The Brave Puffer Fish is a level 3 reader, meaning that it has full paragraphs, higher word count, and a high-interest topic.  This book really is perfect for beginning readers; easily readable, interesting, colorful illustrations, and interesting facts set in a Disney-like story.  Kids will enjoy learning to read with this book.

Very readable guidebook,  with excellent sections on how to choose a college, how to find colleges that will be a great fit, how to evaluate colleges and how to find scholarships. It offers lots of practical tips on how to organize a college search with a “college score sheet” that can be copied and used when one visits colleges. Has chapter on suggestions for what to do over summer to be ready to apply to college. Nice sample resume. Excellent section on how to explain any weaknesses on a  school transcript. In depth chapter on funding education and finding scholarships. Detailed list of colleges that are not in the usual college search books with section on “B Student Support and Success”, and “Support for Students with Learning Disabilities” along with the standard statistics from each school. Colleges are listed in alphabetical order. It would have been nice if they also had an appendix with the colleges listed by location and one by size.  Highly recommended.

Two young boys are left with their mysterious rich uncle after their parents die in a plane crash.  The oldest brother, Leo, discovers on his 13th birthday a letter and old recordable disc from the 1950s.  The letter , written by his father on Leo’s 1st birthday, gives Leo an amazing look into his past — he was born was an amazing superpower that allows him to hear into the past.  When he discovers an evil device at his uncle’s warehouse, his superpower kicks in leading him on a journey with lives at stake.

In this fast-paced novel, the reader feels Leo’s need to solve this mystery.  Leo’s emotional ties to his brother and best friend are relatable to all students, especially middle schoolers.  The strength of this book lies in its blend of mystery and the and every kid.  The message is: “do the right thing.”

— Micheal S.

Violet McKenna has never felt comfortable with herself until she arrives at Winterhaven, a private high school. Violet has visions of terrible events that happen in the future, including death.  She even foresaw her own father’s death but in the past, when she tried to warn people, no one would listen.  Feeling as though she was drawn there with a purpose, Violet learns that everyone there has a special power or gift, much like her.  Telepathy or telekinetic powers, clairvoyants and shape shifters, students are there to learn how to hone their gift as well as be a normal teenager.  Author Kristi Cook doesn’t take long to bring on the romantic relationship that is full of tension as well.  The “Aidan effect” hits Violet hard but unlike other girls, he is drawn to her too.  And he keeps his gift a secret.  Violet is smart enough to put clues together, eventually figuring out his power, but such knowledge only leads to more complications, more visions, more chances for death to those she loves.  As Violet says about half way through the book, “Wow, that’s taking teenage angst to a whole other level…”(195) which is exactly what Cook does with the intricate plot of this novel.  Even though the foreshadowing was blunt at times, readers will still be engaged because Violet is a clever girl, the plot is intricate and yet moves at a fast pace, and the passion, though PG, is intense.  This will be a hit with all fans of vampire novels.

The Inquisitor’s Apprentice is a combination of a historical novel meets fantasy.  The story takes place in New York City during the era of Thomas Alva Edison, during the hustle and bustle of the tenement buildings and the mansions of the extremely wealthy.  The police dept. has a chief ‘inquisitor’ whose job it is to stop magic from being used for nefarious purposes.  The title actually refers to two apprentices to the Chief Inquisitor, one from a Jewish tenement and the other from an extremely wealthy family.  The plot is about a ridiculously wealthy and influential man, using (and coercing) Edison’s genius to create and install for his exclusive use the technology to use magic, unhindered, to his advantage.  The beginning grabs you, and the ending wraps up nicely and satisfyingly.  However, the middle does stall and seem to drag on needlessly.  I gave it a ‘recommended’ review because I’m a history nut and really enjoyed how the setting played into the story.  This book won’t be for everyone, and only students who’ve read a wide variety of novels and have a greater understanding of history, will appreciate it.  I,  however, loved it.

I rated this book as additional purchase primarily because the text is a bit unclear in spots in elucidating the original text.  Without having read Charlotte Bronte’s original book, I would have been a bit confused at times, particularly since the story is set in the past when customs and times were quite different.  I think it is a very difficult job to reduce such a lengthy and rich story into a graphic novel.  The illustrations are expressive and descriptive and the character portrait page at the beginning of the book was a good resource for students who haven’t read the original text.  There is also a glossary in the back as well as biographical information about Ms. Bronte and her family.

I enjoyed this book!  The story line is especially well-developed for a young juvenile novel, the sketch illustrations throughout are entertaining and expressive, and the characters are interesting and unique.  I also appreciated the Chinese-American culture woven into the story line through the main character’s family.  In this story, Ruby Lu’s family receives a shock when her Dad suddenly loses his job.  As so many families are experiencing in America with the down economy, the financial situation for the family is serious.  This is compounded by the fact that the family is currently hosting Ruby’s Aunt, Uncle and Cousin who have recently immigrated from China.  All the adults begin job hunts and the whole family assists in support.  Eventually Ruby’s Mom finds a job selling shoes at the mall and by the end, Dad is earning money as a handy man.  The other main storyline is that Ruby Lu’s recently adopted stray dog, Elvis, is reclaimed by his owner.  Ruby struggles with this disappointment but by the end realizes that her dog is happy back with his owner and is where he’s meant to be:  performing as a circus dog.  The owner invites Ruby and her family to the circus show and the book ends with Ruby being invited to ride the bicycle built for two with Elvis.

Great fun story.  This is a creative story of many well know nursery rhymns twisted together into a fun tale.  it leads through so many situations.  The comic book style, and colorful pictures give this book the old comic book flavor.

I loved it.  There are puns and funny situations with a twist into fairy tale land.  Kids would love this book.

This is a fun scary story for young children.  It would be fun for a slumber party story to give everyone a scare, or around Halloween.  The girl is a bit rebellious, and ends up being scared herself.

The rhyme is great for young children, and the pictures are wonderful.

This is an early reader horse story from the Breyer Stablemates series.  Diamond is an older horse who is purchased by a stable for lessons.  Ava is the only girl who realizes the value of Diamond’s experience, everyone else favoring youth.  When Diamond and Ava win a competition, the crowd goes wild and the reader gets a sense that Diamond has earned her place in the stable.  These are good little stories and the values and lessons learned are positive.

Girls who love horses will want to read this book.  It’s all about women trick riders, rodeo riders, ranch hands,  and movie stars, and their equine partners.

Open the front cover and you’ll see four women trick riders, their arms extended like a gymnast who’s just completed a perfect vault, only these women athletes are standing atop horses galloping at full speed.

The first chapters focus on women ranch hands.  Their stories show that they’re working right alongside the men, but many are wearing the  split-skirt riding outfits of the day.  A photograph of Annie Oakley leads off the chapter on Wild West Show Girls, her marksmanship medals pinned to the front of her dress.

Just when I’d decide that the pictures were my favorite part of the book, I’d read some more and decide that the stories were what fascinated me.  I certainly admire author Holly George-Warren’s work in gathering this collection of art, photos, and stories.

Told in simple kid language for young children, and illustrated with cheerful images, this book provides a good basic overview of health and well-ness basics.  There’s a page for diet, one for exercise, one for safety, brushing teeth, keeping clean, sleep, etc.  Not in-depth enough to be considered comprehensive, but broad enough to be a beginning place for young children.

It’s hard to know who the target audience of this book really is: it tries to be a children’s picture book, but the text is far too long and rambling to really capture or hold the interest of most children; I think the audience who will really appreciate are the loved ones of special needs children who are looking for comfort.  It’s easy to see what it’s trying to do: to teach readers to see beyond their eyes when considering the lives of children with limitations.  It’s a worthy purpose, and it’s a valiant effort — I just wish they’d had better editors to help it achieve better success.

The illustrations are a stunning example of aboriginal artwork from Australia.  The simple, single lines of text at the bottom of the pages list different elements of the Australian landscape.  Though not detailed enough to really serve as an informative text, it would serve well as an introduction to a unit on Australia, or as a tool for children to compare Australia to their own homes.

Carly and Sara meet up at camp and become fast friends.  When Carly laughs upon learning Carly’s last name, Carly’s feelings are hurt and she dashes off, avoiding Sara and refusing to listen when Sara tries to make amends.  Their budding friendship seems doomed until Sara finds an opportunity share her own last name, so that Carly understands this is another bond they share — she never meant to laugh at Carly, but with her. A good book for starting discussions about teasing and misunderstandings.

A rather sweet story of kissing tag, with lots of repetitive text as a lamb and mouse chase a pig around a garden while the pig shouts, “No more kisses!” After much chasing around the pig turns on the other two and attacks them with kisses until they are giggling for him to stop.

When Baby Hippo can’t sleep he wanders through his African neighborhood, listening to all the other baby animals being put to sleep.  Simple, repetitive text is good for emergent readers, and the bright illustrations will introduce them to a variety of animals.

The topic is one that will be popular, the color photos will appeal, and it’s got a sturdy binding.  It’s even got a lot of good information, including the history of Cheerleading camps, messages about teamwork and spirit, and what kinds of things typically happen at Cheer camps.  I have one big complaint about it, though, that keeps me from actually recommending it: it speaks to the reader under the presumption that said reader actually belongs to a squad and will actually be attending one of these camps.  There are an awful lot of girls who are interested in cheerleading, but will never have the opportunity to attend a camp or be part of a squad.  I wish it hadn’t been written in such a way to exclude them.

Another first-day-of-kindergarten story, but it’s a cute one.  At first everything seems to be going wrong for Polka-dot, as she keeps accidentally breaking Kindergarten rules, and she manages to get off on the wrong foot with one of her new classmates, who looks like she’s shaping up to be a first-class meanie.  By the end of the day Polka-dot seems ready to declare Kindergarten a complete disaster, until Liz (aforesaid meanie) faces a crisis and Polka-dot is able to come to her rescue.  Before long the two are fast friends and Polka-dot is feeling like she can tackle school after all.

This book is really cool.  I would give it an R* if it didn’t have such a limited audience for the text.  The illustrations include a single black line that traces through the entire book, connecting words and pictures in one long continuous thread.  The rest of the artwork that surrounds this single black line is very bold and graphic, and invites the reader to study the pictures.  The text walks the readers through different parts of a school, developing school-readiness skills by asking them to count and look for clues and identify animals and colors, etc.  Many folks will be intrigued by the illustrations, but children over a certain age will find the text babyish.

A great book for helping children develop an understanding of the fine line sometimes necessary to balance honesty and tact.  When Kim has a lesson on honesty at school, she declares a policy of always being honest, but she takes it too far, thinking it’s no longer okay to pretend to be a princess, but that it is okay to say everything she thinks, even when it’s hurtful to others.  Of course this causes problems with friends.  In the end, she discovers the trick of finding something to say that is both truthful and kind.

Good rhythm & rhyme. Cute pictures depicting the secret life of toys playing on their own while their boy is away (sounds like Toy Story — already been done, with more style). A few brief words on each page tell a simple story of stuffed dogs as traffic cops. It’s fine. Some kids will like it, but there’s nothing about it to really make you go oooh. Strictly for the younger set.

Fourteen common and exotic birds are captured in this volume, each with it’s own two-page spread including a vibrant, close-up, full-page photo, a paragraph of factual background information, and a poem to capture its personality.  Obviously put together by folks who love the birds involved, this book is sure to capture the appreciation of folks who didn’t know they cared. It’s lovely.

The illustrations are bright and colorful and fun, but the story doesn’t quite live up to them: it’s basically one long request of a young boy asking his local librarian if he can bring a woolly mammoth to the library.  He anticipates potential problems and offers solutions, and then eventually decides Woolly would be homesick, so instead he wonders if a Saber-toothed tiger could visit instead.  It sort of seems to lack a climax or point.

The fourth book in this series of graphic novels for younger readers finds the inhabitants of Mr. Venezi’s pet store faced with the need to adjust to a new helper in the store.  When Mr. Venezi takes on a teenaged assistant, she starts organizing everyone out of their comfort zone.  As usual with this crew, misunderstanding abound until the animals save the day.  When I first read one of these books, I thought it was kinda cute, but wasn’t sure how kids would respond.  The first two books have had nothing but positive feedback from students — I’ve had both gifted and reluctant readers asking me for more.