Packs: Strength in Numbers by Hannah Salyer

There is more to living in a pack than mere survival or safety in numbers. Hannah Salyer showers us with her colorful images and sprinkles us with her words to inform us of the wonders of togetherness.

“Together, we are better.” Together various animals: harvest, speak, hunt, nurture, travel, work, sing, build, dance, and sleep.

The various animals included: wolves, bison, penguins, dolphins, monarch butterflies, ants, bats, lions, goldsaddle goatfish, wildebeest, bees, frogs, coral, flamingos, mongoose, zebras, crocodiles, and humans are better, together.

In her author’s note, Hannah Salyer, urges the readers of this book to be inspired to help save these animals and the planet we live upon together.

I am Benjamin Franklin, by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos (Ordinary People Change the World series)

Ordinary People Change the World series is highly recommended by this librarian. The wonderful combination of a fusion of graphic style and comic illustrations with the interesting format and dispensing of information about whichever hero the book features. High interest plus quality equate happy readers.

This story begins with Benjamin Franklin introducing himself and walking the reader through his childhood, full of family, experiments with play and nature, and his avid love of learning. His first attempt at writing was under a psuedoname for his brother’s independent paper press in Boston. He later set out to begin his adult life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He met his future bride, and worked to imporove himself by creating his “Plan for Future Conduct.” Rules to live by. He went on to begin the Junto Club where he pondered great questions of life. Later he opened his own print shop called, The Pennsylvania Gazette. He was a champion of free press! He authored the Poor Richard’s Almanac, a collection of good advice. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

Benjamin encourages our readers to never give up, use their power to improve themselves, learn from failures and keep trying. We witness him with the kite and discovering the nature of electricity as well as drafting and editing the Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson. An inspirational and delightful read!

If You Love Cooking, You Could Be… by Elizabeth Dennis

If You Love Cooking, You Could Be… offers the reader and food lover a few ways to enjoy their passion. They may not know there are other ways to enjoy cooking in addition to being a cook or chef. One, two, three, say, “CHEESE!”

Chapter One does indeed talk about being a cook and/or a chef. There is no need to wait until the young reader is older to learn their way around a kitchen. They can read and watch cooking shows. Cooks must be strong when working with the big pots and use teamwork because in a restaurant each team member cooks only at one station, cooking only one type of food. The young person can start learning now by taking a cooking class and/or working with an adult.

Chapter Two informs about recipe developers. Recipes have to come from somewhere. They are not all handed down from relatives. The recipe developer works much like a scientist experimenting with ingredients, cooking times, temperatures, and taking exacting notes so the same food is made every time.

Chapter Three deals with food presentation. Food Stylists, like a hair stylist, make the food look wonderful for photos in cookbooks, websites, advertisements, and more. They are not necessarily the photographer. The food stylist also must deal with the plates the food is present upon and the environment around the food. Is the food being eaten at a fancy dinner party or at a picnic? The food stylist must take all of this into account. (Take out your cell phones. If You Love Cooking, You Could Be… does not suggest this, but a young reader could get their beginning here.)

Try it! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat, by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Giselle Potter

This is a wonderfully illustrated book by the talented Giselle Potter (How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine, by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville). The main character of the true story is Frieda Caplan, Russian Jewish immigrant who came with her family to Los Angeles California in the 1920s. In the 1950s, as a young mother, she took a job as a bookkeeper at the Seventh Street Produce Market in LA. Soon, she moved into sales, which women were normally excluded. She then went on to own her own produce company in 1962 and specialized in exotic and rare foods.

What made Frieda special was her ability to convince others to try new and different looking produce, such as: red bananas, purple potatoes, kiwi fruit, dragonfruit, mangosteen, ect. She was able to use her enthusiasm to help others bridge into the world of unknown foods and adventure into new tastes. This is a delightful, easy to read, beautiful picture book worth adding to any library, public or private. Go Frieda!

If You Love Video Games, You Could Be… by Thea Feldman

As a parent have you ever wanted to tell your child, ” Stop playing that video game! How will you make a living?” This is the book that will give your primary-aged child an educated and profitable clue to answering that question.

This book is a winner. Natalie Kwee’s illustrations are simple enough to not cloud the issue of what is be conveyed and advanced enough to convey what is being stated in the text.

The book begins with the Glossary page next to the Table of Contents page. The three chapters are: Video Game Writer, Video Game Animator, and Video Game Programmer. As a parent, you will be happy to hear that a video game writer must be a good reader and good writer of stories prior to working with video games. As a parent, you will be happy to know a video game animator needs to be good at math. And as a parent, you will be happy to know a video game programmer must be a good problem solver and learn how to code computers.

As a child, they will see how to make their stories come to life, how their drawings can be made to move, and how to keep mistakes from happening in the final product.

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

In a new survival-story twist, 12-year old Maddie is left along to survive — not in the wilderness, but in her own home town of Millerville, Colorado. Maddie wakes up to discover that her whole town has mysteriously evacuated. Her mom thinks Maddie is at her dad’s house, and her dad thinks she’s at her mom’s house. Cell service is non-existent. Her only companion is the neighbor’s dog, George.

As the months pass, Maddie lives on canned food left behind in her neighbor’s homes. She takes paper and pencil with her and leaves thank you notes for the items she takes. As winter comes with no electricity and no furnaces, Maddie forages for supplies to keep from freezing. But hardest of all is her constant battle with loneliness; waiting, waiting, for her parents to come back for her. As Christmas comes, she drags the boxes of ornaments up from the basement and hangs shiny balls along the curtain rod. She wraps a rawhide bone for George and makes a Christmas dinner of turkey soup, canned cranberries, and canned apple pie filling. When singing “Silent Night” makes her cry, she switches to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” The silence is her biggest enemy. When skills are required of her that she doesn’t have, the library is her resource. Maddie is a strong, resilient protagonist who faces injury and natural disasters, but she is a survivor waiting for her happy ending.

Written in prose, “Alone” is for all readers. The writing is beautiful!

Dragon Kingdom of Wrenly: The Coldfire Curse by Jordan Quinn

This is book one in the series Dragon Kingdom of Wrenly. A curse has come upon the land and has a young dragon sets off to find the king for a cure. At the kingdom, she stumbles upon the prince’s pet dragon. They end up setting off on an adventure to save the land from the curse.

The story is geared towards younger readers and there is not a lot of text on the page, but the font is small. The illustrations are colorful and the frame size varies on the different pages. I story line and content make this a good choice for younger graphic novel fans.

A Friend Is… by Lisa Thiesing

This sweet book shows different ways that we can be friends. Each page only has a few words on it describing things that friends do together. The pictures compliment the gentle text. The text is written in a curlicue font that may make independent reading difficult for readers. This could be used as a read aloud and then a discussion of friendship.

Vinny Gets a Job by Terry Brodner

Vinny is a dog. Every day his mom goes to work everyday. When Vinny asked his adopted brother, a cat, where Mom goes, he learns what a job is and decides he should get a job. He tries a restaurant but he started licking the plates. He tried a florist shop and was asked to water the plants, but that didn’t work out. Finally he tries a museum, but he ends up taking a large dinosaur bone because it looked so delicious. When he finally returns home, Mom tells him his job is to be a dog.

The story is funny and sweet. It would be fun to read to a group and use for a lesson on prediction.

Books Big Adventure by Adam Lehrhaupt

Book was new and bright and shiny. It went on many adventures until one day Book was moved to a lower shelf where it was lonely and forgotten. One day someone picked up Book and it was so excited to go on new adventures, but instead it was tossed in a box. Then suddenly Book was chosen again and went on new adventures.

The end notes includes places to donate books. The author’s note says that he has so many books that they are in boxes, which is not place for a book to live. During a school visit one day, the librarian mentioned that they donate excess books to readers who do not have a lot of books and that inspired him to research places to donate books.