Facts about the season of Autumn in relationship to sun are presented in an uninteresting way.

The hand-drawn childlike illustrations suggest a pre-school audience , but the vocabulary is for upper primary to intermediate readers.

There are basically two different types of people:  those who love cats or those who love dogs.  In The Pet Wars Otto and his older sister Lexi are at war with one another.  Lexi wants a cat and Otto wants a dog.  Their mother decides that whomever earns $500 first will get to buy the pet of their choice.  Lexi is pretty bright, not only at school, but very clever as well.  She starts up a tutoring program with the help of her teachers who recommend to failing students that they hire Lexi to help them study and before long she is raking in the money.  Otto is totally off the wall and really cannot come up with a moneymaking plan.  All of his ideas cost him money and are actually very funny (from an adult perspective–I’m not sure if kids will get the humor).  Until he hits on a dog-walking business.  Now, this would be a terrific business for him if he were somewhat organized and responsible.  But Otto is the total opposite of Lexi and he is always scrambling to make it right.  This is a story that kids who love pets will love regardless if they are a cat lover or a dog lover.

I had a dog for over 16 years and she was as much a part of our family as my kids.  I lost her four years ago and I still mourn her.  In this story, which takes place in Seattle during WWII, Hobie is 12 years old and has a German Shepherd named Duke.  Hobie’s father is overseas fighting in the war and it seemed that although the war was halfway around the world, it still affected Americans deeply.  They sacrificed much to help their soldiers and families changed.  The same can’t be said for today’s wars as many of us don’t even think about the fighting going on in the Middle East.  During WWII an organization called Dogs for Defense was formed in which Americans donated their pet dogs to the cause.  The dogs were sent overseas to help the soldiers.  Currently dogs are trained and used for sniffing out explosives and drugs, but they aren’t acquired by donation of an American.  During WWII dogs actually served in combat by sniffing out bombs and using their loyalty to help soldiers.  In this story, Hobie struggles with the decision as to whether or not to send Duke to war.  It seemed as though everyone he encountered was doing something to help the war effort and it seemed almost traitorous not to do something.  He agreed to send Duke in the hopes it would help to get his father back safe.  Thankfully Duke returned safe and sound, a hero.  I don’t think I could have been as brave as Hobie.

Just opposite the dedication page, illustrator Chuck Groenink has us looking down upon an old typewriter, possibly from the 1920s or 1930s , with a typed letter explaining what a haiku is and how Santa loves them. Thus begins Santa’s own collection of haiku, “one for each day from December 1 to December 25, and catch a glimpse of life at the North Pole.”

December 7’s might be my personal favorite:

Navigating by

the stars, Comet and I drag

this year’s tree homeward.

Each of the 25 haiku is nestled in a muted sepia tinted illustration ( with some navy blue, red, and green) with a touch of Scandinavian influence and nostalgia.

An intelligent psychological thriller awaits a reader who opens the pages into The Ruining by Anna Collomore.  A Gatsby-esq yellow mansion adorns the cover of the book, eluding to the classic tale of love and loss — the title alludes to the same.  The question is, who will be ruined?   Readers first meet Annie.  Annie wants to leave all of her past behind.  At 18, she’s escaping from her home to become a nanny for a wealthy family in the San Francisco Bay area.  The Cohens look like they have it all.  Two young children, lucrative careers, and now a live-in nanny.  Annie’s primary job is to care for Zoe, the 3 year old daughter.  She is also getting to go to college on the Cohen’s dime.  Libby Cohen begins their relationship as wanting to be a confidant and friend to Annie.  But Annie’s little mistakes here and there allow Collomore to slowly peel away Libby’s fantastic life and show her to be the manipulator she is proud to be.  Poor Annie is the brunt of pent up emotion and she doesn’t know why.  Further literary connections to a classic feminist short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” foreshadow Annie’s eventual mental breakdown at the hands of Libby.  But Collomore has other twists and turns along the way that make this story one that students will want to read in one sitting.  There’s a love interest for Annie, as well as two back-stories that pressure both of the main characters and create tension throughout.  There are times when a chapter will be confusing and fast paced, as an attempt to mimick the chaos going on in Annie’s mind at the hands of Libby.  The only frustration lies in how fast and clean the ending comes.  It doesn’t follow the theme of distrust developed throughout the book and is a bit of a let down, even though it has a happy ending.  A better ending would have reflected Annie’s growth while still acknowledging that she’ll never fully be able to trust herself or others for a very long time.  Still, I believe this book will be passed from girlfriend to girlfriend as a great read.  Recommended for high school and public libraries.

Fabulous illustrations with deep, rich colorful pictures. Simple text on each page showing things around us that are green.  This would make a great addition to a preschool or kindergarten class.

Freelance sportswriter Doug Williams has compiled a five chapter book dealing with five National Women’s Basketball Association (NWBA) star players and five valuable basketball skills. Each chapter is matched up with one of these five WNBA players and the skill which has made her so valuable to her team: Chapter 1- Jump Shooting with Maya Moore, Ch. 2- Passing with Lindsey Whalen, Ch. 3- Rebounding with Tina Charles, Ch. 4 – Defense with Tamika Catchings, and Ch. 5 – Ball Handling with Sue Bird. The first part of each chapter tells of the key player’s performance  in specific past games, before going on to briefly describe the mechanics of her skill.

Each of the five chapters includes a  (1/3 of a page) Quick Tip: Around the World, Step Towards the Target, Keep Arms and Hands Up, Defense Starts with Stance, and Attack the Cone Zone.

Other NWBA players mentioned, in side bars, are: Teresa Weatherspoon, Sylvia Fowles, Lisa Leslie, Courtney Paris, Ticha Penicheiro, and Katie Douglas.

Biggest Blunders in Sports is a stew of mainly old stories and outdated, grainy photographs of goof-ups in sports, some going back as far 1912.  Who cares?  There are plenty of video clips of current teams/sports goof-ups that could have been used and of more interest to the reader.  Oftentimes the text did not match the photo, and the ‘fun facts’ were non-existent.  This is a boring, outdated book.  Why not do something new rather than rehash old stories?

Any one who loves sports, especially baseball, will thoroughly enjoy this book.  The table of contents will help to direct you where your interests lie, however, every double set of pages contains photos and info for the top ten in the category.  I especially enjoyed the photos of clean players, such as Derek Jeter.  My only drawback was that some of the photos were in the middle of the book and therefore cut in half by the gutter, but not many.  A great addition for all libraries.

Boy Meets Dog is a clever  play on words, making different words by just changing one letter at a time.  the illustrations show lots of action and emotions, are colorful and fun to look at, yet distracting from the text or intent of the book.  I far enjoyed looking at the pictures more than reading the word lists.  The CVC and CVCC words that were supposed to rhyme didn’t always; the vowel made a different sound, which I thought would be confusing to young children, say first graders learning to sound out words and read.  It will be a fun book to read and look at, but not a necessary purchase.