Evil books have been released from the library. There is only one hope, the League of Librarians. On a bus, a book is loose, sliding along the floor. It only contains one sentence among many, many blank pages. A student picks up the book, reads the sentence and instantly disappears. Each person on the bus who reads the sentence disappears. However, a hero jumps on board the bus to stop the book from its evil actions. It is the Blind Librarian to the rescue. This gripping mystery is followed up with discussion questions, writing prompts, and a glossary. This book is written for students who have a lower reading level.

This is the fifth Nancy Drew Mystery in the long line of Nancy Drew mysteries. The suspense holds up more than 80 years since it was written. The reader may notice the absence of cell phones, lack of air conditioning in the car, and watching a movie in a theater instead of at a drive-in, but this all adds to the mystery and suspense of this, now- period, piece. New readers to the mystery genre will enjoy this book as much today as when it was new in 1931.

Nancy has just flown into Phoenix, AZ, for a vacation with her friends at their aunt and uncle’s Shadow Ranch. Uncle Ed and Aunt Bets are the new owners of the ranch which they acquired in payment for a debt. Now things are starting to go wrong at the ranch beginning with the appearance of a mysterious glowing phantom horse who runs through the pasture at night right before something goes wrong. Once after the phantom horse appeared  the ranch’s only source of power and the water stopped working. Sabotaged! Another time the phone lines were cut (and even if this was in today’s time, the ranch would be in a dead cell zone, considering how far out from town they are). Nancy’s friends are very confident she will be able to solve the mystery of the phantom horse in time to prevent their aunt and uncle from loosing their ranch. Nancy analyzes the events. She is full of suppositions and suspicious of everyone outside of the family. Trips into town to talk with the sheriff and get supplies add new clues and suspects into the mix. As it turns out, Nancy is gifted an antique watch from the 1880s, which once belonged to the daughter of the original ranch’s owner, for helping stop a thief. This watch becomes one of the first real clues to solving the mysteries. The watch’s original owner was in love with a robber who had buried a treasure somewhere on the ranch. Horseback rides into remote parts of the ranch, a near kidnapping of Nancy, and setting a trap in an ancient Indian dwelling keep the suspense and intrigue going through until the end.

The cover art was very appealing, but the horse’s rider should have been wearing Western attire, not English riding clothes.

Young primary grade readers will immediately identify with the photos of children with missing baby teeth.

Factual information on the number of baby teeth, permanent teeth,  ages for beginning and ending of childhood tooth loss, and how to care for teeth is given.

This book does not talk down to its readers. Page 18 states, ” Eating right builds strong teeth. Eating too many sugary foods can cause cavities. germs in our feed on sugar. The germs make acid that attack teeth. The acid can lead to cavities.”

There are 9 Fast Fact trivia factoids spread throughout the book.

This 6″ X 7″ includes an activity page asking the child to count their own teeth and a second page with a pictorial mini-quiz on how to maintain a healthy smile.

Includes: glossary, index, and web site:  www. factsfornow.scholastic.com   keyword Teeth.

When their tour guide dies in a tragic accident that happens while Emma and her small group of strangers are hiking during a huge wind storm, they now have no choice but to make it to Lake Superior on their own.  But not everyone in the group believes in the “All for one, and one for all” mentality.  In fact, when it comes to surviving mother nature and all of the creatures that come with her, one hiker has no qualms with a survival of the fittest mentality.  This is an exciting, attention grabbing book for adventure loving types who love adrenaline rushes. Survival is definitely the name of the game and with all of these types of shows on TV in the last couple of years, Stranded by Melinda Braun could be a go-to book for that kid who can’t find anything to read roaming your shelves…

Smick! is a picture book story told in extremely simply drawings using a total of 15 different words.

Smick is a dog. He listens. He follows the command to, “Sit, Smick.” He is rewarded with, “Good, Smick.”  Someone, off page, throws Smick a “stick*“, off Smick goes. Then, Smick hears a “Cluck!” and a “Chick” flies into the story. Smick and the chick have fun with the stick.

The stick* is an actual photo of a forked stick. The chick is a single bi-colored geranium flower petal with eyes, beak, wings, and feet drawn in with a black pen/marker.

Beginning readers will enjoy the simplicity of the easy to read text in combination with the easy to understand dog and bird behaviors.

The absolute best part of Una LaMarche’s Don’t Fail Me Now is Michelle’s voice.  It is aided by LaMarche’s terse storytelling abilities, keeping the action moving along without a single chance to pause.  In the 1st chapter of the story, readers learn that Michelle is a 17 year old senior with a mom who returned to jail on drug charges and two younger siblings to take care of while avoiding CPS.  Michelle is a quick thinking, AP classes kind of student stuck in her mother’s grasp of bad choices.  Extended family actually complicate the situation.  Michelle dad has been MIA for since she was 6. But now he’s dying, which she finds out through Tim, the step brother from another marriage to Leah, who is Michelle’s 1/2 sister of the same dying dad.  Michelle and Leah had never met, though they live in the same town, but Leah wanted to get Michelle the news…and the hope for an “heirloom” which could be money, something that would help Michelle dearly as she tries to hang on to her siblings.  While the realities of the cross country road trip storyline are totally far fetched, LaMarche’s character’s voices are so authentic that readers will want to see how the story ends.

Kris Dinnison’s premise in You and Me and Him is very possible in any high school around the world today, which is what kept me anticipating how the conflicts would be tied up.  Unfortunately, for this reader, the ending is where it falls apart.  “You” refers to Nash, the gay best friend of “Me”, Maggie.  Nash and Maggie have been besties since their preschool years.  Dennison captures the voice of a frustrated gay student quite well.  And it complements that of Maggie, who is overweight and proclaims from the opening sentences “I am not one of those shrinking-violet fat girls.  I don’t sit alone in my bedroom playing Billie Holiday albums while drowning my sorrows in a carton of ice-cream.”  But Maggie needs a Nash so together they can survive being slight outcasts in their teenage years.  Along comes “Him”, or Tom, a new kid who is drawn to Maggie and Nash his 1st day.  Tom is considered a hottie—to both Nash and Maggie. Nash calls dibs and Maggie will try to avoid the obvious sparks that fly, but there will be drama and some passionate kissing. No sex.

I really liked each of the characters independently through 3/4 of the book, though I felt an editor could have encouraged less description of cookie eating after the 1st encounter.  But I don’t feel Tom got a fair shake at the end.  There weren’t enough shady comments or actions on his part to get the ax that he did.

Besides that, this colorfully covered novel will give colorful insight into the complexities of teen life today.  With a western Washington setting, schools up and down the Puget Sound corridor might especially like this pick.

The Yellow Fairy Book is a compilation of fairy tales from all over the world.  Originally published in 1894, this book has stood the test of time.  With a fresh new cover, it’s ready to be read by today’s children.  Many children, especially those in the U.S., might have trouble understanding the language used in elaborate descriptions of settings, actions, and characters, but this is only because for the past few decades Disney has taken over the telling of fairy tales and has dumbed down the language so all children can understand.  Reading tales from The Yellow Fairy Book is mezmerizing with it’s rich embellishments of characters and settings.  In the past one hundred plus years since it’s original publication, literature and language has taken a beating.  This book was originally published because people, especially children, clamored for books with intriguing, entertaining stories and by reading them learned to speak and write for themselves.  Before the advent of technology, books were a safe haven for children to lose themselves in.  However, technology has changed that.  No longer do many parents read fairy tales to their children, but they haven’t been read to themselves.  People don’t take the time; technology has sped up living.  But by reading and explaining the words and meanings in these timeless stories, you are giving your children the gift of time.  Not only the gift of knowledge but the actual gift of taking time to teach and care about them.  That is what makes reading so special to children–the connections it makes.  This book should be on all library shelves (it has been on mine for over 50 years) and in every home that has parents who care about their children.

Two little yellow goslings explore their little world in this 6″ X 6″ book meant for little hands.

Gemma, the older sister, wears a pith helmet and  binoculars around her neck. Gus dutifully follows her around looking into an old barrel, a patch of cattails with frogs, from the top of a large upside down terra cotta flower pot, and from the top of Molly the sheep dog.  Then “Gus peeks underneath  the hen”, back to the flower pot, “jumps into the pond”, and up onto a rock.

A cute, sweet, easy read with two goslings inquisitively and curiously looking at the big items around them, as well as, the small snails and grasshoppers.