In this graphic novel, the reader is drawn into an action adventure story of two brothers desperately trying to find their mother and outsmart the evil treasure hunters who are searching for her as well. The boys are kidnapped by the treasure hunters and taken to the last place where their mother was last seen — a raging volcano!
This book is recommended for readers grades 4 to 12, but it can easily be read to younger children. The story explores family relationships and has enough action and humor to keep anyone interested. This fun and engaging story will definitely captivate readers.

— Mara B.

This Halloween-themed cookbook is for especially young chefs.  Featuring seven recipes, a young hostess or host could prepare a fun and delicious 5 course Halloween meal plus a spooky drink.  The recipes are clearly presented with simple step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrating each step.  The recipes have few ingredients but look very tasty.  Some basic cooking techniques (measure, slice, spread, sprinkle, stir and toss) are explained and photographed as are the kitchen tools necessary to prepare these recipes.  The pages are well-laid out with colorful backdrops which don’t distract the reader.  There are 10 themed cookbooks in this Simple Recipes for Kids series.

Manners are so important and this series does a nice job of presenting polite manners in contrast with bad ones, in various settings.  This book is set at Christmastime and features common Christmas activities.  The text is rhyming and comical and the illustrations are brilliantly colored and expressive.  Each dinosaur is subtly label in the illustration as well as on the end papers for those budding little paleontologists.

This series is hilarious!  The unique and comical illustrations, the creative character names, the whitty and silly text all add up to a very fun read-aloud.  I read both the “Darn Squirrel” books to our kindergarten students and they had a wonderful time.  I would love to see more of Mr. Fookwire’s adventures with his critter friends.

This book is a one-stop princess party resource that will delight girls of all ages!  Filled with appealing recipes, crafts and activities, this cookbook has several themes for your princess to choose from.  Each recipe or craft has a beautiful color photograph which demonstrates presentation as well.  The instructions are simple and clearly written.  I like that the binding is ringed so the pages lie flat and are easy to turn.  The index and themed table of contents helps the reader to find entries quickly.  Our students will enjoy this book.

The mood is instantly set once the book is opened by the smokey grey end paper,  followed by darker grey with fine white rain blowing from right to left across the page, followed by even darker grey with white rain blowing across the page from left to right amidst the multi- tined lightening bolt. So Hurricane Emily, in St. Petersburg, Florida,  greets the reader of this, the second book in a trilogy.  Book one is quickly reviewed in a one page prologue, but this book can stand alone.  Author, Roland Smith, uses time stamps for the chapter titles, sometimes in 20-30 minute increments and sometimes in 2-3 minute increments. Tension and suspense keeps the reader from putting this book down!

Hurricane Emily, a once in a hundred year storm, is hammering everything in sight throughout the middle of the night. Rashawn, Chase, Nicole and Mama Rossi (Nicole’s grandmother) are hunkered down in an enormous steel-sided circus barn with a very pregnant elephant. They will be cast into pitch darkness when the generator runs dry and the needed  fuel is two out buildings away. Meanwhile, Chase’s father – John and Tomas try to work their way back to them through the hurricane’s storm surge, along with a local TV news reporter and camera man .

If the hurricane isn’t enough, the circus’s lion, bear, and leopard are loose from their cages and stand between Chase and the needed fuel.

It’s said trouble comes in threes. Book three will bring Tomas’s family and Nicole’s mother (with circus) into the equation as they try to reunite with their families from their distant locations in Mexico after a major earthquake.

Underground habitats of rabbits, moles, earthworms, beaver, cockchafers, and kingfishers  are explored on  6 different dark transparent acrylic pages using a ‘magic [paper] torch’ which the young reader punches out from the back of the book. This paper torch (flashlight) may be a reason to exclude this book from a library collection, but the same viewing result can be achieved using a white strip of paper.

Young children  will be fascinated using the torch to explore the 6 tunnels hidden from view when above ground.

This is a new and improved version of the books Gallimard Jeunesse helped create in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time with  heavier weight paper (board), metal spiral binding (not plastic), and an inch or more larger in both directions.

Basic bird information including beak and feet shapes and purposes, feathers, shape and size of nests, feeding their babies, but that’s what you’d expect from  a series entitled – “My First Discoveries“. Young children and adults will be fascinated with the use of 7é transparent acrylic pages that when turned reveal a different side of the bird being discussed.

This is a new and improved version of the books Gallimard Jeunesse helped create in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time with  heavier weight paper (board), metal spiral binding (not plastic), and an inch or more larger in both directions.

Basic dinosaur information including size, fossils, egg laying, and dying out before the dawn of man. Young children and adults will be fascinated with the use of 6 transparent acrylic pages that when turned reveal a different side of the dinosaur being discussed.

This is a new and improved version of the books Gallimard Jeunesse helped create in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time with  heavier weight paper (board), metal spiral binding (not plastic), and an inch or more larger in both directions.

Basic butterfly information including body parts and life cycle, but that’s what you’d expect from  a series entitled – “My First Discoveries“. Young children and adults will be fascinated with the use of 5 transparent acrylic pages that when turned reveal a different side of the butterfly being discussed. There is a craft project on the last page,  making a string of butterflies similar to paper dolls.

This is a new and improved version of the books Gallimard Jeunesse helped create in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This time with  heavier weight paper (board), metal spiral binding (not plastic), and an inch or more larger in both directions.