The opening of the story with the anxieties of typical high school student such as making the team or worrying about getting into college gives The Combination by Elias Carr an immediate connection to the reader. But the school is anything but ordinary as  bats swoop through the hallways and the doors are locked for the student’s safety. Perched over an ancient sinkhole, St. Philomena High was designed by a brilliant yet mad architect.  With the right combination, it becomes a doomsday machine.  The plot is a bit far-fetched.  Stilted, disjointed dialogue and the stereotypical characters hinder the suspense of the story.  Short chapters with fast moving action in simple vocabulary keeps interest  in solving the mystery and saving the students.  This book could be a good read for an emerging middle school reader.

A witty, self-questioning, authentic teen voice is presented in that of Paisley Hanover Kisses and Tells by Cameron Tuttle.  In this second book of the series, Paisley’s alter ego, Miss UnPleasant, wins as a write in candidate for sophomore class president.  But the dimwit vice-principal won’t let that become official and gives the race to the popular Peter “Hutch” Hutchison.  This is just one storyline that weaves in with three other valid storylines Tuttle creates to bring out issues in high schools today, including bullying, cyberbullying and sexting, and emotional angst when a girl likes two boys and can’t decide.  Overarching it all is the main theme that still continues from the 1st book in the series, that popularity isn’t everything.  No drugs but references to drinking and partying, sidebras instead of sidebars, and somewhat over the top antics lend this story to a Disney or Nickelodeon screenplay, but until then, 9th – 11th grade girls who like the “popularity theme” that encompasses every high school will probably enjoy this read as they see that every character is just as human as the next.  Unfortunately the publisher made such a big change in the cover art between the 1st and 2nd books that I’m inclined to only carry the 2nd one and wait to read reviews of the 3rd that is supposed to be in the works before I would order the 1st.

This is a marvelous book with stories from all over the world.  It has colorful pictures.  Some of the stories were old familiar classics.  Others were less known, all were enjoyable.

The illustrations are colorful and bright and go well with the stories.

In the back of the book are ways to share the stories with a crowd.

This is a cute poem about cooperation and teamwork.  Pete had only half a treasure map.  Until he meets Bella who has the other half.  Together they find the treasure.  They decide together they make a good team.

The pictures are good and colorful.  I didn’t think Bella  looks much like a girl.

This is a fun little story as to why the little vampire can’t sleep.  Scary things are not so scary in the story.  There is a funny twist to the end, vampires don’t sleep at night.

Excellent, colorful illustrations.  Fun to notice that the pictures get bigger with each page.

Similar to I Spy books, this Princesses and Fairy Tales book is more geared for girls, directing them to look for princesses and objects commonly found in fairy tales.  Girls will clamor over this book!