WAX is a eerie, creepy story of the Grosholtz Candle Factory in Paraffin, Vermont. A seventeen-year-old girl, Poppy Palladino, makes a disturbing discovery in the back room:  dozens life size, realistic wax sculptures, crafted by a very peculiar old lady.

Frightened by this discovery, she rushes away in her car, only to have a wax figured teenage boy jump naked from her trunk! She tries to return him to the factory, but it is destroyed in a mysterious fire.

As she and the wax boy, Dud, try to solve the mystery of the fire, she begins to notice that citizens of the town of Paraffin are looking more and more waxy. Why is behind this? What evil is lurking?

For those who like mysteries and creepy stories, this is a good choice.

The Unexpected Everything is Morgan Matson’s fourth book (you may know her from Since You’ve Been Gone). A Junior Library Guild selection, The Unexpected Everything is the story of a prominent US Congressman’s daughter whose summer internship and future plans are tossed into the wind by a scandal that rocks his career and blazes across newspaper headlines and cable news airwaves.

Andie, aged 17, has lived, since her mother’s death from ovarian cancer, under the microscope of her father’s staffers, who have made sure that she’s never done anything to embarrass him in the eyes of the public. But now, a campaign finance scandal is embarrassing Andie, and results in the revoking of her spot in a prestigious Young Scholars Program summer internship at John Hopkins.

Driving to the home of the doctor who withdrew his letter of recommendation, in a failed effort to be reinstated in the program, Andie stumbles upon a run-away dog, catches his leash, and then comes face to face with his dreamy owner, Clark. Clark, not much older than Andie, is a nerdy, homeschooled writer, who published his first novel at age 14.

The storyline evolves into a funny and entertaining romance. Here is an excerpt of Clark’s attempt to ask Andie on a date:

“I was just . . . trying to get a sense of your schedule.” He blinked, like he’d just heard himself, and I could see the tops of his ears were starting to turn red. “Wow, that sounded creepy. I didn’t mean that in, like, a weird way. I think I’m making this worse. Oh god.” He took a breath, then swallowed hard. “I was wondering, you know, what you do. At night.” He stared at me in horror after he said it, like he couldn’t quite believe the words had come out of his mouth. “Oh, man,” he muttered, closing his eyes behind his glasses for a moment. “This isn’t going well.” I had to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling wide.”

Although this novel is 519 pages long, each one is a page turner. Even reluctant readers will enjoy this story of friendship, family, romance and, of course, dogs.

Ashley Bryan uses a primary source document as the foundation of his moving picture book about the lives and dreams of slaves.  The document, the Appraisement of the Estate that occurred after the death of Cado Fairchilds.  Written in first person free verse, the book starts with Mary Fairchilds describing the estate and her plans to sell it after the death of her husband.  Her poem is followed by Bryan’s portrait of the 11 estate slaves superimposed on an image of the original appraisal document.  Each slave’s story includes a portrait, a poem about his or her life as a slave, and a poem and illustration of his or her dreams.  Bryan’s poetry highlights the cultural roots and humanity of the individuals listed in the otherwise unemotional primary source document.  The book ends with a transcription of the appraisal document leaving the reader with the powerful knowledge that the slaves would be sold, but not knowing what was to happen to them.

Anchored by a primary source document, this is a powerful book humanizing the slave experience.

Learning to share is one of the essential social skills young children need to master.  Just like with Bear and Hare, some kids find the concept easier than others.  Simple repetitive text and expressive illustrations make Bear and Hare Share! a good starting point for discussion around sharing.

Bear and Hare take a walk and see some neat stuff that they both want.  When Bear asks to share, Hare responds with a vigorous “Mine!” Bear doesn’t care and still shows his affection for Hare.  After their tug a war over a balloon pops the balloon, bear wanders out of the story.  Now Hare doesn’t care and heads off to a bee hive enjoy honey on his own.  When the bees chase him away, Bear is there to comfort him.  Reluctantly Hare offers to share his jar of honey.  The reader isn’t sure if Hare has really learned to share since the last page shows Hare holding the jar away from Bear rather than sharing.

Thick pages make the book easy for young readers.

The mysterious Theodore lives in a dark, quiet cave and all that can be seen of him is his eyes.  One after another, a bird, a wolf, and a tiger all disturb Theodore. He is not really hungry, however, so he tells each of them, “I will not eat you.”  Theodore is finally becoming hungry when, with a, “raaaar,”a boy gallops up to the cave on a stick horse . Theodore bellows, “Don’t bother me, pesky boy, or I will eat you.” When the boy does not go away, the snout of Theodore the dragon finally emerges from the cave.  A run through the woods leads to a fall and laughter.  It’s hard to eat someone when you’re laughing.  Now Theodore’s cave is still quiet, but Theodore is no longer hiding in the dark – he’s outside playing.

A fun story celebrating imaginative play.

Edward is a very particular pig. Whether at home, outside, or at school, he always avoid anything messy.  This means he also misses out on jumping in leaves, playing kickball in the mud, science experiments and art.  One day while organizing an art shelf rather than painting, the shelf falls and paint is everywhere!!  At first devastated, he finally embraces his messiness and the next day participates in art, science, kickball, and leaf jumping.  After all, he can always clean up afterwards.  The rather bland story line makes this an additional purchase for most collections.

As the rest of Botsburg powers down for bedtime, Bitty Bot breaks all the bedtime rules with his power tools; “Banging bolts and welding wing.  Clanging cogs and tubes and springs.” When his rocket is complete, he zooms through space to touch down on the moon.  There he takes in the sights and joins an alien party.  His battery is finally running low and sets off from the moon in his rocket.  Will he reach home and bed before his systems shut down?

Cute characters, rhyming text and fun language make this a creative alternative the standard bedtime story.

Once upon a menacing time, after their mother’s disappearance, Hensel and Gretel chose to empower themselves by learning ninjutsu.  When their father is also dragged away, they set off through the dark woods leaving a breadcrumb trail.  Caught off guard at the fox’s corn bread house, Hensel is also plucked up and shoved into a pen.  Greta then squeezes down the flu with ninja like silence and speed to snatch her mother out of the stir-fry pan while Hensel picks the lock to escape the pen.  The book ends with their vow to rescue, protect, and defend until bird-napping comes to an end.

Santat’s illustrations clearly portray both expression and motion.  This is the third title by these authors to pair martial arts with a retelling of a classic fairy tale.   A fun addition to any collection.

Best in Snow contains breathtaking winter photographs.  The sparse text powerfully describes the winter snow cycle. Starting with a freeze, a breeze and a cloud, the snow then sails and settle, shapes and dusts. Once the storm is over and the sun shines, the air warms and then the snow softens and melts. Until…another freeze, another breeze, another cloud. Back papers describes in more detail the science behind each poetic phrase and contains a further reading list. Use to support a winter theme or in a science unit focused on the water cycle.

Starting at age 2 when he could finally reach the seat, a young boy celebrates the litany of vehicles he has mastered.  Rhyming poetic first person text reinforces the joy and accomplishment the boys feels with each year and each new vehicle. The boy’s wide eyed glee can be seen on each page, whether running a big backhoe at 3 years old or plowing snow at 6 years. In each picture, the boy is accompanied by a turtle, pig, and penguin. Finally, at age 7 the boy has “got a bedroom like a parking lot,” and the reader sees and understands the imaginative play behind the story.  The continuation of his love of vehicles year after year culminates with his statement that, “when I grow up…. with any luck, I’ll drive a truck.”  A sure hit with young vehicle lovers.