Lyric Walker lives a normal teenage life until she is forced into the unlikely situation of an invasion by the Alpha in Undertow. Then her world is shattered as she takes on the problems of living with a secret that would tear her world apart. Her friends are kept in the dark and she lives with the fear that others will know. Soon she is forced into becoming a friend to Fathom, an Alpha prince, but soon begins to be attracted to his unlikely charms. The plot beautifully unfolds as Lyric discovers both a hostile and magical world.

The author creates the realistic world of a teenager who lives in a terrifying world. Things go from bad to worse as Lyric, a strong female character, battles for her friends and family. The book is fast paced and moves from one situation to another. It ended too soon and readers will be ready for a sequel.

This book follows a child and her mother on a visit to an apple orchard where they take apples through the cider making process. They pick apples, wash them, put them in a shredder, help press the apples, then fill the jugs with cider. Then they attend the festival where there are many different kinds of apple dishes including muffins, pie, cobbler, fritters and more. Sweet illustration help describe the cider process.

Zig is a small, blue creature who lives in a lonely, rainy world. He grabs hold of a red umbrella and is carried away by the wind to a faraway place. He meets a tiny bird that needs his help to conquer a big roaring creature and free the tiny bird’s friends. The bird is so grateful for Zig’s help that a friendship develops, and Zig isn’t lonely any more. This book has very colorful illustrations.

The school dance is going to start, but Little Piggy is worried because all the other animals can moonwalk, cha-cha, boogaloo, etc… But Little Piggie is told by his Daddy, his Mummy, his grandma and grandpa, and his brother and sister that, “Us piggies, we’ve got no moves.” Soon Little Piggie believes what his family has told him. With a heavy heart, he attends the dance and watches the animals move to the music. Suddenly, his tail begins to twitch and twirl, and he starts moving across the floor joining the animals in their dances, and discovers he has a dance of his own. This is a great story to encourage students to disregard negative comments that others might say, and believe in themselves.

It is the day before the vegetable competition at the local harvest fair, and Max Monroe and the ghost of his great-uncle work together as a detective team to solve the mystery of the Zamboni sisters’ missing giant zucchini. They investigate people around town including Mr. Jordan who really wants to win the contest this year, and Edwena Whacker who makes the most delicious zucchini bread. Together they find clues to solve the mystery. This fun little mystery book is book two in the Ghost and Max Monroe series.

Dandy is very worried about the fifth grade spelling bee because his family has a history of winning the contest. When Dandy steps on stage and starts spelling, crazy things happen to interrupt him. The speakers buzz loudly, the microphone cuts in and out, and then thousands of bees swarm the auditorium making it impossible for Dandy to compete. Malcolm, his best friend, realizes that the contest is being haunted and the boys go into action to stop the spelling bee specter. This is book number 19 in the Ghost Detectors series. This is a fun story of the two ghost detector friends.

The eleventh book in the Faerieground series, it brings loyalty, trust, friendship and love into this fantasy of a war between the faeries and the crows. The faerie heroes go to battle to free the faerie Queen, Soli. This book ends in the midst of the war, leaving the reader to turn to book twelve for the conclusion. The illustrations are amazingly detailed watercolor images. The text is very simple, appealing to the low level readers as well as the reluctant readers.

The Prince of Peas is a parody of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. The art work makes this an excellent picture book to use with high school art students. The numerous inferences throughout the story both in text and illustration make this story  for a mature audience, rather than an elementary reader*.

“Princess Antoinette [ a rabbit] has decided to wed. The idea has been growing like a pea in her head.” The first prince, possible groom, is musician Prince Tristan [a cat]. He spends the night of the party playing with the musicians in the band, instead of holding Antoinette’s hand. Then, he fails the pea test under the seven mattresses because his dog does not like heights. The second prince, Prince Victor [a boar] finds his bed too skimpy, so goes out to sleep with his war horse. Antoinette gives the search for a prince one more try. Prince Philippe [a stag] is spotted saving a cat from drowning. after the ball Antoinette and Philippe hold ‘hand(s) as they bounce on his bed.” All the bouncing on the bed lets Queen Louise [a crow] know this is the right spouse for her daughter. “Antoinette is so happy, so pleased to be wed, that another idea takes shape in her head. [a page turn] The months, they pass by, the idea grows and grows… into a new little Prince with a pea for a nose!”

*The little prince has a green pea for a nose, one rabbit ear and one stag antler.   So my question is, did author Sylvie Chausse mean for this to be a simple retelling of the classic Princess and the Pea? If so, is Sylvie Chausse happy with the illustrations that lead me to think there is a hidden meaning, dealing in favor of interracial marriage, on the part of the illustrator Anne Letuffe. That aside, the illustrations are mixed media, using layers of drawn art with fabric for clothing , maps, textured paper, photos of actual peas and pea plants.

This is a YA “Twilight Zone” style story in picture book form. This book asks the question, “How should we react to the violence of war in a far off country?”

The gray on gray illustrations tell the story of a war zone photo journalist who follows a 9 yr. old boy, wounded in a school bus attack, to the hospital. The photo journalist finds difficulty with this boy’s photo story because the boy reminds him of his own nephew who he gave the same pair of red shoes to for his eighth birthday. “I looked through the last shots: I had taken the same photo twelve times. In each one, Kenan was stretched out on the gurney, a bloodied bandage on his head and a red basketball shoe on his left foot.” On the next/last page turn with text, the reader finds the photo journalist talking with his nephew on the phone about he nephew’s upcoming basketball game. The last page turn reveals the photo journalist  in his office contemplating this story’s events. He is siting on the edge of the desk with one foot on his chair and a lit cigarette in his hand. On the desk is a newspaper whose headline reads ‘School Bus Attacked’ under a photo of the bus.