Social Networking by Marcia Amidon Lusted is written in an easy-to-understand language.  There is nothing too technical in this book and it was very interesting to read about the creation of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.  If you use a social network, it is especially interesting learning how and why the sites got started.  This book was published in 2011 and it might go out of date in a few years as technology changes.  The book is very informative and could be used as a resource because it includes a timeline. (By Jamie Kenny)

While Nate and his Aunt Philomena are ever on the hunt to find out what happened to Nate’s parents, they come across a guivra (dragon) and a faun – Mr. Sylvan – who has sent for Nate and Aunt Phil to get their help with the local lone unicorn who has been acting strangely lately. Then who should appear but “their black sheep of a cousin” Obediah who want the Fludd Family BOOK OF BEASTS. Obediah will trade information on the where abouts of Nate’s parents for the Book of Beasts. The Fludd Family legacy is to protect the beasts of this world, much like Hagrid does for the creatures at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter book series, and are sworn to protect the book at all costs.

Includes: excerpts from the Book of Beasts on 7 different unicorns.

Malcom and his best friend, Dandy, order an Ecto-Handheld-Automatic-Heat- Sensitive-Laser-Enhanced Specter Detector. Although Malcom’s grandmother warned the boys not to go to the haunted house down the street, they took the Specter Detector to the haunted house to detect spirits. Once the ghost started calling out, “It creeps, it creeps,” Malcom cried out in fear, “What creeps?” The ghost responded, “Your underwear!” and gave him a giant wedgie. When the boys ran the entire way home, they didn’t realize the ghost had followed them, only to bother Malcom’s annoying sister. This scary story will entice many young readers. It also comes with a page of the top five ways to detect a ghost, spirit, or poltergeist.

As The Secret Ingredient by Laura Schaefer builds, the reader learns that the true secret ingredient in anything good is friendship.  The main character, Annie, works at her grandmother’s tea shop when she enters a contest for creating the best scone recipe.  There are several recipes throughout the book which could be fun for girls to try.  Even though the girls in the book are entering ninth grade, I think this would appeal more to sixth  graders.  It took me awhile to get into the story line, but about three quarters of the way through, I realized the story was like good tea…a slower process but relaxing in the meantime and worth the wait in the end. (by Jamie Kenny).

This is one of 6 in the Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames.  Cixi certainly deserved that title as a brutal and temperamental Empress of 19th Century China.  This biography tells the story of her life and brings up some issues still in dispute about some of her fabled dastardly deeds.  Fascinating and well-written, this book informed me about a figure from history that I knew nothing about.  The pictures engaged me well and were relevant to the facts shared in the book.  I really like this series and have students requesting these books specifically.

This book is full of great facts and science projects on the subject of wind, weather and the atmosphere.  The experimental procedures are well outlined step by step with good hypothesis questions to consider.  Some of the photography was dark and poor quality which detracted from my overall impression of this book.

This book could easily be used as a classroom textbook.  At the beginning, the author explains the geography and history of Africa and how it effects the culture of the various people.  This history lesson is significant in understanding how mythology was ‘rediscovered,’ so to speak.  There is no one set stories for all of Africa, but each region has it’s own.  Each region or culture has it’s own stories of creation or explanation for why things exist as they do.  This book is broken down into chapters with myths of the most well known history; i.e., how Anansi got his stories.  At the end of each chapter is a section titled, ‘Questions and Answers,’ which could be used as discussion topics.  Following this section, is a segment titled, ‘Expert Commentary,’ where Altman explains the chapter’s main themes.  A large portion of this commentary is useful, however, Altman goes into quoting paragraphs from published experts which seems a tad overdone.  Maybe this portion would be better suited to the older audiences.  The book finishes with a glossary, chapter notes (this is new to me, and leads me to believe that maybe this book was targeted towards a more academic audience), internet sites, suggestions for further reading, and an index.  Very complete.

As is true with all of the country books in the Enchantment of the World series, this book on Iraq would be the perfect source for a country report.  Geography, climate, language, religion, government are all detailed here.  A section on “Fast Facts” near the end of the book adds specific detail on elevation, average temperature, rainfall, population, currency, etc.

Interesting facts I learned about Iraq, previously known as Mesopotamia, include early achievements by the Sumerians: first to use the wheel, to develop metalworking, first accurate calendars, the invention of the concept of an “hour,” and the creation of the 1st written language.  From the Bible, the Garden of Eden is said have been located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and the Tower of Babel was believed to have been located in Iraq.

Written in 2012, this book includes the fall and execution of Saddam Hussein and the election of 2005 and the withdrawl of many U. S. troops in 2011.  The importance of the oil industry, tourism, and crop exports are all included as well.

Jeffrey Bones is a detective (think Nate the Great) and solves mysteries.  In this particular episode, he helps the clown at his friend’s birthday party find her missing clothes by using deductive reasoning.  Kids learning to independently read will enjoy being able to read this story.  The type is clear and large, the illustrations are simple and attractive (not too distracting), and the mystery might stump them.  It just depends on how good their deductive reasoning is.

For those interested in learning more about mythology, Egyptian Mythology is a good place to start.  First of all, the book is designed very well and is easy to follow.  There is a clear Table of Contents, Glossary, and Index.  The ratio between text and graphics is about 40/60.  The photo captions nicely explain the graphics, as well as restating what was in the text.  What amazed me was the overlap between Egyptian and Greek mythology.  Also, there are so many ‘current’ stories which are versions of myths.  All students who love mythology will find this book intriguing.