This is a richly artistic book with beautiful illustrations on a topic that many people may perceive as not-so-beautiful. The pictures include diagrams and closeup details, such as the hair on a spider’s legs.  My only wish with the illustrations is that the illustrator would have labeled the name of the spider underneath the colorful illustrations.    It would be interesting to compare it to a realist picture, either in the back of the book, or in the border of the text.  One of the strong points of this book is the readability, the information comes out in conversational voice, which will encourage discussion in a whole group setting.  This book would make a nice addition to an elementary library or classroom.

This large sized picture book has beautifully illustrated pages which would make for a pleasant read aloud experience for the primary classes in an elementary school.  The text is simplistic enough for 1st or 2nd graders to read independently or with adult assistance.  The story rhymes and tells the fictionalize account of selected species of animals and the process they go through during hibernation.

Have you ever seen a frog with extra or missing legs?  If you have, it wouldn’t be unusual, because more and more frogs are turning up with unusual deformities.  In this 32-page non-fiction book, Allen attempts to explain why this might be happening, as well as why it matters.  While this book does give basic information on why frogs may be suffering from deformities, and why we should care, the way it is written is not as clear as it should be.  In some places, it is hard to make connections between the causes and effects of the problem, and the writing style is choppy and word definitions are over-simplified.  The layout is usually easy to follow, but some of the graphs are unnecessarily confusing and hard to interpret.  For very young students, this is a great intro to an environmental problem, but if students more depth and scope, they will probably want to look elsewhere.

8-year-old Emma’s dad lives in London with his new wife, but Emma and her mom are just fine as a twosome in their condo – or so Emma thinks.  Needless to say, when Emma finds out that her mother has a date, she is not too pleased about the idea.  Warner’s Emma series is a delightful addition to the world of books for kids who are just transitioning to chapter books, and this sixth installment is no exception.  Emma is a well rounded, believable character: A girly-girl who wants to be a naturalist, a good kid who sometimes makes really terrible mistakes.  Warner’s writing is clever and witty, and intelligently captures the thought processes of her young heroine, and Harper’s black & white illustrations whimsically compliment the story.  Readers will find themselves shaking their heads at Emma’s mistakes, and cheering when she finds a way to fix them.  Recommended for fans of Ivy + Bean and Amber Brown.

Lynie has had seven different fathers, and all of them have had one thing in common – they made their living fighting to the death.  In the near future, neo-gladiatorial battles are a form of entertainment, and people pay money to see people maimed and killed.  Lyn and her special-needs brother Thad have seen six of their fathers die in combat, and things don’t look good for the seventh, Tommy.  When Tommy is killed too, life is made worse when a strange rule will likely force Lyn into a marriage with the very man who killed her father – unless she kills him first.  Haines’ high-concept novel layers a culture of violence for the sake of entertainment onto our own culture, and blends together themes of familial loyalty, celebrity, and horrific brutality.  While the concept is fascinating at first glance, Haines’s writing is sometimes muddled and over-wrought, and the point of the story is often unclear.  The book could appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins, but the relatively slow pace of the plot and the internal, psychological nature of the story are contradictory to the way the book is marketed, and may disappoint readers.

Caterpillar lives all alone, and is terrified of everything!  Her friends, Wallaby, Goanna, and Snake do everything they can to get Caterpillar to come have fun with them, but she is simply too frightened.  When it seems that Caterpillar will be stuck in her safe world forever, she makes a transformation that changes everything.  Written in the style of a fable, Kwaymullina’s picture book absolutely pops with color and personality.  There is barely a white space on any page, and the bold reds, oranges, greens, blues, and pink paints will draw in every young child.  This book is great for story times and read-alouds, but it could use a more thorough source note.  A message in the back informs the reader that the author is “from the Bailgu and Nyamal peoples of the Pilbara region of Western Australia,” but it would be nice to know if the origin of the story itself, as well a little more background on the style of art.

Obesity is a comprehensive look at a subject that is a serious problem for millions of people.  This will be a great addition to any school library to supplement a health/wellness program or for a beginner researcher.

The book starts off with a real life testimonial from a fifth grader named Jessica who is obese.  The doctors tell Jessica that she is more likely to develop serious medical problems.  Jessica already suffers from asthma, which is made worse by obesity and the doctors are concerned that she will develop diabetes.  The story follows Jessica to her visit to the nutritionist where she learns better eating and exercise habits. 

Chapter two defines obesity and not just in medical terms but also in terms of emotional toll it has on people.  It discusses that nowhere in the world is the obesity epidemic more serious than in the United States.  It also covers the causes of obesity from diet, genetics, medical conditions, and the environmental factors.  Other chapters discuss the history of obesity, living with obesity, diagnosing/treatment and prevention. 

The book also includes a glossary and additional resources with web sites.  Each page is designed with a younger reader in mind with color pictures, bold faced words, and sidebars.

Mimi the cat lives in a top-hat, and calls a family of cockroaches her roommates.  When she stumbles upon an artist who calls himself a Dadaist, she finds her calling: Mimi is meant to be a Dadaist’s cat.  From the dust cover all the way through to the Author’s Notes, Jackson’s creation is a playful work of art.  Every inch of this hilarious and enlightening book is covered in collage, whimsical drawings, poetry, paint, and ridiculosity.  The story is a success on many levels – it is an effective immersion into the mood of Dadaist art, a sweet lesson that expression can take many forms, and is also a hilarious piece of Dada in and of itself.  Younger children will enjoy the good-natured mixed media illustrations, and older children will learn about a fascinating movement in art history.  From upside-down poetry to nonsensical riddles, Mimi’s Dada Catifesto is a delight all the way through.

Five myths: 2 Greek,1  Japanese,1  Babylonian, and1  Mayan are told with swords, severed heads, magical powers, dragons, sharp fangs, and Hydras after an explantion as to how and why myths evolved. On my first read these stories didn’t seem so ‘scary’, but after reading the section ” PerfectYour Scary Story Telling” I went back and tried again. Now, I could see how I could build tension for my listeners and my opinion of the book changed for the better.

The smattering of photos (creeped me out) grabbed my attention first: the life-size house flies and beetles, woods backlit by an encroaching fire, a bat with his mouth of teeth showing, and the page totally filled with a reptilian eye.

Edge Books are written for High Interest / Low Readers.

The cover illustrator presents this book much like a comic book adventure. Our hero, thirteen year-old Adam Bloom, ordinary as he is, is our crime fighter, minus the superhero powers.  He accompanies his vocally talented sister, Cressida, to a Festival for Youthful Geniuses.  Though Adam doesn’t seem to possess any talents himself, he battles the villain, Fortescue, who is attempting to steal the talents of the youth.  While mostly realistic, though outlandish, some fantasy comes into play.