Earth’s biomes is a science focus for our district’s third graders.  I am relieved to find a book which so clearly defines the six biomes and gives detailed descriptions of each one.  Also included for each biome is a very do-able, kid-oriented science experiment, with clear directions for set up, what to observe, and questions to ask and answer.  Fabulous resource for science fairs.  This book is a must for all elementary school libraries.

This book is entertaining, full of funny elementary student antics and characters. With friendship and sibling themes set in a school environment, many students will be able to relate to the plot and characters. The book had a satisfying ending as a rather alienated student begins to make some friends and relate to others in her class. The cover of the book represents the content well and attracts readers. We have several books from this series in our library and they are popular with our 2nd and 3rd grade readers. Accelerated Reader test level is 3.3 worth 2 points. I recommend this series to school librarians.

This was a light little mystery about some neighborhood boys just out on summer vacation.  Set in a poor urban neighborhood these boys find themselves low on activities when the local basketball hoop is vandalized.  Determined to help the authorities discover the vandals, these boys band together, form a club, build a clubhouse and search for clues.  I found the writing to be a bit forced and choppy, with characters pigeonholed into stereotypes.  I give it an additional purchase rating and do not plan to purchase any more in this series.  The cover illustration was well done and engaging.

This book is an excellent resource for the reader who is interested in dance and choreography.  The coverage of topics is shallow but broad, giving a good overview of the field.  The history of dance, popular dances in a variety of cultures and famous choreographers are briefly described.  The choreography process as well as experiential and educational requirements for a Choreographer are outlined.  Resources to learn more as well as an index and glossary are in the back.  The layout of the text and the illustrations engage the reader and compliment the content.

Tom Brady is on his way to the Football Hall of Fame, no doubt about it.  In this sports books, Brady’s career is highlighted and all of his accomplishments are summarized.  Brady has done an excellent job in his chosen profession.  Again, however, the name of this series is “A Football Star Who Cares,” and out of 48 pages, only the last two and a half pages of text refer to his humanitarian efforts.  Brady does indeed help the needy in many ways.  My gripe is just that if the title refers to caring, why isn’t that the focus of the book?

This book has 11 different recipes from 11 different countries around the world.  Llanas has included an ingredient list and tool list for each recipe, plus a colorful picture of each food.  Llanas has included a map for the location of each country as well as some interesting information.  The recipes look and sound delightful.  My only comment would be that I am interested in the nutritional information.  Plus I know that 5th grade has nutrition in their science curriculum, and nutrition information would be valuable for them.

This is a lovely illustrated book whose pictures look aged and have a crackle finish.  It is a book meant to be read one-on-one, with an adult and a child, or a child alone.  It is a very old-fashioned book and relies on prior knowledge of Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes.  Although I am fairly knowledgeable of these rhymes, there were still some that had me stumped.  The object is to introduce colors via nursery rhymes, but it seems that it is missing the boat.  Kids are supposed to identify what the rhymes are through the clues and the illustrations, but it appears to be all mixed up.  The nursery rhymes aren’t complete, the visual clues are incomplete, and the idea of teaching color through them is misleading.  The color words are in bold-face type but much of the picture doesn’t have much of the color mentioned in it.  There must be a better way:  either do a great hide-and-seek nursery rhyme book, a regular nursery rhyme book, or a color book, but don’t try all three together.  It just isn’t a very good recipe.  Kids won’t get it.

The golden head of King Tut’s death mask, overlaying a wallpaper of purple cobras, skeletons and stone make for a interesting selection for fans of Egyptian history.  When King Tut’s tomb was discovered and uncovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, rumors of a curse began to circulate.  After nearly 100 years, who knows how the rumors got started.  But it is clear that bad luck certainly did fall to those who were associated with this tomb.  Except for Carter, himself.  He escaped accident and death.  Actual photos help to tell this interesting tale.  Kids will certainly enjoy the thought of an actual curse.  However, I wish the book would go into a little more detail.  Such as where did the artifacts uncovered by Carter go?  I know for a fact that three statues from this tomb ended up at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California.  I wonder who else purchased some of these cursed objects before Egypt put the stop to all the looting of their history.  And did the curse follow the objects…….hmmmm, sounds like another book to me.

Indiana Jones remains wildly popular, mainly with boys, in all formats.  In this graphic novel, we find Indy buried up to his neck in snow on a snow-capped mountain.  Of course, he gets himself free, gets down the mountain, and is looking for shelter.  He keeps seeing a ghostly image of an ancient Incan telling him what to do.  He is trying to rescue Francisca, a fellow professor, and meanwhile stumbles into an ancient tomb.  There he runs into Francisca and her crazy brother, who is besotted with ancient Mayan curses, and a small army of British mercenaries trying to steal the loot.  In the midst of the fighting, an earthquake strikes and Indy and Francisca are the only ones to escape from death by the falling rocks and caving in of the tomb.  He lives to fight another day.  I don’t have any of the preceding books, but this is enough like the movies to follow the storyline.  Fast action and a lot of drama.

Soccer World Spain includes history, culture, geography, language, science and art.  I actually thought it would be more about soccer, and it does briefly cover the major soccer teams from Spain, but this is more of a geography book about Spain and what you’d encounter if you visited.  I recognized Ethan Zohn’s name as he was a winner in CBS’ Survivor Africa and I visited this book’s website and attached links to find out more.  Zohn is a true philanthropist and works each day to bring about positive change.  However, this book, in particular, seems a bit much.  I thought it was a lot of different types of information in a very brief space.  Maybe it would be better suited to be a larger page book in order to give more description or examples.  It causes it to have a rushed feeling.  Also, photographs would be helpful, rather than illustrations.   This book will appeal more to travelers than to soccer fans.

This series is titled “Sports Stars Who Care,” but what does that mean?  Care about what?  I was really expecting to read about a Roberto Clemente type of person, someone who has the ability to help those less fortunate, isn’t that what caring implies?  David Wright is a NY Mets baseball player who is, most likely, on his way to the Hall of Fame.  He is a talented, exciting, competitive player to watch.  Maybe that’s what this series should be titled, “Exciting Players to Watch.”  But the book is mainly about his successes and how he grew up in a family where the dad was the coach and grandpa got him started with the love of the game.  Sounds like a movie.  But in the series about caring athletes, where is the evidence of caring?  In a total of 48 pages, page 48 is an index, page 47 is ‘Read More’ with internet sites, page 46 is a glossary, page 45 is career statistics, page 43 is a large photo, and finally on page 42 in one paragraph, 32 words, which states that he started he own charity focusing on research for multiple sclerosis.  32 words out of 48 pages–that’s the extent of his caring.  The rest is all about how great he is.  Oh, please!  Thank goodness there isn’t anything negative about his life that young, impressionable readers will pick up on–but couldn’t this have been titled, “David Wright A Baseball Star Who Loves the Game!”

Randy’s Corner is a new series intended to introduce young readers to biographies.  While I don’t actually consider this to be a biography, but instead the life, ‘day by day,’ as it’s billed, of a sports celebrity.  This book will be popular with basketball players, especially boys, who are reluctant readers.  While the book may get them to read, I’m not so sure about a couple of things mentioned in the book: first off, he has two children with a girlfriend he has dated since high school–are they still dating?  Or are they a family?  And, secondly, he says he hasn’t changed one bit–how about asking the people around him what they think?  I believe that having millions of dollars at your disposal does change a person, so how is he excluded?  I understand that young readers won’t zero in on these details, but still, it gets in their heads and stays there.  Are these ideals that we want kids to come away with?

In this sci-fi novel, a time period paralleling the start of World War I, the son of the Archduke of Austria, Aleksandar, escapes from his father’s German killers.  Meanwhile in Britain, a young girl, Deryn Sharp, disguises herself as a boy so that she can join the British air service.  Their paths collide despite the scientific discoveries of their countries.  The Darwinist countries (Deryn) believe in the powers of natural science and creating new species with their understanding of genes.  Whereas, the Clanker countries believe that machine power is more powerful and not unnatural.  Despite the constant bickering of the two main characters, they grow to become good friends in their fight for survival.

This fast-paced novel will have readers biting their finger nails!  Even if readers are well-versed in World War I history, this explosive story will keep the reader guessing.  The writing is descriptive and the characters are relateable; a telling perspective on human interaction even in a “different reality.    The illustrations give the reader an image of the Darwinist creations and the Clanker machines.  From sci-fi fans to historical fiction fans, this novel will have you at the edge of your seat.

Michael S.

In this classic folk tale, three little kittens lose their mittens, soil their mittens, wash their mittens, much drama and crying.  The illustrations are beautiful and clean and crisp.  This is a popular nursery rhyme for children and they need to hear the repetition of verse. However, it ends so abruptly, with …’we smell a rat nearby.”  What has that got to do with mittens, or the story for that matter?  Is it that they are supposed to catch the rat?  I don’t really get it.

I love this story!  And I am so glad to see that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt continues to publish it.  It was originally published in 1979 and renewed in 2001.  The little red hen works her tailfeathers off gardening, cleaning, and cooking, and when she asks for help from the dog, the cat, and the mouse, they are all ‘too busy’ to even give her a glance.  At the end when she asks for help to eat the cake, they are all wide awake, eager to help, but she shows her backbone and eats it all herself.  She shows them!  Next time they learn to pitch in and help with the work if they want to enjoy the benefits.  This story is so good to teach young children to help with the work and not to be lazy.  This book and other classic folk tales needs to be in every elementary library and every child needs to be familiar with the story and the concept.  Illustrations have great color and simplicity, while remaining interesting.

Denver is a rich, generous, and all round good guy, who decides to sell everything and divide up his riches to give equally to all the people in his town.  Until then, the people had been happy, but a stranger came to town and questioned the fairness of it all and spread discontent amongst them.  With the money they were all happy again.  Denver left town and went off to paint.  Again, he became successful and rich, and the people of his new town became prosperous and happy; same as before.  But after people from his old town returned home with the money spent, life wasn’t so good.  Gone was their happiness.  An interesting parable that kids will need to hear the story a few times in order to pick up on it.  Lesson learned: money doesn’t buy happiness.  Illustrations are clear, colorful and not muddy.  The peoples’ heads are extra large which seems awkward, but works as you can clearly see their expressions.

This folk tale classic is a joy to read and should be an integral part of every elementary school library.  This version has a delightful cover with gold embossing for the title and author’s name.  The pictures are simple, colorful, and interesting, without clutter to distract the reader.  The story remains true to it’s origins, three pigs each build a house only to be threatened by the big, bad wolf.  The first pig’s house of straw and the second pig’s house of stick, are blown down and the pigs eaten by Mr. Wolf.  At the third house, Pig was smart and build of bricks.  Mr. Wolf couldn’t blow it down, nor could he trick Pig into coming out.  Pig outsmarted Mr. Wolf and ate him instead.  Every kindergartener should be familiar with this story and if s/he isn’t, needs to have these classics read to him time and time again.  Great for patterning, predicting, and other literary devices.

Author Carolyn Meyer has researched her historical novel about Charles Darwin so meticulously that perhaps even her famous subject would be pleased.  Using sources such as Edna Healey’s Emma Darwin: The Inspirational Wife of a Genius, and The Autobiography of Charles Darwin and Selected Letters, edited by Darwin’s third son, Francis Darwin, Meyer builds her story around a good supply of factual information.

 The son of an English country doctor, Darwin tells about his boyhood love of roaming the Shrewsbury countryside collecting, studying, and categorizing plants and animals, often at the expense of his formal education.  Though his father worried that Charles lacked the focus necessary to lead a successful life, Darwin’s boyhood passion proved to be the beginning of his life-long endeavor, and served him well on the voyage of the HMS Beagle and the subsequent writing of On the Origin of the Species.

 This story of a boy who followed his passion has plenty of excitement and adventure to please young readers.  A map of Darwin’s travels, diagrams of the HMS Beagle, a bibliography and online sources will aid readers who want to know more.

This book has been reissued after 60 plus years and the story is dated.  I fondly remember these Swedish triplet girls and how well they played together.  In this story, it is Christmas time and the girls all get ice skates.  After Christmas they go to visit their aunt and uncle and he takes them to a frozen pond to go skating, with a warning as to not go near the thin ice.  Then he leaves.  A little boy joins them and chases their dog and soon afterwards they both fall through the ice.  The little girls help to pull the boy out and take him home.  His appreciative mother sends the little triplets identical girl dolls and they all have a tea party.  The colors and illustrations are clean and fresh and simple.  It makes me nostalgic to think of how simple life was back when this was first written.  Nowadays I couldn’t imagine this actually happening, as I am sure it did back then.  Oh, for the good old days!  Although children will enjoy the simple story and pictures, I would hate for them to think it was okay to go out on a frozen pond and skate all by themselves, especially knowing that not all of the water was frozen.  Life isn’t the same anymore.  I wished the story itself had been updated to current conditions and behavior.

Fruit is an introductory nutrition book for young readers. Photos show children enjoying: orange juice, sliced bananas atop cereal, fruit salad with kiwi and bananas, an apple, a wedge of watermelon, cranberry sauce atop sliced turkey, blackberries, green grapes, and an apple pie before baking next to a simple text in very large font.

Beans, Nuts, and Oils is an introductory nutrition book for young children.  While the photos contain the food mentioned in the text, the connection between the food in the photo and the food in the text will not self-evident to a young child.

Includes: cereal bar with nuts, muffin with walnuts, “peanut butter on my sandwich” , “nuts on my plate”  along with slices of apple & avocado and rice, falafel with beans, olive oil with bread,  * lima beans in mixed vegetables (only time a food item is encircled ), * walnuts – whole and empty cracked shells, * peanuts in shells, and slivered almonds on a cake.

* best examples in book.

This 7.5″ X 6.25″ book opens with a photo of the blue sky, a few clouds, and the sun  opposite the word “day”. Turn the page, photo of a black sky with a full moon opposite the word “night”. Turn the page again, the reader sees a ferris wheel in the day time opposite the word  “day”, followed on the next page by a similar ferris night lit up against a nighttime sky opposite the word ” night”. This continues three more times with a mother and child, a house, and a child. The people , locations, and objects in the offerings  of day and night are not the same. Only the concept of light for day and dark for night are totally consistent.

The story begins in August with the celebration of 5 year-old Nell’s birthday.  ”  ‘ When will my birthday come back?’

‘ The holidays,’ said Mom, ‘will help you keep track.

There’s one every month, except sometimes there’s two.

They’ll help pass the time between birthdays for you!’   ”

Each month is signaled to the reader by a little flag inset on the page. The story told in rhyme tells of an activity Nell associates with the holiday.

September – Labor Day, October- Halloween, November – Thanksgiving, December – Christmas, January- New Year’s, February – Valentine’s Day, March Saint Patrick’s Day, April – Easter, May – Mother’s Day & Memorial Day, June Father’s Day,  July – 4th of July, and back to Nell’s birthday in August followed shortly by a Monday barbecue (Labor Day).

Tom Mills’ illustrations are cute and humorous in this book of clues about things associated with  Halloween by Anne Margaret Lewis.

Clues appear on the left page, with the response hidden under a fold on the right side. The  fold  reads, “What am I? What could I be?”

Includes: spooky ghost, friendly witch, pumpkin, funny bat, silly scarecrow, owl, happy monster, black cat, skeleton, busy little spider, and a trick-or-treater.

The last page spread has all eleven items shown with the text, ” What am I? What could I be? I am Halloween. That’s me!”

Printed on sturdy paper stock.

Clues appear on the left page with the response hidden under a fold on the right side under the questions, “What am I? What could I be?” The two page spread illustration has just enough showing at the seam (about an inch) to help the reader guess before opening the folded page.

Includes: Christmas tree, Christmas angel, gingerbread man, Christmas wreath, reindeer,  Christmas stocking, snowman,Christmas present, Christmas elf, candy cane, and Santa Claus.

The last page has all eleven items shown with text,”What am I? What could I be? I am Christmas. That’s me!”

Printed on sturdy paper stock.