This is the fourth, and maybe favored book in the Theodosia Thockmorten series.  The setting is Egypt, where Theodosia, a strong, witty girl, discovers more about her birth and history…and how she is connected to the fight between the Brotherhood and the Serpent of Battle.  Filled with mystery, adventure, twists, and turns, periodic comic relief is welcomed, in order to give your nerves a break from the races against time, encounters with evil people and dark, dark magic.  Young and old, alike, would enjoy this romp of a tale.

Biographies for the primary level are becoming more prevalent.  I was impressed by the Table of Contents in this series which appeared to cover a wide range of interesting aspects in the life of Maurice Sendak.  Each “Chapter” (actually a two-page spread) answered a question…”Who Is Maurice Sendak?…Where Did He Grow Up?…What Did He Do Before He Was a Writer?”…and so forth.  However, after a closer look, I was disappointed in how very little information was actually included in the text…or how some, not so interesting information, was taking up prime real estate on the page.  (“He worked and studied hard for four years.”)  Where the Wild Things Are was mentioned in five of the nine “Chapters”!  Authors sometimes don’t realize that primary students can absorb a little more “meaty” information than what is being presented.  Timeline, Glossary, Find Out More and Index are all included in the Back Matter.

Life is full of times when everything does not go as planned.  Tallulah knows that she is an excellent ballerina.  She is attentive in class, following her teacher’s exact instructions.  Her younger brother, on the other hand, goofs off a lot and  has to sit in the time-out chair.  When she and her brother audition for The Frog Prince ballet, to her horror, her brother is chosen for a major part at being the frog and she is NOT the princess, but a lady-in waiting.      Eventually she accepts the situaltion and helps her brother with improving his part in the ballet.  This does not go unnoticed…and the story has a happy ending with she and her brother playing the leads in the next ballet, Hansel and Gretel.  This story rivets children who can identify with such difficult, real-life situations that build character.  The numerous water color illustrations are charmingly soft and beautifully support the flow of the story.  Reading this title makes me want to add more Tallulah  books to my collection.

The text grabs the reader from page one.  “Find the Truth!”  You are given a challenge, as you read along, to discover which of two statements about the solar system are true or false.  Immediately the mind is engaged.  Packed full of interesting informational text and  exquisite photos, this True Book series is a winner for all of the elementary levels.  The page layouts have wonderful visual appeal.  I can see students returning to this book again, and again, to explore all that is there.  Back Matter includes Resources (Books), Organizations and Web Sites, Places to Visit, Important Words, and Index.

This Natural Wonders series is designed to support primary and early readers with non-fiction, landform topics.   Each two-page spread presents a big, colorful and quite amazing photo on the right…with a simple three sentence text on the left.  Students learn the basics of how glaciers are formed and how they move.  Two famous glaciers are featured such as the one at Canada’s Banff National Park and Malaspina Glacier in Alaska.  How people are affected by glaciers is at the conclusion.  Having a three-year-old granddaughter, I appreciate less wordy non-fiction texts, however, I felt that this title errored on the side of too little information.  The book is over in a heartbeat…and she is wondering…is that all?  The biggest asset to this title is the photographs, which are spectacular for visual literacy.  Back Matter includes Glossary, Read More, Internet Sites, and Index.

There are now over 30 Horrible Harry books in this series and author Suzy Kline is keeping them current with the times. This time the theme is dealing with bullies.

South School will soon be having a book fair. Each classroom has the incentive to read more books before the book fair begins because for each book read the reader will have his/her name entered into a drawing for a free book from the book fair. Now the plot thickens when third graders are given the chance to become members of the School Safety Patrol.  Harry does not make the safety patrol, but Mary, and his friend Doug do. Mary soon becomes overly zealous in her duties as a Safety Patrol Hall Monitor.  Warnings are no longer given for first offensives, but citations are to the point where Doug, her partner, feels she is becoming a bully.  Students are having a difficult time getting to and from the library unscathed with their book fair raffle tickets when Mary is on duty. Then on top of that, Doug sees Mary offer to deposit students’ tickets for them, but before she does, Mary erases the back of the ticket and writes something in ink on the back of each ticket. Could Mary be stuffing the raffle box with tickets from other students with her name on them? Doug and Harry try to catch Mary at her game before they report her to the teacher.

Mary learns a lesson by being giving a warning, not a citation, by an older safety patrol member, when she runs in the hallway on her week-off from safety patrol.

Then, when Mary wins the classroom drawing for the free book from the fair book, Harry and Doug discover Mary has been neatly rewriting the students’ names on their tickets and not her own name, as they had thought.

“Many animals and plants live and grow in rivers. This book looks at how they need each other to survive.” (p. 5) Basic ‘food chain’ vocabulary and information is given throughout this book in large font, where there is more picture than text per page (usually  60% /40%). Vocabulary includes: producers, consumers, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predators, prey, scavenger, decomposer, and food web.

One aspect where this book is different is that it gives examples of river food chains from three different rivers each on a different continent. A photo of the river is given on the left page with descriptive text information opposite the right page with its four smaller photos linking the plant and animals in the food chain together with arrows. The rivers include the Amazon River in South America, the Severn River in Europe, and the Limpopo River in Asia. The concept of ‘food web’ is then described and pictured for an unnamed North American river.

Coca-Cola is a true piece of Americana which is known around the world in over 200 countries. Little did I know, it began as a medicine to relieve headaches. John Pemberton was a doctor and pharmacist prior to the Civil War. Approximately 20 years after the Civil War, he developed Coca-Cola. At first, approximately 40 years,  Coca-Cola was only available for sale by the glass at soda fountains. In 1909, under the Pure Food and Drug Act “the government thought Coca-Cola contained too much caffeine...In the end, Coca-Cola reduced the soda’s caffeine content by half.” (p. 20) This book makes no mention of Coca-Cola ever containing cocaine.

This book kept my attention, I couldn’t put it down! Coke is so familiar and yet its history is so unknown.

Contains: Timeline, Catchphrases, Glossary, Websites, and Index.

Ricky and his robot buddy are inseparable, and have been late for dinner too many times. As punishment, they are not allowed to watch TV that evening. This turns out to be good fortune because on planet Venus, Victor Von Vulture produced a spell and sent it through the television hypnotizing everyone to obey the Voodoo Vultures. The vultures were ordering everyone to bring them all their food. Have no fear, Ricky and his Mighty Robot are here to battle “flip-o-rama” style. The reader gets to flip through a few pages to view the action. The illustrations are bold, colorful and bright. This is a great beginner reader chapter book

Ricky is so happy to have a new flying friend in the Mighty Robot! Ricky didn’t have to worry about bullies anymore, and his robot could even help him with his homework. However, on planet Mercury, Mr. Mosquito made a swarm of mutant mosquitoes to take over the planet earth. Have no fear, Ricky and his Mighty Robot are here to battle “flip-o-rama” style. The reader gets to flip through a few pages to view the action. The illustrations are bold, colorful and bright. This is a great beginner reader chapter book.