This is the story of the first person to ride in a wooden barrel over the Niagara Falls.  Annie Edson Taylor had taught at a charm school but when she retired she needed a way to make money to support herself, so she decided to do something that no one else had done.  She thought that if she were famous she could make money from tours and speeches.

After Annie successfully survived the ride over the falls.  Everyone was excited about the success of Annie going over the Falls.  No one could believe that anyone especially a woman could survive the Falls.  Annie went to a fair to speak about the event, but people were more excited about the barrel than the 62-year old lady who had ridden inside.

This is a great story an and I think a little know adventure.  The text was well done and the pictures are wonderful.

Fourth grade Scab McNally has a twin sister that is always spying on him. Scab really wants a dog of his own but can’t afford one. When he creates a sister repellent spray that really stinks, he decides to sell it to his friends so he could save up money for a dog. When a bottle of his spray breaks open causing chaos in the schools, Scab apologizes to his sister which brings them together, and collectively they convince their parents to get a dog.  This fun story comes with many fact boxes of information and story enhancing pieces, several of which contain body function information that will entice many young readers.

This is my second Gilda Joyce mystery, and I have to agree, along with my middle-school readers, that Jennifer Allison makes reading entertaining!  In this mystery, Gilda’s mom is about to re-marry, and her fiance is not someone you as a reader trust.  A creepy story, Gilda’s psychic instincts guide her investigations of this new man about to become her father.

This is a charming nonfiction book by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page about how different animals clean themselves.  Readers are sure to be captivated by the illustrations as well as the interesting bits of information. At the back of the book is a wealth of information about each animal featured in the book.  This is a charming example of art + science.  Beautiful done.  My only request would be to have it a larger size book, 8 1/2″ x 11″ minimum.  The pictures are worthy.  Recommended for elementary.

This is a basic nonfiction book about the human head, including the layers, basic parts, circulation, injury, and the automated work that it is always performing.There are interesting graphic illustrations and photographs to accompany simplistic third grade level paragraphs.  The back of the book includes glossary and further reading through facthound. Nice addition to an elementary library.

This is another book in a series called Scary Creatures by Scholastic.  I don’t care for the title of the series or the overly exaggerated horrific illustrations they place on the front of the book.  I understand the desire to capture the reluctant reader, but it feels that it is at the expense of reinforcing negative stereotypes about animals and their defense mechanism employed to protect their own survival.

With that preface, there is some really interesting information and pictures inside the book and explains interesting phenomenon about different species of animals.  It would make a good addition in a building that has reluctant readers who are primary boys or primarily aggressive tendencies.  There are certainly more “animal friendly” titles out there.

This is a very primary Everybody, Fiction, Picture book which will captivate the primary reader’s imagination with large, clear images of construction equipment and basic sentences on each page.  Would make a great read aloud to the right audience or be used a  picture book by a non reader.

The stitching on this copy is cheaply done and will not last the test of time in an elementary library.  Perhaps this is just the demo copy binding.  Be sure to check the binding on any copy you are purchasing for a library.

This is a very well written nonfiction book depicting The great Aristotle and his contributions to science, academia, the cosmos, and associations with Plato and Socrates.  Just enough graphic design to hold the visual interest of the ready, while the author does a great job of delivering the rich and thick information about Aristotle in a digestible format.  I found this book an interesting read and believe your upper elementary and middle school students would agree.  Recommended.

This is a contemporary book giving lots of interesting facts behind the American Hot Dog.  There are cartoon type illustrations with interesting tid bits on the history and origin of dogs in our country and around the world.  This book is complete with some famous eateries that you may wish to visit.  This is a fast paced, intriguing book that will entertain the grown ups as much as the kids (perhaps more!).  This would make a great addition to am elementary or even middle school library.

This is a nonfiction book depicting the Pennsylvania Colony around the time of the American colonization and revolution.  Groups of people discuss in the book include the Iroquois native Americans, the Quakers, and of course William Penn, who the state is named after.  We glimpse into the Boston Tea Party, Benjamin Franklin, the Red Coats,  and Valley Forge.  At the end of the book are statistics, glossary, index, and further resources.