This for-girls-only novel is book 1 in the Lucy B. Parker series.  It’s hard enough being an insecure sixth grader.  Lucy also has to deal with the fact that her divorced parents are seriously dating other people.  To top it off, her future step-sister is Lauren Moses, the hottest teen star in the world.  Written with plenty of humor, author Robin Palmer shows the best of both worlds — Lauren’s Hollywood life full of limos, movie offers, and celebrity friends, and Lucy’s hum-drum life with awkward moments and the feeling of being ignored by her family.  Like many 12-year olds, Lucy’s emotions change as quickly as a newborn baby’s.       On the downside, it’s disappointing to see a book for pre-teens lose its wholesomeness as Lucy’s mother moves in with her boyfriend and Lucy’s father accidentally gets his girlfriend pregnant.  Where are the role-model families anymore with a happy, wholesome values?

This second book in the “Lucy B. Parker” series continues the story of a dramatic sixth-grader who has been dealt the ultimate challenge:  she’s about to become step-sisters with Hollywood’s hottest teen star, Lauren Moses!  Insecure Lucy writes letters to TV advice celebrity Dr. Maude, as she struggles to adjust to the fact that her mother ignores her now that she has a new man in her life, and Lauren is living a golden life with TV movie offers and living in the limelight.

The book is hilarious.  Lucy is fixated on the premise that everyone is supposed to have 3 crushes:  one local, one celebrity crush, and one long distance/vacation crush.  Not knowing how you tell when you have a crush, Lucy says, “I felt a weird tingly feeling in my spine when I heard him talk.  I wondered if I was getting spinal meningitis, which is this weird disease that I had seen on a program on the Discovery Channel once.”

On the down side of the book, I wonder if this book will become dated quickly, as it uses very up-to-date lingo (BFF, iTouch, iPad, and a reference to Family Guy).  As an adult reading this book, I tired of Lucy’s obsession of getting her period, her bra size, and the way she constantly talked in the format “…because (a) blah blah blah, and (b) blah blah blah, and (c) blah blah blah.”  I felt all of these were overdone, but may be enjoyed by a pre-teen.

     I gave this book an “R” rating for it’s humor.  (About practicing his trumpet, Griff says, “I hadn’t practiced since my underwear had Power Rangers on them.”)  Seventh-grader Griff Carver is the new boy at Rampart Middle School.  He has a little bit of big head because he’s a hallway patrol monitor, and takes it ever so seriously, much like Sargent Friday of Dragnet. (“Silence is one of the perks of hall duty.  Giving up study hall three days a week and school assembly on Fridays is a small price to pay for walking a beat.”)  One thing that makes Griff such a good hallway patrol monitor is that he’s extremely observant. (“He had dirty fingernails and the look of a kid who sharpens his pencil too long just to be annoying.”)  Humor is joined by a mystery Griff is ready to solve….Who is at the bottom of the counterfeit hallway passes?  Plenty of action, and even a little horror at the climax of the story will have readers thinking they’re reading a sitcom script.

Who could resist a book with a cover like this?  A slim girl, back turned, stands under the marquee of an old-time movie theater, her pink polka dot tights the only splash of color on a dark, rainy night.

Thus, the mood is set for a mystery that takes place around the Little Arts, a movie theater in a little town where nothing much happens–until the girl in pink tights shows up, and Dani, the young heroine, is consumed by curiosity as to who this stranger is.

As the plot unfolds, just like in the movies, Dani will convince readers that old movies can take one away from life’s troubles, that Rita Hayworth had glamour like no star before or since, and that black and white movies are far more elegant than color.

One more thing to like about this mystery for the middle grades is that there are no scenes to leave you wondering if they’re totally  appropriate for sixth graders, but there’s plenty of action and suspense to keep everyone turning pages.

Colorful photographs, well-placed text boxes, attractive type styles, and easy-to-read text, make this concise yet complete discussion of the Great Lakes easy to read and understand.  The author, Patricia Kummer, lives in Chicago and grew up spending summers on the beaches.  Her knowledge of and love for the area come through in this book.

The lakes in commerce,  research, ecology, art, recreation, poems, sculpture, and song (including, or course, the details of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald), kept me interested throughout.

A glossary, Fast Facts, easy-to-read index, and “Find Out More” pages will help researchers.  The listed web sites, including one on shipwrecks and another with up-to-date environmental information, should remain useful over many years.  This seems especially important in a book that will be used for reference.  The Great Lakes is a great addition to the Nature’s Wonders series.

These Bible stories are short, one to three pages, with simple, colorful illustrations.  The table of contents does a nice of dividing the stories between the Old Testament and the New Testament, which each story titled in bold face type with a brief explanation of what the story is about, and then the book and verse of the Bible in which you’d find the passage.  The only problem is that the stories are blah and somewhat boring–‘he said, she said,and then this happened.’  No explanation of why, no reaction from the people of God, pretty much ‘just because God said so.’  I understand that this is the Bible and all and that people aren’t supposed to question the word of God, however, I think that this was a missed opportunity of what the intention here should be–explain how the Bible or at least particular story pertains to them and how it can be interpreted for today.

Tumtum & Nutmeg, the mice who live at Rose Cottage, are back with three separate stories: A Christmas Adventure, A Seaside Surprise, and A Circus Adventure.  All three stories include Lucy and Arthur, the human children who also live at Rose Cottage with their neglectful father.  Tumtum & Nutmeg are the rock that anchors everyones lives.  They make sure the children have Christmas presents, they take care of their neighbors and get them out of predicaments–they are like the gramma and grampa everyone wishes they had.  A truly comforting book.

I was a reluctant reader of this book when I first glanced at the cover.  With all the cupcakes and the reference to fifth grade, I was sure it would be either a ‘mean girls’ or a ‘twitter techno’ kind of book–you know the type, a lot of blah, blah, blahing about not much of anything.  So I was totally knocked for a loop after I started reading it–I couldn’t put it down!  What really surprised me was all the complicated, kind of grown up issues that were presented.  Planning your life, saving your money and actually having a banking account, running an election campaign, starting a business, dealing with a new girl who tries to steal your friends, what it means to be a friend, and honesty–all just to name a few.  All these issues rolled into a great story.  Plus there are even some cupcake recipes at the end of the book.  So get over the cover–it’s a much more serious and realistic book than what the ‘cuteness’ of the cover implies.

Earth Day should be everyday, not a one day event, but for those who need reminding – this might be the book for them.

Written is rhyme , which sometimes gets awkward, the theme is:

“Just look at this planet!

What a great work of art!

To protect all this beauty,

we must each do our part!…

We can all make a difference,’ E.P. said

‘We can and we do!

Now kindly put down that litter,

and please join my Green crew!.”

After the story, 5 ‘Green Facts’ are given and then ‘More Ways to Green-i-fy!’

Art work resembles acrylic painted scenes of claymation figures.

France is more than the Eiffel Tower and fine dining. It is a country which starts at sea level and goes to ski level.

This book is one in the Exploring Countries series of 20 books. Each has 13 brief chapters written for the intermediate reader. Chapters include: Where is France?, The Land, The Massif Central, Wildlife, The People, Daily Life, Going to School, Working, Playing, Food, Holidays, French Art and Architecture, and Fast Facts.

Browsers will quickly read the ‘fun facts’ and ‘Did You Know?’ insets along with the 8 words in the ‘Speak French!’ section.