Here is a fun book to get you out of the house and get the blood pumping.  Using the directions in this book with its readily available supplies, making and flying rockets (without the use of expensive or explosive engines ) can be a dream come true.   Using empty 2 liter soda-pop bottles, duct tape, bicycle pump, wire coat hangers, water, and a bicycle tire value, full-time engineer Paul Travis  helps the reader put together one, if not several, rockets for some hands-on fun in the neighborhood.

The book is divided into three parts: Rocket Basics, Extending Your Repertoire, and Advanced Rockets. Each rocket begins with a list of supplies, step-by-step illustrated directions,  4 or 5  actual photographs of each specific rocket being fired, and finally a ‘firing report’ on what to expect from the rocket as to ease of firing, height results, and enjoyment factor. This reviewer feels confident I could make the first rocket in this book and successfully fly it without having to go to the store to purchase a single item. Most of the rockets consisted of similar supplies and progressed from simple to more elaborate in small steps.

The most difficult piece of equipment to locate was a 1/2 inch (13mm) brass compression water-pipe fitting. I took the book to Home Depot to make sure I could locate the exact part. I could find a 1/2 inch brass fitting, but it wasn’t 13 mm, for approximately $7. I could also find a similar part in plastic for approximately $3. I’m guessing the rocketeer could adjust for the size difference at the pressurization stage as it states, “a pressure of about 60 psi (pounds per square inch) works well. If you don’t have a gauge, you will need to experiment to find the optimum pressure. Keep a record…and then try repeat flights with more or fewer pumps to find the optimum pressure for each rocket.” (p.12)

     Public Art is the newest title in The Eye on Art series.  Public Art discusses art in nontraditional settings, including under freeway overpasses and in subway tunnels, in fields, bodies of waters, and volcanic craters.  Public Art features urban murals (both those painted by professional artists and those painted by students and other ordinary citizens), memorial landscaping, green space decor, kitschy pop art, and art of social protest.

The book is divided into chapters that discuss ‘Art for Everyone’, ‘Evolving Ideas of Public Art’, ‘Public Art in the City’, ‘A New Way of Remembering the Past’, ‘Destination Public Art’, and ‘Public Art with a Social Message’. Photos depict the earliest American public art (an 1832 statue of George Washington), the monumental sculpture of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, and outdoor monuments such as The Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, and The Holocaust memorial. The most recent major monument, the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, includes reelecting ponds and fountains, as does the newest monument in Washington, D.C., the World War II Memorial.

Natural art, which is built into the land, is featured in photos of the Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake, UT, and the Roden (volcanic) Crater in the Painted Desert near Flagstaff, AZ.

Examples of Environmental art are presented, including the living Natural History, made of woven saplings, in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

Temporary installations of public art are also featured, such as the flags that made up The Gates in New York City’s Central Park, and the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a collection of quilts that, when displayed together, take up the entire National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The cover photo features the iconic pop art Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, TX, is a shrine to the American automobile and consists of ten vintage Cadillacs (circa1949 -1963) in chronological order by model year. Each Cadillac is buried in a field nose down with the fins sticking straight up into the air. Over the years the cars have been painted over and over with graffiti.

This fascinating book includes notes, a glossary, referrals to obtain more information via books and websites, an index, and photo credits.

This is the third in the BIGFOOT BOY graphic novel series.

Friends, Penny and Rufus, will soon be spending their summer together in Northwood, when Rufus comes to stay with his grandmother. Meanwhile, Penny’s older sister is busy picketing / protesting to “save the forest” from becoming a golf course. It seems Rufus had found a totem in the forest on a previous visit and then lost it. Currently, ravens have the totem but can’t figure out how to make it work. Wolves want the totem to stop the deforestation caused by the humans. The wolves ask Thunderbird to help protect the forest from humans’ construction.

While Penny and Rufus are birdwatching with the Explorer scouts (Grammy signed them up without asking them),  they get separated from the group. Then Rufus gets separated from Penny and eventually runs into the Raven with the totem. Thunderbird has Raven return the totem to Rufus, then Rufus changes into Sasquatch, when he puts the totem on around his neck. Rufus, the Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot Boy scares off the Realtor and “The New Leaf Development representative would comment no further except to say that construction was on hold indefinitely.” (p. 95)

This is the first graphic novel I have enjoyed from start to finish! I could relate to the issues of land conservation, skepticism over the existence of Sasquatch,  the joy of being a part of a scouting troop, and the Native Americans in the storyline, as well as, in the illustrations are presented in a modern positive light.

In the Vietnam War, U.S. Troops fought in Vietnam in Southeat Asia.  Some soldiers had enlisted voluntarily, but others were forced to join the military.  Far from home, they all faced great hardships, including deadly jungle insects, monsoon rains, and an enemy they could rarely see.

Life on the Front Lines takes one behind the scenes of the major conflicts.  I liked that it used eyewitness accounts, revealing photographs and detailed text to let you feel like you were standing in the soldiers’ shoes and experiencing all parts of their lives in the conflicts.

The A.R. reading level for this book is a 5.9 and would likely appeal to late elementary and middle school students…boys and girls.

The Long Way Home is Book 2 in the series Family Tree by Ann M. Martin.  This series covers four generations of mothers and daughters, sisters and aunts…four different girls.

Book 2 is about Dana who loves loving in New York City. Yes, her twin sister, Julia, can get on her nerves.  And the heat in the summer can drive people a little crazy.  But it feels like she is in the heart of the world, and she is living to its beat.  Her father is a famous writer and takes her to parties most people can only read about in newspapers. It’s an exciting life.

Then things start to go wrong.  Dana’s father dies in a tragic accident, and Dana’s family must move to Maine for financial reasons.  Dana vows that it won’t be forever and somehow she will make her way back home to New York City.

There was enough suspense in every chapter to hold my attention and to draw me back to the book on my nightstand.  The setting is in the early 1950’s and Ms. Martin makes accurate reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Assassination of President Kennedy.

I look forward to ordering Books 1, 3 & 4 which will introduce Abby, Francie, and Georgia and the challenges they will face.  This is a family I’ll never forget.

Robots at Home is part of a series which features robots in various locations.  There isn’t a great deal of detail as to how they work or how they are programmed, but it’s basically a picture book showing the robot and telling what it does.  I kind of wondered if they can be customized, where to get one, how much they cost, etc., but I guess the target audience doesn’t ask those kinds of questions.   Some of the robots mentioned are familiar to students, such as the robot pet, the floor cleaner, and the wheelchair.

Goodnight Football is such an appealing books on many different levels.  First of all, the text is in rhyme, and clearly explains the different parts and players of the game.  Secondly, the illustrations are colorful and clear and not cluttered with unnecessary details. And, thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it is reminiscent of the classic children’s book Goodnight, Moon, in which the little boy (instead of bunny) says goodnight to all the football related items he’s seen that night.  This book is a terrific introduction to the game for those kids who aren’t so familiar with it and also for those kids who love the game.  How great to find a book in which football doesn’t depict violence and toughness.  This is a must purchase for all elementary school libraries.

2014 was the 100th anniversary of WWI. Author, illustrator Michael Foreman brings to readers a taste of what it was like in the trenches of the Western Front of France and Belgium through the eyes of his four uncles- WWI soldiers.

The young men of England were recruited to fight for “King and Country.” “As strange as it may seem today, football [soccer] played an important part in the First World War. It was used to recruit volunteers and to drive men on as they went ‘over the top’ into no-man’s-land; and it famously brought together the warring armies during the historic Christmas truce of 1914.” (page 78)

Young men who had never been away from home volunteered to fight. It would be an adventure, a chance to see the world. At first, it was parades and cheering later as the troops traveled toward the front line they encountered families fleeing the war zone and saw their first wounded troops. Eventually, they entered their life in the trenches: mud, little shelter, poor food, and firing on the Germans at dawn and dusk. Other than sentry duty, not much happened mid-day.

Enemy line could be as close as 30 yards away. Voices and the smell of food could drift in from the other side of no-man’s-land. And no-man’s-land often contained barbed wire, artillery crater holes, and dead bodies.

The war was not over by Christmas, as had been thought when the men were recruited.

Christmas Day of 1914 brought a quiet. Little by little, both sides came out of their trenches and buried their dead. Later, a Christmas tree was brought out, little gifts were exchanged, then a football [soccer ball] came out and the rest of the day was spent with both sides playing friendly, but crazy football  together.

In the days that followed, both sides saw troops moved to different parts of the front because how could the war continue to be fought if the enemies were so friendly towards each other.

In an Alaskan setting, the story of a 14-year-old dog sledder and a lost city boy collide. The dog sledder, Victoria Secord, and the city boy, Chris, are lost in the woods together after Chris has a snowmobile accident. Together the two of them and her dog sled team have to survive the cruel Alaskan night and the dangers of the wild forest to make it back to civilization before they both die.
This fast-paced novel will keep the reader wanting to know if the pair survived the night. Victoria is bullheaded and stubborn; if she puts her mind to it, she will do it. Chris is sensitive and doesn’t understand new surroundings very well. The author brings the characters to life making them very believable. This is a powerful story for those who enjoy reading survival or dog stories.
— Kellyn S.