Under the Lights is the second in The Field Party series, following Until Friday Night, published in 2015. Set is a small southern town, Under the Lights  is a teen romance with a love triangle between two football players and a girl who is back in town after being away for six following a family tragedy.

Filled with teen angst and drama, this second book in the series can actually be read without having read the first book, as the major characters in the first book are not the major characters in the second. Glines’ novels are formulaic, and this one is no exception.

Author- Walker Styles fills his Rider Woofson series full of word play dealing with all things ‘dog’.

Rider Woofson is the lead dog in P.I. Pack.  The P.I. Pack is called in to help “Mega- famous rock star, David Bow-Wowie” (6) whose instruments have been stolen by a ghost. The security video at the Bow-Wow Club shows David Bow-Wowie ‘s instruments start to move on their own and out the door.

Across the street Mr. Meow wants to turn the Bow-Wow Club’s building back into the dentist office it once was. Mr. Meow’s dream will come true if the club can not come up with the money it owes the bank in just one day.

Many years before, David’s family were dentists in the building. Back then, dentists filled cavities with gold. When the gold shipment disappeared one day, the family sold the building.

The P.I. Pack follows some clues to a music store, but they do not pan out. Meanwhile, one of the pack has been investigating in the building’s basement where he has found some ants.

It turns out David puts drops of maple syrup on his instruments before each show in honor of his uncle who told him to follow his dreams. The syrup attracted the ants from the basement who took the instruments, but the ants were too small to be seen. As it turned out, the ants had also taken the gold and buried it in the basement. “After the great discovery, David Bow-Wowie used the gold to pay the bank.” (115) Across the street Mr. Meow is hissing at the moon. He is upset with the P.I. Pack for finding the gold and the instruments. Mr. Meow wants that building! He is the one who put the maple syrup on the instruments.

There are gray-tone pencil drawings on almost every page by illustrator Ben Whitehouse.

Jasper John Dooley is quite excited when he finds his dad’s old toy mouse, Marcel. Jasper loves Marcel so much he keeps him on a long string and wears him around his neck. But sometimes Jasper has to take Marcel off, and that leads to all kinds of worry. Marcel turns up missing from under Jasper’s pillow, and again when Jasper is sent to the principal’s office.
Finally, Marcel has a serious accident, and it seems like he may be gone forever! This is a super sweet story about a boy with a special bond.

Kelsey, Becca and Leo have very different personalities and generally don’t hang out, until they rescue three kittens which forms a bond of friendship. They decide to form a club committed to solving mysteries. Becca’s mother runs the Wild Oaks Sanctuary for animals. They have a zorse (cross between a zebra and horse) that was abused and brought to them for rehabilitation wearing a sparkly fly mask. However, a man shows up to claim the zorse. This sends the trio into action to solve the mystery of who abused the zorse, which turns into a dangerous situation. The trio work to solve a twisted, double mystery; who abused the zorse, and why is the sparkly fly mask so important. This is the second book in “The Curious Cats Spy Club” series.

Five high school students are in their evening summer school Psychology class when their heartless and sadistic professor dies. They spend the next three weeks in a state of absolute terror, dread, and crisis as they try to cover up their involvement, avoid implication in the crime, and struggle with the temptation to turn on each other to pin the blame on someone else.

This is a suspenseful nail biter that engages the reader through the very last page, in spite of the somewhat stereotypical characters. There is the “Queen Bee” gorgeous (white) girl, so popular with the boys and envied by the girls; the super brainy girl (black) who has never had a boyfriend; the rich and unemotional (Asian) boy; the handsome (white) juvenile delinquent guy; and the kind, sweet (white) gay boy.

The story is told from all five of their points of view, which makes the book even more engaging.

The new Piper Morgan series fills a niche for those young girls living in a single-parent family, where they are the only child and there is no father in the picture. Piper is most likely in the 5-8 year age range, is eager to please, wants to make friends, and jumps to conclusions – be they right or wrong. Piper’s mother works out of a ‘Temp’ agency which takes her and Piper to many different places. Piper’s big hope is that her mother will finally get a job where they will be able to stay in one place for a long time.

As book #2 opens, Piper’s mother has taken on her latest temp job working on a project in a school office. Piper might get to help around the school as a Helper Bee, when not in class. Piper is introduced to her new class. She will be sitting next to Lily, the principal’s daughter, who is also a Helper Bee.

Nana and Piper make cookies for Piper to give to the principal. When the cookies disappear, Piper blames Lily. Later, when Lily and Piper are yelling at each other Piper’s mother is able to get Lily to explain how she hid the cookies in a classroom. Meanwhile, Lily’s father had already found the missing cookies. It seems Piper and Lily both wanted to be the best Helper Bees.

In the end, Piper finds the “I’m sorry” card Lily made for her.

At the end of each of the ten chapters, there is a “Class Fact” page of trivia about the topic of interest from that chapter.  At the end of chapter 5, the Class Fact deal with how to tell if someone is lying. While at the end of chapter 8, the Class Fact deals with how to say you’re sorry and after chapter 9, it deals with famous artists.

Lucy Fleming has two or three gray-toned pencil illustrations for each chapter.

Named one of “13 Detective Book Series You Obsessed over as a Kid” by Buzzfeed.com and the inspiration for a hit Disney film, the masterful Great Mouse Detective series is now available to a whole new generation of readers!

Basil the mouse detective sets off on a journey to solve one of the greatest mysteries of mousedom: Do miniature cats exist? Leading mouse scientists aren’t certain, but they believe that answers can be found in India. As Basil sets sail for the Far East-and the lost island of Kataarh-danger stalks him at every turn. Will Basil successfully unravel the mystery of these mini-cats and their mouse king?

Written on a 5.2 AR level, advanced second and third grade readers would enjoy this book. May not appeal to the older middle grade readers; seen as “too young.” Nice illustrations, well paced, interesting.

This is the second book in a hilarious new monster adventure series. With fresh, funny illustrations on every page, this is perfect for fans of comics and graphic novels aged 8 and over.

Jack Sullivan, originally introduced in The Last Kids on Earth, is back! It’s still TOTAL MONSTER ZOMBIE CHAOS on the streets, but now Jack has a gang of friends to help him through – science genius and best friend Quint, super-strong Dirk and all-round coolest girl ever, June. Not to mention Rover, Jack’s awesome monster pet! Along the way this group encounters a lot more than they bargained for, including a giant Wormungulous, a pizza parlor monster hangout, an ancient evil who destroys worlds, and a stereo system that is totally the bomb. Can Jack figure out why the zombies are vanishing . . . before he and his friends are next?

This informational book introduces basic facts about bighorn sheep such as their appearance, size, food, ewes vs. rams, predators, and information about babies. Each page spread contains large photos that supports the information stated. Charts are found throughout this book emphasizing the content. This book contains a table of contents, glossary, index, and library reference information.

This informational book introduces basic facts about unique mammals such as pangolins, bats, sloths, monkeys, lemurs, moles and more. Mammal facts are also explained. Most page spreads contain a full page photo that supports the information stated. This book contains a table of contents, “which is stranger” page, “top 5 facts” page, “record holders” page, “animal crack-ups” page, glossary, index and a publisher sponsored web address.