This gorgeous non-fiction book grabs the reader’s attention from the moment you spy the amazing color photography on the cover. The page size is large and each one features several full-color undersea photographs of sea creatures recently discovered during research studies around the world. The photos are complimented by well-written text about each creature, how they were discovered including descriptions of the undersea technology used, what’s happening in the surrounding environment and the ecosystem and much more. The final pages of the book features a glossary, index, source notes and bibliography, and a list of resources to learn more. Readers may also find the labeled photos of the scientists quoted in the book to be an interesting reference especially because their research location around the world is also noted. I’m confident that our students will enjoy this book and that it may inspire future marine biologists. I highly recommend this book.

This very informative book covers vegetarianism in its many forms.  Teens will enjoy the  interesting anecdotes about famous historical figures and  modern celebrity vegetarians,  in additional to practical advice on the how-to’s associated with becoming vegetarian.

Parents will approve of the emphasis on meeting nutritional guidelines while following a vegetarian diet.  Much attention is paid to the various reasons people, societies or religions follow vegetarian diets.  Caution is even given to warning signs for eating disorders and what to do if you suspect a friend or family member is afflicted.

Several recipes are included, as well as contact information for other resources on vegetarianism.

This is a graphic novel.  It is a quick read.  It is not clear on right and wrong and good or bad.  The discussion questions at the back might help children clearify some of these problems in the book.  i thought the part about the author was more interesting than the actual story.  The suggested activities and creative writing projects sounded very fun at the end.  The story is OK.  The part after the story is better.

Following the death of her best friend, Stephanie, Maya and her family move to Spores Ferry, Oregon to start anew.  Her new life transitions into a magical world when a fairy flies into her room, and an odd group of acquaintances at school keep hush-hush about the world they live in.  Maya has a strange encounter with one of them who shows her a small, glowing egg, which needs a “host” so it can survive.  He places it on Maya, and it becomes part of her flesh.  Maya keeps this new dimension of her life a secret from her family as she learns more about he portals and thresholds of her now new world.

It’s difficult for me to read alien-fantasy stories, but I would not hesitate to recommend this book to 4-6 graders looking for a fantasy book.   Personally, I found some of the writing immature (“Rowan tapped his fingers…in a rhythm more complex than an ATM code.”) I see that there’s a sequel, “Meeting,” due out August 4.

Melody is not an ordinary 5^th-grader.  In fact, she is brilliant – she has a photographic memory, synesthesia, and a passion for words and music.  Unfortunately, she’s stuck.  Stuck in a wheel-chair, stuck in her own mind, and stuck in a boring class for students with disabilities.  Melody has cerebral palsy, and she has never been able to speak, walk, or demonstrate the brilliance of her mind.  Draper writes in the voice of her main character, and does an incredible job at frankly expressing the frustrating experience of having an immense amount to say and no way to say it.  Some of the secondary characters come across as stereotypes (the mean popular girl who is mean for no reason, the sensitive and sweet but shy friend, etc.), but Melody herself is fully-realized and real.  Some of the slang Draper uses already feels a little dated (“tight”, “the bomb”), but her intention of helping readers understand that kids who are born with disabilities are still just kids comes across well.  A fantastic book for helping upper elementary school aged kids appreciate what it means to have cerebral palsy, as well as what it means to be a sympathetic friend.

“Throughout the world, habitats face many threats…However, the most harmful threats are caused by human activity, such as clearing forests and polluting beaches with waste.” (page 5)

In 30 pages author- Natalie Smith- describes fresh water, marine, forest, grasslands, tundra, and desert habitats. The text is strategically placed over full page photos of each habitat. With each turn of the page Smith includes either an “Eye-Opener” or a “Question Time?” thought provoking paragraph, usually dealing with how people are endangering habitats.

The importance of protecting habitats clearly comes through without sounding preachy!

There is one mix-up on the map’s key on page 16. The two colors representing tropical rainforests and temperate forests are reversed.

More a tribute to the power of music than a traditional biography, Golio’s book reaches into the mind of a young child first discovering a passion.  Steptoe’s rugged but expressive mixed media collage paintings set the stage for Jimi’s less-than-perfect childhood in Seattle in 1956, and Golio’s words express the innate desire for beauty and creation dwelling within the young artist.  As Jimi graduates from one-stringed ukulele to guitar, the art in the book becomes more abstract and fully textured, mirroring the musician’s rise to fame.  While the book itself stops before his death and doesn’t discuss a lot of Jimi’s personal life, the back of the book contains a “More About Jimi Hendrix” section, an author’s note, an illustrator’s note, and a list of resources, all of which go into more detail about the musician’s life and untimely death.  This makes the book appropriate for younger children who love music, and older kids who are interested in the life of an icon.

Has your head ever felt too full of knowledge?  Maybe you should try a good sneeze!  While shopping with his mother in the grocery store, a little boy sneezes so hard he forgets his own name.  He also sneezes out the memory of his mom’s name, facts he learns in school, everything he ever knew about dinosaurs, and more.  Lucke’s brightly colored, surreal, mixed-media paintings capture the hilarious disgustingness of the boy’s situation, and the text whimsically changes colors as he sneezes away his knowledge.  This book is perfect for a story time read-aloud, and the grotesque nature of the illustrations will definitely appeal to young boys.

Willow has opinions – unfortunately, her voice is too soft for most people to hear them.  When her teacher asks her whether she’d like apple or orange juice, she quietly answers apple, but receives orange!  Fortunately, Willow’s resourcefulness helps her find an effective way to make her voice heard.  With creative use of font size and simply expressive art, Button and Howells create a straightforward story about overcoming shyness.  The boldly colored characters crisply stand out against the white page, and Willow’s transformation from meekness to confidence is highlighted by the literal growth in size of the font.  This is an uncomplicated and sweet story that can help children find their own voice.

With a little paper, glue, and other household items, you can make math jump off the page and into the real word with this title.  It covers an expansive range of facts and theorems, each with explanations, craft projects, puzzles, factual tidbits, real world connections, and glossaries.  While they make a good attempt of explaining some very complicated subject matter, much of it would still benefit with some adult supervision and may be beyond many in it’s age range, i.e. Hyerbolic Paraboloids for instance. All in all though, the book does an excellent job of pairing  math with kid friendly experiments and real world comparisons.  An excellent teacher resource for those children who utter, “When will I ever use this?” . Includes instructions and website access to print the activities if needed.