Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi Hunters, presents another griping true story of spies and survival as Norwegian commandos sabotage Hitler’s industrial fortress at Vemork, on a mission to prevent that Nazi’s from using their own nuclear bomb.

Using alternating perspectives of the Germans and Norwegians, Bascomb tells the story of the Nazis invasion and occupation of Norway, the martial rule they impose upon the Norwegians, and the Nazi’s production of “heavy water”, the essential ingredient for the weapon that could end World War II: Hitler’s very own nuclear bomb. The story reveals how the Allies discover the plans for the bomb, how a British operation fails to destroy Vemork, and how a band of young Norwegian commandos take on the mission. The reader is intrigued and anxious as these young men, armed only with their skis, explosives, and tremendous courage, survive months in the bitter cold wilderness, elude a huge manhunt, and carry out two dangerous missions.

This story of WWII espionage will appeal to teens who enjoy historical fiction, military works, and narrative nonfiction. Bascomb uses primary source documents including journals, diaries, and first hand interviews. He also includes photographs and maps which add authenticity and drama to this story. Teachers will appreciate the exhaustive 29 page bibliography.

One Whole and Perfect Day, written by Australian YA award winning author Judith Clark, tells the story of Lily, who wishes she could be like the other girls at school. But doesn’t know how she can be, what with her embarrassingly eccentric family, who she considers “freakish”. Lily has never even met her father, who returned to America before she was born. Lily laments that she is the only sensible person in her family, and with her home responsibilities, she doesn’t has time to hang out with friends.

Lily’s anxiety increases when her grandmother, who has an invisible friend, invites the whole family to a party. Lily doubts that they will make it through the day. She worries that her mother will bring some strange person from her work. Lily worries about what her racist grandfather might say, or how the family can attend when the grandfather has disowned her brother.

Compounding her anxiety, the day when she made eye contact with Daniel Steadman, she felt woozy inside. Could that be love? If it is, she isn’t sure she likes the feeling. As the party approaches, all Lily can hope for is one whole and perfect day.

This book is full of satisfying coincidences and serendipitous occurrences. It’s also fun to read the Australian dialect / dialog.

Against the ominous backdrop of the influenza epidemic of 1918, Annie, a new girl at school, is claimed as best friend by Elsie, a classmate who is a tattletale, a liar, and a thief. Soon Annie makes other friends and finds herself joining them in teasing and tormenting Elsie. Elsie dies from influenza, but then she returns to reclaim Annie’s friendship and punish all the girls who bullied her.

Elsie wasn’t a scary ghost. She wasn’t an all that sympathetic one either. All she really did was annoy me as a reader so much that I sped through this book because I didn’t want to interact with her anymore. I made One for Sorrow just an okay read because there really weren’t any sympathetic characters in here. They were all just mean little girls, I’m not into reading books about mean children.

A very basic introduction to the moon. Although this book contains 1-2 sentences per page and geared towards younger students, the words used are not as attainable to those students. There is an educator note in the front of the book suggesting that the questions posed on some of the pages could lead to discussion, so possibly the intent of the book was to be used in the classroom. There is a picture glossary at the end that helps explain some of the words like astronaut and telescope, but the definitions could have been included in the text or with the corresponding picture in the text. The author did not use bold words, so readers would not know they could look up those in the picture glossary until they got to the glossary.

The main character, a mermaid named Cora, fails a spelling test and is kicked off the Singing Sirens group. She can return to the group if she passes her next spelling test, otherwise she will lose her spot to one of beautiful Vivian Shimmermore. The book is written from the point of view of Cora writing in her diary. Hilarity ensues like Cora finding a tiny shrimp under a barrel of toxic sludge. Some of the sludge spills as she tries to free him. She finds it odd that the shrimp is glowing, but leaves him to get home. The shrimp grows and follows her home. She tries to get rid of him by throwing a tuna tied to a coral stick for the shrimp to chase. She misses him as soon as he is gone and then finds herself surrounded by a gang of sharks that are bullies. It seems that when Cora solves one problem another one pops up and she is again distracted from studying for her spelling test. Although the illustrations are limited to black, blue and white they add to the story.

In this short, easy to read biography we learn very basic information about Mary Pope Osborne. The text features compliment the text and some are more interesting than the text itself, like the fact that she planned the Magic Tree House series to be only four books. This would be great as a read aloud for younger students who are learning about text features, while the text is accessible to 2nd and 3rd graders. Readers who love the Magic Tree House series may be interested in learning more about the author.