This is a great introduction to the sport of pheasant hunting.  Information is presented in an easy reading format with occasional sidebars.  Although native to China and Korea, pheasants were introduced in 1881 to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  Pheasants readily adapted to the changing environment of wilderness to farm land.  They are ground birds and need cover for nesting and nearby grain fields for feeding.  The book relates the physical traits, behaviors, and habitats as well as successful techniques and strategies for hunting this alert and sneaky game bird.  Two types of dogs are often used – flushers and pointers.  Good breeds for doing each job are mentioned.  Equipment and skills for hunting pheasants are rather unique.  Being able to shoot quickly and accurately is a must.  Hunters need to know local laws and firearm safety rules.  Photographs are informative, well captioned, with a good balance of both male and female hunters.  Also included are a map, diagram, index and glossary.  One item keeps me from giving this an R*.  Page 39 mentions the importance of “field dressing” a bird as soon as possible, yet that term is never explained.  Otherwise, this is a captivating and educational book.

Preschool Lulu is a typical younger sister.  When her older brother wants to play with his friends, she is left to her own devices with her basset hound, Bingo.  After exhausting many possibilities, she dons her ladybug costume and becomes a super hero.  She removes a boulder from the path of ants, jumps over a shark-infested puddle, repairs a broken rock fort, and braves tree root “snakes”.  Taking a rest in an apple tree, she spots her bother and his friends playing ball in the distance.  She squints at them between her index finger and thumb and realizes SHE is not little.  THEY are little!  The illustrations are absolutely delightful and expressive.  Lulu’s red ladybug costume is a focal point on each page.  Bingo’s expressions and body language humorously copy Lulu’s.  What a great book to celebrate imagination.  This super fun edition includes a poster, paper dolls, and stickers.

Henry thinks he talks a lot, but his parents only hear gibberish.  Henry decides to choose a great word, however he has no idea how it will look or sound.  When he cannot find one around his things in the house, he asks some of his outdoor friends.  Neither cat, bird, nor bunny has one for him.  As he looks around for his mother, she is no longer in sight.  How upsetting!  As he worries and begins to cry, the perfect word comes rumbling out, “Mama”!  (Henry uses his first word for everything so perhaps Dada’s feelings won’t be too hurt!)  The illustrations are done in pencil and pastels, a perfect match for this gentle, simple story about one of the first developmental landmarks.

Duddle Puck arrives on the farm in a blue baseball cap and proceeds to show he is a very odd duck indeed.  He clucks with the hens, honks with the geese, oinks with the pig, neighs with the horse, and gives a hip-hip hooray at the farmer’s party.  All the animals try to help him find his quack and become a proper duck.  When they all demonstrated quacking, Duddle just giggled at the irony.  Then “he roared a mighty QUACK – a – doodle – doo!”  This rhyming story not only reinforces sounds different animals make but also celebrates individuality.  The illustrations are in vivid earth-tone watercolors.  Visually pleasing, the backgrounds alternate between full color and white.  Although not major characters until the end, the farmer and his cat can be seen attending to various farm duties.  Another fun creation by Karma Wilson.

There is quite a bit of information for thought in this book, considering there is only one sentence per page. John Wallace does a fabulous job of instilling wonder with his soft watercolors and ink illustrations. His illustrations of having fun in the sun at the beach teaming up with the informational text by Marion Dane Bauer, in this sixth part of their series on weather for young readers hits the mark. SUN has me wanting to go outside to gather some warmth in the daytime and by night to see the other stars in the Milky Way Galaxy of which our sun is a part.

Though our sun is not the biggest star in the sky or the hottest, it is the closest one to Earth. Our sun gives us light, heat, vitamin D, and is just the right distance from Earth so water can be in all three states of matter- solid, liquid, and gas.

There are eight more “Facts about the Sun” on the very last page dealing with size, distance, temperature, and age of the sun.

The reader’s point-of-view will be tested with this book. A young alien, working on earning his Galaxy Scout Solo Explorer badge, crash lands onto Earth in the middle of an elementary school playground.  The third graders, in Mrs. Buckle’s class, hurry out to meet him. Little by little, Spork and the third graders need to apply their classroom rules dealing with respect, especially -“Treating others as we would like to be treated (the Golden Rule)”. Jack makes a disparaging remark about the sound of Spork’s name. Others want to touch the space ship without asking. And Trixie hides Spork’s Gloop which he will need to repair his space ship because Trixie wants Spork to stay. Then, Mrs. Buckle announces Drop Everything and Read, Spork literally drops the tub of markers he is carrying. Trixie soon realizes she needs to return the Gloob to Spork. When she hands it back to Spork it accidentally falls to the floor breaking the container. BOOM! The Gloop fixes all kinds of classroom errors: untucked shirts, untied shoes, cluttered cubbies, and holes in the knees of jeans. Trixie “hung her head. ‘Now that your Gloop exploded all over the classroom, there isn’t any left to fix your flying saucer. And it is all my fault.’…’Oh, don’t worry about that!’ …I’ve got more Gloop. ‘ ” (51)

After the story ends, Spork gives the readers three activities “right out of [his] Scout training manual” (56)- Planets of Peril quiz, R-E-S-P-E-C-T the E.T. quiz, and Space facts: True of false.

Nancy Drew has never been to summer camp and Nancy needs a vacation. Nancy’s best friend Bess talks her into being a camp counselors at Bess’s old camp. Chapter one ends, “Please don’t let there be a mystery to solve at Camp Cedarbark!” (14)

It’s Nancy Drew, so, of course, there will be a mystery. The mystery revolves around a camper who drowned about 5 years ago. One of the new counselors (Bella) wants to hold a seance, after dark, with her ouija board, to keep the drowned girl’s spirit away. Nancy takes the ouiji board away from Bella saying she will tell the new camp’s owners if the seance is held. Next, during the counselors’ swim test of treading water, both Deborah and Nancy are yanked under the water by their ankles. A few days later, the counselors’ training period is over. “Even though the past two nights had been filled with creepy, ice-cube-down-the-spine moments, it was hard to recall those feelings when the sun first shone into our cabins. Even more so now, when our cabin was full of giggling, smiling campers.” (83)

The incidences at the lake set the tune, but Nancy’s up beat spirit keeps this chilling story from becoming too scary. Nancy works with the camp’s new owners to solve who is out to sabotage the camp. Is it one of the campers, one of the counselors, or someone from the small nearby town who is out to close the camp? This story has as many twists and turns as one of the camps’ trails.

I have been at camp as an adult chaperone and this book brought back the wonderful feelings of being at summer camp.

This ‘Carolyn Keene’ writes in the present with references to Netflix and smart phones. This is not a reprint of a former Nancy Drew.

This book is more visual than text oriented, with usually two sentences per page. Those young readers who want military books will enjoy the live action photography.

Official United States military photos from the United States Department of Defense and U.S. Army fill the pages with planes and helicopters both on the ground and in the air. Troops are shown walking into the back’s of open carriers, as well, and repelling out of helicopters. Page ten shows the interior of a C-17 Globemaster (most likely) filled with four rows of 22+ troops in full army gear waiting to get to their destination.

There are specially trained people to load the various transports. Planes are used for equipment, such as, tanks and vehicles, as well as for moving troops. Helicopters are used for moving weapons, fuel, and rescue missions. “Huge ships carry thousands of soldiers. The ships can hold thousands of tons of cargo.” (14)

“Transport is the first step in many military actions!” (20)

The www.factsurfer.com at the end of the book did not seem to take this reader to any more sites.

Hal is a Hoist and Lift forklift. Hal works very hard at the warehouse moving crates all day.( Author / illustrator Ken Bowser has labeled those crates with: silly string, bumble bees, tarantulas, snow skis, kite string, toilet paper, marbles, and monkeys among other things.) When Hal gets to the last crate to move that day, ” ‘ What is this?’ he thought. Automatic Robotic Forklift the label read. Hal was puzzled. ‘A new fork lift?’ he worried. ‘Huh?’ ” (16) Was Hal’s job on the line?  Then, Foreman Frank tells Hal, ” ‘Al’s here to assist you and you’ll be his boss!’ …He could NEVER replace you, Hal! You know this place better than anyone!’ ” (22)

Young readers who enjoy Disney/Pixar’s CARS will enjoy this book, too.

The last page asks four “Big Questions” to help the reader fine tune his comprehension of this story.