Fans of the Disney channel’s Doc McStuffins series will enjoy this retelling of Brontosaurus Breath from season one in 2012. Written for beginning readers (Level Pre-1), there are pictographs inserted into the sentences of characters and their names.

Lambie and Bronty want to give their toy friends ‘cuddles’, but three sets of friends run away, while the last friend ‘passes out.’ It turns out Bronty has some salami stuck in his teeth from lunch causing bad breath. Doc McStuffins removes the salami and teaches Bronty how to brush his teeth. The toys “have a toothbrushing party!” when Bronty is afraid to use a toothbrush.

Libby Wimbley and her friend Becca spend time trying to decide what Libby can enter this year in the upcoming county fair. Libby’s cobbler won’t work, nor will her knitting. The farm animals do not seem to be interested, either. Then, Fred, the calf, ‘nudges‘ his way into becoming Libby’s fair entry.

Libby does not pout or cry when Fred does not win a prize. This is refreshing in a day when everyone receives a prize. ‘ “Looks like we didn’t win. But you did great!” Libby smiled at Fred. Then the judge announced, “And fourth place goes to Libby Wimbley and Fred!” ‘ (31)

Cow Girl is part of the Libby Wimbley series. Libby is a person-of-color, though this book does not address it. I am not sure if it is addressed in any of the other books in the series. Cow Girl is written in five short chapters with a medium-large size font.

Smash!:Exploring the Mysteries of the Universe with the Large Hadron Collider by Sara Latta, illustrated by Jeff Weigel uses the graphic novel format to excite readers about physics.

When Nick travels to see his cousin Sophie in “GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–HOME OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST PHYSICS LABORATORY” (8) where her parents are scientists, they will both help each other. Nick needs an idea for a comic contest back home and Sophie knows all about the physics behind the Hadron Collider but is not good at art. An art trade-off for a science trade-off is about to begin. ( Since this reviewer is not good at creating art or physics, the use of ‘kid dialogue’ is an important part of this book’s experience.)

Sophie breaks down the Standard Model consisting of a collection of theories into smaller and smaller parts, while Nick figures out how to turn them into Super Heroes.

“WOW! IT’S LIKE SOMETHING FROM A SECIENCE FICTION MOVIE! [Nick] BELIEVE ME– THE STUFF YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE BEATS ANY MOVIE YOU’VE EVER SEEN…” [Sophie] (39) Yes, this reminds me of two different Star Wars movies. First, when Darth Vader and Luke face off with Luke falling, falling, down, down the humongous shaft and second, when Han Solo and Kylo Ren face off with Han falling, falling, down, down a humongous shaft. Some of the equipment in the Geneva laboratory remind me of those shafts.

The reader will be familiarized with the particles and forces in physics through the graphic novel format, given five more pages to review once Nick and Sophie are done, a glossary, and given a few books, visual media, and websites to check-out.

Just by looking at the cover of The Bug in the Bog by Jonathan Fenske readers will think they know this book’s plot. The frog is slyly looking at the bug with a toothy grin. When I read Jonathan Fenske’s dedication “For Epomis beetles everywhere.” I did not know there are, in fact, beetles that eat frogs. Surprise! Guess what happens to the frog in this book when the fog bank rolls in and nothing is visible?

Chuckle away at the illustrations, too. It is a book of few words. After all, it is a pre-level one, Ready-to-Read book by a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Winner.

Can Zip, the young outer-space humanoid, out wit his mother when it is time to go inside for the day and go to bed? David Milgrim has done it again! This very easy to read story set in outer-space will connect with young playful children. It is magical on more than one level.

Parents and teachers will be able to help their early readers succeed in reading this book by using the pre-story tables of sight and bonus words.

“Don’t miss the questions about the story at the end of this book.” is the last thing stated before the story begins, but in this copy of the book there were no questions. Perhaps because this book only contains thirty-nine different words total.

My Bed :Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World fills the eyes with cultural customs and treasures from around the world through the theme of beds. They are candy for the eye.

Each of the twelve pages, representing twelve distinct regions of the world, are filled with painstakingly made hand sewn, embroidered, figures with sleeping areas created using felted wool as a starting point. The Netherlands’ bed sits in a floating houseboat. “Brazil[‘s], Mexico[‘s], and other countries[‘] of South and Central America” are sleeping in hammocks. Afghanistan’s bed consist of “soft, hand-woven rugs”. Each page is a lesson in culture from the living quarters, to the native plants and animals of the region. They are candy for the eye.

We Love Fishing! presents the delightfully charming story of the reluctant odd-man-out. “Bear, Porcupine, Otter, and Squirrel love fishing.” Squirrel just wants to hang out with his friends. After all, squirrels do not eat fish, no matter how they are prepared. Squirrel keeps his lack of enthusiasm to himself and goes fishing, to be with his enthusiastic fish loving friends.

Marc Rosenthal’s illustrations gave this reader laughs, chuckles, and giggles throughout the book!

Simply looking at the adorable cover of The Duck Who didn’t Like Water will quack you up. The duck is holding an open umbrella in the rain while wearing a lemon yellow macintosh rain slicker and yellow rain hat. Oh yes, and there is a green frog sitting straight legged on top of the umbrella. Duck is a little OCD when it comes to water. When a terrible storm makes a hole in the roof of Duck’s house (on stilts above the cattails) Duck discovers not only a frog on his front porch, but a true friend in the making.

Basic information about Italy is covered from: location with maps, landscape and climate with a seasonal temperature inset, wildlife with photos, communities, customs, school, food, and celebrations.

I found Italy, in the COUNTRY PROFILES series, the easiest to understand when it came to the use of local place names and vocabulary in captions. This is most likely because this is the country I am most familiar with in this series. Also, Amy Rechner does a great job of including definitions within the text.

Students will appreciate the two pages of quick facts containing Italy’s flag, money, capital city and other information they most likely will be required to give in a report on Italy.

The www.factsurfer.com links gave more information from at least three other resources. Most of the links were working today.

What disappoints is the Timeline section. The reader must jump up and down from the top to the bottom of the pages to follow the sequence of Italy ‘s history. Only four of the lines are straight directly connecting to their spot on the timeline. The other eight are lines in three segments giving the appearance of a maze.

Basic information about Thailand is covered from: location with maps, landscape and climate with a seasonal temperature inset, wildlife with photos, communities, customs, school, food, and celebrations.

Students will appreciate the two pages of quick facts containing Thailand’s flag, money, capital city and other information they most likely will be required to give in a report on Thailand.

The www.factsurfer.com links which should have given more information from at least three other resources were not working very well the day I went to see them. Of the three Scholastic Thailand books shown, only one of them had information. All the links that matched the photo of this particular Thailand title went to other countries.

What disappoints is the Timeline section. The reader must jump up and down from the top to the bottom of the pages to follow the sequence of Thailand’s history. There is not a single line connecting the appropriate picture to the year on the line. There is a three segmented line which usually crosses the book’s ditch from the left page to the right page.

The Wildlife section includes six photos of indigenous animals, but also talks about another five animals that are not pictured.

Basic information about Cuba is covered from: location with maps, landscape and climate with a seasonal temperature inset, wildlife with photos, communities, customs, school, food, and celebrations.

Students will appreciate the two pages of quick facts containing Cuba’s flag, money, capital city and other information they most likely will be required to give in a report on Cuba.

The www.factsurfer.com links gave more information from at least three other resources.

What disappoints is the Timeline section. The reader must jump up and down from the top to the bottom of the pages to follow the sequence of Cuba’s history. There is not a single line connecting the appropriate picture to the year on the line. There is a three segmented line which usually crosses the book’s ditch from the left page to the right page.

When four newly hatched dinosaurs imprint on Doc and Denise at a rundown dinosaur tourist trap this graphic novel becoming very interesting with overtones of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Doc and Denise’s landlord- Angus- unknowingly awakens the dreaded Armageddon, (buried a millennia past), from his underground hypercrystal prison. Armageddon, then transforms Angus into “THE MALICIOUS MAN-COMET!”

Armageddon sets Man-Comet out to destroy the manosaurs. Presently, the manosaurs are at the dinosaur museum with Doc and Denise, who want to show them about their earthly history. Mayhem at the museum ensues until Armageddon is once again trapped in hypercrystal.

Do not miss Book #2.

Tara Smith is a driven high school girl, the daughter of successful, driven parents. Then one day in a hurry to get to the school bus on time, Tara does not take her morning handful of daily pills. Everything changes from there! Tara can no longer block out the taunts from bullies. In a moment of rage, Tara transforms into a girl with glowing red eyes who spontaneously combusts.

Tara finds herself swiftly whisked off to a school for extraterrestrial high school girls. “…IF EVERYTHING GOES WELL, YOU’LL (Tara) HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REPRESENT EARTH AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM IN FUTURE GALACTIC ENDEAVORS.” This could very well be Tara’s dream come true.

Now Tara must get used to having a roommate, a new school, and life as an alien living among many other aliens from many other worlds. The BIG question is- ‘can friendship withstand cultural history’? A history where one friend’s world destroyed another friends world.

It seems no matter which world a high school girl is from, there will always be drama.

Chestnut by Jennifer Li Shotz puts forth the tale of a family living on the financial edge and their daughter – Meg who wants to have a dog more than anything else in the world.

The Briggs Family Christmas Tree Farm is just entering their busiest time of the year as Meg has her twelfth birthday. Meg has been looking forward to this because Meg wants to show her brother, sister, and parents she is no longer the ‘little’ girl of the family. Now, she will be able to truly help daily at the yearly Christmas tree stand. On Meg’s way out to the tree stand, she discovers a hurt dog (Chestnut, a Plott hound, known for its tracking skills) entangled in the farm’s wire fencing. Meg rescues the dog, hides it in an old shed, then goes to work. Meg knows her parents do not want a dog.

Now the lying and the guilty feelings start for Meg. Meg has never lied to her parents before. She wants this dog so much. Surely, she will be able to find a way to support Chestnut so her parents will let her keep him. More lies, more guilt.

Meg’s parents finally discover Chestnut when he escapes from the shed and tracks Meg to the house. Meg’s tears are unending and her heartbreak all encompassing as her family takes Chestnut to the animal shelter.

Later that same day, the sheriff is called to the tree farm when it is discovered 150 trees have been chopped down from the very back lot of the farm. Feelings of financial ruin loom over the entire family.

Meg finds a way to temporarily retrieve Chestnut from the animal shelter with the help of her neighbors. Then, she and Chestnut track the thieves down. Along the way Meg falls through the snow covered ice into a pond. [Here is where my 10+ years, as an actively participating mother of three hiking Boy Scouts, has a problem with this story. From the time Meg falls into the pond until she is rescued by her parents, because of Chestnut’s tracking skills, hypothermia should have been so extreme, I feel, Meg would not have survived.]

Chestnut’s tracking skills saves Meg, the stolen Christmas trees, and the family from financial ruin.

Meg’s emotional roller coaster will ring true with intermediate readers.

If you have seen the Black Panther movie ( or maybe you have read the original comic books) , how could you forget Shuri, T’Challa’s (AKA the Black Panther) younger sister? Shuri wants to work in her laboratory, while her mother – Queen Ramonda would prefer 13 year old, Princess Shuri be fitted for formal wear and have her hair braided for T’Challa’s upcoming Challenge Day.

Princess Shuri struggles throughout the novel with you role in life as a princess, a young woman, gender equality, and a scientist. “…she will prove to Mother and T’Challa– to everyone, really– that she’s more than just some princess history will forget.” (70) Girl readers especially, hold on to your hats, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

When Shuri discovers Wakanda’s sacred heart-shaped herb that gives each new Black Panther his ( or someday perhaps her ) superior abilities is dying out at an alarming rate, Shuri concentrates her time researching the herb’s survival. Not get ready for Challenge Day. Then, Shuri discovers Wakanda is under threat of invasion. Shuri decides to secretly leave the palace with her Dora Milaje body guard in-training, K’Marah, to carry-out her royal duty to protect Wakana.

Get ready for more books in this series already in print.

I can not help but love the fact this book’s text is in purple ink, my favorite color. Also, the color of the heart-shaped herb, but I prefer my reason more.

Intermediate age students/readers are treated to a guided tour of the United Kingdom by a student their own age from London. They are shown the United Kingdom’s world and European location, food, schooling, a folk tale, famous landmarks, and a brief history of the United Kingdom among other things by this local student. A few English words which are different from those in the United States are included and add to the interest of Follow Me Around United Kingdom.

The child’s tour of United Kingdom format makes the factual information less intimidating than other books of its type.

Intermediate age students/readers are treated to a guided tour of France by two French students their own age. They are shown France’s world and European location, food, schooling, a folk tale, Paris, famous landmarks, and a brief history of France by these two French locals. The fact that a few French words, along with their pronunciation, are included adds to the interest of Follow Me Around France.

The child’s tour of France format makes the factual information less intimidating than other books of its type.

Here is the story of a stargazing young girl, Eridani, and the earth-gazing young boy, Acamar,(a constellation) who hold nightly conversations with each other until they both wish to be in each others’ place.

They are opposites: one is a girl while one is a boy, one is of day while one is of night, one is of earth while one is of space, and one wants the stars while one wants the sand.

Their wish comes true in the ironic way of tales. Eridani becomes a constellation and Acamar becomes a real boy and though they are still apart from each other, they are both happy to be in their new homes.

Gorgeous 10″ X 10″ illustrations of the night with the two characters one on earth and one in the sky. The white lines highlighting the constellation are amazing, especially because there are stars within the constellation that are not part of the lines. They might be freckles on the face or definition of the hair, but whatever those points of light are, the illustrator got it just right.

The Author’s Note tells of the constellation Eridanus and its brightest star Acamar.

Here and Now by Julia Denos is as simple or as complex as the person who is experiencing it. It is a mediation in word form, so says the Author’s Note.

“Right here, right now, you are reading this book. The book is in your lap, or in your hands, or in someone else’s… And the Earth is spinning in the middle of space. We don’t know why. But it is.”

Here and Now by Julia Denos takes the reader from very close up and intimate to very gigantic and all inclusive. Each page will be very thought provoking if the reader wants to take the time to make it so.

Bo states, ” ‘ I won’t let hate win.’ ” (316) Bo is the ‘boy’ in the title of The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars by Shivaun Plozza. We meet Bo on the first page, along with the importance of the ‘wolf’ and the ‘stars’. I like, not having to read 80-90 % of the book to understand the title.

Set in a time of castles, kings, scribes, magic, angry villagers, haunted forests, Shadow Creatures ruled by a Shadow Witch, and riddles needing to be solved to save the day The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars by Shivaun Plozza keeps the reader compelled to plunge ahead to eliminate the bad magic that is increasing daily.

Bo, an unlikely hero, is joined by two others. The three of them should all be sworn enemies due to their places of birth, but each of them cannot let harm come to an innocent. “Bo launched into his tale of Mads’s death, the giant wolf chasing him, and his guardian’s last words: for Bo to find and release the Stars.” (75)

Along the way Bo learns important life lessons: once enemies can become friends, all magic is not bad, it is ok to be angry but not ok to take anger out on other people, and it is not what is wrong with you but what is right with you that counts.

As Bo states, ” ‘ I won’t let hate win.’ “