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.