Written by Alice Fay Duncan
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

In this historical fiction picture book, the author tells the story of the Sanitation Strike of 1968 through the eyes of a young girl that was there. Using poetry and prose throughout the dazzling illustrated book, Alice Fay Duncan recounts this tragic event. Ms. Duncan didn’t focus on the death of Martin Luther King Junior but on the strike and the fight for equality among the Blacks in the South. The text has been thoroughly researched and is cited. It is written in such a way that young readers will understand.

Rachael L. Thomas

In this information packed book, young readers will learn about Prairie Dogs. With great pictures, diagrams and easy to read text, readers will walk away with an abundance of knowledge of how Prairie Dogs live, why they are important to our ecosystem and how they got their name. The book includes a quiz and a glossary.

By Christine Peterson

Discover Rocks introduces readers to rocks; the different types, how rocks are formed and the rock cycle. With beautiful pictures, easy to read text and a wide range of examples, this book is a good supplement to any cirriculum.

This book is a great example of a nonfiction book with a table of contents, glossary and index. As an added bonus, this book includes a rock making activity.

By Rosemary Wells

Noisy Nora is at it again. In this whimsical book, Nora hears someone playing a violin. She is so intrigued that she convinces her parents to let her learn to play. She practices hard but the rest of the family doesn’t enjoy it. Nora has it set in her mind to be able to play a particular song for a very special day and person. Read this brightly colored book to find out if she meets her goal.

Written by Billy Aronson
Illustrated by Jennifer Oxley

Two unlikely girls meet in an unusual way. Melia, the scientist who likes everything orderly is bombarded by her new next door neighbor, Jo, who fancies herself a dancer. Jo enters Melia’s lab without permission and starts touching and rearranging Melia’s inventions. After the disruption, Jo dances her way home leaving Melia to clean up her lab. While cleaning up, Melia starts looking at her inventions in a different light. Melia reializes that her and Jo are more alike than she thought. Is there a collabration in their future?

In the back of the book, the author shows the readers how to make paper airplane. He also includes a check list for the Perfect Steam Dream Team.

By Jason Shiga

This book is a mixture of comic and choose your own adventure. It all starts with selecting a simple choice between chocolate and vanilla. That simple question branches out into a wild ride of different adventures that the story can take you on. The main character, Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab, where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000. Each path you follow is filled with puzzles, clues or shocking revelations. The tabs move you through the book in a wholly new way and each read of the text provides tou with a new opportunity for adventure!

I fell in love with the similes Deb Caletti uses to describe various situations. That’s what kept me going until I finally realized The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! is Book 2. The background information from Book 1- A Flicker of Courage would have made this more enjoyable from the very beginning, but I am glad I stuck it out.

If you are a Harry Potter fan because of the magic and strange creatures, give The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! a try. The villain Vlad Luxor turns the school yard bully, Jason, whom he thinks insulted him into a gerenuk. Then, the heroes spend a good part of the story trying to turn Jason back into a boy again at the request of their teacher, Ms. Fortune. Our four heroes: Henry, Apollo, Jo, and Pirate Girl, are new to the business of being ‘spell breakers’.

To break the Bizarro Crueltildo spell placed upon Jason by Vlad the group must travel through The Wilds, a place all the locals avoid and for good reason. For one thing, The Shadow lives there. The gerenuk keeps wandering off in his continuous search for food, this makes him just as irritating to the heroes as when he was the bully Jason calling everyone and everything weird.

Deb Caletti has placed some pearls of wisdom along the way – “Weirdness is beautiful…But weirdness is powerful, too”. (208) Also, “Sometimes, cruelty is like a very strong cologne. a person stops smelling it on themselves. Other times, though, a person will tire of seeing everyone else crinkle their nose whenever they walk into a room. And then they decide to change.” (244)

Weirdness equals uniqueness which can be very uplifting and reaffirming. All in all, not a bad thing to be.

Please read Book 1 first because you’ll be sorry if you give up on The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! especially, if you are a Harry Potter fan.

Deb Caletti has sprinkled odd images throughout The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! has if taken from a very old Ripley’s Believe it or Not or sideshow acts from the early 1900s. Odd but fun. Yes, odd or weird is a theme of this book, so there you go. Enjoy!

Written by Jasmyn Wright
Art by Shannon Wright

I’m Gonna Push Through is a beautful book with an amazing message. Based on the author’s mantra written for her third graders, the Push Through Organization started. In this book, students will learn the importance of pushing through and what looks like. She introduces the readers to many famous people that had to push through to accomplish their dreams. Resiliency is a global movement and this book puts the idea into kid friendly language. Not only does it represent famous people who have pushed through, but given the diverse collection of student faces and abilities for the reader to relate to within the story. Included at the end is little snippets of the famous people the author introduced that had pushed through. The book concluded with the story of this incredible teacher and how she started the Push Though Organization.

By Jessica Hische

In a follow up to Tommorrow I’ll Be Brave, Jessica Hische introduces children to more inspirational words and ideas. On beautifully written and illustrated pages, she takes students on a journey of how what is done today can be done again and again and have a lasting effect. One spark of kindness will light up the darkness.

By Emma Bassier

Manners on the Playground is a great interactive book with QR codes for extra activities. It relays a good message about manners on the playground. The book includes a lesson plan for those interested in diving deeper with students. This is a great resource for those working with playground conflicts. It is also made in part with recycled materials.