This is book 4 in the popular graphic novel series, The Elsewhere Chronicles. The main characters, Max, Rebecca, Noah and Theo are back trying to return to their normal lives after escaping from the Master of Shadows. When Rebecca falls ill, her fate does not look good. She is convinced that the only way to save herself from dieing is to return to the other world of ElseWhere. Despite the dangers, she and her friends return to find even more danger. The book leaves the reader hanging and not really knowing what is going to happen to Rebecca and Max. The glossy pages, really nice illustrations and cliff-hanger ending will leave the reader wanting more. I like the large size of these graphic novels, but found it a bit hard to follow having not read the previous books. It would be good I can see to have the entire series in order. The book has a touch of violence and is geared for the older student. I will probably let my fourth and up check it out. There is a lot going on. There are lots of text boxes with a large amount of writing.

This is a graphic novel from the Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers movie. This novel is Volume 3 of the official movie adaptation. The Transformers war continues on Earth in this book as the Autobots work to end the terrible Decepticons threat. The leader, Optimus Prime and his autobots fight to save the world from the evil force leader, Megatron and the other Decepticons. The book is in true Transformers style with the dark illustrations. The cartoon look is legitimate Transformers. While it really isn’t too violent, the story line isn’t anything amazing. Again, a great book for the young boy reluctant readers.

Appealing to a 4th-6th grade audience, this zany little chapter book is full of comical observations and situations.  Scattered throughout are little text boxes with the main character’s notes, lists and facts.  The illustrations support the text in a similar style, adding to the humor.  Testing in at AR level 3.3 (3 points) this book would be especially enjoyable for the reluctant male reader.

This is a graphic novel from the Zinc Alloy series. This is the story of Zack Allen. Zack is a nerdy boy that loves reading comic books about superheroes. Unfortunately, he is always being picked on by bullies at school until he builds his own robot suit. With this robot suit comes new found powers and Zack is now the superhero-Zinc Alloy. Zinc Alloy stops a runaway train downtown and scares the school bullies off. After a busy superhero day, Zack knows that his superhero self must return someday! As far as graphic novels, I found this one to be pretty good. There isn’t any violence, it is grade school appropriate and touches on issues like bullying. I like that this is a good series for those older, reluctant boy readers since it has a fairly high interest level but low reading level.  I like at the beginning it has an illustrated “cast of characters” and a glossary, history of comics, discussion questions and writing prompts at the end.

This nonfiction book explains the difference between a butterfly and a moth. This book is from the series, What’s the Difference. The book describes the similarities and differences in physical characteristics, diet, behavior, and habitat between these two insects. While the illustrations are beautiful, I miss the real photographs that make these kinds of nonfiction books spectacular. There is great information that is easy to read and understand for young readers in a story type format. Throughout the book, there are additional information boxes about things such as metamorphosis, pollination and camouflage. At the end of the book, there is a great illustration of a butterfly and moth with all the different body parts labeled and diagrammed. There are also fun facts (there are 20,000 different kinds of butterflies and 150,000 different moths!), glossary, learn more and index.

This is one of the Pebble Plus over sized nonfiction books from Capstone Press. This book is all about the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. This is a great book for the younger grades. Simple text explains the life of Barack Obama starting with his birth and childhood working up through his adult life, political background and finally presidency. Each set of pages has a text information page and then a photo on the facing page. Each page also has a timeline that keeps adding information about Obama as the book goes along.  At the end of the book, there is a fact page about our President, a list of Presidents of the US, glossary, read more, internet sites and index.

This is a cute, picture style book that looks at being president of the United States through the eyes of a child. In the book, the main character is a child that talks about all things he would do if he were president. “If I were the president, I would travel in my own airplane. I would zoom to different countries to meet people from around the world. I would try to make sure we all got along.” This book is classified under nonfiction because it also gives facts about presidency. It has informational boxes throughout the book that give additional information about things like the president’s airplane, Air Force One. At the end of the book, there is a page explaining how one becomes president, a glossary, learn more section and index. I liked the simple, easy to read and understand format, along with the clean, attractive illustrations.

This is a fun alphabet book with a theme of pirates. Each letter has its own page with a pirate scene depicting the letter. The illustrations remind me of the Rugrats characters. I like how each letter is in its own box since there is a lot going on in the pictures! The letter has a rhyme to go with it and the letter, word and following words with the showcased letter bolded. “H is for hunting for gold and buried treasure, ship ahoy, me hearties! We’ll plunder at our leisure.” At the end of the book, there is an I Spy type set up. Each letter has a list of things to find on that letter page that starts with the letter A for example. I really liked this! There is also a glossary of words that students may not be familiar with.

It is important that students, today, understand the natural world.  They will inherit and care for it in the future.   If they understand how it works, and appreciate what it provides for us, they will feel more inclined to protect it.  Seed Soil Sun gives an amazing overview of the cycle of growth and the ingredients for earth’s recipe for food…seed, soil, sun, rain, and air.  Each ingredient in the recipe is clearly explained.  Using the corn plant as an example, the author describes germination and growth of the seed into the giant plant.  The makeup of soil is explained…”Each handful of soil contains more living things than all the human beings on Earth.  Microscopic one-celled bacteria that munch away on dead leaves and insects in the soil are so minute that it would take a thousand of them lined up in a row to reach across the head of a pin.”  (Photo of a pin with a head shares that page.)  Exquisite photographs of multicultural kids in a farm setting or close up photos of compost, worms, sprouts, etc., provide emphasis for the well written, easy to comprehend text.  If you could only have one book on this subject, this is the one!

The husband and wife team , Caralyn and Mark Buehner sure know how to capture a child’s imagination and put it in a book!  How many kids have wished their snowman, a creation of grunting sweat, ingenuity, and maybe some collaboration and teamwork, would last longer than a day or two?  (At least, NW coast kids.)  This story in rhyme chronicles a year with a magically preserved snowman who is the quintessential companion for fun and adventure…flying kites, going to the zoo, riding a roller coaster and trick-or treating.  Of course, the brilliant and dazzling illustrations cause one to pause and jump into each picture!  My favorite, of which, is the snowman sailing off the diving board heading for a humongous splash in the pool.  Yes, in keeping with the I Spy aspect of the other books, in this book there are two ducks, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a rabbit, a cat and at least one hidden snowman in each painting.  Fun, fun, fun!!