In Earthrise: My Adventures As an Apollo 14 Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell essentially tells his life story.  We may think that today’s kids are growing up in an era of huge technological change, but Mitchell saw changes just extreme.  Born in 1930 in Texas, his family moved to New Mexico where he has vast prairies to explore and millions of stars to enjoy.  At the age of four, Mitchell flew for the first time, an event that planted a see for this farm boy.  Having an Airforce base in his town kept him enthralled as World War II ploughed through Europe.  Even after another move, he kept his love and began flying at the age of 14.  At 17 he became more intrigued in flying and space with reports that a UFO was captured in his old home town. The story continues along his choice to go into the Navy and the path to landing a job at NASA.  By chapter 4 readers will get to the exciting training Mitchell received to prepare him for his mission to space.

Audience was considered when Mitchell wrote this text.  It is not overwhelmingly technical. And what is particularly powerful is the chronological building of his dream.  Student readers can clearly see that Mitchell had a goal and had to work extremely hard to get it, even with some set backs and course re-alignments.  Therefore it is also inspiring to know that with a little planning, patience and perseverance, goals can be reached.

The side bar inserts are slightly repetitive to what is explained clearly within the text itself and would probably be skipped by most younger readers.  Yet the quotations at the start of each chapter are a creative touch to forecast what the chapter has in store.

It is clear Mitchell had a life altering spiritual experience on his decent back to earth.  Who wouldn’t?  This reader appreciates how tactfully he handled his discussion of this.  The resource notes in the back of the book keep it focused on the path and mission rather than his spiritual beliefs at this time.

Most students interested in space travel will like this text.  Recommended for middle and high school libraries.

This biography briefly introduces the life of Benjamin Franklin, touching on his inventions and his contributions to the city of Philadelphia as well as to the newly formed United States of America.  This book is part of the Rookie biographies series printed by Scholastic.  Colorful photos, engaging nonfiction text will encourage children to read on their own – as they discover how this incredibly accomplished man contributed to the founding of our nation.

Nick Cannon, husband of  singer Mariah Carey, and father to twins Moroccan and Monroe (Roc & Roe) has taken the traditional Christmas carol THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS and updated it the new lyrics.

Today’s children will identify more readily with the items Roc and Roe are hanging on their Christmas tree, then with the items in the traditional song, i.e. a partridge in a pear tree. The traditional melody easily fits the new words for most lines. The words for the ‘7th day’ have the correct number of syllables, but the words themselves do not slip easily off of the tongue when sung.

AG Ford puts whimsical action into his illustrations as the pages build one day at a time to the twelfth day climax.

“On the twelfth day of Christmas, Roc and Roe put on their Christmas tree

twelve chugging choo-choos, eleven teddy bears, ten candy canes, nine jumping Jacks [Jack’s their dog],

eight tiny reindeer, seven balloons with bows, six festive fairies, FIVE GOLDEN BELLS,

four skiing snowmen, three “pip” photos, two singing Santas,

and an angel with sparkly, shiny wings.”

This is a YOU CHOOSE story. Meaning, after the reader has read the opening fives pages of the story, the reader is given two or three choices to make at each plot turn leading up to 14 different possible endings. The plot begins when Poison Ivy : AKA- Pamela Isley has escaped from Arkham Asylum. ”  ‘She’s a toxic villain who cares more about plants than humanity… ‘ ” (p. 8) and is headed to Giordano Botanical Gardens.”Poison Ivy is too powerful in the gardens. She’s literally a force of nature there.” (p. 9)  All plants in Giordano Botanical Gardens are ‘potential weapons‘. Poison Ivy is out to steal the seeds stored there for use after a disaster.

Off Batman goes to recapture Poison Ivy. At the first junction, Batman [and the reader] must decide whether to look for Poison Ivy in the lilacs, the peonies, or in the crabapple orchard. If he chooses the lilacs, there are at least four possible paths or choices (given in blue type at the bottom of the page) until Poison Ivy eludes Batman and ends the story. BUT then the book prompts the reader “To follow another path, turn to page 7.” I did my best to follow all of the choices for the lilac routes, the peony routes, and the crabapple routes. Chasing Poison Ivy through the various gardens with Batman at the Giordano Botanical Gardens was exciting, especially when I was given such choices as: “If Batman decides that it’s safe to rush Poison Ivy now, turn to page 56.”      or       “If he uses his stealth skills to follow her, turn to page 81.” 

All of the twists and turns Batman makes along the way trying to recapture Poison Ivy are much like the vines and tendrils she orders to grow in Batman’s way to stop him.  The chase is what this book is all about! It’s fun and exhausting! Don’t tell anyone, but Batman never catches Poison Ivy in any of the scenarios.

Eleven illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book done by professional DC Comics artist Ethan Beavers.

Includes: Glossary and Poison Ivy bio.

This factual book is written in four sections: What are Gray Wolves?, Pack Life, On the Hunt, and Pups. There are an average of two sentences per page. Included within the pages of text are a map, a graph, and two charts. Wolves’ physical characteristics of height, weight, and color are stated, as well, as what they eat, their habitats, and where they live. The photos of the wolves are captivating.

The map on page 5 showing the wolves range around the Western Hemisphere is correct, but the sentence below the map states eastern Greenland, when according to the map (and National Geographic from the book’s www.factsurfer.com) the wolves reside in western Greenland.

Includes: Contents, Index, Glossary, and www.factsurfer.com.

Dare I say this young adult novel can be both entertaining and educational?  Sophomore Year Is Greek To Me is Meredith Zeitlin’s second young adult novel.  Though the first one is titled with a reference to “Freshman Year”, this is not a sequel.  In this story young Zona Lowell is leaving her beloved New York City lifestyle to be a new student in an international school in Greece while her father does research to write a book.  Zona herself is an investigative writer for her school newspaper, and while she has to let that be maintained by her friends back in the states, Zona throws in plot moving newspaper article inserts throughout the book.  Reading them is mandatory to make sure one doesn’t miss interesting plot points and character insights.  Zona will adjust to life meeting new friends, chasing after a “crush” who wasn’t all that, and settling into a friendly happiness with a boy that just gets her.  But the connection to Greece is not just by chance.  Zona’s departed mother was Greek and Zona has never met her mother’s side of the family. The whole climax of the story involves Zona going to stay with her Greek relatives by herself for the two week Easter holiday break from school.  Not only is this educational and foundational for Zona, but readers can learn a thing or two about Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations and Greek family structure.  I’d be curious what research path Zeitlin took because this reader would have liked to have tagged along.  A charming 15 turning 16 year old, coming of culture novel that girls as young at 7th grade might enjoy.  This stand alone is probably an additional purchase for most school libraries.

This United Kingdom non fiction picture book dealing with the celebration of Christmas uses high interest photos with low word count to open dialogue between the young reader and an adult.

I point out U.K. because of the use of ‘crackers’ (p. 17) and the types of desserts (mince meat pie [ p. 19]) used in this holiday’s celebration.

I found the same grammatical mistake in two places: (p. 18) ” How do YOUR family…” and (p. 12) ” What do YOUR family put…”

The best part of the book just might be the “Notes for adults” found on pages 22-23 on how to use this book with young children. The book is said to support “Early Years Foundation Stages”.

Contains an Index and Contents.

Clifford the BIG red dog is pairing up with word opposites while Emily Elizabeth and he visit a zoo. They see at least nine animals and compare them to Clifford: small / big – penguins / Clifford, sleeping/awake – koalas / Clifford, light/heavy – butterflies / Clifford, dirty/clean – hippo / Clifford, noisy/ quiet – howler monkeys / Clifford, hard / soft – tortoise / Clifford, up/down – birds / Clifford, curly / straight – chameleon / Clifford, and wet / dry – seals / Clifford.

After the story’s conclusion, there are four pages which include a 2 or 3 sentence factual paragraph about each of the nine animals Emily and Clifford saw while at the zoo.

The book’s front cover is a tactile  bonus for preschool children and kindergartners alike.   A thick board cover with a cutout of Clifford is filled with a soft padded red fabric inset of Clifford. Clifford’s padding is almost flush with the board, so it should not cause a problem when shelving this book.

Jan Brett’s skilled and customary art style accompany the speculated tale of how a young cave boy becomes friends with a Paleowolf. In customary storytelling fashion, three times the cave boy stops to ask the Paleowolf a question and then deny the animal any of his roasted Wooly Rhino bones. Each time the Paleowolf leaves, Kip the cave boy discovers and eludes a dangerous animal in the nick of time. “Finally, Kip made a speech. He said, ‘Wolfy, if you will use your keen nose and your fine ears and your sharp eyes to keep me from being eaten up, I promise to share with you all the Wooly Rhino ribs and even Mammoth meat that I cook over the fire.’  ”

From inside back cover, “The images and ornaments of her borders were inspired by the cave paintings and artifacts surviving from this time.”

Caged like an animal. Training for a mission. This story begins In Medias Res, or in the middle, launching the reader into Nathan’s tortuous life without knowing why he is treated in such a way until 20 pages into his life.  Nathan is a half blood – half white witch and half black witch. Both white and black witches live among the humans in this modern English setting. Nathan has strong ties to his white heritage as he is raise by his grandmother on that side. But his 17th birthday is approaching. With this birthday he should receive his 3 gifts at his Giving ceremony. While he always assumed it they would be given by his grandmother, securing his connection to the white side, the Council takes him away from his family, setting up a struggle that will pit Nathan between his mother’s white side — a mother who committed suicide to avoid the family drama and trauma– and his father’s side — a father who Nathan has never know, who he has been told may want to kill him, and who he still has the strongest desire to meet.   This story has tones of the racial tension of our past as Nathan struggles between his white and black sides early on.  The 1st book in a trilogy, readers can easily sense that the story just won’t be wrapping up any time soon.  If witches are the new vampires, this Sally Green’s Half Bad trilogy should do well with middle and high school grade readers.