Calling all members of the secret Silver Jaguar Society!!  Members are throughout the world and have sworn to protect the world’s artifacts.  In this installment, there have been art heists all over the world from famous museums, all happening at approximately the same time.  Jose, Henry and Anna aren’t actual members of the Secret Jaguar Society, but a close family member is and this membership has been passed down from generation to generation originating with an original artist, creator, or inventor in their families.  In a previous story, the character of Goosen was introduced who reappears and takes responsibility for the art thefts.  Goosen had also been a member of the Secret Jaguar Society at one point, but had turned traitor and instead of protecting art, he stole it.  The three young friends end up in Paris and help to solve this mystery.  One exceptional part of Messner’s book is at the end, where she has placed photos and descriptions of the places in Paris where the three friends investigated.  This element adds a touch of reality as her descriptions are based on facts.  Lots of adventure awaits in this book, and perhaps a little art history, too.

The Mystery of the Stolen Snowboard is one of 153 Boxcar Children books created by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  Warner actually only wrote the first 19 stories and the rest have been written by ‘ghost writers’ giving credit to her as being ‘created by….’.

In this book, the four Alden children are at a ski facility watching Henry’s friend compete.  After the first event, his snowboard is stolen.  Other minor incidents occur giving the Aldens the clues as to who took the snowboard and why.  Although the story is fine, there are some other issues which could be brought up for discussion from this story.  First, there is a coffee shop owner who is concerned about the environment.  He’s afraid that big international companies will come and build and cut down trees and basically ruin the town.  Second, there is burger joint owner who wants the snowboarders to all wear hats and pins that advertise her establishment.  Plus she is pushing for development and wants ownership of all the restaurants.  Not that that is bad enough in itself, but the food she serves is tasteless and unhealthy. And, third, is the subject of pushing kids into sports which demand all of their time so that their lives aren’t their own any longer.  The mystery is solved without too much effort or drama and the side stories make it interesting.

I have not heard of Terry Jones before, and I believe he is British.  However, he has written 30 wonderful fairy tales which, when read aloud, leave the listeners spellbound.  Very funny and refreshing, and each fairy tale is accompanied by a beautiful water color illustration (some black and white) by Michael Foreman.  In checking online I see that Terry Jones has other such books as well, which I will certainly purchase and add to our elementary school library, as should any other librarian.

Franklin has been a popular book character for young children for decades now, and has also branched out into his own TV cartoon show.  This book is a compilation of eight episodes of the TV series titled Franklin and Friends.  Each story is about Franklin and his friends at school, playing, making discoveries, investigating, and so on.  Each story is wholesome and interests children.  The illustrations are vivid and almost seem to leap off the page.  The cover is a hologram which gives Franklin a little movement.  This is a well made book with strong binding and would be perfect for all elementary school  libraries as well as public libraries.

Greg and the Mural is one in a series of books featuring Greg and his cousins, who  portray important characters in the story.  Greg is in sixth grade and enjoys art.  He has entered and won an art contest, the prize being a scholarship.  I am not sure where the story takes place; the blurb on the back of the book mentions ‘Trinidad Community’ but I cannot find it in the story.  However, it is known that Greg lives with his cousins and grandparents and there is no mention of his parents.  Both grandparents work at low-paying jobs.  The boy who came in second in the contest, Mark,  lives ‘at the top of the hill’ and when Greg goes there he is amazed that people can live in those poor of conditions.  Mark and his gang buddies have been tagging buildings in Greg’s community and Greg and his cousin James work together with the police to try to stop the vandalism.  There is quite a bit to discuss in this short story, choices to make that can effect your future.  There are also discussion questions at the end of the story.  This book is a very simple to read story and is intended for reluctant readers of grades 3 through 6, and maybe older.  The cover art doesn’t seem to jive with the intended audience.

In this sequel to William S. and the Great Escape, William is now a Hardison and lives with his Aunt Fiona, a school teacher, who adopted William, Jancy, Trixie and Buddy.  Life is somewhat normal, and after a year, William decides to spend his summer in the city, auditioning for the role of Puck in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.  His time is spent budy working on sets and lines and costumes,  yet his past somehow manages to worm its way back into his life, and not in a good way.  Snyder is a master at what she does.  This story is set in the 1930’s which is pretty much only demonstrated in the fact that kids didn’t have many rights at that time.  Being able to beat kids, threaten them, and intimidate them was behavior that, although not condoned, also wasn’t reported to authorities.  This story wouldn’t have stood up had it been written with a modern setting.  Also, having it take place so long ago slows the story down.  Conversations were done in person, face-to-face, with time in between to do some thinking.  Nowadays anything controversial is on YouTube immediately, or some other social media, which demands a different style of story.  Snyder gives you the opportunity to get to know the characters and do some thinking.

Froggedcould be called a ‘fractured fairy tale’ with a twist.  You rememberThe Frog Princein which a prince has been turned into a frog by a witch and must be kissed by a princess in order to break the spell?  Princess Imogene, a rather impetuous young lady, meets a frog who can talk and who has told her that he is a prince and a witch has cast a spell on him and unless she kisses him he will forever remain a frog.  So she does.  And poof, she’s a frog.  She took the place of the frog, the lying frog who said he was a prince.  Now the only way she can revert back to being a princess is to get someone to kiss her.  That doesn’t sound so hard, but when people (the poor servants) hear her talk, they can only see the money she would bring them.  She gets taken with a traveling sideshow to be the star attraction and no one wants to believe that she is what she says she is, besides, who wants to be a frog?  A real prince who wants to do the princely thing and save her, willingly offers to kiss her….but her conscience cannot bear the thought of him becoming a frog for eternity.  Very clever story with detailed descriptions and great character development.

There isn’t anything worse than witches, at least not in this story.  Rupert, an 11-year-old, fifth grader, has a real witch for a teacher.  No….a REAL witch.  When students tell their parents about all the awful things their teacher, Mrs. Frabbleknacker, makes them do, they just laugh and say that the kids have great imaginations and are prone to exaggeration.  But witch or not, Mrs. Frabbleknacker scares the kids into doing as she says, and it’s not pretty.  Rupert answers an ad for a witch’s apprentice and he helps her practice spells and potions so that she will pass her witch exams.  They also become best of friends.  The more he learns about spells and potions, the more he realizes that his teacher really is a witch.  Together, Rupert and Sandy (his witchling friend) learn how to stand up to the witches.  This is a very funny and quick paced story –totally farcical, but great fun.

Once again, Steve Jenkins has created a fascinating animal book.  In a question and answer format, 25 animals with distinct features are showcased.  Each animal is addressed by name and asked why it has such a unique adaptation.  Answers are in a conversational tone.  “Dear pufferfish: You’ve got me worried – are you going to explode?”  “No, I won’t burst.  I’ve inflated my body with water to make it tougher for a big fish to swallow me.”  Each animal’s impressive characteristic is a collage of torn and cut paper.  A final two page spread show the animals in proportion to an adult human along with their diet and where in the world they live.  Each background is a vivid solid color which complements the animal.  This is another beautifully presented book.

Margret and H.A. Rey’s trademark Curious George continues his adventures!  George and the man in the yellow hat go to a grand opening of a local bookstore where his favorite author is signing her new book.  The line is long and moving slowly so George began to explore while they waited.  He found many fun books to read, a small café with free samples, and a whole section of dinosaur books on display.  George discovered unopened boxes of the new books and made a display of his own.  The manager was impressed and George got to spend time with his favorite author.  Illustrated in the style of H.A. Rey, this is a fun, new story for all Curious George fans.