Andrew Luck is the son of a professional football player and was a standout quarterback for Stanford, and was the first player chosen in the 2012 football draft.  Chosen by the Indianapolis Colts, Luck was to be the golden boy to deliver them to the promised land.  Luck set new records in his first year, but in four years he has not yet gone to the big game.  Luck is one of the premiere players in the league.  This book will be a big hit for boys in particular who are in grades three through five, who are just getting interested in sports.  Andrew Luck is a great role model for them to hero-worship.

T. A. Barron is a prolific writer and student of all things relating to Merlin.  In this small book, Barron has condensed the secret to a happy life in seven little words: Gratitude, Courage, Knowledge, Belief, Wonder, Generosity, Hope, and Love.  Sounds pretty easy, but to paraphrase Confucius, ‘life is simple, it’s people who make it confusing.’  And Barron seems to adopt this philosophy. After reading his book, it seems to be accurate.  We need to stop and think about what we have, what we need, who we need, and so on.  These seven words pretty much convey everything in life that is important.  This would be a perfect gift for a young adult, or someone who is confused and floundering.  It’s a great recipe for life.

This Christmas themed book is a spin off of “Where’s Waldo” with six characters to find on each page layout in addition to a list of toys to locate. It includes 15 colorful Christmas puzzles of searching for the hidden objects and characters. An answer key is included in the back of the book. This is a fun search and find book that will entertain primary readers.

Callum, a teenager who deliberately failed the Iron Trial, wants no part of the magic taught at the Magisterium. However, even with the lowest scores possible, Callum is selected to attend the school against his will. Teamed up with two other teens, Tamara and Aaron, the group will develop their magical skills through completing the most challenging tasks. The masters of the school are pleased to finally, after many, many years, find a Makar in the teenage group that will have the strength to battle the Evil leader. However, what Callum learns about himself is the greatest twist of all. This book is very action packed, keeping the reader wondering. Harry Potter fans will love the parallel events!!

There seems to be a disconnect with the age of kids who play with My Little Ponies and the age of the reader of My Little Pony; the reading age is higher.  Also, this is volume 7 of 8 and I haven’t had the opportunity to read the previous installments, so judging solely on this volume, I think it’s a pretty dark story.  Does My Little Pony really need to be in graphic novel form?  Really?  This is not something I would recommend school libraries spend their money on.

Eloise is a poor little rich girl who lives on the top floor of a hotel with a nanny and a tutor.  When her tutor comes to give her a math lesson, she gives him a hard time and is very disrespectful.  Not much is accomplished by the time it’s over, but the picture at the end does leave the impression that Eloise is smarter than she lets on.  As an elementary school teacher/librarian in a difficult school, this attitude really bothers me.  Eloise is allowed to get away being rude, disrespectful and uncooperative.  Granted, her tutor seems kind of lame; he must know what she’s going to do, yet he continues in the same manner.  Where is his creativity and love of learning?  I see this as a bad example of behavior and I hope kids don’t copy it.  I can also see it being funny if read by kids who are not like Eloise.  Beautiful illustrations.  Great reinforced binding, but pricey.

In this beginning to read book, the main character is a Hispanic girl who wants to get noticed.  She is tired of being lumped together with her two sisters.  When school picture day comes, she plans to stand out by borrowing her aunt’s big pink bow for her hair.  It does make her stand out and she does get noticed.  Very simple story.  There are some highlighted Spanish words which are also basic and a Spanish glossary.  Will probably purchase the other Sophia Martinez books.

In this Disney book, Minnie and the twins substitute as magicians for Penguini when he has to leave to get a bowtie.  All goes well until they make the audience disappear. Penguini comes back and fixes everything.  Very beginning readers, especially girls, will enjoy this Disney book; it’s colorful and has familiar characters.  It is also has library reinforced binding which will help it withstand the rigors of young children.  I think it’s a good book, however, the cost prohibited me from giving it an R rating.

Meta-Rise picks up right where Bot Wars, book one, left off.  Trout St. Kroix has found his long lost father and brother and has joined their team.  Trout’s dad is now the leader of the revolution; he’s half human and half robot and can see both sides of the issue.   This story is science fiction and futuristic in that robots do most of the heavy work humans used to do.  They even have human emotions.  But there is a division of alliances: one side is for making them unfeeling, as they were to begin with, and the other side to give them rights, as humans do.  What started as a disagreement and now evolved into an all out war, and as with any war, there are splinter groups trying to become leaders.  Mr. St. Kroix, the leader, has to watch his back as others try to jockey into position to take over.  Now it’s a question of who you can trust on your side.  The outline for this war story could take place anytime, anywhere.  Kade has chosen the future and as such uses technology that is believable.  Again, as with the first book, action is fast-paced and the characters are interesting, however, too much robot slang for my taste.  I wouldn’t mind some new, creative vocabulary introduced instead.

“Butterflies,

frogs, sharks, and

humans all begin life as

an egg. So does almost every

other animal. The eggs of some

creatures–including most mammals

–are nurtured inside their mother’s

body, where they develop into babies

that are born alive. But many more animals

lay their eggs — either one at a time, by

the dozens, or by the millions. Eggs come

in  a  fantastic  range of  sizes,  shapes,

and colors. Animals that lay eggs bury

them, carry them, guard them, or

simply leave them alone. And

each egg contains everything

needed to create a new

living creature.”

So begins Steve Jenkins & Robin Page’s latest book – EGG. This book might just be what every young reader wants to know about eggs, but was not sure to ask. Jenkins and Page share 54 different creatures which emerge from eggs from the millions of possibilities: fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and mammals. Too bad an index was not included or this would be an even better reference book for young readers.

Some of the eggs are shown life size(with magnification to show detail), while others are not. The egg is shown with an adult creature, too.  The size of an egg does not determine the size of the adult creature. Unusual locations for where eggs are laid are shared, as well as, how many eggs , who eats eggs, egg protection, egg packaging, carrying eggs, incubation, getting out of an egg, and inside an egg.

After the usual Jenkins’ picture/text format, at the back of the book are 54 thumbnail size pictures of the adult animal with its length, habitat, and diet. These are in alphabetical order.