A reader’s perception of the book The Warrior’s Heart with will probably shape their overall feeling for this account about Eric Greitens.  All in all this is the story of Eric coming of age.  The first 130 pages detail the post high school education of Greitens, one that includes much more than his Duke and Oxford diplomas would entail.  Upon entering Duke on a scholarship, Greitens wanted to study “public policy” but it became quite clear that the focus in his studies would mean much more than just that.  Independent study grant opportunities would take him to China, Rwanda, Zaire and Bolivia.  His account reveals the first hand experiences with war, poverty, disease and death that most “public  policy” experts never get.  Back at school he sought to box for fun, learning a heck of a lot about honor and courage as well as the physical fitness that would prove essential in his future.  In his senior year he applied and received the coveted Rhodes scholarship that gave him full tuition to Oxford for graduate school.  But even that wasn’t enough.

The second half of the book details Greitens entry into the Navy’s Officer Candidate School and the Navy Seal’s Basic Underwater Demolition team.  For readers who just want the story of this training, they will find the first half of the book a bit to slog through.  But Greitens title is clear that the purpose of the book is to show how he became the man that he is and this man is not just the tough guy who can survive the brutal training and work of Navy Seals.  The reader that stays along for the ride will thoroughly enjoy all the mental and physical details Greitens provides for the latter 130 pages.

This is a well written book.  Readers will like the 2nd person rhetorical vignettes that proceed major decision points in his life asking them “What would you do?”  It’s no surprise that this is popping up on all the current lists of popular teen fiction.  For teens who are exploring the idea of being in the military in the future, and for anyone who wants a picture of Navy Seal training, this is a strong recommendation.

In this series, it seems that they have taken traditional fairy tales with human characters and substituted animals.  For me, personally, Little Red Riding Duck doesn’t seem to work.  One reason is that the large size of the wolf and the small size of the duck doesn’t make it as believable because, of course, when duck comes to gramma’s house the wolf is way too big to be mistaken for gramma.  Also, duck waddles out yelling, but wouldn’t you expect the wolf to be able to catch her easily.  The beaver, the woodcutter, is even smaller, but is still able to fend off the wolf.  For these reasons, it doesn’t work for me.  I would only read this version to preschoolers whom I don’t want to frighten.  Any older children would question the story.

Cats are smart, that’s for sure.  However, Suzy Baggots, the family cat, certainly knows how to get and do what she wants.  She jumps up and grabs food off of the table, piddles in golf bags, poos in chairs, tears up furniture and curtains, and gets hair all over everything.  And still she doesn’t get tossed out of the house.  Then one day, Suzy stops eating, stops drinking, and lies listlessly on the bed.  The family is beside themselves with grief and sadness, anticipating the worst.  If the family knew it was all a ploy, the worst would happen to Suzy.  But it’s all a lesson for the family to realize how much they love her.  Lets just hope that the kids who read this book aren’t as smart as cats and won’t try the same thing.

Jim Murphy and Alison Blank have put forth a wonderful account of the history of Tuberculosis in Invisible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-ending Search for a Cure.  They begin with “This is the story of a small, harmless germ that has been infecting people for millions of years.”  But once a reader gets into the first chapters of the book, they will no longer look at TB as a harmless germ.  Through the author’s chronicling of its history — how people felt and lived with a germ they didn’t even know was causing their symptoms for thousands of years, to its mass spread largely due to living conditions in the industrial revolution, to the concoctions and treatments used to try to heal the sick — students could gain a large respect for the generations that died, sometimes in horrific ways, trying to solve the mystery of the germ and for the researchers who are still working to make sure TB outbreaks are rare.  A large amount of ground is covered with detail in the book’s 150 pages, but the text is so smoothly written and on spot for a middle school and high school audience with its tone of TB being such a medical mystery.  Images, both historical pictures and other drawings/graphs are scattered about to break up and enlighten the text.  This is also such a great source because the generations that witnessed the debilitating effects and epic death counts from this germ are themselves passing on.  The current generations need to be aware and vigilant to keep the disease at bay for as long as humanly possible.  Highly recommended for high school and public libraries, especially at its $18.99 price.

Superstar book authors on getting into Ivy league schools have pulled together great advice on hitting a grand slam with the Standford application essay in this book.  The first chapter gives 25 mistakes to avoid when writing the essay, most of which would apply to any college admission essay.  But then the fun starts where Tanabe interviews former Stanford admission officers for their personal advice on how to do well with specific questions on the essay.  The remaining 2/3 of the book are actual essays written by students with an analysis afterwards.  If Stanford is the goal for any particular student, then this is the book for them.  Highly recommended for any high school library or career center.

Grandma is coming over a play date!  And she always brings so many friends.  By simply hanging a bed sheet near a window, grandma uses body shadows to have her granddaughter guess as different animals in a parade, including an elephant, monkeys, an ostrich, kangaroo, rhinoceri, and for the finale, “Gramme and me”.  For a preschool aged audience, Hooray Parade will push kids to use their imaginations to figure out the creatures with the question “Can you guess what’s coming next?”. Repetition, alliteration and onomatopoeic language further it’s whimsical feel that are complimented with it’s pencil sketch and water color artwork.  This would be a great read aloud for public libraries and a gift for grandparents.

The Selfish Giant was originally published in 1888 and has been re-illustrated many times since then.  In this particular edition, the illustrator is Ritva Voutila, a Finnish artist.  The illustrations are mellow and muted and somewhat dark, pretty much reflecting the story.  Color stands out in parts where the children are featured.  However, the story can hold many meanings and can be used in various ways.  It could be a story of understanding and forgiveness, of life and joy, and also a story of Jesus and hope.  This book wouldn’t work for a classroom read aloud, but more of a one-on-one story time so that each page can be given the time it needs to understand.

Every elementary teacher knows his or her tricks to keep the glue in check.  For Matty, his art teacher says “Glue drops, not puddles!”.  But Matty loves glue.  At home, his parents help him produce all sorts of zany creations with different varieties of glue.  So when he is given the opportunity to have glue bottles in his hands, he has to squeeze hard…and jump belly first into the glue.  Sure, he gets stuck to the table, and as his buddies, teacher and father try to free him, a masterpiece is born.  Jason Lefebvre has captured such a wonderfully simple concept as “too much glue” that most children have heard or experienced first hand and let it spread into a fabulous story that parents, teachers and kids will love.  Zac Retz’s illustrations are clever and bright, whimsical and yet spot on.  Too Much Glue is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will stick with you like glue.

Stephanie Kwolek grew up during the Great Depression and, as any typical little girl, loved to make dresses for her dolls.  When she was in high school, her passion turned to chemistry.  She felt there was a relationship between the two in comparing the meticulousness of both.  Stephanie later went to an all-women’s college and majored in chemistry.  She thought perhaps she could later go into medicine.  However, with a college degree in hand, she landed a job with DuPont, a chemical engineering pioneer at the time, and stayed with them for over 40 years.  During that time, she was challenged with making a thread that was stronger than steel.  Not such an easy task.  After almost 20 years, she discovered a thread made from polymers that when woven together was strong enough to stop a bullet–kevlar was born.  Needless to say, kevlar has made a huge impact on the world, saving many lives of the military and law enforcement.  It is also used in spacecraft, radial tires, roads, brake pads, plus a multitude of other items.  At the end of the book is a section titled, ‘You Be the Inventor.’  It gives examples of kids who have had an idea, patented it, and built a company from it, all at a very young age.  This book is encouraging for kids to follow their dreams.

With very limited text (strictly dialogue), the story is told mostly through the illustrations, which juxtapose a scowling old man and an eager young boy as they face the prospect of heading out on a rainy day, the old man grumbling all the way, and the young boy playing make-believe in his froggy-themed rain gear.  Both their attitudes seem to be contagious to all they encounter, until they both end up at the “Rain or Shine Cafe.”  The old man growls at the young boy, too, both when he bumps his chair, and even when he offers to share his cookie, but when the grump leaves his hat behind, and the youngster chases him down to return it, they share a moment impersonating each other, and the old guy walks away happy.  It’s fine, but the ending seemed a bit pat, and I kept thinking the boy was a girl because the tassels on his froggy hat looked like pigtails.