Sherlock Bones leads the reader step-by-step through his thought process as he attempts to find who stole the museum’s Royal Blue Diamond. Sherlock Bones is a Tawny Frogmouth bird skeleton from one of the museum’s exhibits and his partner Watts is a stuffed Indian Ringneck Parrot, Blue Mutation from another exhibit. Together Sherlock Bones is sure he and Watts will be able to solve the mystery of the stolen diamond, otherwise all of the museum exhibits will be packed up and put into storage. They definitely do not want that to happen. Watts never says a word or moves, for that matter. Sherlock Bones has to carry Watts everywhere. But that does not stop Watts from being a great partner. Sherlock bounces questions off of Watts and either ‘hears‘ Watts’ answer ( no one else can hear Watts) or comes up with an answer on his own. Sherlock is suspicious of everything that moves in the museum after closing hours: the raccoon- Grace, the rats, and even the security guard.

While Sherlock Bones, Watts, and even Grace try to solve the mystery the reader goes on a very nice walking tour of the museum after hours. Educational, perhaps. There are several false leads before the mystery is solved on this inside job. The question now is, who solved the mystery first?

The graphic novel format makes for a hilarious tongue-in-cheek read.

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour is a mysterious young adult read, with ghost and magical realistic twists of grief and trauma, teaching how to love others and be loved back.   This novel was about Mila, an eighteen year old girl that has aged out of the foster care system. She is offered an internship teaching children on an isolated self-sustaining farm on the coast of Northern California. All the children and interns have experienced trauma in their life in some way. The farm that they all live at is haunted by ghosts that come out at night. Everyone seems to accept the ghosts presence and almost welcome them.  The significance of the ghosts is revealed at the end. This story goes through flashbacks of Mila’s past and deals with her wanting to overcome the grief of her past and the want to be loved.  Readers will enjoy the raw emotional side of the story and it will leave them wanting more at the last page.  Recommend for any avid reader that is looking for mysticism that could be read over the weekend.

Written by Alice Fay Duncan
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

In this historical fiction picture book, the author tells the story of the Sanitation Strike of 1968 through the eyes of a young girl that was there. Using poetry and prose throughout the dazzling illustrated book, Alice Fay Duncan recounts this tragic event. Ms. Duncan didn’t focus on the death of Martin Luther King Junior but on the strike and the fight for equality among the Blacks in the South. The text has been thoroughly researched and is cited. It is written in such a way that young readers will understand.

Rachael L. Thomas

In this information packed book, young readers will learn about Prairie Dogs. With great pictures, diagrams and easy to read text, readers will walk away with an abundance of knowledge of how Prairie Dogs live, why they are important to our ecosystem and how they got their name. The book includes a quiz and a glossary.

By Christine Peterson

Discover Rocks introduces readers to rocks; the different types, how rocks are formed and the rock cycle. With beautiful pictures, easy to read text and a wide range of examples, this book is a good supplement to any cirriculum.

This book is a great example of a nonfiction book with a table of contents, glossary and index. As an added bonus, this book includes a rock making activity.

By Rosemary Wells

Noisy Nora is at it again. In this whimsical book, Nora hears someone playing a violin. She is so intrigued that she convinces her parents to let her learn to play. She practices hard but the rest of the family doesn’t enjoy it. Nora has it set in her mind to be able to play a particular song for a very special day and person. Read this brightly colored book to find out if she meets her goal.

Written by Billy Aronson
Illustrated by Jennifer Oxley

Two unlikely girls meet in an unusual way. Melia, the scientist who likes everything orderly is bombarded by her new next door neighbor, Jo, who fancies herself a dancer. Jo enters Melia’s lab without permission and starts touching and rearranging Melia’s inventions. After the disruption, Jo dances her way home leaving Melia to clean up her lab. While cleaning up, Melia starts looking at her inventions in a different light. Melia reializes that her and Jo are more alike than she thought. Is there a collabration in their future?

In the back of the book, the author shows the readers how to make paper airplane. He also includes a check list for the Perfect Steam Dream Team.

By Jason Shiga

This book is a mixture of comic and choose your own adventure. It all starts with selecting a simple choice between chocolate and vanilla. That simple question branches out into a wild ride of different adventures that the story can take you on. The main character, Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab, where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000. Each path you follow is filled with puzzles, clues or shocking revelations. The tabs move you through the book in a wholly new way and each read of the text provides tou with a new opportunity for adventure!

I fell in love with the similes Deb Caletti uses to describe various situations. That’s what kept me going until I finally realized The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! is Book 2. The background information from Book 1- A Flicker of Courage would have made this more enjoyable from the very beginning, but I am glad I stuck it out.

If you are a Harry Potter fan because of the magic and strange creatures, give The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! a try. The villain Vlad Luxor turns the school yard bully, Jason, whom he thinks insulted him into a gerenuk. Then, the heroes spend a good part of the story trying to turn Jason back into a boy again at the request of their teacher, Ms. Fortune. Our four heroes: Henry, Apollo, Jo, and Pirate Girl, are new to the business of being ‘spell breakers’.

To break the Bizarro Crueltildo spell placed upon Jason by Vlad the group must travel through The Wilds, a place all the locals avoid and for good reason. For one thing, The Shadow lives there. The gerenuk keeps wandering off in his continuous search for food, this makes him just as irritating to the heroes as when he was the bully Jason calling everyone and everything weird.

Deb Caletti has placed some pearls of wisdom along the way – “Weirdness is beautiful…But weirdness is powerful, too”. (208) Also, “Sometimes, cruelty is like a very strong cologne. a person stops smelling it on themselves. Other times, though, a person will tire of seeing everyone else crinkle their nose whenever they walk into a room. And then they decide to change.” (244)

Weirdness equals uniqueness which can be very uplifting and reaffirming. All in all, not a bad thing to be.

Please read Book 1 first because you’ll be sorry if you give up on The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! especially, if you are a Harry Potter fan.

Deb Caletti has sprinkled odd images throughout The Weird in the Wilds: Tales of Triumph and Disaster! has if taken from a very old Ripley’s Believe it or Not or sideshow acts from the early 1900s. Odd but fun. Yes, odd or weird is a theme of this book, so there you go. Enjoy!