A ‘doppelganger’ is a German word for a ghost double.  In this book by the same name, the doppelganger is Brian Bain, a 13-year-old who was born in Korea and adopted twice in the U.S.  His first birth family died in an accident when he was very young, and he was then adopted by his guardians.  Brian doesn’t know much about his real background, other than he was born in Korea.  After winning a design contest, Brian’s picture is in the local newspaper.  This causes him to be contacted by  strange strangers who think he is someone else.  His friend, Roni, finds an old photo on-line of a little boy these strangers ask him about; she ages it to Brian’s age and there is his doppelganger — a boy who looks like him exactly.  At first, he thinks it’s a case of mistaken identity.  But to complicate matters, a family has offered a $100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts (or his doppelganger).  This pricetag is what is causing the nuts to come out.  What Brian finds out is that he actually has a twin who has disappeared.  The story has a lot of action but the main ideas don’t get lost.  A very entertaining and suspenseful read for those who enjoy mysteries.

Told in rhyme, Pierre the Penguin is about an African penguin living at the California Academy of Sciences.  Senior aquatic biologist Pam Schaller noticed Pierre had lost most of his feathers so she and a friend designed a wetsuit for him.  Within about 6 weeks, his feathers had grown back.  The once ostracized penguin was again accepted by the others.  Noted wildlife artist, Laura Regan, created beautiful paintings to illustrate this story.  Because this is a true story, Pam answers some frequently asked questions in the back.  Also available is a website for downloadable teachers’ guides.

“In a rocky , dry world, it’s good to blend in.” (pg. 4) and from the glossary on page 22: ” camouflage- coloring or covering that makes animals look like their surroundings”

The 11″ x 9.5″ close-up photos of a grasshopper, a tarantula,a kori bustard (bird), a camel, a ground mantid (insect), a bobcat, a thorny devil (reptile), and a sidewinder in their motley variations of  browns, blacks, and white – earth tones and patterns blend in with the dry grasses, brush, and earth of the desert.

Lexile: 540 L

In a world of only robots, ( all in the bright single colors of the rainbow, no metallic silver or gray) R Robot is off to work at the factory. “R Robot’s job today is to help his friends find the missing robot who was last seen at lunch time the day before.”  After looking all morning, when the lunch line gets long, R Robot decides to look into the clogged robot Big Cooker’s belly. There he unclogs the cooker and finds the lost robot at the same time.

The bright colors throughout is book  are  pieces of candy for the reader’s eye!

Cultural diversity is explored in this 7″ x 8″ photo essay of ethnic dress: parkas in northern Canada’s cold places,a  lavalava in the Cook Island’s hot places,  a turban in Morocco to protect your head from sun and / or blowing sand, uniforms on school children in Cuba, colorful skirts as children’s playwear in Peru, and kimonos in Japan and kilts in Scotland on special days for dressing up.

Includes: world map with in set mini-photos of the clothing from the six continents (minus Antarctica) color coded for quick reference to continent / country of origin.

Lexile: 470 L

Little hands explore the triangle shape in photos of plastic ( car lot) pennants, an Egyptian pyramid, tortilla chips, recycle icon, yield sign, cut sandwiches,and  a musical triangle instrument along with a 5 word sentence in this 6″ x 7″ book.

Little hands explore the circle shapes around them through photos of bicycle tires / wheels, the sun, a pie, cereal (ex. Fruit Loops), basketball and basketball hoop, a cake, a pizza with sliced olives, the lenses of binoculars, and with a single accompanying 5 word sentence.

Size: 6″ x 7″

Colonial jobs were jobs done by hand because electricity had not yet been harnessed.The two-page spreads include Jabs at home ( weaving and candle making), miler (grinding grains into flour), blacksmith (shoeing horses, making nails, tools, and cooking pots), cooper ( making wooden barrels and containers), carpenter and cabinetmaker ( built buildings, and furniture), cobbler and tanner (making and repairing leather shoes, belts, and saddles) , milliner ( sold fabric), wigmaker, and trading with the Native Americans.

Each job description is given in a paragraph or two, along with “Words to Know” side-bars, and trivia – “Did you Know?”

Includes museum and/or websites.

Paul Thompson takes on a tough person to research — little is known about Billy the Kid (also known as William H. Bonney, Billy Bonney, Kid Antrim, or Henry McCarty) and very few photographs were ever found of him.  Billy first got in trouble with the law at age 15 when he shot and killed a blacksmith following a card game.  Billy spent much of his short life on the run, even escaping from jail. 

While the reading level of this biography is appropriate for middle school and even younger, I wonder how interested students this young would be with all of the detail and names of other outlaws the author brings forth.

When 3 eyed, 3 legged, no armed, and extremely long tongued Snorp, the window washer, gets a day off work he asks his  no eyed, very big nosed friend Moopy to teach him how to snowboard.  After, Snorp learns a variety of skills from Moopy, he finds out of accident,  he hasn’t learned how to stop.  Snorp’s  tongue gets stuck to the metal of a moving chairlift when trying to stop.

Lexile: 220 L