The Trelawney family has it’s share of adventurers.  While in Ireland for his grandfather’s funeral, Tom discovers a packet of letters from an ancestor dated over 200 years earlier.  His ancestor was a soldier in India who had gotten his hands on some loot when the sultan was overthrown.  Afraid he is dying, he hides the treasure, a golden tiger encrusted with jewels.  Apparently others have found out about these letters and believe them to be a map to the treasure.  Tom convinces his rerckless  Uncle Harvey that the treasure is probably still where it was hidden, for why else would someone have killed his grandfather over it.  Tom and Harvey set out for India (without his parents knowing where he went) and have an adventure of a lifetime.  The characters are so real they come alive in the story.  The action is non-stop and the dialogue humorous.  The first book is also excellent and this sequel doesn’t fail to keep up.  I can’t wait for the next Trelawney adventure.

Green Lanterns- Hal Jordan and Kilowog are transporting Red Lantern – Razar for destroying a planet and all its inhabitants. Unbeknownst to the Green Lanterns a set of  evil invisible beings are aboard, too. These beings are there to get nourishment from the emotions of Razer, Hal, and Kilowog. Their invisibility causes confusion. Then they create copies of the people they are feeding off. As Green Lantern- Hal Jordan puts the clues together, he successfully defeats the invisible beings (shadows) by using extreme light.

Includes: Draw Your Own Hal Jordan, Green Lantern!, glossary, and 5 Visual Questions.

Reluctant older readers will enjoy this short 21 chapter fast-paced story. The chapters run from two to four pages in length.

“Way up north in the Arctic on the Hudson Bay, a huge polar bear lay quietly on the frozen sea.” [Introductory line] Elsewhere, 12-yr. old Jeremy must find a way to save his mother, Paula, who is now floating on an ice berg, after the ice she was taking core samples on for Global Warming Research Station broke off into the sea.

Don’t panic, panic kills remembers Jeremy.

Jeremy snowmobiles to the Inuit village seeking Felix’s father who can fly a helicopter to rescue his mother.

In the meantime, the polar bear has started swimming toward the iceberg Paula is on in search of a meal.

Who will get to Paula first, the polar bear or the helicopter. Don’t panic, panic kills.

Little Hippo is playing and pretending he is a firefighter.  He has a truck and rushes off to fight a fire.  He first encounters Big Hippo and gets stuck in the mud and needs help getting out.  He then runs into gazelle and gets stuck in the long grass and needs help getting out.  And so it goes, he rushes to help and ends up needing help.    A simple story and simple text, easy for young kids to understand.

Subtitled “A Story About Learning to Listen,” this reissue of a 1995 book teaches listening and social skills to young children.  Issued as part of a ‘new’ series ‘Laugh-Along Lessons,’ this book includes a free downloadable audio version.  After not hearing the directions, Buddy got lost and learned the hard way what happens to those who don’t listen.

This is a reissue of the 1985 book by Lester and Munsinger.  It has been updated to include a free downloadable audio version.  The book is subtitled “A Story About Taking Responsibility” and is appropriate to use for teaching social skills.  This is also a good example of teaching cause and effect, as one thing leads to another, and it is clear how it happened.  Now part of a series titled Laugh-Along Lessons, this story is funny while at the same time a teachable moment.

This book was originally published in 1986 as a children’s picture book.  This new version has the exact same story, but the book itself has been updated.  It is now part of a series titled ‘Laugh-Along Lessons.’  It is subtitled “A Story About Being Yourself,” and has a free downloadable audio version with the access information clearly labelled on the reverse title page.  The series gives teachers more direction towards books teaching social skills, plus allows for different kinds of listening, both at school and at home.  Lester’s and Munsinger’s skills still bring a smile to your face.

If crayons could complain, what would they say?  In this book, Duncan finds out.  In a series of letters written to Duncan by each color, he finds out that most of them aren’t too happy with how he is using them.  Very, very clever idea!  Each letter is written rather humorously and you can hear the ‘voice’ of the crayon.  Some colors complain that they aren’t used enough, or they are used too much.  Some just don’t like their color.  It forces one to really think about how we use color.  At the end of the story, Duncan colors a beautiful picture, using all the colors in a non-traditional way.  All ages will get a kick out of this book.

This Superman Adventures graphic novel begins with villain Livewire in a hospital bed listening to an evening radio talk show where the topic is women” should be at home, taking care of the kids and doing the laundry.” (p.5) Later, Livewire dialogues to Lois Lane, “so-o-o, I’ve decided to do a little community services. It seems to me our little community–the world community–has been dominated by men just a little too long…I’ve decided to do something about it.”  Now, Livewire has taken over the media around the world. Only women’s reports are allowed on air or in print. Livewire is eluding Superman’s grip. Superman has asked to borrow Lex Luthor’s electromagnetic pulse generator prototypes. Then Superman sets a trap for Livewire using Luthor’s equipment, but Luthor goes too far and zaps Livewire.

There are 5 short chapters in this book with the villain Mxy giving Superman and Metropolis a hard time. Superman is  flying, using his super-hearing, heat vision, X-ray vision, super-breath, and red laser beams from his eyes as he works to keep Metropolis safe from Mxy.

Chapter 1 finds Clark Kent in trouble from two unexpected losses of time including being late for work and going to a restaurant that is no longer in business, kicking Lois Lanes chair out from under her, and his hand ‘suddenly ‘ knocking a pitcher of water all over Lois. After Lois leaves,  “Mr. Mxyzpptlk, the magical and mischievous imp from the Fifth Dimension.” (p. 14) shows up to laugh at his pranks on Clark.

In Chapter 2, Mxy brings a humpback whale into existence, along with all the water,  inside a movie theater showing A Whale of a Tale. Then Mxy makes it so the citizens of Metropolis do not recognize Superman. Nonetheless, Superman continues his work to keep the citizens safe through to the end of  Chapter5 where Superman outsmarts Mxy at the carnival in the House of Mirrors because “To send Mxy back to the Fifth Dimension, Superman had to trick the pocket-sized prankster into saying or writing his name backward.” (p. 24)

Superman – The Man of Steel : Mxy’s Magical Mayhem is illustrated in two full page color illustrations per chapter in this Super DC Heroes book. In addition to that, are the big BLAMs, THUDs, SPLATTTTs, WHAMs and other sound effects mixed in with the rest of the regular sized story text.

After the story ends, there are 3 Discussion Questions and 3 Writing Prompts.

Nothing seems to go the right way for Danny.  To escape wrestling Bruiser, Danny runs for 7th grade class president.  Although he believes he has no chance of winning, things change and he wins!  Danny gets pressure from many sides to support various interests.  Much to his dismay, he begins to want to do a good job.  Eventually, he is able to hand over leadership to a truly appropriate person and resume his life on the side-lines.  The book is written in a similar format as Wimpy Kid or Big Nate.  Reluctant readers will seek out this series.

DC Comics writer, Scott Sonneborn, gives readers this graphic novel in the TIGER MOTH series.

New girl, Honey Bee, at Antennae Elementary School many of the students  (but not, Tiger Moth- Insect Ninja and his apprentice in training – Kung Pow) in a trance. Honey Bee, who dresses in black and yellow horizontal striped shirts , is running for class president. She is using a special stinger to control the students until after they vote her into office.

Sonneborn uses insect facts interspersed throughout the dialogue to give his readers who know enough about insects the inside track on the humor. Example from page 16 – “That bee is giving me hives!”  and from page 11 – “She’s a shoo-fly-in to win the election.”

This book is very interesting.  It tells of the space program and the risks and accidents, and what caused them.  It is a easy to understand over view of over 20 years of the US Space program, and the challenges they face.  The text is easy to read.  There are good pictures.  It is longer, and probably better for children that are a little older.  It is a nice addition to our non-fiction library.

Great Pictures!  This is a simple book about a variety of snakes indigenous to Africa.  It is a quick read that would hold the attention of young readers, as well as older ones.  The font is easy to read.  The facts are clear and interesting.  A great book on snakes!

This story is about being friends with those who are very different than yourself.  I liked the main character and here different friend, but when it comes to their interactions with others I would have changed the story line.  I liked the beginning, but it seemed to go down hill as the story progressed.  The pictures are colorful but a bit strange, like the story.

This is a quick fun read, with interesting facts about outstanding animals.  The photos of the actual animal are nice and clear.  This is an easy read for young readers with a good glossary of words that may be unfamiliar.  Nice addition to our library.

This is an amazing two-fold book.  It is not only a simple step by step drawing book, but it is also an excellent science book about a large variety of sea animals.  This is a wonderful addition to our science and art sections of our library.  This book is both interesting and fun.

Beautiful oil and acrylic painted illustrations in this large picture book which help to tell the story of this polar bear cub and as his world expands past the known safety of his mother’s side.  The story is the perfect metaphor for young children as they discover the world beyond the safety of their mother’s side.  The large sized book would make a good group read-aloud or a cozy book to share with a young child.

Charming story and illustrations which tell the tale of the cat who was forgotten when the moving van was loaded.  By the time they came back, the cat was gone.  Lost and alone the cat tries to find a new person to adopt.  No one is quite as perfect as her previous owner with the fuzzy slippers.  Then, as she is watching shoes walking down the street, she spots a pair of shiny shoes and is compelled to follow them.    She follows the girl back to the new house of her grandmother–they are the shoes of the grand-daughter of her owner!  Reunited, she snuggles with the slippers on her favorite rug that night.

This everybody, fiction book was written by Cynthia Platt in the style of H.A. Rey.  This story is about George receiving a Chicken Little book from his friend in the yellow hat.  Even though he excitedly anticipates the story all evening, when bedtime comes George cannot sleep for fear that the sky will fall.  Many other books and distractions are tried by the man in the yellow hat, and then he takes George outside and they use a telescope to look up at the sky to make sure it’s not falling.  Then George can have sweet dreams.  Nice addition.

Excellent photographs leading the young artist through each step of the process to create paper mache’ projects.   The projects are simple enough to make, and yet challenging enough to create a nice a nice end product.  It wasn’t clear to this reviewer why the book is called “Earth-Friendly”, as there was nothing different about it and is the same glue, water, newspaper recipes that have been used for decades. Most projects are made from things you would find around your house, such as used egg cartons.   Some of the projects were animals such as bats, salamanders, and centipedes, while others were bracelets, microphones, and hats.

The resources listed at the back of the book had a website called www.dltk-kids.com which had a section on paper mache’ with helpful hints and tips.  Also, the index in the back of the book is very clever as it listed the crafts from EASY to HARD.    I’m sure that this will save many young artists and teachers, some frustration.  This book would make a nice addition to a collection of books.

Great beginner book on airplanes.  The font is very large and easy to read.  The vocabulary is simple, with a glossary at the end to help children understand unfamiliar words.

The photos are clear and interesting.  This book is great for young readers.  It’s a quick read.

This book is all about being creative and being you.  Young girls would have a lot of fun using this book.  There are pages of creative ideas with good clear directions.  The pictures make it easy to understand the directions.  It is a great book for encouraging the old addage my mother use to say.  ” Use it up, wear it out, make it due or due without.”  Or in the case of this book, make it do it over.  This book is a wonderful starting point for young girls to learn some basic sewing skills and crafting methods.

This is a cute book about two families who live next door to each other.  The one family brings home a speed boat.  Sammy’s father brings home a green bath tub.  What is special about a green bath?  Wait until you see.  It can do amazing things.  It ends up that the bath is way more fun than the speed boat.

The pictures are fabulous.  There is a lot to look at in each picture.

It is a great story about not bragging or showing off.