The first page of this graphic novel is a super quick mini-bio of the Spider-Man creation story.

Peter Parker has no trouble with math and science in high school, but with history he struggles. It is the opposite for Gwen Stacy, so their teacher- Mr. Maxwell has teamed them up to tutor each other. Peter has taken a liking to Gwen. He is about to ask her out to the Winter Formal when his ‘spidey’ sense goes off.

Vulture is stealing a brief case from Stark Industries. Vulture gets away from Spidey. Just as Iron Man shows up, Vulture escapes. Spidey and Iron Man have never met before and Iron Man wants to see Spidey’s face. Off Spidey goes chasing Vulture. Iron Man follows, not believing Spidey is innocent of the breaking into Stark Industries. With Vulture in view, Iron Man asks Spidey to team up with him. Vulture is soon captured. Before Iron Man and Spidey go their own ways, Spidey asks Iron Man for advice on how to ask out a girl.

The next day, Gwen and Peter get their history tests back, both with “A”s. Peter finally asks Gwen out to the Winter Formal, but he is a day too late. Gwen has already accepted to go with someone else. Later that night, as Spidey sulks a top a tall building, Iron Man shows up and invites him to help fight off a dragon “trying to eat Brooklyn.”

All of Peter’s insecurity and all of Tony Stark’s self-confidence and arrogance come through in this story. I could hear Robert Downey, Jr., in my head, as I read these pages.

It helped me follow along to see the text boxes’ script in two different colors to distinguish between characters speaking.

How appropriate my fortune cookie read, “An optimist is always able to see the bright side of other people’s troubles.”

Boris Snodbuckle and his sidekick Adrian are true optimists. They are seventh grade nerds or geeks at Bendale Public School, which is a K-8 school.  As you might imagine, Boris’ last name gets quite a bit of play in the unpleasant nickname department, but that does not stop him. Boris wants to make Bendale a better place and to do this he plans to run for Student Council President. Boris will be running against super popular, gorgeously handsome, and chief bully Robert. Boris figures out he will need to win over five groups of students in Operation Save Our School: “1. Little kids, 2. Nature lover kids ( Green Goblins), 3. Artsy kids, 4. Brainiac kids, 5. Popular kids”. (30) Boris comes up with a plan, or operation- as he likes to call it, to win over each group.

First plan is Operation Swing Back. This involves getting the swing sets back from the seventh graders for the little kids to use at recess. This operation involves water ballooning the seventh graders. When they give chase the little kids rush in to take over the swings. The operation is a success only to have Robert step in to announce Boris is copying his campaign promise to get the swings backs. Robert is believed.

Second plan- Operation Rally in the Valley involves saving ‘the Valley’ where generations of kids have played from a greedy land developer. Boris succeeds again, only to have Robert take credit for it through social media.

Third plan- Operation Broadway finds Boris auditioning for the school musical. Boris and Adrian both get parts, but so do Robert and his lackeys. Boris’ part is reduced to playing Rock #2, through Robert’s sneaky tricks. Dirty trick after dirty trick Boris doesn’t loose faith. As Rock #2, Boris has no lines, so he learns everyone else’s lines, which will eventually save the show, no thanks to Robert.

These are followed by Operation Triple R,  Operation Feed the World, and finally by Operation Beat His Speech. Each operation has its own set backs, usually Robert. Boris’ optimism rules!

All but once: ” ‘We did all this for nothing, and I’m tired of things never working out– never– and of kids putting me down all the time… and the jokes about my name… and no matter what I do, all I ever get are detentions and suspensions.’ ” (196)  Then Adrian proves himself as a sidekick and convinces Boris not to give up.

Boris has ethics! He won’t throw dirt on Robert in his speech before the election. After the Robert and Boris’ speeches, there is a question and answer session. Here several students ask Robert question after question, as if he is on trial, about all of the things he is guilty of during the campaign. Chanting for Boris erupts!

Boris wins the election, of course. Then, post election, in Operation Gym-Jam the student hold a sit-in (1960s style) until they are given outdoor recess again on mild weather days.

My one complaint about this book is that it needs better cover art to sell this wonderful story!

Be aware the word “wuss” is used once, on page 18.

Here is a mystery for your upper- grade Hi-low readers. The color illustrations are very close to graphic novel style, only page-size. Each page of text has two or three words jumping out at the reader by way of size, color, and/or style. Like in any good mystery, the reader will need to read between the lines.

As the book begins, it’s the first day of middle school for both the narrator and Ms. Fleek the new science teacher. As the weeks pass, Ms. Fleek can not find the key to unlock the science lab room. The class is forced to continue reading and doing textbook  assignments, even though I can see a glow coming from under the lab’s door. By mid-October, Ms. Fleek is questioning her ability to teach science when she still can’t find the key to the lab. Then one night, after yet another strange and bad dream, Ms. Fleek awakes to find the key in her hand. “We’ve been able to do all of our science labs since Ms. Fleek opened THAT DOOR three months ago.    I was so excited when we first had the equipment out! But science class and Ms. Fleek have become strange. She doesn’t smile as much. Well, not real smiles anyway.” (34) In February, the English teacher asked me some questioned about Ms. Fleek. Then,  the English teacher disappeared from school after Spring Break. I have stopped hanging out around the science room. “Anytime that door OPENED … I felt sick.” (44)

Next fall, when I am in 8th grade, “I stayed AWAY from Rm. 201.”  [Cliff-hanger]

We all know children who get a ‘bee in their bonnet’ (pun intended) and won’t let it go. This is such a story, but for all the right reasons.

Hurrah! It’s summer. Anna can’t wait for Friends, Fun, and Flowers day camp to begin in her school’s friendship garden. Her younger brother, Collin, is thrilled to be going to the Bugs, Bugs, Bugs day camp there. Then, not enough people sign up for Bugs, Bugs, Bugs.   Bugs, Bugs, Bugs and Friends, Fun, and Flowers are combined to become Sweet Peas and Honeybees. Anna is not thrilled with having her little brother around. On the first day of camp, they go on a field trip to an apiary, much to Collin’s delight. Anna is asked to be Collin’s buddy as the group walks there. “N-O F-A-I-R!” (18) Anna thinks. Collin is acting like an insect all the way there. “The apiary sat on the rooftop of a nearby apartment building.”(19) Mr. Blanco, the bee keeper, gave information about bees.  Collin stated, ” ‘ honeybee colonies are dying.’ ”    “Mr. Blanco nodded sadly…’And if we lose too many, that means lots of food that we enjoy…might disappear.’ ” (25) Now Anna wants to help solve the bee problem.

Anna asks her father to take her to their neighborhood home owners’ meeting dealing with spraying their yards with weed killer. At the meeting Anna shares her information about the blight of honeybees and of their importance. The meeting goes long, the vote will be taken at a later time.

Anna, with Collin’s help, plans to help the honeybees by throwing a BIG BEE BASH. Their invitations read: “Come to Anna and Collin’s house for honey-sweetened treats, waggle dancing, and bee games and activities. Monday night at 7 p.m.’ …they took a walk around their neighborhood with their mom and dad and passed out invitations to their friends and neighbors. They brought an invitation to Mr. Blanco, and asked him to bring his cool bee stuff and honey to sell. She knew he could get people excited about bees.” ( 86) They posted an invitation at the school garden, too, along with a place to donate to the ‘Wildflower Fund’.

Their Big Bee Bash is a success. The homeowner’s society still vote to spray their yards with weed killer, though. Anna is disappointed she has not made a bigger difference. Her parents reassure her that every little bit helps, “it will all add up.” (104)

In the end,  two hives are put on the roof of mom’s restaurant.

The story ends, but there are two more items of interest. The first are directions to the ‘Waggle Dance Game’ from the Big Bee Bash. These are similar to the dance honeybees do to point out directions to flowers for other bees. The second item is a recipe for Anna’s honey cinnamon ice cream.

What are your personal feelings about Groundhog Day as a holiday? Believe it or not, in this installment of the Black Lagoon Adventures, Hubie thinks it is ridiculous. Nevertheless, when Hubie’s teacher assigns his entire class a job for their school’s morning news show in February he becomes anchorman for February 2, Groundhog Day. As any good reporter Hubie begins with research in the library. It turns out, the groundhog, Punxsutawney  Phil, is only “right 39 percent of the time.” (14) Anything can be right 39% of the time. Hubie is not excited about Groundhog Day like the rest of his class. He thinks it’s silly. Humhog. The school is having a play during lunchtime about Groundhog Day.  Hubie has a hogmare the night prior to his broadcast. In it, Hogzilla “cast a big shadow.” (28) Hogzilla ruins parts of the school. Hubie is hoping the school won’t be serving groundhog for lunch on February 2. Early on February 2, Hubie gets up at 7:25 AM to begin watching for Punxsutawney Phil on TV. Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow. ” ‘I guess spring is in the air,’ I smiled.” (50) The newscast goes well. ABC, NBC, and CBS News all want Hubie to work for them.

The book closes with 8 Groundhog facts.

This would not be a Black Lagoon Adventure book without silly, but humorous, little doodles in the page margins by Jared Lee, in addition to the other major black and white sketches accompanying the story.

In this fourth book by R.W. Alley, the four children go another outdoor adventure using imagination as a key element.

This time, Annabelle escapes her two brothers and little sister by going outside into  the snow in search of the South Pole.  “Annabelle stared into the blizzard. Horrors! It was the Abominable Snow Giant!” Annabelle knocks off its head with a snowball. Annabelle and the roly-polies (magically turned into penguins for the South Pole) help put the Snow Giant’s head back on its body once it promises to be good. Annabelle is in luck because the Snow Giant will take her to the South Pole. As Annabelle, the roly-polies, and the Snow Giant arrive at the South Pole, they realize “The Wizard of the World and his gang (AKA Ananbelle’s siblings) had gotten there first.”  They threaten to melt the South Pole using a hot chocolatey potion. Bravely Annabelle swallows the potion saving the world. Off they go “back to base camp,” which remarkably looks just like their house’s front porch.

Young children enjoy figuring out which items in the world of imagination match up with the children’s world of reality.

William and Alice, two children from two very different families and lifestyles, make friends with each other on the maiden voyage of the Titanic in 1912. William’s family has a luxurious suite and has access to many wonderful parts of the ship, while Alice is in third class berthing with her mother and must stay in certain areas. While exploring where she shouldn’t, Alice and William become friends and that friendship opens up access to William’s world onboard. We know what eventually will happen and when the ship hits the iceberg, William bravely runs to find his friend and she and her mother join his family in a lifeboat. Interspersed within the story are boxes with text and photos with information about the ship and its eventual discovery in 1985. A timeline rounds out this nice little book about a very big ship. Highly recommended.

Any joke is a great joke to the young crowd, but many of these jokes will have the them laughing out loud. Jokes are arranged in boxes – darker colored box is the question and lighter colored box is the punch line, which makes it nice for young comedians to know when to pause for the greatest laugh. Illustrations are simple, but effective companions to the jokes and kids will enjoy comparing the joke to the picture. My only complaint is that the jokes are about all manner of sports, many of which children may not understand – everything from golf to wrestling. But, that should encourage some discussion about the sports or even further reading!

Nelson Mandela presents an accessible biography of one our current history’s important figures. Information is presented in one to two sentences per page with large, crisp photos to accompany them. ‘Key Dates’ and ‘Quick Stats’ pull together a great deal of information in just two pages near the end. And the glossary tackles tough words like ‘activist’ and ‘apartheid’ quite well. The content is quite suitable for younger readers, yet does tell of his long jail time and introduce the words noted above in a way that children will understand.
Recommended

This biography is a great place to start for young readers interested in history. With a few sentences per page and bright, appealing illustrations, the life of Benjamin Franklin is succinctly described. “Quick Stats” and “Key Dates” give the information necessary for beginning reports. The glossary, index and table of contents reinforce good non-fiction elements. Recommended