The eleventh book in the Faerieground series, it brings loyalty, trust, friendship and love into this fantasy of a war between the faeries and the crows. The faerie heroes go to battle to free the faerie Queen, Soli. This book ends in the midst of the war, leaving the reader to turn to book twelve for the conclusion. The illustrations are amazingly detailed watercolor images. The text is very simple, appealing to the low level readers as well as the reluctant readers.

The Prince of Peas is a parody of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. The art work makes this an excellent picture book to use with high school art students. The numerous inferences throughout the story both in text and illustration make this story  for a mature audience, rather than an elementary reader*.

“Princess Antoinette [ a rabbit] has decided to wed. The idea has been growing like a pea in her head.” The first prince, possible groom, is musician Prince Tristan [a cat]. He spends the night of the party playing with the musicians in the band, instead of holding Antoinette’s hand. Then, he fails the pea test under the seven mattresses because his dog does not like heights. The second prince, Prince Victor [a boar] finds his bed too skimpy, so goes out to sleep with his war horse. Antoinette gives the search for a prince one more try. Prince Philippe [a stag] is spotted saving a cat from drowning. after the ball Antoinette and Philippe hold ‘hand(s) as they bounce on his bed.” All the bouncing on the bed lets Queen Louise [a crow] know this is the right spouse for her daughter. “Antoinette is so happy, so pleased to be wed, that another idea takes shape in her head. [a page turn] The months, they pass by, the idea grows and grows… into a new little Prince with a pea for a nose!”

*The little prince has a green pea for a nose, one rabbit ear and one stag antler.   So my question is, did author Sylvie Chausse mean for this to be a simple retelling of the classic Princess and the Pea? If so, is Sylvie Chausse happy with the illustrations that lead me to think there is a hidden meaning, dealing in favor of interracial marriage, on the part of the illustrator Anne Letuffe. That aside, the illustrations are mixed media, using layers of drawn art with fabric for clothing , maps, textured paper, photos of actual peas and pea plants.

This is a YA “Twilight Zone” style story in picture book form. This book asks the question, “How should we react to the violence of war in a far off country?”

The gray on gray illustrations tell the story of a war zone photo journalist who follows a 9 yr. old boy, wounded in a school bus attack, to the hospital. The photo journalist finds difficulty with this boy’s photo story because the boy reminds him of his own nephew who he gave the same pair of red shoes to for his eighth birthday. “I looked through the last shots: I had taken the same photo twelve times. In each one, Kenan was stretched out on the gurney, a bloodied bandage on his head and a red basketball shoe on his left foot.” On the next/last page turn with text, the reader finds the photo journalist talking with his nephew on the phone about he nephew’s upcoming basketball game. The last page turn reveals the photo journalist  in his office contemplating this story’s events. He is siting on the edge of the desk with one foot on his chair and a lit cigarette in his hand. On the desk is a newspaper whose headline reads ‘School Bus Attacked’ under a photo of the bus.

Time seems somewhat suspended when reading this book; it’s almost hypnotic.  The verse is melodic, the words conjure images long forgotten.  It seems to be best when either read alone or seated next to someone who enjoys the sound of words.  The illustrations are fanciful; lots of hidden details.  Hard to decide how to categorize this book; is it a picture book? a poetry book? a fairy tale?  maybe all three.  For those children who love words and love art, this is the book for them.

In this Super Sandcastle book, intended for younger audiences, the idea of freedom is presented, with examples, for children can begin to understand their rights.  Examples include freedoms to vote, for education, speech, religion, and to choose where you live.  The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, proposed by the UN, is also listed, which includes right to life and health care.  The book states what the freedoms are but does no explaining whatsoever.  The photos are basically headshots and do not show or exemplify the freedom listed on the page.  This book is a good start towards explaining what freedom can look like, but still leaves the need for more.

The President of the United States.  Giant Bug Monsters.  A very aggressive videogame.  This book goes in some… improbable places.  But that’s the fun – and what will get the kids excited to read it.  The plot rockets between accessible middle class life and wild fantasy, communicated in a style adjacent to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  Schreiber writes in a candid, kid-friendly style (one chapter title is “Oh Yes, There’s More”) that is fun and fast to read, even for the older set.  This book is all high interest, especially for videogame lovers.

I almost didn’t read this book–the blurb on the inside jacket didn’t sound especially exciting, nor were there any reviews or recommendations on the back.  I went online to check it out first, and I saw that this book was a National Book Award Nominee, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, Nebula/Andre Norton Award Nominee, and a New York Times bestseller.  Who knew?  I started to read and I literally couldn’t put it down.  Greenglass House is literally a green glass house–a house loaded with green stained glass.  It is located high up in the mountains and used to be a home for smugglers.  Access is difficult, especially in winter, and is by cable car.  It is currently a bed and breakfast inn, run by the Pines and their 10-year-old son, Milo.  Winter is usually a slow time, however, the week before Christmas is suddenly booming.  Five unexpected guests show up, then another, and then two old regulars. A village woman and her daughter, Meddy,  come to help Mrs. Pine take care of the guests.  With the guests come personality clashes and if that wasn’t bad enough, someone is stealing from the guests.  As the story unfolds, you learn more and more about each guest.  Each is at Greenglass House for a specific reason, not a winter vacation.    After the thefts,  Milo and Meddy play a game similar to Dungeons and Dragons in which they make up characters for themselves complete with a new name and biography.  They analyze each guest, pretending why they are there, and who could have stolen the items.  Working off of their hypotheses, they find the items and return them.  They uncover the secrets and history of the house, but also reveal a dangerous character.  The pace of the story is perfect–not too slow but fast enough to make you not want to put the book down.  This book is highly recommended for those who love a good mystery.  Plus, get a new book jacket printed to advertise how good this book actually is.

Eleven-year-old Nora has a very special relationship with her Grandma Sylvia.  The first Saturday of every month Nora spends the night with Grandma Sylvia and they do all sorts of wonderful, adventurous things.  They shop in Manhattan, go to the museums, Central Park, terrific restaurants, shows–you name it.  Grandma Sylvia has a pretty exciting life–she is an assistant designer for a fashioner designer.  As such she travels to Paris twice a year for business.  Grandma Sylvia tells Nora so much about Paris that Nora is dying to go.  For her twelfth birthday, Grandma makes plans to take both Nora and Faye (Nora’s mom and Sylvia’s daughter) to Paris, however, shortly before the trip she dies in a car accident.  In cleaning out her home, Nora discovers the tickets and convinces her mom that they should still go.  Once in Paris, Grandma Sylvia has arranged for them to visit her favorite places and has included envelopes for them with a letter for each location, explaining why its one of her favorites, and either tickets or money for admission.  She has also sent ahead a gift for Nora and Faye to be given to them upon their arrival to each location.  The envelopes must be opened in order and the scavenger hunt culminates at the famous Parisian design show that her grandmother worked on.  Throughout the week, Nora and her mom, Faye, learn about each other and how similar they are, and Faye finds out how much her mother loved her.  The places they went sound absolutely fabulous.  I looked them up online and they really do exist.  If I was planning a one-week visit to Paris, I would definitely use this book as a guide.  This book should appeal to girls who love to travel and love realistic adventure.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence was born and raised in Kentucky. She did not have early visions of being a movie star. Jenny Lou was a very active tomboy, with two older brothers, who enjoyed riding her favorite horse on the family farm. Jennifer never quite ‘fit in’ at school. She was targeted by bullies and so changed elementary schools several times. While she was insecure in groups of her peers at school, at age 9, Jenny was in her first play at church. She enjoyed it so much she appeared in more plays and musicals  at church and at school. She talked her mother into taking her to New York City for Spring Break, when she was fourteen years old. “Suddenly, a talent scout approached them and asked if Jennifer would be interested in working as a model! … her parents let her return to New York during the summer…Jennifer got an agent and booked several commercials and some modeling jobs.” (p. 16) Just as Jennifer was about to go home she won a few small TV roles.  Then, the one on THE BILL ENGVALL SHOW on TBS which lasted three years. Her move to the movie screen came in an independent film, Winter’s Bones in 2010. Then came 2011 with her role as Mystique in X-Men: First Class and 2012 in The Hunger Games. She went from being unknown to being followed by paparazzi the day after the first Hunger Games came out.

Fame and fortune has ‘not’ gone to her head. No dieting for her. Jennifer remains ‘real’, but she does work out. “With Jennifer’s down-to-earth attitude and talent, it doesn’t look as if she will be going up in flames anytime soon… unless it’s as Katniss, Girl on Fire!” ( p. 45)

Includes: glossary, index, and web site: www.factsfornow.scholastic.com keyword Jennifer Lawrence.