This book is like science fiction, what I thought was only capable in Hollywood movies like ANT MAN are now working robots. Robots the size of a penny and robots that can see the small print three football fields away.

The timeline on pages 16-17 has dates from 1914-2014. Military robots clearing land mines, flying rescue missions, dropping bombs, and video recording areas for surveilance.

The book shows what they can do, not how they do it.

The book comes with QR codes, but I watched and read it at popbooksonline.com. This information is more in depth, comes with student activities ( matching and word search), and lesson plans for teachers.

The book Life Sucks: How to Deal with the Way Life is, Was and Always Will Be Unfair by Michael I. Bennett is written by a father-daughter team that discusses the big things in your teenage life that can suck in a no-nonsense way.  They discuss the reality of how personal quandaries such as body image, cultural and sexuality awareness can cause questions just as much as the typical drama with friendship, school, and home life. This father-daughter team has given great examples of what to do or how to deal with lots of situations that come up in most teen’s live.  This book will show teenagers that they are not alone in dealing with these issues and help them to laugh them off. The information is given in a way that seems to guide the young reader and will help them realize that it is ok to talk to their parents and others around them about issues that come up in their lives. This self-help type book contains questionnaires and an answer key –great for individuals who have purchased the book but something to monitor in a school library.  This style makes the book easy to read. One can pick it up to read a page or two at a time if need be. Unfortunately, the information and examples become somewhat redundant over time and might be better suited for a teen in their personal library at home.

Reviewed by OHS Student, Angela C.

This book is about two friends and their life after high school. However, at a young age, they both experience a school shooting, which greatly impacts their lives.

I tried to read this book, but struggled with the pacing. It moved really slowly and after 5 chapters, nothing really happened. The characters were flat and didn’t really have rounded personalities. They just seemed to have one trait. One guy was sad, and the other was sad and had diabetes. That was really it. I cannot fully recommend this book.

Recommended by OHS Student, Brixton N.

The Silent Invasion is a graphic novel.
An investigative reporter named Matt Sinkage has an obsession with UFOs. He finds himself investigating the possible invasion of Earth, communist spies, and government programs in 1950’s America

This is an intriguing, scientific story with fantastic art and an excellent window into the media available to the American public in the 1950s.

Pearl and her robot Pascal are going to Gigaworld Amusement Park. While there Pearl will make comparisons between things in the park and computer coding.

Pearl introduces her readers to: code, variables, loop, if-then-else, and sequence. It all makes sense when Pearl talks about it. This story shows how coding does not need to be complicated. Older readers (adults, especially) will definitely want to read “Pearl and Pascal’s Guide to Coding” after the story is over.

Pearl and Pascal work their way around Gigaworld using tokens (a variable) until they are able to get onto the ride Python Rollercoaster with a short line. A loop is explained while they ride the Ferris wheel. If-then-else is explained as they make up their mind as to what to do next when the line to the rollercoaster is too long, in connection with a variable (Boolean).

It all makes sense when Pearl explains it.

By folding paper back and forth neatly upon itself six different projects are demonstrated, step-by-step in this book.

I found these projects easier than origami projects with a greater success rate, too. Directions are given for a snake, fish, butterfly, pumpkin, pinwheel, and a double picture.

Readers will enjoy and want to make more than one of each project as they hone their paper folding skills.

Netflix has Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing a graphic novel version of their television show episodes. This one, The Sticky Rice Caper, is from season 1. The graphic novel follows the TV episode with a few exceptions. The graphic novel has omitted one minor VILE character and the French Interpol agents. The graphic novel has placed the factual information about France and Indonesia at the end of the story line. And Carmen Sandiego’s bio information is at the very beginning, before the new story line begins.

Carmen Sandiego is out to foil VILE (Villains International League of Evil) and their new bioweapon which will destroy Indonesia’s rice harvest. Once Vile has Indonesia starving, they will sell Indonesia their artificial rice for a huge profit.

Carmen, the highly capable heroine, defeats VILE once again with the help of her team, her custom gear, and her fighting ability.

Fast paced action the reader will not want to put down.

Early, young readers who want a minimum amount information about Kwanzaa will find two sentences opposite a large color photo dealing with Kwanzaa in this book. If they study the photos carefully they will gain an understanding of the material aspects of Kwanzaa, such as, wearing African dress, the lighting of the kinara (special candle holder), and some of the other seven symbols.

The Adbo Kids Online Free Online Multimedia Resources given at the end of the book include an audible song, downloadable word search and maze, and a coloring page from PBS’s ARTHUR celebrating Kwanzaa.

Reviewed by Joni B.

The Angel Thieves, by Kathi Appelt, tries to intertwine several sub-stories using the Bayou as a character that remembers all the people who have traveled along it.  It reads a bit convoluted.

I think the story would have been better if the author chose one of the stories: either the Slave on the run with her young daughters in 1845, or the young man looking to do something good rather than helping his dad steal marble Angels from cemeteries. Throwing the trapped Ocelot in conveniently  for the character, Cade, to save feels too easy.

I did like the relationship between Cade, his dad, Paul and Mrs. Walker. The forged family worked for me. 

Everything was going along wonderfully until she broke up with Alex! Why do that troupe? In Eileen Cook’s You Owe Me A Murder, Kim is desperate for a friend while on the flight for school trip to London. Her ex-boyfriend Connor and his new romance are on the same trip. When she meets Nicki, a native Londoner, on the plane and divulges her frustrations, Nicki takes note of Kim’s list of “Why he deserves to die”. One day into their trip Connor falls or is pushed into a train. Shortly after, Kim receives contact from Nicki that her part is done and now it’s time for Kim to murder Nicki’s mother –quid pro quo. Why wouldn’t Kim just tell the police? The complications continue as Kim falls head over heels for Alex. Most of this story clips at a fast pace and there are twists readers won’t see coming. Aside from that 2 page part where some editor probably told Cook to have the main characters break up, this book is a winner for those psychodrama-loving teens in your library.