Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, is remembered for his War Against Poverty, his struggles to both win the war in Vietnam and to end it, and for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.   Johnson’s failures and frustrations as well as his successes are included, making this biography a lesson in living that will appeal to young readers.

His own experiences shaped many of Johnson’s political views.  As a young teacher in Cotulla, Texas, his students were the children of  poor Mexican immigrants.  “I had my first lessons in the high price we pay for poverty and prejudice right there,”  Johnson said later, when explaining his ideas for the Head Start program.

Quotations used throughout the book make historical issues understandable, and help readers to see how complex the difficulties a president faces can be.   Johnson’s sense of humor, and use of Texas “hill country” wisdom, show up in much of what he said.  Frustrated by what he considered unfair media coverage of the Vietnam War, Johnson said,  “If one morning, I walked on top of the water, across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read, President Can’t Swim.”

With a timeline, glossary, and bibliography, this book is a nice addition to the Presidents and Their Times series.  It gave me a far greater appreciation of Lyndon Johnson’s dedication to what he believed was right, and of his efforts to make life better for Americans.

The snowboarding competition is stiff, and rivals Tony and Jack don’t like each other on or off the halfpipe.  But when they are caught in an avalanche, they have to rely on each other’s skill to survive.  This graphic novel from Sports Illustrated Kids will likely be popular.  The color, paper, and binding are of high quality and should stand up to heavy use.  One plot hole, though, seems to put our two heroes out-of-bounds at the ski resort (although they are ostensibly competing, there are not spectators or judges).  SI Kids would have done well to include a discussion in the afterword regarding safety on the mountain.

In striking black and white, the layout of this book is simple and approachable.  Historical photographs with captions in green boxes don’t detract from the double-spaced text, while occasional human interest stories are set apart with white text on a black background.  The information is easy to find and easy to follow.  The narrative sets out the history of child labor, profiles those who sought reform, and explains the laws that were finally enacted in the U.S. to protect children and guarantee their schooling.  Very well done and a great addition to a middle school library, particularly for CBA research.

One of the series “America at War,” this title excels in photography.  The layout is busy and contains all the “text features” that we remind students to use.  The text is short and choppy, but readers may not mind as they take in the historical images on glossy paper.  This one is definitely aiming for the high-low market, but will serve the young researcher as well.

Rex is a little dinosaur who is always being referred to as, “Little Rex.” However, Rex tells everyone that he is, “Big Rex,” with his pointy teeth, sharp claws and scary growl. Soon Rex’ little siblings hatch out of their eggs which changes his opinion of himself to “Little Rex, Big Brother,” not wanting to scare them. The illustrations are cute and colorful.

The hardback front and back covers add up to a greater thickness than the pages of this very short, but glossy narrative of Desert Storm.  At 32 pages, this book may leave a discerning reader with more questions than answers.  The photography dominates each page.  Text is short and choppy, with helpful vocabulary terms in bold type and defined in boxes at the bottom of each page.  Despite the two-page spread entitled “Liberated,” the text ends abruptly with the fact that troops remained in Iraq “in the summer of 2010 and beyond.”  A scanty index is included at the end.  This book may hold more appeal to young readers interested in “war” than those doing serious historical research.

Life as a Gladiator is yet another installment in the “Interactive History Adventure” series, an attempt to combine the excitement of the old “Choose your own Adventure” books with social studies topics.  Told in breathless second person point of view, the book allows readers to take on the role of a gladiator in ancient Rome.  Depending on one’s choice, the reader might join Spartacus in a rebellion, outrun the eruption of Vesuvius, or take on an opponent in the amphitheater.  Each book in the series does provide quite a bit of good information and gives the reader a chance to walk in another’s historical shoes (or sandals, in this case.).  These books may work better in 4th and 5th grade, but they do not move very well in my middle school library.  With some more energetic promotion, however, they might launch a few kids into reading for pleasure in the 900 DDC.

Book 2 of the Blade series by Tim Bowler is geared toward the reluctant readers.  Fast-paced, violent, with super-short chapters, the slang is so thick, I had a hard time following the plot. (“He’s no dumflush dreg like Paddy’s gobbos.” — p. 29) Blade is a teen assassin, streetwise with a sarcastic attitude.  Because I hadn’t read book 1 — “Playing Dead”– I was especially confused , though as the book progressed, I realized that is Tim Bowler’s intentional writing style, to keep you wondering what will happen next.  The fact that the text is written in incomplete sentences was a turn-off to me, but may appeal to young readers.

Burglaries in Venice send teenaged geniuses from the British CIA STORM team to investigate. The three teens explore a remote island and find that Caspian Baraban, another teen genius, is behind the burglaries. With his invention of the teletransporter, Caspian plans to transport to a STORM meeting and blow up the attendants and leaders. This book is filled with many intense adventures including a high-speed boat chase, underground tunnel explorations, and remote controlled shark transportation. Alex Rider fans will eat this up!

Fadi and most of his family escape from Kabul to California only a few months before the events of 9/11 will make every American aware of his tiny country.  But in the chaos of the escape, Fadi lost hold of his little sister’s hand, and she was left behind.  He holds himself responsible, although we find out from overheard conversations that each member of the family holds himself responsible as well.  The family soldiers on, with father, a PhD in agriculture, driving taxi, and Fadi and his sister trying to fit in at school.  Fadi’s only consolation is his camera, and he is determined to win a photography contest which will allow him to travel to Pakistan with a team from National Geographic.

Fadi’s guilt over the loss of his sister is moving, and any reader will feel sympathy towards him and concern for the young girl.  Issues of prejudice in the wake of 9/11 are brought up through Fadi’s harassment by fellow students.  The major drawback to the story is the way in which the author attempts to fill in young readers’ gaps in their knowledge about Afghanistan and the Taliban.  Information is clunkily shared through conversations among adult Afghani immigrants discussing politics and current events.  The result is inauthentic, as Fadi’s older relatives would not need to hold these lengthy discussions about things they would already know, and the dialogue is clearly a vehicle for conveying necessary background knowledge.

For a more gracefully written story of pre-9/11 Afghanistan, look to The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.  This is an additional title for upper elementary or middle school.  Includes a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

This is a richly artistic book with beautiful illustrations on a topic that many people may perceive as not-so-beautiful. The pictures include diagrams and closeup details, such as the hair on a spider’s legs.  My only wish with the illustrations is that the illustrator would have labeled the name of the spider underneath the colorful illustrations.    It would be interesting to compare it to a realist picture, either in the back of the book, or in the border of the text.  One of the strong points of this book is the readability, the information comes out in conversational voice, which will encourage discussion in a whole group setting.  This book would make a nice addition to an elementary library or classroom.

This large sized picture book has beautifully illustrated pages which would make for a pleasant read aloud experience for the primary classes in an elementary school.  The text is simplistic enough for 1st or 2nd graders to read independently or with adult assistance.  The story rhymes and tells the fictionalize account of selected species of animals and the process they go through during hibernation.

Have you ever seen a frog with extra or missing legs?  If you have, it wouldn’t be unusual, because more and more frogs are turning up with unusual deformities.  In this 32-page non-fiction book, Allen attempts to explain why this might be happening, as well as why it matters.  While this book does give basic information on why frogs may be suffering from deformities, and why we should care, the way it is written is not as clear as it should be.  In some places, it is hard to make connections between the causes and effects of the problem, and the writing style is choppy and word definitions are over-simplified.  The layout is usually easy to follow, but some of the graphs are unnecessarily confusing and hard to interpret.  For very young students, this is a great intro to an environmental problem, but if students more depth and scope, they will probably want to look elsewhere.

8-year-old Emma’s dad lives in London with his new wife, but Emma and her mom are just fine as a twosome in their condo – or so Emma thinks.  Needless to say, when Emma finds out that her mother has a date, she is not too pleased about the idea.  Warner’s Emma series is a delightful addition to the world of books for kids who are just transitioning to chapter books, and this sixth installment is no exception.  Emma is a well rounded, believable character: A girly-girl who wants to be a naturalist, a good kid who sometimes makes really terrible mistakes.  Warner’s writing is clever and witty, and intelligently captures the thought processes of her young heroine, and Harper’s black & white illustrations whimsically compliment the story.  Readers will find themselves shaking their heads at Emma’s mistakes, and cheering when she finds a way to fix them.  Recommended for fans of Ivy + Bean and Amber Brown.

Lynie has had seven different fathers, and all of them have had one thing in common – they made their living fighting to the death.  In the near future, neo-gladiatorial battles are a form of entertainment, and people pay money to see people maimed and killed.  Lyn and her special-needs brother Thad have seen six of their fathers die in combat, and things don’t look good for the seventh, Tommy.  When Tommy is killed too, life is made worse when a strange rule will likely force Lyn into a marriage with the very man who killed her father – unless she kills him first.  Haines’ high-concept novel layers a culture of violence for the sake of entertainment onto our own culture, and blends together themes of familial loyalty, celebrity, and horrific brutality.  While the concept is fascinating at first glance, Haines’s writing is sometimes muddled and over-wrought, and the point of the story is often unclear.  The book could appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins, but the relatively slow pace of the plot and the internal, psychological nature of the story are contradictory to the way the book is marketed, and may disappoint readers.

Caterpillar lives all alone, and is terrified of everything!  Her friends, Wallaby, Goanna, and Snake do everything they can to get Caterpillar to come have fun with them, but she is simply too frightened.  When it seems that Caterpillar will be stuck in her safe world forever, she makes a transformation that changes everything.  Written in the style of a fable, Kwaymullina’s picture book absolutely pops with color and personality.  There is barely a white space on any page, and the bold reds, oranges, greens, blues, and pink paints will draw in every young child.  This book is great for story times and read-alouds, but it could use a more thorough source note.  A message in the back informs the reader that the author is “from the Bailgu and Nyamal peoples of the Pilbara region of Western Australia,” but it would be nice to know if the origin of the story itself, as well a little more background on the style of art.

Obesity is a comprehensive look at a subject that is a serious problem for millions of people.  This will be a great addition to any school library to supplement a health/wellness program or for a beginner researcher.

The book starts off with a real life testimonial from a fifth grader named Jessica who is obese.  The doctors tell Jessica that she is more likely to develop serious medical problems.  Jessica already suffers from asthma, which is made worse by obesity and the doctors are concerned that she will develop diabetes.  The story follows Jessica to her visit to the nutritionist where she learns better eating and exercise habits. 

Chapter two defines obesity and not just in medical terms but also in terms of emotional toll it has on people.  It discusses that nowhere in the world is the obesity epidemic more serious than in the United States.  It also covers the causes of obesity from diet, genetics, medical conditions, and the environmental factors.  Other chapters discuss the history of obesity, living with obesity, diagnosing/treatment and prevention. 

The book also includes a glossary and additional resources with web sites.  Each page is designed with a younger reader in mind with color pictures, bold faced words, and sidebars.

Mimi the cat lives in a top-hat, and calls a family of cockroaches her roommates.  When she stumbles upon an artist who calls himself a Dadaist, she finds her calling: Mimi is meant to be a Dadaist’s cat.  From the dust cover all the way through to the Author’s Notes, Jackson’s creation is a playful work of art.  Every inch of this hilarious and enlightening book is covered in collage, whimsical drawings, poetry, paint, and ridiculosity.  The story is a success on many levels – it is an effective immersion into the mood of Dadaist art, a sweet lesson that expression can take many forms, and is also a hilarious piece of Dada in and of itself.  Younger children will enjoy the good-natured mixed media illustrations, and older children will learn about a fascinating movement in art history.  From upside-down poetry to nonsensical riddles, Mimi’s Dada Catifesto is a delight all the way through.

Five myths: 2 Greek,1  Japanese,1  Babylonian, and1  Mayan are told with swords, severed heads, magical powers, dragons, sharp fangs, and Hydras after an explantion as to how and why myths evolved. On my first read these stories didn’t seem so ‘scary’, but after reading the section ” PerfectYour Scary Story Telling” I went back and tried again. Now, I could see how I could build tension for my listeners and my opinion of the book changed for the better.

The smattering of photos (creeped me out) grabbed my attention first: the life-size house flies and beetles, woods backlit by an encroaching fire, a bat with his mouth of teeth showing, and the page totally filled with a reptilian eye.

Edge Books are written for High Interest / Low Readers.

The cover illustrator presents this book much like a comic book adventure. Our hero, thirteen year-old Adam Bloom, ordinary as he is, is our crime fighter, minus the superhero powers.  He accompanies his vocally talented sister, Cressida, to a Festival for Youthful Geniuses.  Though Adam doesn’t seem to possess any talents himself, he battles the villain, Fortescue, who is attempting to steal the talents of the youth.  While mostly realistic, though outlandish, some fantasy comes into play.

This book is all about pirates and their secrets. This looks like a great series for reluctant boy readers. In this particular book, the life of pirates is explored. Pirate ships, weapons, treasures and food are discussed. The book has a good amount of text, but the abundance of accompanying photos make the book fun and easy to read. At the bottom of each page, there is a box with key words defined, which I found helpful for students. The book also has a glossary, and further information with books, web sites and films listed. I really liked this book. The chapter about the pirates being smelly was really funny. It even tells about how they went the bathroom off the front of the ship in open air toilets (complete with a picture of what they looked like) and “the waves splashing over the ship’s bow washed away the mess.” Boys will love this book.

This is the story of a boy named, Holler Loudly. From the time Holler is born, he is the loudest baby and kid that ever. He can’t help it, he is just loud!  When everyone keeps telling him to “hush” and he is constantly in trouble for being loud he starts feeling pretty sad. He is in trouble at school, the movies, fishing with grandpa and the fair. Everyone has finally had enough, including his parents! He finally realizes that when he is quiet, he can hear a lot of neat things going on and it isn’t so bad. All of a sudden, a tornado is coming and only one person can stop it. Holler yells so loud the tornado turns into a thousand teeny breezy breezes and he is a hero! Now the town folks don’t seem to mind him being so loud. They even dedicate the library to their hero. Holler does learn though, that sometimes it is good to be quiet too. This is a cute story that is just fun. It has lots of action, adventure and fun illustrations.

This nonfiction, instructional book is the level 4, Captain Paper Airplane book in this paper airplane series. The book starts out discussing the captain rank of achieving level 4 in paper n folding. I really like that on the first page, there is a red box that tells the reader that this is a difficult level and that if their planes don’t look perfect that is alright and it is going to take practice. The book then lays out the materials needed to construct the airplanes discussed in the book, and the techniques and terms used throughout the book. I like this part of the book because it teaches through words, photos and drawings the folds, including the folding symbols used in the book. The book then teaches the reader how to make a fighter jet, warthog, gliding grace, flying accordion, space bomber, sparrowhawk and screech owl. At the end of the book, the author teaches the reader how to play a game of testing landing skills called Aircraft Carrier with a friend. There is also a read more and internet sites section. All in all, as far a making airplanes this is a nice book. These are pretty tough airplanes, but I am sure there are boys out there that can make them!

This is very nice nonfiction book all about dragonflies. This large book has really nice photographs and a colorful, eye pleasing layout. The book discusses all things concerning dragonflies including their body, life cycle, their hunting, flying and predators. The book has a wealth of information presented in a simple manner kids can understand, such a large section about their lives as nymphs living underwater for the first year of life and that they can fly up to 38 mph (and with some amazing accompanying photographs). The book also has a “Bug-O-Rama” page that tells facts such as dragonflies do not hurt people (even though they bite, we wouldn’t even feel it). I do not have a dragonfly book in my insect section of my library and this will be a great addition.

Aldo Zelnick is back in book “B”, the furthering adventures of Aldo and his friends as their summer vacation continues.  The kids find a ring in the gutter and the tale begins as the ring is moved around the neighborhood and played with while Jack (the rockhound) believes it is real but Aldo insists it is Bogus.  The group lose the ring again just before discovering that it was indeed real and there is a $1,000 reward.  Now the hunt is on, as well as the plan for what to do with the money.  Like the first installment, this title is full of “B” words with a kid made glossary in the back.