This is an interesting picture book about the summer solstice.  After a short introduction which explains the scientific reason in simple terms for the various seasons, the book launches into the history from ancient to present of how humans have revered and celebrated the sun.  The illustrations are colorful and compliment the text.  In the back of the book there are four crafts related to the text.  I think this book will especially appeal to our scientifically minded young students who are interested in more than “just a story”.

This is my new favorite autumn picture book! This is a story of friendship and generosity, of hard work, care and perseverance.  A young boy named Peter is the main character.  He lives with his grandparents on a lovely farm and grows pumpkins for autumn.  One day Peter follows a stray pumpkin vine to the far edge of the field where he finds a little pumpkin surrounded by weeds.  He cultivates the ground and makes sure this little pumpkin has sun light and water to grow big and beautiful.   Quietly, he is observed by a new neighbor girl named Meg.  When Meg’s family comes to look for a pumpkin, she doesn’t find the right one until Peter leads her to his prized pumpkin which has grown big and beautiful under his care.  I love that he shared his pumpkin with the girl and that they became friends and the next summer grew pumpkins together  so that “their friendship grew and grew and grew”.  The illustrations remind me of Mary Engelbreit in terms of the colors and painting style as well as all the delightful details you discover as you peer at the page.  Little ladybugs crawl around the borders of illustrations and bees and butterflies trail through.  Darling and whimsical, sweet and fun are good descriptors for these watercolor illustrations.  I also appreciate that Peter comes from a non-traditional family of grandparents raising him, as do many children these days.  I highly recommend this book and am delighted to add it to my elementary school library collection.

The photography in this juvenile  non-fiction book about wolves is stunning.  Beautiful photos are included of wolves primarily in the wild.  The text is informative and appropriate for mid-elementary through middle school.  This book would be very useful for report writing.  Included is a glossary, table of contents, habitat map and index.  I would have been interested to see the habitats of the various species of wolves depicted on the habitat map.

Senior Hannah is apprehensive about returning to high school because she slept with her best friend’s boyfriend, Noah.  She is also fearful of running into  her ex-boyfriend, Sebastian, who cheated on her with a freshmen.  Ava, Hannah’s best friend, went to work at a summer camp and left Noah alone with Hannah.  While Sebastian is trying to get back with Hannah, Hannah starts falling for Noah.  Thus, begins a complicated love triangle that leaves Hannah’s heart in pieces.

In this book, the author offers a revealing look at high school relationships.  Teens will be able to relate to the characters even though they may not be able to relate to the situation.  The author does switch “time settings” frequently and makes it hard to follow the main plot. This realistic novel is a fun read from a teen’s perspective.

— Christina D.

Teenage Finbar Frame, who suffers from the likes of bullies because of his geeky stature, soon becomes influenced by vampire romance novels.  He becomes a “vampire” himself to attract young gals — his one-way ticket to popularity.  Finbar’s journey as a “vampire” helps him to discover that he must be true to himself.

This novel is full of humor and charm.  The author depicts the characters as believable teens that want to fit in.  The message in this story is clear:  Sometimes one must go through difficult situations to realize what one has all along.  The novel motivates readers to be true to themselves and be truthful to others.  This story definitely leaves the reader satisfied.

— Maggie C.

This non-fiction graphic novel presents the topic of renewable energy in an easy to read and understand format.  The Table of Contents includes:  Where does energy come from?; What makes energy renewable?; Large-scale renewable energy; and New Roads in renewable energy.  Renewable energy source topics included are solar, wind, water, geothermal and biomass.  The mix of illustrations and pictures enhance and explain the text well.  There is an AR test (level 5.3, points .5).  The index and glossary are helpful features.

Frantastic Voyage is volume 5 of the Franny K. Stein series, an easy chapter book filled with just about as many illustrations as text space.  This book will be popular with reluctant readers and is geared more towards girls.  Franny is definitely not your typical girl, but considers herself right up there with her namesake.  Igor, her trusty lab assistant, plays a huge role in her mad science experiments.  Actually, kids who are science-oriented would probably be inspired by her thoughts of making her doomsday device and any of her other ideas, but the pun-ny humor and maniacal looks on Franny’s face are huge distractions.  I need to reserve judgment until I see how popular the book is, but for now, it looks like a book that is one that may be a hard sell.

This book may be little, but it’s very powerful.  Forty-seven fables from Aesop are featured, many with an accompanying black and white illustration.  The fables are short, but to the point, at the end of each is the lesson to be learned in bold-faced type.  Although short, each fable still gives the flavor of the characters and plot.  I like the fact that there are so many fables in just one book.  This is an excellent book for every school library but also as a resource for teachers.

The Mice of Nibbling Village is a compilation of verses and accompanying illustration.  Each page features a different ‘citizen’ of Nibbling Village whose description is told in lovely, old-fashioned verse.  Children will love the quality of the words and the soothing tone as they view the lavishly detailed illustrations of each mouse in his/her abode.  The illustrations exactly match the verses and each mouse is seen as a person with similar qualities.  Very reminiscent of old English books for the primary-age child.

This series, The Joy of Spooking, sound like The Joy of Cooking, but actually it is very misleading, for a reason.  Joy is the name of the main character, and she together with her younger brother and mother and father, live in the town of Spooking, which lives up to it’s name.  Spooking used to be a vibrant little town but people had moved away and buildings fell into disrepair.  Strange stories began to circulate, people began avoiding even going to Spooking, and people began to be frightened.  This fright was brought on by loud booms heard in the dead of night, that people began to call ‘ghost cannons’ because they could never find the source of the disturbance.  This ‘ghost cannon’ was actually a rundown delivery truck making it’s routine stop at the local insane asylum.  The asylum was well cared for but the public was never allowed to see patients or the grounds, and for good reason.  The so-called doctor running the place had made a ‘deal’ for eternal life; he had discovered a mineral-laden water which extended youth for a very long time.  Along comes Octavio Phipps, a resident of Spooking who has a long history of family curses, who is trying to arrange for an investor to buy the asylum and make it into a luxury spa and resort.  Little does he know what is in store for him as he plants a former friend in the asylum to spy for him.  The whole book is action-packed, hilarious, and jaw-dropping.  Kids who love Lemony Snicket will love this series.  The humor is very subtle and the reader will have to slow down to actually hear how funny it is.  I loved it and will heartily recommend the series to other librarians.