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.

Originally published in 1893, The Green Fairy Book is a compilation of fairy tales from all around the world.  In his preface, Lang explains that it’s not a book about fairies, but about fairy tales, stories that have a magical quality.  Also, it’s not a ‘green’ fairy, but it is simply his way of making the books separate, and has titled his volumes according to colors: blue, red, green, and yellow, and so on, rather than I, II, III or IV.  The stories can be centuries old, from anonymous sources, from many different countries, and also from the Grimm Brothers.  What makes these fairy tales stand out from our more modern, traditional published fairy tales is the quality and quantity of language.  Many of the fairy tales are familiar and well known, yet still vastly different.  The basic story is the same, but the descriptions of the settings, actions, and characterizations are much more embellished.  These embellishments give readers a much better understanding of the characters and locales and paints us a better picture of the story.  Today’s children are used to ‘Disney-fication’ of fairy tales and many haven’t been read the original fairy tale.  The Green Fairy Book gives children language from which to learn by.  How wonderful!  This book has been in my library for over 50 years, and this fresh new copy will be here for another 50.

Guy Fieri is known for his Food Network television shows and his restaurants.  “Fieri never attended culinary school, but he has written several popular cookbooks of original recipes.” ( p. 4)

During his elementary school years, Guy and his father worked together to help Guy make a business selling pretzels from a three-wheeled bicycle push cart.  He sold pretzels for six years. During his high school years, Guy moved to France as an exchange student, after meeting his mother’s requirement of learning the French language to her satisfaction.  Back in the United States, he attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas earning a degree in “hospitality and management”. Guy first managed a restaurant, then a restaurant chain. Then came his own restaurant, with a partner, Johnny Garlic’s California Pasta Grill,, followed by Tex Wasabi’s Rock n’ Roll Sushi BBQ, and then Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar. Guy was encouraged to enter a Food Network contest which he won out of more than 1000 entries. The prize was six episodes of Guy’s first show- Guy’s Big Bite. His next show- Diners, Drive-ins and Dives evolved from a TV special in November 2006.

Fieri works on ways “to educate kids on healthy eating habits” (p. 26) through his TV shows and through the California State Legislature.

Includes:   a recipe, timeline, glossary, and index.

Harper Lee, by Alexis Burling, a biography that is part of the Essential Lives Series, succinctly details the highlights and controversies that surround one of literature’s best-love, yet little known writers.  Nelle Harper Lee’s first novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was a literary sensation from the moment of publication, garnering the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1961.  The immediate acclaim for the book and the huge success of the movie put Lee in an unwanted spotlight.  Being essentially a very private person, Lee stopped granting interviews and became very wary of the intent of strangers.  The biography addresses the questions and speculations about Harper Lee and her status in American literature.  Side bars, photos and interviews highlight specific details about her life including speculations about the authorship of Mockingbird as well as legal battles concerning royalties.  It also discussed is the current  controversy about the publication of her “lost” novel,  Go Set the Watchman , in May of 2015. Source notes by chapter facilitate further research.  In a brief 106 pages, this is an excellent non-fiction book about the author of an iconic American novel.

Six Degrees of LeBron James: Connecting Basketball Stars is actually more of a historical accounting of the greatest basketball stars than just about LeBron James.  James is in his prime and students are very aware of who he is, however, this book isn’t about him, it’s about how basketball players are linked to one another and to the past.  Much of sports involves lots of math; statistics of who’s the best at what.  This book covers who’s the best.  Those interested in basketball will enjoy reading why people consider the greatest, the greatest.