Nardo does an excellent job of organizing this massive topic.  He begins with an overview of Greek mythology and ancient history, relying on the Greek epic poet Hesiod (same era as Homer who is better known) to give his thoughts on the subject.  He then moves into Chaos and explains the beginning of time, the beginning of the Titans and then the Olympians.  Nardo is able to cleverly and clearly explain the totally twisted and confusing relationships of the gods and goddesses.  He accompanies this explanation with a story, or myth, of the entity.  I would have liked to have seen how the Greek myths are still represented in today’s world.  The book ends rather abruptly with a graphic in color-blocked spaces of the Titans, Olympians, Minor Deities, Muses, and Nymphs names.  I wish there was a smoother transition to the next phase of their glorious history.

A simple and delightful personal narrative of a young sister’s admiration for her older sister.  Not so much a story as a list of all the ways that “My Olive is the best in the world”…compared to herself.  “My Olive is the best in the world at tying her long stripy shoelaces.  My fingers are in knots!”   Gentle, doll-like digital illustrations placed on wallpaper and photograph backgrounds add  much visual interest.  Useful as a primary writing model, teachers can share this title in a mini-lesson on personal narratives.  Lovingly, at the end, the big sister acknowledges her little sister for being the “best in the world at giving big, BIG hugs!”

Not being a Chinese language expert, I had an Chinese ESL specialist from our district look at this book to give me her take 0n this publication.  The Basics explains the four tones of Mandarin along with a graph of “It Sounds Like”, with consonants, vowels, and vowel combinations.  Each phrase is presented in English, Chinese characters and pinyin transliteration.  The phrases are organized into themes such as, Schools, Meals, Months, Seasons, etc.  Bright, colorful, digital, illustrations add to the visual appeal.  Unfortunately, frequent typos in the pinyin transliteration make it questionable to have this title on the shelf.  Errors like extra letters, wrong letters, missing letters, as well as incorrect tone marks appear in about seven different places throughout the text.  I ended up making the corrections right in the book with a black pen, instead of not adding the book to our collection.  Aside from the errors (which were corrected in an unorthodox way), the ESL specialist thought the book was still worth having.

Students who are interested in history or geography or travel, will love this book.  It includes the seven wonders of the ancient world as the seven wonders of the newer world.  The first seven are all located in the Mediterranean Sea area and the structures of the newer list include countries such as India, China and Brazil.  The history behind the structures is amazing.  Plus it’s interesting to see how these ancient structures have influenced today’s building and architecture.  Activities to make the structures are also included.  I paired this book up with a novel by Peter Lerangis titledThe Colossus Rises and the series is Seven Wonders.  It is an adventure based on the Colossus of Rhodes.  Each of the seven books in the series will be based on one of the seven wonders of the world.  It is a terrific way to teach history as well as read a brilliant story.

Based on the Marvel comic book series THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, Tony Stark is a rich man who likes to have fun, but he is also a brilliant inventor.  When an enemy army captures him, it leads to the invention of the first Iron Man. Now, both Iron Monger and Titanium Man ” use Tony’s technology for their own evil purposes– Tony feels it’s his responsibility to stop them!”

More picture fills the page than text, but the colorful bold highlighted words provide the meat of the story.

This non-fiction book illustrates that large dinosaurs, in this case – stegosaurus, SHOULD NOT be shrunk down to ‘graphic’ size!

The illustrations are too repetitive and lackluster.

Book consists of 57 sentences total. Page 18 states, ” four sharp spikes…” but the illustration on page 13 definitely shows more than four.

When is a graphic novel, not a graphic novel, nor a comic book? When it is written in short chapter book form with full page single picture illustrations.

Joker, the Crown Prince of Crime, takes over one of Wayne Enterprises ships. In the ship’s hold, Joker unpacks professional grade fireworks which he intends to use to destroy Batman. Joker ignites the fireworks after Batman and Robin board the ship and capture them both. Joker has Robin ‘walk the plank’, but Batman has somehow escaped. Then, ” ‘ Foiled by a flightless fowl… I will return… to have my revenge.’  ” Joker giggles.

Very descriptive using minimal words!

Includes writing prompts, discussion questions, and www.Facthound.com.

Young readers learn about the largest turtles in the world.  Simple text tells about the physical characteristics of the leatherback, what it eats, and where it lives.  Because these turtles are endangered, suggestions are made to help reduce the threat of extinction.  Close-up, colorful photographs are sure to attract readers.  Recommended books for further reading are written at a similar reading and interest level.  Glossary and index are included.  Good addition to elementary libraries.

For such a complicated process, this easy non-fiction does a good job of explaining to young readers how a bill becomes a law.  The comical illustrations make the topic fun and the example of free ice cream on your birthday is easy to relate to.  There is also a diagram of the process at the back of the book and a glossary.  This book is one in a series of six also including A Dollar Bill’s Journey, A Germ’s Journey, A Monarch Butterfly’s Journey, A Plastic Bottle’s Journey and A Raindrop’s Journey.

This is a wonderful picture book biography of Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts.  The book describes not only her accomplishments and benefits of the Girl Scout program, but her character, dreams and values as well.  I enjoyed the picture gallery at the back of the book of other famous women who were also Girl Scouts.  We have many students who participate in Girl Scouts and who will be interested in this illustrated biography to learn more about Ms. Low and the origins of the Girl Scout program.