Milo and Jazz, best friends and detectives, are away at summer camp, one on each side of the lake.  Jazz was having fun, writing every other day to Milo.  Milo was also having fun, except for one kid.  Isn’t it always that one kid can ruin the whole thing?  This kid, Tony, was always giving Milo a bad time, laughing at him, teasing him, and just being a general pain.  Plus Milo kept forgetting to write to Jazz, although he thought of her often.  As part of a camp ritual, each camp has a ‘color war’ and each team makes it’s own mascot.  Milo and his blue team make an excellent version of the dreaded ‘Lake Moose’, a creature so scary that legends had been told of it for years.  A lot of the color war competition and points depended on the mascot.  The day after the blue team makes their mascot, it disappears.  Milo is sure it is the obnoxious kid, Tony, but how did he do it?  Jazz comes to the rescue and saves the blue team from defeat and delivers the Lake Moose by canoe.  It appears that Tony had a twin sister who looks just like him who he coerced into stealing the mascot.  The whole story spills. Kids will enjoy figuring out who is responsible for the missing mascot.

I think of Todd Parr as a contemporary Mr Rogers. His books gently deal with issues important to kids’ mental and social health. This newest title speaks to what can frighten children, acknowledges those fears and offers ways to deal with them. I particularly appreciate his signature bold colored illustrations and his sense of humor. “Sometimes I’m scared to go shopping for new underwear. I’m not scared when I wear them on my head.” The illustration would make anyone giggle…which is what you want to do in the middle of a book which brings up real fears. I appreciate one of his closing points, which is a good reminder for all of us…”Sometimes we are scared of things because we don’t understand them.” (I think of spiders, racism, etc.) Here’s another “must have” for your Todd Parr collection.

Abdo’s Checkerboard Biography Library has a wonderful Children’s Authors series, which includes this title. What I love about it, is that it is a clearly written, and engaging text with interesting anecdotes to give the reader insight into the life of a notable author. It provides just the right amount of information for the elementary reader. Each chapter is a two page spread, complete with accompanying photographs. The glossary has words that are well chosen, and necessary for comprehension. Index and Websites are also part of the back matter.

Emma enjoys romping adventures outdoors and is very surprised when her Uncle Leo sends her a Ballerina outfit.  Taking advice from her mailman, neighbor and brother, she tries to be a proper ballerina but can’t quite get it down.  When Uncle Leo arrives, they figure out that the wrong costume was sent, he had ordered a safari outfit!  I enjoyed the illustrations the most in this book as they are quirky and comical.

This picture book is a fun way to introduce the concept of New Year’s resolutions to young children.  The main character, Squirrel, travels the forest trying to think of a resolution for the New Year.  Along the way, she runs into many friends, each of whom she helps to overcome some difficulty or problem.  By the end of the day, Squirrel is sad and still without a resolution until her friend Rabbit points out that she’s found a way to help someone every day.  What a perfect resolution for Squirrel!  The message is clear and well-presented and the illustrations are colorful and quite detailed.  I will enjoy reading this book aloud at elementary story time and displaying it after Christmas.

This is a story about a young girl named Holly who moved out into the country when her family  bought an old run-down farm.  They fixed it up and Holly quickly fell in love with country life.  Many of her neighbors had horses and she longed for a  horse more than anything.  On her birthday, when her parents said her gift was in the barn, she thought for sure she would have a horse.  Alas, only a bike.  But a beautiful bike and she raced up the country road past the horses off on an adventure of her own.  The illustrations are delightful and vibrant, full of movement.  The characters are sweet and likeable.  This book would appeal to all those little children who would love to own or ride a horse.

Reminiscent of Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, Just Desserts is a sweet little novel about an 8 year-old character nick-named Dessert.  Dessert is the oldest of 4 children in her family and feels tormented by her younger siblings.  Finding that her friends at school are like-minded about their siblings, she forms a club called The Annoying Siblings Club.  Dessert charges a joining fee and gleefully begins spending the money on hot lunches and other treasures.  At first this club seems like the answer to all of Dessert’s problems but it soon backfires as members become dissatisfied with her advice.  The setting of the story alternates between school, home and the family’s gourmet restaurant.  The characters are believable and fun.  Dessert’s quirky teacher Mrs. Howdy Doody is a particular crack-up.  This second book the the Dessert series follows Dessert First but works just fine as a stand-alone.   I enjoyed this little novel and would recommend it for 1st gr. through 4th grade readers.

Older teenager, Nola, travels from Massachusetts to Maine for a summer job.  Nola is seeking to find herself because she has been the caretaker of her little sister who has cancer.  On her way to Maine, she meets another girl on the bus, Carly, and they quickly become friends.  Is Carly really who she says she is?

This is a book about finding one’s true identity.  The author has written a very unpredictable story sure to capture the reader’s attention.  Teens can easily relate to the characters.  Readers are guaranteed drama and conflict.  Readers are left with a strong message about self.

— Briana W.

This is an amazing story!  Reading this story with children from countries where they go to beautifully furnished, comfortable buildings is an eye opening experience.  They learn of children in a country where their school is built by the children and teacher out of natural materials they are able to gather.

The pictures and story are full of love for learning.  It opens your eyes to how much some people do for the priviledge of learning.

This story is an easy read.

This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of a pioneer family traveling in a covered wagon to the Oregon Territory.  The main character is young Cora whose mother died on the trail in childbirth.  Cora’s father asked the baby’s aunt to raise her and she agreed.  Sadly, Cora’s aunt was going to California and they parted ways along the trail.  Before they parted however, Cora made a quilted cloth book for her baby sister Susan, featuring memories from their wagon trip.  The story flashed forward several years to find Cora as a young school teacher down in California.  As she meets her students, she asks them to bring in books from home.  One young student named Susan came forward with her quilted cloth book, the same one that Cora had made her years before.  Sisters were reunited!  This book was a delight to read and is perfect as a read-aloud to our 3rd grade students who study the pioneers.

This delightful version of  popular Aesop fables was fun to read and easy to understand.  The author, Bob Hartman, retold these fables in a way that emphasized the moral lesson without lecturing.  The writing flowed well and the story shop theme neatly tied all the fables together.  The illustrations were beautifully detailed with vibrant colors.  This book will be a wonderful resource to students studying fables or who simply enjoy reading these timeless stories.

I learned a LOT about iguanas by reading this little non-fiction book.  Topics include size, diet, where they live, physical features, how they reproduce, and the history of keeping iguanas as pets.  The focus of this book, however, is the reality of having an iguana as a pet such as:  how to buy them; creating a safe environment and habitat; caring for the iguana; concerns and problems that cause people to give up their iguanas; and safe handling.  There is a glossary, index and table of contents as well as a page that lists books and web sites to learn more about the topic.  The pictures and illustrations in this book are engaging, detailed and compliment /reinforce the text.  A great addition to the pet section of our library.

This contemporary story, based on the tale called,  The Three Billy Goats Gruff, has a contemporary twists which is congruent with it’s contemporary illustrations.  In this tale the goats are the antagonists who are rude and intimidating to the cute baby troll who is just beginning his role as an ogre under the bridge.    The language and theme have been updated and it would make a good accompaniment to the original version.  Nice addition to an elementary library.

Jan Brett has done a wonderful job with this African version of The Three Little Pigs.  The vibrant and detailed illustrations bring the story alive and include Ms. Brett’s characteristic inset illustrations which peek the reader into other settings of the story.  In this story, three dassie sisters come to the foot of the mountains in the Namib Desert.  Upon arrival, they are greeted by Agama Man, a wise lizard, who warns them of the eagle family.  The sisters build their respective homes and are whisked one by one to the eagle nest to be supper for the eaglets.  Fortunately, Agama Man saves the day by rescuing the dassies and leading them to safety in a stone house.  When the eagle tries to enter the stone house through the chimney, her feathers are scorched, blackening her all over.  The last page of the story explains that the dassies still live in the Namib Desert, nested in stone houses with an agama lizard keeping watch for the black eagles who hunt the dassies to this day.  I highly recommend this book and plan to read it aloud for elementary story time.

This little non-fiction book about tarantula spiders gives a digestible amount of information for 3rd to 5th grade students who are studying this topic for a report or simple interest.  Each chapter is two pages in length and features large, full-color photographs of the spiders.  Topics include:  an introduction, sizes, shapes, colors, where they live, senses, defense, food and babies.  There is a glossary and index.  Readers are directed to the ABDO web site where additional related web sites are listed for more information.  I would prefer if the author just listed the additional related web sites to save the reader the time of completing the extra step of researching the ABDO web site.   On the shapes page, there is a very clearly labeled diagram featuring all the parts of the tarantula body.  Unfortunately there is also a typo that says “The abdomen hold’s the spider’s heart.”  Overall, the information is interesting and clearly presented.  The captions relate well to the photographs and provide additional facts that keep the reader engaged.

Filled with engaging photographs, this biography of Tina Fey does a nice job bridging Tina’s youth to the hard-working, talented celebrity she is today.  We got a nice glimpse of her personality in middle school (studious, obedient, and active in activities) and her clean-cut high school years (AP nerd, didn’t party), yet admittedly jealous of the popular girls.  A talented, witty writer, Tina Fey has the distinction of being the first female head writer for Saturday Night Live.  After reading the non-fiction book “Queen Bees and Wannabes” about adolescence cliques, Tina used this self-help book as a basis for the successful movie “Mean Girls.”  With impressive credentials, Tina went on to write and star in “30 Rock,” her current project, which has earned seven Emmys.  The author is fair about reporting the disappointments and failures of this actress, too, earning a rating of “R” from me!

Sandra Markle hits another home run with this nonfiction book about the inner workings of a healthy wolf pack.  The illustrations by Alan Marks enhance the experience of this well written book.  This is a contemporary story told from a lone female wolf’s point of view, after being released and relocated by authorities.  She is confused and all alone as she ventures out into Yellowstone P ark looking for food to hunt.  She eventually finds some prey, becomes a confident hunter and becomes adept to her new environment.  Later she discovers another male wolf and quickly become mates.  They learn to hunt as a team and she gives birth to wolf pups!

The only downside to this beautifully written and illustrated book is the cheap binding.  The large stitched strong already shows through and it will be a matter of short time before it is worn out in a library setting.  Sigh.

Micah is lying to you.  340 pages of lies. Will there be one ounce of truth?  She is a compulsive liar, a fact she admits on the first page.  Romance, murder, werewolves, and teen drama.  This book has it all as well as the frustration of wanting to read to the very end to see if any of it is true.  Justine Larbalestier’s look into the psyche of a young woman with serious issues may make your head spin at times yet she writes with such an effective teen voice that readers will get sucked in to her drama.  Recommended for high school level and above.

Strattenburg’s very own 13-year-old lawyer is back again for the second installment in John Grisham’s very first series for children.  This time, Theo’s best friend April has vanished, and no one in town knows where she has gone.  Was she murdered?  Kidnapped by a criminal?  Did she run away?  When the adults in the town cannot answer these questions, Theo must take matters into his own hands and solve his friend’s disappearance himself.  In the first book, Grisham’s no-nonsense writing style was unobtrusive and moved the storyline along swiftly.  Unfortunately, in this sequel, the writing feels rushed and sloppy, and the plot is uneven.  Why, for example, is a random scene in which Theo saves a classmate’s parrot from execution in animal court inserted into an otherwise straightforward mystery plot?  For all the tension build up in the beginning, the ending is anti-climactic, and the courtroom drama (Grisham’s forte) is an afterthought instead of the centerpiece of the novel.  Fans of the first book will probably be satisfied with the sequel, but as a stand-alone, Theodore Boone: The Abduction is unremarkable.

A band of vermin are stealing children from Mossflower Wood under the command of Zwilt the Shade and the mysterious Sable Quean.  Two young hares from the mountain stronghold of Salamandastron are sent to the peaceful Redwall Abbey and along the way they encounter the vermin band.  Once again in the Redwall series, the defenders of Redwall must defend the peace of Mossflower Wood.  Can the hares of Salmandastron and the inhabitants of the Redwall Abbey save the captured children?

This book could be read as a stand-alone although reading the series in sequence would enhance the reader’s background knowledge of the characters.  Jacques once again brings his descriptive writing to put the reader into the powerful adventure of the exciting plot.  Readers will feel the emotions of all the characters – good and bad.  The vivid writing captures puts the reader immediately into the setting.  If you have read this series, you are guaranteed satisfication.  If this is your first read at the Redwall series, you will definitely want to read more of this series.

Mike S.

I found this picture book about female racing legend, Louise Smith, to be interesting and exciting.  The text is descriptive enough without being too detailed for young children.  Race car sounds are sprinkled throughout.  The illustrations are vibrant and action-packed, bringing the story alive.  I also appreciated the Author’s Note in the back of the book that enriches the story with additional facts about Louise, early car racing and other female racers in history.  It is great to add books about strong women in non-traditional roles to our elementary school library.