Dyamonde Daniel is an outspoken third grader who covet’s the stylish, pink, hight-top shoes of a classmate.  In response to her daughter’s inablility to see the difference between wants and needs, Dyamond’s mother empties Dyamond’s closet, leaving only the  necessities.  When a devastating fire leaves a classmates’s family with virtually nothing, Dyamonde shifts her thinking into helping others in need.  This award-winning author provides us with engaging characters and powerful lessons that can drive discussions on important life lessons.  Bold, pencil-like illustrations pepper the text and engage the Take-Off Stage reader.

Based on the true story of Luis Soriana, who lives in a remote town in northern Colombia, this colorful, primary version, of his amazing saga of bringing books to villages leaves the reader inspired and uplifted.  Starting in 2000, Luis and his two burros began bringing a collection of 70 books to the villagers.  Three hundered people, more or less, look forward to weekly visits of the self-made burro librarian.  Luis understands about the power of story.  “People around here love stories, I’m trying to keep that spirit alive in my own way.” – Luis Soriana.  The illustrations are done in a bright folk art style that is delightfully charming and connects to the ethnicity of that part of the world.  My son-in-law just finished building a book lending box in his Northgate neighborhood, of Seattle.   Luis, I believe, would be very happy.

This book is one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time.  The subject matter, cooking, is a refreshing topic and I believe, totally overlooked but appealing to young adults.  The stars refer to the quality of food and experience given to a restaurant by a newspaper restaurant critic, with four being the best.  Gladys, age 11 and in sixth grade, loves to cook and got her love for food from her aunt who lives in Paris.  She watches the Food Network, reads cook books and is friends with Mr. Eng,  a Chinese grocer, who lets her sample different food.  The spices and herbs in his store play a big flavor difference in turning ordinary food into fine cuisine.  This book is also one of the funniest I’ve ever read because Gladys parents don’t cook.  Their dinners are mainly takeout food from fast food places, some of which are pretty questionable.  When they do attempt cooking, food is burned or nuked beyond recognition and flavor.  Plus foodies know that cooking with sub-par ingredients is a total waste of time and money.  Gladys has a journal in which she writes summaries of meals she’s either created or eaten, including those of her parents.  Her teacher assigns an essay for a contest being held by a New York City newspaper and convinces Gladys to write what she is passionate about.  Gladys’ essay ends up on the food editor’s desk of the newspaper and Gladys is contacted to fill in for the injured food critic.  How Gladys gets herself to NYC is quite an achievement.  With the popularity of television food shows and food stars, as well as Master Chef Junior, this book will resonate with aspiring chefs.  The story line and writing is snappy and funny and moves along quickly, making it a real winner.

Pacific Northwest zoologist turned author- Roland Smith has done it again. This is the third book in his cryptid series. Chupacabra is fast paced. It keeps you wanting more even if you have not read the first two books in the series.  The introductory pages includes: a definition of ‘cryptozoology’, a running list of characters and their ties in the story,  background on chupacabra creatures, an introduction to the series, and a prologue, prior to the first chapter bringing the reader up to date on the events of the previous book – Tentacles.

Teenage Grace is living with her grandfather, Noah Blackwood, in his mansion connected to the Seattle Ark, a wildlife zoo in Seattle, WA. Grace, who  has just met her grandfather, is anxious to find out about a family she has never known. Can Noah Blackwood be as awful as her cousin Marty thinks he is? She has decided to find out firsthand. Marty and his friends Dylan and Luther, are bound and determined to get Grace away from Noah and the pair of dinosaur hatchlings Noah’s men stole from Marty’s Uncle Wolfe in the previous book. When they enter Seattle Ark they are immediately watched  on security cameras. Soon Noah’s top right-hand man, Butch is drugging Luther and taking him into the Ark’s labyrinth of secure underground laboratories. Marty and Dylan hide out in the Ark until after it closes to the public before their search for Grace, Luther, and the dinosaurs begin. Little be little Grace has masterfully played her grandfather’s employees to uncover information revealing her grandfather’s true character. The world sees Noah Blackwood for his efforts to save the world’s rarest animals, when in reality, Noah is collecting these animals for profit and his own private collection. Luther escapes from Butch by going into the ventilation system. Noah has his genetically engineered chupacabra placed into the ventilation system to hunt Luther down and get rid of him permanently. The chase is on. Technologically savvy teenagers verses the technologically savvy secret world of a greedy self-centered billionaire. Who will survive?

Published in England, The Queen & Mr. Brown, refers to Queen Elizabeth and her Corgi, Mr. Brown.  On a bad weather day, the Queen decides to walk to the Museum of Natural History to spend the day.  Mr. Brown isn’t so happy to go out into the weather.  At the museum, there is a dinosaur display which they find interesting.  The illustrations in this book are reminiscent of the Madeline series.  Information about a few dinosaurs, such as bone length, are given, as well as the cause of their extinction.  The Queen falls asleep on a bench and has a funny dream, then awakens and walks home with Mr. Brown.  A gentle story that appeals to young listeners.

Willow discovers that there is more to a book than jut what is written on the page.  When she uses her imagination Willow is able to find ANOTHER story inside the one in her book.  Detailed and delicate color illustrations entice readers to use their imagination with this story as well as any others they may have read.

I highly recommend this picture book for all ages and levels.  It is both entertaining and enlightening.

Colorful pen and ink pictures are found in each 2 page spread adding depth and dimension to this version of the classic fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Detailed historical information is included in the Afterword information at the end of the text.  It includes speculation that the Pied Piper story may have been created to disguise an attack of the plague.

This book would be a great addition to a picture book or fairy tale collection.

When their grandmother dies, 17 year old twins Violet and Luke continue to live in her crumbling house on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean.  While the kids try to keep up with the overdue house repairs, utilities and food costs their artist parents leave them abandoned and without funds.  To get money for basic survival Violet ends up renting the guest house to the new stranger in town who also happens to be only 17 – River West.

With River’s arrival strange and unusual things start happening around town including sightings of the “devil” in the cemetery.   River seems to have the ability to make others see what he wants and not only does he confuse Violet but she thinks she may be falling in love with him.  Could he be the “devil” that towns people are seeing?

The story has violence mixed with witchcraft and some minor adult language.  Overall it was a very good read.  I would have preferred a different ending!

— review by student Taylor H.

For those familiar with DC Super Heroes, this may just be the Green Lantern book for you. “ Hal [Jordan, aka Green Lantern] had been assigned the task of overseeing the signing of a peace treaty between the planet Juray and the planet Talesca.” (page 5) The two delegates are squabbling and Hal is refereeing. Along comes a third party, the Yellow Lantern, who secretly traps both the Talescian’s and the Juran’s fleets  inside a “net made of yellow energy beams” inside an asteroid belt where they can’t be seen. (page 14). Both delegates are even more outraged with the other side than before. Enter the Orange Lantern. Now the Green Lantern and the Yellow Lantern work together because “There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring people together.” (p. 26) The Orange Lantern losses the fight, the Talescian and the Juran fleets are released and their delegates are now beginning to work together. Hal’s job is done, at least, for the time being.

Graphic novel and comic book readers will enjoy the quality of the 9 full page illustrations and the 15 – 1960s style Batman television show graphic onomatopoeia  words interspersed through out the book’s five chapters in this hybrid between graphic novel and traditional short chapter book.

Primary grade readers will see a variety of stem types in this introductory book on plants. What seems so obvious to us as adults is an eye opener to young children. This seems to become more true everyday as we become more urban, especially for children living in apartments without yards. In this 8′ X 7″ book, the top 5 inches of each page is a color photo of a plant  with the bottom 3 inches of the page containing one or two sentences typed  in a bold large font.

Page 10 states, “ Stems move water and food around a plant.”   Then on the last page of the book, below the Index, in the Notes for Parents and Teachers section in small font is the activity for demonstrating this by placing a freshly-cut white carnation into a vase of water with food coloring added to it. I hope children do not miss out on this activity, though I fear they will. This activity holds fond childhood memories for me.