsonians and you’ll get the idea.  Her job is to locate objects for check out, replace the objects as they are returned, repair and clean, inventory, and so on.   When she receives clearance to be able to work in the Grimm Collection she is amazed at all the magic.  This is a special section of the library which houses all the objects  written about in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.  For example, one piece is the large mirror used by Snow White’s wicked stepmother. It will answer your question if you ask it in rhyme.   But her answer always comes with some wickedness.  You can imagine all the fun and the trouble you’d get into if allowed to use them.  Which is exactly what happens.  Someone has been checking out the artifacts, making copies of them, and switching the copy for the real thing.  When the curators become suspicious, the pages try to find out who is behind the thefts.  Their adventures have them doing battle with people using the magical objects for their own gains.  The action is nonstop and exciting.  This is one book where it is so fun and easy to read because it sounds as if the reader is just part of their conversations.  This book will fly off the shelves and should be an excellent addition to all libraries.  It is also a great fit for the popular Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley.

My Double Life is a Cinderella story in modern dress.  Alexia Garcia is a smart teenage Latina who gets good grades and has her sights set on a scholarship to a good college.  She’s also a perfect look-alike for teen rock star Kari Kingsley.  Alexia, with plain brown hair and little makeup,  is trying to work up the courage to ask a popular boy to the Sadie Hawkins dance, when she’s suddenly swept away to sunny California to be a body-double for the glamorous Miss Kingsley.  A new cut and color, dance classes, an unlimited clothing budget, and a skill for lip synching, and soon Alexia is earning tons of money by being Kari at mall openings, parades, fairs and rodeos.

This book takes you away to rock stardom, both the glamour and the hard work, but  Alexia struggles to stay true to herself while being someone else.  As with Cinderella, you know there’ll be a happy ending, but I couldn’t put it down until I found out how things would work out.  Teens will love this book, and parents will too as Alexia’s rock and roll story doesn’t include sex or drugs.

In this wordless picture book by father/daughter duo Marije and Ronald Tolman, a polar bear and a brown bear float across the sea and come across a beautiful tree, with a perfect tree house built into the branches.  The two bears make their home in the tree, the seasons pass, and other animal friends come and go.  With what looks like crayon, colored pencil, ink, and watercolor, the artists have created a true work of art on each and every page of this book.  The gently changing the colors of the pages and careful detailing of each animal character create a serene mood of harmony and peace, and the complete lack of words invites the reader to create his or her own story to accompany the exquisite artwork.   Highly recommended for all school and public library collections.

Originally published in the Netherlands, Marijke ten Cate’s playful picture book is a new take on the traditional “getting dressed” story.  A little boy gets out of the bath, and can’t find his underpants!  Of course, finding one’s underpants is made considerably more difficult when one has to search through a cluttered room filled with an alligator taking a bath, a baby chasing a cat, and mice climbing ladders.  The author’s playful illustrations take the reader through an interactive journey through finding the boy’s clothing in his messy environment, and getting dressed and ready to play outside.  Perfect for preschoolers who love “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo”, the busy scenes are gently rendered and full of life.  Parents and teachers should know that the first page features a young boy wearing no underpants, so this book might not be suitable if nudity is a concern.

Eighth grade classmates Jaya, Maria, and Lola, all immigrants from different countries, find each other in a small town in New Jersey.  Each young lady brings her own personal struggle blending into the mix of the school.  Each of their mothers is a nanny/maid, also struggling against money worries and false accusations.  This is a great book to illustrate the unfairness of preconceived notions about minorities.

The author of this book feels it is his duty to point out  hoaxes on the subject of UFOs and aliens. If  in fact they are hoaxes, that’s fine, but  this reviewer thinks the book is biased or at least sarcastically written. Here are a few points:

page 18- “Over the years, plenty of photos have seemed to prove that UFOs really exit. The trouble is, you don’t have to look hard to see that the photos are fakes!”

page 16- “This photo shows a mock-up of an alien said (wrongly) to have been taken alive from the crashed Roswell UFO.”

page 4- “Alien landing strips During the 1970s, some people thought (wrongly) that the Nazca Lines of Peru were alien landing strips. It seems that aliens had been visiting Earth for thousands of years!”

page 27- “No explanation The strange events on the first night in Rendlesham Forest have never been explained. BUT, no one has ever come up with any evidence that they were caused by a UFO.”

Young readers will find out “What is  a wildfire?”, “What causes wildfires?’, “Wildfire safety”, and “Fighting wildfires”.

9″ x 11″ color photos provide visual clarification for the text from a brush fire, to a campfire, to creating a fire break.

Lexile: 460 L

Part of the series-  Exploring Countries– this  Level 5: Fluent Readers book gives a clear but brief overview of Japan: ” Where Is Japan?”, “The Land”, “Volcanoes and Earthquakes”, “Wildlife”, “The People”, “Daily Life”, and  “Going to School” to list a few.

Includes Fun Facts or Did You Know on each turn of the page, such as this one from page 9,  “An earthquake happens somewhere in Japan every day. The country experiences up to 1,500 earthquakes each year.”

Also includes: Fast Facts, Glossary, Index

If you have students who are looking for books to help them select the perfect pet, then add this book to your collection.

Authors Charles and Linda George inform the reader on important aspects prospective dog owners should know before purchasing a dog, such as:  “How Big do Beagles Get?’, “Brushing Hair and Clipping Nails”, “Make Room for Your Beagle!”, “Loyal Friends”, “Curious About Everything!”, and “Taking Care of Your Beagle Puppy” to name a few sections in this book. Each page includes a “Fast Fact” such as this one from page 25: “If you’ve been away for a while, get ready to be licked and pawed when you get home.”

Lexile: 660 L

Author Matt Haig won UK’s prestigious Nestle Children’s Book Prize with the book Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest (titled Shadow Forest).  In this sequel, we find Troll-Son threatened to be sent to the Betterer–a troll feared by all troll children–and he runs away to Samuel Blink, his human friend-hero.  Troll-Son is part of a family of four trolls: Troll-Father, Troll-Mother, Troll-Daughter, and himself.  They all must share one eyeball.  It has become difficult for Troll-Father and Troll-Son to hunt rabbits and they’ve had to come home empty-handed.  Troll-Mother thinks it’s just laziness and she decides to send Troll-Son to the Betterer so that he can learn how to work harder.  The Betterer (a troll who once actually thought he was human and so he thinks he is ‘better’ than the ordinary trolls) is feared by all, but especially the troll children.  Rather than have to endure bettering, Troll-Son takes the family eye and heads to where Samuel Blink lives.  Here is where the background knowledge from the prior book would be helpful, but it’s not necessary in order to get what’s happening.  When he arrives, it’s a surprise to Samuel, who has to hurry to hide him.  His sister has made friends at school with the daughter of the village’s richest man and who is also the sworn enemy of his Uncle Henrik.  He would love nothing better than to find a troll at Samuel’s house so that he can get him in trouble, and has sent his daughter to do his spying for him.  Poor Samuel is trying to save his aunt and uncle (with whom he and his sister now live since their parents died) from this evil man, while in the meantime Troll-Father, who is eyeless, and the Betterer are on Troll-Son’s trail, intent to bring him back to the forest.  Samuel is torn between saving his aunt and uncle and saving the troll who sees him as a hero.  Readers with strong visualization will be able to see the setting and characters clearly.  Lots of action and the realization of just what makes a hero are strong.  Highly recommended.

This graphic novel is an entertaining Arthur story with an excellent historical/literary introduction that separates fact from myth surrounding the character of Arthur.  This tale has fantastical creatures, battles, intrigue, magic, heroism and villains.  There are a few spots in the story that are a bit confusing in terms of following the text bubbles in coordination with the illustrations.  On occasion, the text refers to a picture on the previous page which is a bit awkward.  Generally speaking however, the story flows well and held my attention and interest.  I would recommend this book, especially as an introduction to the tales of Arthur for the reluctant reader.