This is Miles and Niles final year at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy and the final book in this series.

Miles and Niles are still up to their fabulous pranks, but this year Principal Barkin wants to be a prankster, too. Principal Barkin’s pranks are very amateurish compared to Miles’ and Niles’. He wants to join their team of pranksters, but no. Then, Principal Barkin wants to repeatedly retain Miles and Niles so their pranks will continue.

Soon there is word the superintendent has past away, only to have Principal Barkin’s father , the former Principal Barkin, become the ‘acting superintendent’. Principal Barkin and Superintendent Barkin do not see eye to eye.

Superintendent Barkin purposely tells Miles he is moving away, even though his mother has asked Barkin to keep it from Miles. This puts a dark shadow over Miles when his mother says it’s true. Miles and Niles are both so discouraged by the news. They both secretly and individually pull off one last prank at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy’s on the night of their graduation dance. Principal Barkin catches them in the prank, but applauds their prank against his father’s 1933 2nd place trophy. Only the three of them (Miles, Niles, and Principal Barkin) will probably ever know the trophy has been changed, and that is fine with them. ” ‘ A masterstroke,’ said Niles, ‘to our whole career.’ ” (205)

This book focuses on understanding social interactions between very young children.  It promotes positive social engagement and is divided into sections based upon age – infants, toddlers and older toddlers.  The book attempts to explain different types of “communication” in young children such as hitting or vocalizations. It also provides strategies for supporting peer relationships in how you step up the environment or what role the adult takes on during the play.  This book primarily contains theory and a few basic ideas about how to think about setting up positive interactions. Lots of good things to think about, but not a lot of day to day ideas to use with an individual child. (Written by Michele Neely, SpEd preschool teacher for the Olympia School District)

This book is an activity list of fun and simple things to do with little kids.  It is organized by a child’s age and has “lessons” that incorporate cognitive, motor, social-emotional, language and self-esteem elements of development.  The book stresses interaction with parents and hands-on learning rather than using devices or technology. Each activity is fully described, background information given as well as why it is important to development.  Each age range section also includes a list of basic developmental milestones for caregivers to reference and work toward. Most of the activities need only a few common materials found around the house. There are lots of good, engaging activities to keep little ones happy and learning. (Written by Michele Neely, SpEd preschool teacher for the Olympia School District)

This book provides a 30-item checklist that describes seven essential features of high-quality behavior-guidance policies for programs serving children birth to 8 years old (gleaned from many different research sources).  The book presents their philosophical approach to behavior guidance; how having a high-quality policy can support classroom activities; the research field on which the policy is based; 5-step process for putting the policies into action.  A big part of the book is the TAGPEC (which is a tool for rating the current behavior policies in a program and guides those that don’t yet have policies). The audience for this book appears to be for those interested in the theory of discipline policies and evaluating policies of a large site or school district program, rather than an individual teacher looking to make changes in her classroom (although, there are some applicable tidbits).  (Written by Michele Neely, SpEd preschool teacher for the Olympia School District)

This book views venturing out into the world as the purest form of hands-on learning for young children (3 years and younger) as it provides so many opportunities for language, reasoning and exploration.  The book is divided into 4 main sections: Home & Community, Vehicles, Animals, and Our World. There are over 50 different “adventures” included, and each has a 1-3 activities to do afterwards that might be art, math, pretend play, sensory play, science observations or songs.  The “adventures” listed are all toddler fun; most are free and easily accessible in everyday life. The activities listed have a clear description of supplies needed and are fun and engaging. Simple book, with lots of fun activities to get the toddler out of the house. (written by Michele Neely, SpEd Preschool teacher in the Olympia School District)

The aim of this book is to provide fun, interactive lesson plan ideas for early childhood classrooms (Kindergarten or younger) that help to embed the different art content (Music, Drama and Visual arts) into rich STEM learning.  It focuses on learning through exploration, observations, questioning and simple investigations. 4-5 lessons for each section include open-ended tasks, opportunities for social interaction and opportunities for reflection and elaboration.  The activities and descriptions are fairly simple and traditional (no new earth-shattering ideas) but it does make clear how it connects to the learning standards for each section. The pictures are in black and white, small and not very helpful.   (Written by Michele Neely, SpEd Pre school teacher, Olympia School District)

Fred Rogers (1928–2003) had a tremendous influential on generations of children through his television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a program which he created and played the title role. Rogers was on the ground floor of teaching compassion, equality, and kindness. He advocated for inclusion and against bullying. Rogers devoted his lief to children and he took their fears, concerns, and questions about the world seriously.

The Good Neighbor is the first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, tells the life story of this American icon. Drawing on original interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, the author, Maxwell King looks at Rogers’s personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work, including his years as a Presbyterian minister. What the viewing public may not have known was that in the 1980’s on Rogers’ increasingly sophisticated episodes were written in collaboration with experts on childhood development. The book takes the reader through Rogers’ delayed retirement, at a point by which he was already ill with stomach cancer. The reader follows Rogers’ and his wife as they face is final days. This is a wonderful book that provides great detail into an amazing man.

This 75th Anniversary Edition is jammed with historical information, original illustrations and comments about the book over the years of its publication. It is perfect for fans of this inspirational little book.

Vampire movies, friends who feel uneasy around your other friends, parents who want to meet your friends’ parents, a wolf howling in the night, and a middle-school sleepover to celebrate the end of the school year. This book has it all.

Emily enjoys her nightly visits with the two home schooled teens across the street. Neither Emily, nor her parents have ever met Drew and Vicky’s parents. When Emily begins planning the end of the school year party with her school friends, Emily thinks it would be the perfect time to invite Drew and Vicky to meet her school friends. Problems arise, when Drew and Vicky’s parents are never available to meet Emily’s parents.

Oh, why is there a wolf howling in Drew and Vicky’s back yard? “The howling drifted through her window, as if somehow the creature knew that she was coming after it, and calling her to join in. Emily found it strange that this sound didn’t scare her. In fact, it didn’t even surprise her. She felt as though she had an appointment with the beast to settle their score. To end this.” (69)

Time is getting short before the party and Emily still has no word from Drew and Vicky’s parents as to whether they can come or not. Emily takes it upon herself to go to their house and talk to them during the day, but no one is home. Drew and Vicky are home schooled? Emily enters their house. She discovers coffins in a back room. Emily feels “duped, taken, lied to…” (99). Drew and Vicky will not be coming to her party. She wants nothing to do with them. Now, of course, Drew and Vicky want to come to the party.

On the night of the party, Ethan’s cousin Declan comes to the party, too. Declan shares a vampire story. Finally, Emily begins to connect the dots and assumes Drew and Vicky are in fact vampires. But it is too late for Emily. The real Declan was never at the party. The Declan at her party was Drew shape shifted to look like Declan.

In the Epilogue, “Years had passed since the night of the sleepover, and much had changed. Drew and Vicky no longer lived in the same town. As the two had done many times before, they moved to an abandoned house in a new town where no one knew them. Where they would be safe. And where they could make new friends.” (133)