Author Jenn Bennett immediately builds curiosity and tension in the summer adventure that Bailey “Mink” Rydell is embarking on as she descends a central California airport escalator.  Choosing to come live with her father on the California coast, readers soon put together that this is the same town her online crush “Alex” lives in.  Alex and Bailey have chatted online for some time now as they watch old classic movies together.  Bailey, also nicknamed the “Artful Dodger” because of her desire to avoid conflict, plans to scope out who Alex is before she tries to meet up with him.  So begins the 1st plot line.  All great stories have multiple plot lines and Bennett does a nice job weaving together three of them.  Bailey is soon accosted by two surfer boys, Davy and Porter.  Both argumentative and rude, she later realizes that Porter is a security guard at the quirky museum where she is hired to sell tickets.  Porter and Bailey’s instinct to quarrel with each other over petty things also ironically develops their friendship and soon to be passion.  But wait, there’s more.  Readers will get to learn the other traumatic reason why Bailey is needing to leave her past behind in a 3rd storyline that will allow Bailey to grow in strength as well as trust.  But if Bailey likes Porter, what happened to her interest in “Alex”?  2/3 of the way most readers will see where the story will resolve itself, but it will not be a smooth ride.  All in all, Bennett’s premise is unique, slightly far-fetched, yet fun enough to keep readers going.  While the cover will probably draw in readers, it is a horrible representation of the story — they never hung out in a pool and Bailey’s not comfortable with her body yet to be in public in a bikini. Still this novel is recommended for high school age students.

It is spring at last. Pig celebrates with a picnic at the pond. There she meets Goose and so begins a sweet friendship. Eternally positive Pig is impressed with Goose’s ability to fly and swim, though she can’t do either.  Goose is later impressed with Pig’s hostess skills, dancing, and storytelling. Appreciation for each other’s differences leads to a friendship that is sure to last.

Short simple sentences and repetitive structure make this a good choice for transitional readers.  The story is broken into 3 chapters so young readers gain a sense of accomplishment.  Lovely watercolor illustrations support the text.

The Music of Life details the creation of the first piano. Bartolomeo Cristofori was an instrument maker in Italy who worked on both clavichords which only played piano (softly) and the harpsichord which only played forte (loudly).  While working in Florence for Prince Ferdinand de Medici, Cristofori ponders the problem of creating an instrument that can play both piano and forte. Cristofori’s perseverance to pay off as he experiments with different materials and different constructions to create his new keyboard.  Cristofori’s masterpiece is named the pianoforte since it plays both loudly and softly.  During his life, the piano was not widely used.  It was only 20 years after his death as Joseph Haydn then later Johann Christian Bach and Wolfgang Mozart compose for and play on the piano that it emerges as an instrument that captures the music of life.

Large ornately formed Latin musical terms (with English translations) decorate the top of each page, acting as an accompaniment to the story.  The timeline of the story is punctuated by quotes from historical record of the time.

Endpapers include a timeline of the life of Cristofori and the piano, a comparison to Cristofori’s pianoforte and the modern piano, a list of famous piano composers, a description of how the author researched Cristofori, Bibliography, and Grazie.

Finding What’s Real is the sequel to Escaping Perfect and does not stand alone, as it picks up right after the first book ends, and the plot continues where it left off. The main character, teenager Cecilia Montgomery, who was on the run for two weeks to escape her overbearing politician mother, has returned to her hometown. She misses the anonymity she enjoyed in the small town, but there is no way she can escape back to that life. Not now that her mother has announced that she is running for the presidency of the United States.

Now Cecilia is not only trapped with her mother, but surrounded by those who may be false friends, liking her only due to her family fame.

I wasn’t that impressed with the first book, and find the second one similarly predictable.  Young Adults readers may enjoy the drama, but I wasn’t enthralled with either book.

A young boy feels his drawings of puppies look like mush and his cars look like lumps or boxes.  Since he doesn’t believe he can draw, he colors instead.  Unlike coloring in a coloring book, he just uses different hues and lines to express feelings.  Until the last page the boy is a grayscale pencil sketch. With the self-portrait on the last page, the boy appears in color showing the uniqueness and depth of his feelings.

A wonderful resource for art teachers, young artists, or to teach self-acceptance.

The curtain opens on the Great Aziz and his beautiful assistant, Zaza and with a flick of a wand he turns a dish into a fish – a wiggling, slippery fish his assistant has to catch.  And so the show progresses with the Great Aziz creating havoc with his magic and Zaza cleaning up the mess.  Finally when Zaza’s wig is turned into a pig, she loses her patience and snatches Aziz’s wand and turns his hat into a bat. Back and forth the wand is snatched until the beans are turned into bears and Aziz and Zaza realize they need to work together.  Aziz pulls out a card and turns it into a cord that they use to tie up the bears.  From then on Zaza and Aziz share the light each night.

The fun play of words throughout make this book an engaging read aloud.  Use it to start a lesson on word ladders or to reinforce word families.