This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Isabella of Castile, and Nur Jahan of India.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Nur Jahan of India.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman, and Isabella of Castile.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This is a good series about strong female leaders throughout history.  This book is a biography of Isabella of Castile.  Other titles in the series include Hatshepsut of Egypt, Artemisia of Caria, Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman, and Nur Jahan of India.  The illustrations, photographs of actual artifacts, maps, and time lines bring these biographies alive.  The text is easy to read and presented in a logical and clearly written manner.  The featured women were intriguing and powerful with interesting lives, holding the reader’s attention.  I recommend this series for school libraries.

This book in the four volume series about the wild west, is about pioneering women.  Chapters include Defending our Home, The First Western Women, Hard Living, Independence, Outlaws, and Change and Reform.  The organization of the information felt a bit disjointed at times.  I would have liked the writing style to flow a bit more smoothly.  It was an interesting read and gave a good overall view of life for pioneering women in the west.  There were a few black and white photographs, not of great quality.

Morris, Rudi, Beck, and Ivan have just graduated from high school.  They are the best of buds and they make pacts with each other.  But the Vietnam War is raging.  So when one is drafted, they all join up.  This is great news for Ivan, the son of a retired Marine Corp Captain.  What begins as a story about four boys who need to stay best friends even though they are now officially adults quickly turns into Ivan’s reality check as he sees the brutality of war first hand.  By the end, Ivan learns how hard he can push himself as well as how soldiers of Vietnam can get through the experience: by just continuing to move, even if the movement is just for the sake of moving itself, by realizing how “close to you are to horror every single day”, and by just snapping.  This is book #2 in a series of 4, with the 1st book focusing on the story of Morris in the Navy.  With a little gore because it is the Vietnam War, this is a worthwhile addition to Chris Lynch’s collection, though not with the depth and literary insight as Tim O’Brien’s novels. Recommended for all high school and public libraries.

Elizabeth Eulberg takes readers into the lives of four teens trying to rise to the top of an exclusive performing arts high school in New York City.  In a world where everyone is in competition with each other, the characters Emme, Sophie, Carter and Ethan have much more in your face lessons to learn on whom to trust in their rise to fame.  Readers will gain empathy for Emme, the true protagonist of the novel.  Self-confidence is what she lacks and it takes a two true friends and one soon to be ex-friend to propel her into the spotlight and literally find her voice.  Chapters alternate between the four main character’s voices.  Eulberg writes each one so uniquely that it is easy to follow the storyline that weaves them all together.  Real teen issues are incorporated, such as alcohol abuse, so that any students will enjoy this read, especially those in the performing arts.  Recommended for all high school and public libraries.

Jamie Gordon feels naked without her camera.  Viewing the world through a lense is giving her more opportunities in life than just attending high school.  Becoming a paparazzo in New York City is fast becoming her only passion, even at the expense of her closest relationships with her boyfriend, her handicapped brother and her best friend.  When is is given the opportunity to be in the life of Willow Twine for a week during spring break of her sophomore year in L.A., she jumps at the chance.  Willow’s lifestyle teaches Jaime enough in one week, but is it enough to mend fences with those she loves the most?  Todd Stasser brings forth an interesting look from the camera side of the lense.  The writing style jumps back and forth chapter by chapter between current and past events in Jaime’s life which lead up to the somewhat climatic ending. Nothing to worry about if middle school kids wanted to read this, but they might not like such a choppy style.

This is a sweet little book, perfect for beginning readers, particularly little girls.  The title and book jacket illustration are somewhat misleading.  The cover shows a young girl spooning up an ice cream sundae–yum!  However, the sundae isn’t the dessert, she is–it’s her name.  Dessert is the eldest of four children, whose family owns a French-themed restaurant called ‘Fondue.’  As she starts third grade, she learns from her somewhat eccentric teacher to ‘walk to the beat of her own drummer.’  She uses this newfound knowledge to get her family to allow dessert, the treat, to be eaten first, rather than last, of the evening meal.  The story is fairly mundane, following Dessert around school and at home, having the typical issues that kids have.  Her biggest problem comes when she eats the entire dessert her mom had prepared in honor of her deceased grandmother.  The huge disappointment from her family causes Dessert to rethink her plans.  I was disappointed in the ending, because I thought Dessert would learn how to make and replace the eaten dessert herself.  Instead, she gets their restaurant’s bakery chef to make it for her.  Hummmm….not such a good learning moment.  Anyway, the recipe for the Double-Decker Chocolate Bars in on the back cover; I plan on making them to see if the book would be more believable as a cookbook.

Teddy, a boy whose parents live and work in the FunJungle theme park, knows FunJungle all too well, and finds out that Henry the Hippo was murdered. Teddy decides to investigate the murder himself which turns out to be life threatening when dangerous animals are set loose in Teddy’s presence. As Teddy’s investigation gets deeper, he finds out that a few more animals have died, and it all leads to an emerald smuggling operation. With the owner’s daughter’s help, Teddy exposes the guilty  parties and returns FunJungle back to a place that families can enjoy.

Sage is an orphan who is quick-witted, agile and clever.  Caught stealing meat, a country gentleman bails him out of trouble with the butcher and takes him from the orphanage.  Along with Sage, Conner, the country gentleman, procures two other orphans of similar looks and age.  The three boys accompany Conner and his companions to his estate, where the boys learn of the treasonous plot Conner has hatched.  Conner, one of the king’s regents, wants the boys to compete to become an impostor of the king’s youngest son, believed to have been lost at sea four years earlier.  Unbeknownst to the boys, the king, queen and eldest son have been murdered and the news of their deaths withheld from the public until a meeting of the regents to crown a new king will be held in two weeks’ time.  For two weeks, the boys are schooled in their country’s history, language and grammar, fencing, and horsemanship.  It is understood that the winner will potentially become the new king and the two losers will be killed because of their knowledge.  For two weeks, the boys train and each have their own talents and one of Conner’s cohorts champion and train them.  Sage is the most reluctant and defiant, which earns him punishment instead.

For the past four years, Sage believed that his parents did not love him or care about him.  His father gave some money to the orphanage to care for Sage, but it had run out long ago.  He had to learn street smarts in order to survive.  But listening to Conner, Sage realized that his father did love him and it was that love that sent him to the orphanage.  His father, the king, realized that a civil war was brewing and a plot to overthrow him was eminent.  He wanted to keep his youngest son, the brightest, daringest, cleverest son alive to someday assume the throne.  Conner’s plan to present Sage as the long lost son works, but then works to do him in, also.  This is a very cleverly written historical fiction which elementary and middle school libraries should have in order to introduce historical fiction to students, also to modern-day politics.