As his family gathers in preparation for his big sister’s wedding, Gaps, a Nguni calf, is presented with a pair of long trousers from his father.  The problem being that the new trousers are too long.  Gaps proceeds to go from relative to relative asking if there is someone who can shorten them for him, but everyone is too busy with other wedding preparations.  That evening everyone he asked suddenly remembers that the trousers need shortening, and each do so in turn, resulting in trousers that are much too short, but in the end that turns out to be a good thing because the day of the wedding is so hot that everyone else is uncomfortable in their wedding finery, but Gaps is “fresh as a daisy.”  The story is good, but at first I was puzzled as to the author’s decision to make the characters cattle, especially a specific type of cattle with a name that will be hard for young readers to pronounce, but then I discovered that the story was originally published in South Africa, where I presume children are familiar with this particular type of cattle.  I have to confess I was not overly impressed with the artwork.

When a young monster by the name of Harvey hears his parents discussing the new baby that’s due soon, his father refers to it as “another mouth to feed.”  Harvey misinterprets this to mean that the new arrival will be just a giant mouth, and his spends the rest of the book stressing over what that will be like, only to discover when mom does return from the hospital that it’s not just a mouth, but a regular monster with all the usual features, including three eyes.  A page in the back of the book describes what an idiom is, and the meaning of this particular idiom.  I’m not a fan of the artwork in the book, and the plot seems a bit blah.  There are better things out there to teach idioms.

In some respects this story is likely to “expire” soon, as its setting is specific to the recent aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, and it won’t be long before many young students won’t remember hearing about this in the news.  Still, the messages of the book (looking to the future and holding onto hope in the midst of crisis; generosity; games bringing children together) are easily transferrable to any crisis situation.  The book tells the story of a boy helping his mother build their new “home” out of a bit of tin and some blankets and poles, and then getting acquainted with his new neighbors when a girl produces a ball of rags with which they are able to get up a game of soccer.  An adult watching their play begins reminiscing with them about soccer greats who have played in the very stadium where they now have their temporary shelters, and before he goes, he offers them his own real soccer ball, autographed by one of those greats, as thanks to the children for restoring his hope in the future.

Hattie didn’t start out being bad, but she soon realized that being good was not fun or exciting.  Other children admired Hattie, but their parents would not let them play with her.  Hattie was lonely, so she switched to being Hattie the Good.  Parents were happy, but the other children began to avoid her.  Hattie was lonely again.  When Hattie won a competition to find the “Best-Behaved Child Ever”, a funny feeling grew inside her.  When asked if there was anything she would like to say, she did a handstand and yelled “Underpants!” as loudly as she could.  Children rejoiced that Hattie the Bad was back (with a little bit of good) and Hattie was never lonely again.  Joe Berger’s energetic black-line illustrations complement the text wonderfully.  Pages with Bad Hattie are splashed with bold color.  When Hattie switches to Hattie the Good, he paints neatly with a sedate pink.

Both predator and prey use camouflage to blend in with their environment.  The color and/or the shape of an animal or insect make it hard to see  them in their surroundings.  Photographs show several animals in hiding.  The next page shows the same photograph with the background grayed out so the animal is highlighted.  The font is large, sufficient information is included within few sentences, and the colorful photographs are a good match with the text.  A few examples show how some animals use color to stand out to be noticed – either to attract a mate or to warn animals away.  Bolded words are included in the glossary.  Other books with a similar reading level and websites are mentioned in the back, along with the index.  Good information for those learning about camouflage.

Excellent, large photographs portray the daily life of a pika.  Although the reader level is about 4th grade, each page contains 1 to 4 sentences written in large font.  This creates a pleasing balance of text and photos.  Extra information about pikas is found in the back – which includes a life-size photograph, pronunciation for pika and its scientific name.  There is a list of pika predators along with a photograph.  Books and websites for further information accompany an author’s note to older readers about the future welfare of pikas.  There is a glossary but no index.

Laurie is a young girl who is not like other children.  She has difficulty hearing.  Because many students do not understand, they tease or feel uncomfortable around her.  Laurie finds comfort with her dog, Laika, with whom she communicates just fine.  Her mother took her to the doctor to check her hearing. He gives her hearing computers (hearing aids).  She can control the volume to hear when she wants to, or turn them down or off when she doesn’t.  Now, instead of feeling lonely, Laurie feels lucky.  Eline van Lindenhuizen’s simple, colorful illustrations are rosy and soft.  She was inspired by children in a deaf school in Romania.  Author Elfi Nijssen also writes from experience, as she was also a young girl with hearing problems.  The point of view from which Laurie was written may help others understand difficulties posed when one is hearing impaired.  Published in 2009 in Dutch and 2010 in English.

Buzz loved everything about being a bee – the taste of honey, the cozy hive, smelling clover, but most of all, she loved flying.  One day, she read the headline in a paper quoting a professor saying bees’ bodies are not the right shape for flight.  Thinking a professor must be right, she wobbled to the ground.  As friend Snail tried to comfort her, she smelled smoke.  Owl’s tree was on fire and she knew he slept soundly!  Buzz raced toward the tree.  The more she thought about Owl, the less she thought about the professor’s words.  The next thing she knew, she was flying.  Vincent Nguyen used Photoshop with his oil paintings to depict the warm, summer days in Buzz’s neighborhood.  The illustrations glow with sunlight.

When the Frost King brought the winter snow, Anna fashioned a snow dog.  She and her brother dressed him in a scarf and cap and loved him as if he were real.  The Frost King spotted Snow Dog, blew “life” into him and carried him back to the Ice Palace.  Snow Dog missed the children and searched until he found their house.  Exhausted, he curled up and fell asleep.  In the morning, Anna saw him at once and she and Olen dragged him inside.  As he rested, the snow melted and his ice coat was replaced with real fur.  As Anna hugged him, Snow Dog felt his heart beat with love for her.  Later, when the Frost King saw Snow Dog sleeping indoors, he realized there was a magic power he did not have.  He sprinkled more snow, and disappeared into the Northern Lights.  In the morning, Anna and Olen saw the Frost King had returned – and left enough snow to make a snow cat!   Loretta Krupinski paints with cool winter colors until the children bring Snow Dog indoors.  The colors then switch to warm reds, oranges, and browns.  Many pages have borders which complement the illustrations.  Good supplement for art lessons on color and design.

A little girl imagines the skills, equipment, and procedures needed to be an effective firefighter.  Along with her observations are boxes with additional information.  The bright watercolor and colored pencil artwork excellently illustrates the large text on each page.  A final page tells about classes one needs to take and physical fitness required to become a firefighter.  A glossary, index, internet sites, and books to read are included.  Other books in the Dream Big! series are:  If I Were a Ballerina, If I Were a Cowboy, If I Were a Major League Baseball Player, If I Were an Astronaut, and If I Were the President.  Books in this series are a good resource for children imagining their futures.

One can not only read facts about food and cooking in Italy, one also learns about history, climate of different regions, religion, culture and traditions.  Each photo has a caption.  Green colored boxes provide additional information.  There are 3 recipes for traditional favorites with measurements in both standard and metric systems.  Books for further information and websites provide more recipes and facts about Italy.  A glossary and index are included.  This book is a good resource for those looking for country information.

This is a fascinating book on the  seemingly disgusting microorganisms that keep our bodies healthy.  About 3 pounds of bacteria cover our bodies inside and out.  Their presence helps keep our skin healthy, aids in food digestion, consume dead material, is used to make medicine and make food tasty, as well as providing oxygen for us to breathe.  The text is well written at about a fifth grade reading level and is filled with intriguing facts.  Colorful, magnified photographs of a variety of microorganisms illustrate this engrossing book.  The glossary includes pronunciation as well as the definition of 10 words.  Also included are a list of resources, an Internet link, and an index.  Books in this series will appeal to reluctant readers who like science.  Other titles in the series are: “Bat Spit, Maggots, and Other Amazing Medical Wonders”, “Farts, Vomit, and Other Functions that Help Your Body”, and “Onion Juice, Poop, and Other Surprising Sources of Alternative Energy”.  The titles alone will draw an audience – especially boys!

Beauty standards are constantly changing, rarely realistic, and vigorously promoted by media.  Lip service is given to healthy eating and adequate exercise which is often resisted by the fashion industry.  However, anorexia is a symptom of a mental illness.  In this book, anorexia is discussed from a variety of viewpoints that cover a wide range of opinions.  Some of the contributors include  university professors, a fashion critic, an anorexia survivor, a parent of a child who died from anorexia, information from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a manager of an online program, an expert on eating disorders, medical writers and reporters.  There is no conclusion as to solutions.  Included are a list of organizations to contact and an extensive bibliography of books and periodicals for further reading.  This book provides a balanced discussion of this controversial topic.

This story is just so utterly bland.  A short beginning chapter book, obviously intended for early readers, it’s got nothing about it to convince kids that reading is a worthwhile pursuit, worth their efforts to learn and their time to indulge in.  It tells the story of a young boy who is with his friend along the river one day when they discover a statue which comes to life and asks their help in finding his way to the city to be reunited with his statue girl-friend.  Along the way they meet some bullies on the subway, who get put in their place by the magic statue’s power to freeze them.  There’s just no character development to make the reader care about what’s happening.  It’s not bad. It’s just blah.  But it does have a sturdy binding.

It’s always dangerous to enter a fantasy world in the second book of a series.  There’s so much the reader is left trying to piece together and figure out as they go along.  As a stand alone, I would probably only give this a “Additional Purchase,”  but it was a good enough book for me to want to seek out the rest of the series to go with it (the first book, Happenstance Found, has been nominated for the Young Reader’s Choice award in 2012).  Happenstance is a boy with some kind of power he doesn’t quite understand, mysterious past he can’t remember, and an invented name that’s recently been invented for him.  Apparently in the first book he stumbled into the care of the man who is currently serving as his guardian:  Lord Umber, and adventurer of the first order, who will go to most any lengths to seek out and expand his knowledge of magical creatures.  As they set out together on one mission (in response to a mysterious plea for help), it seems to unfold into one adventure after another, with danger lurking around every bend.

Mac Slater, “cool hunter,” has won an all-expense-paid trip to New York City for himself, his best friend, and his dad, on a mission for some website, which tasks itself with finding the next latest coolest trend.  As the second Mac Slater book, it left the reader with a few holes as to character-development (presuming you’ve already read the other?):  we’re never told exactly how old Mac is, though early adolescence is implied, and we’re never clearly told exactly where Mac is from, though he describes this as his first trip to America and talks about being half a world away from home (I’m guessing Australia).  Set loose in New York with a full arsenal of high-tech gadgetry, Mac ditches his less-than-overly-protective dad, and pursues his goal with single-minded determination.  Along the way, he disses his best friend, lies, breaks promises, follows a stranger into unknown territory (even after reflecting that this is not a wise thing to do), and generally makes a whole lot of poor decisions.  In end he must choose between success at any cost or trying to regain some integrity.  As an adult I was less than impressed, but it’s likely to hold great appeal for its target audience.

As the 6th book in a series, it would probably just be an additional purchase on its own, but I liked it enough to think it would be worth seeking out the rest of the series.  Main Character, Zach Gaither, is apparently an alien, born on another planet but sent to earth as an infant, to be raised by humans as an undercover agent for the Galactic Patrol.  Now in junior high, Zack has only recently become aware of his true identity, and has presumably been on five previous adventures in that role.  Now it has come time for the Galactic Council to decide whether or not Earth should be invited to join the Galactic Union, but enemy aliens have decided to sabotage Earth’s chances, and have become aware of Zack’s identity.  Zack (along with his good friends, of course) must evade the enemy aliens while venturing off-planet to speak on Earth’s behalf before the president of the galaxy and many strange delegates from distant worlds.  The characters and engaging, the plot is action-packed, the illustrations are quirky, and there’s a good deal of humor throughout.  Likely to be a hit with kids.

Seriously?  This was painful to read.  The saddest part about it is that there are many sentences (or even whole paragraphs) that are actually very well written, with good voice and humor, but there’s no glue to hold the story together.  The characters are underdeveloped and the plot is disjointed, and it’s hard to even follow exactly what’s going on — let alone care.  To give in the benefit of the doubt, it is part of a series, and perhaps, if one had already read others, the characters might be previously introduced enough for a devoted fan to follow — in that case, it might work itself up to being an additional purchase, but I’m not willing to spend good money on other books in the series to find out.

Well, it’s got a sturdy, shiny binding, and it’s a cute story, which I’m sure would make a fine souvenir for children who had seen the play while visiting Washington D.C.  It tells the story of some children who are taking a tour of the White House, when George Washington pops out of his famous portrait and starts escorting them on travels through time to visit children and adults who lived have at the White House.  While dodging the secret service agent on their tale, the students witness the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, consult Mrs. Kennedy about redecorating the white house, crash Susan Ford’s prom, etc.  While it’s got lots of random White House trivia for readers to learn, it’s not exactly the kind of book that would be useful for research, but it’s also not exactly the kind of book that’s likely to have a wide appeal for recreational reading.

What a fabulous series for creating a bridge between graphic novels and traditional fiction chapter books.  I expect these books to have high appeal for reluctant readers who are fans of graphic novels:  The book is short (48 p.), with lots of full-page color illustrations in bold comic-book style.  The plot is action-packed, describing the initiation rites of Batman’s latest sidekick, a junior-high hero-in-training who is anxious to fill the shoes of the most recently retired (e.g. grown-up) Robin.  Setting out on his final test to see if he’s ready to join in on Bat missions, the young Robin-wanna-be faces repeated distractions which interfere with completing his given task, as he stumbles across others who need his help.  As an added appeal, the text of the story is sprinkled with traditional comic book sound effects (Crash! Thud! Whack!) in large, bright fonts, and the binding is library reinforced.  I’d like to get more in this series for my library.

Cartoon-like illustrations accompany photographs and magnified images of dust mites, bed bugs, clothes moths, germs, bacteria, and mold that can be found in a bedroom.  Each living thing is described along with its living conditions.  There is a box on most pages with additional information.  This colorful book is well designed with a good balance of photographs, illustrations, and text.  A glossary, index, related books to read, and two informational websites are included.  Readers will enjoy the “gross” factor.

It’s the first day of second grade in a brand new school, in a brand new city, and Lillian is nervous.  The teacher explains that Friday is her show-and-tell day, and each day as she watches and listens to her classmates tell about their toys and other possessions, she gets more and more nervous.  She’s nervous because she doesn’t feel she has anything to share with her new classmates.  She and her mom had to leave their home and all their possessions to move to a shelter, and all their money is being saved to pay for a new apartment.  When Friday comes around, Lillian shares her magic beads.  With them she shows her class all the wonderful things she can do with them:  use it to play circus and walk a tightrope, use it as a leash to walk her pet elephant, and turn it into a snake to scare the monsters out from under her bed.  Her classmates all see the wonder of imagination and want to play, too.  Imagination beats toys, hands down.

The title says it all, this dog loves books.  So much, in fact, he opens his own bookstore.  But no one comes.  Tired of waiting, dog decides to read and loses himself in one adventure after another, and realizes that this is the exact reason why he loves to read.  A customer comes in, a little girl, and he loves to share his favorites with her.  Very simple story, very simple illustrations, but it needs no more embellishments.

This 32 page book puts two dinosaurs, the T-Rex and the Velociraptor, in a battle, although they lived in different time periods on different locations of the earth.  It compares each dinosaurs size, speed, weapons and attack style, and then proceeds with a fictional, blow-by-blow, announcement style of attack. Illustrations and fast facts trivia are found throughout. This book contains a glossary, read more, internet sites, and index pages.  This was a fun read!

Airy Fairy attends Fairy Gropplethorpe’s Academy for Good Fairies. However, things tend to be a bit tough for Airy Fairy because Scary Fairy tends to pick on her, and Scary Fairy is the neice of the teacher, Miss Stickler. With Scary Fairy’s help, Airy Fairy seems to get into trouble. When the Academy takes a camping vacation, Scary Fairy tries to cause trouble for Airy Fairy, but her friends Buttercup and Tingle come to the rescue. Miss Stickler is proud when Airy Fairy wins the scavenger hunt.