Bible Detective, a puzzle search book, is an interesting way to teach about the Bible.  Each pair of pages show either a specific location in the ancient world or a specific event from the Bible, and includes a caption which explains the picture.  In a border around the picture are small icons plus a descriptor for the reader to find within the picture.  This is the perfect complement for an older and a younger reader to find and talk about the pictures, or a solo reader.  Specific people, events, and locations include Abraham, Egypt, Babylon, Jeruselum, and so on.  The last portion of the book contains answer keys.  This is a great book for those wanting to know more about the Bible.

Shark Wars, by EJ Altbacker, fits the archetypal mold of the hero’s journey.  A young shark, Gray, gets banished from the reef where he grew up for sneaking out into ‘the big blue’ in order to hunt.  Once removed from his comfort zone he gets mixed up in a war between two rival shark clans, the Goblin Shiver and the Razor Shiver.  Due to food shortages the sharks have begun warring for hunting rights and oceanic supremacy.  As it becomes clear both factions are corrupt, our heroes, former allies of Goblin Shiver, split off into their own faction, Rogue Shiver, and save the day.

In the beginning this book hints at interesting themes.  I was intrigued by the premise that it’s okay for sharks to hunt dumb fish, such as tuna, but not the more intelligent species.  Unfortunately this was not explored in detail, proving to be a backdrop for a series of terrible fish-related puns.  Set pieces such as the tuna roll sports game were groan worthy in the worst sense and came to overshadow the already-generic plot.  The mythology behind the series also seemed to be merely an elaborate ruse for shark puns, lacking the substance necessary to captivate.  If a child between the 8 and 10 has a strong interest in cookie cutter stories of good versus evil and a fondness for sharks this may be the story for them.

The Rites and Wrongs of Janice Wills captures the angst and insecurities of an American teenager through the observations of the main character.  Janice Wills is a smart, analytical young woman who aspires to be an anthropologist. She decides to catalog high school social behavior in anthropological terms as her entrance letter to college. Using the scientific approach to understanding human behavior, she identifies the rules and rituals of American teenagers.  She also participates in the local Miss Livermush Pageant and Scholarship competition, the local “must-do”, coming of age rite of passage for the young women in her small North Carolina town.  With her astute observations of social interaction of her peers, she comes to an understanding of her own behavior, especially that observing can inhibit participation and that honest insights can be hurtful.  Humorous, witty and occasionally painful, Janice Wills is a literary persona that is likeable, irritating and ultimately endearing.  This book is an enjoyable read for the high school  audience.

Prisoner B-3087 is the touching, heartbreaking journey of survival of a young Jewish boy during the Second World War. He becomes a man, celebrating his Bar Mitzvah, as the Germans restrict all Jews to the Warsaw Ghetto.  The subtle, tightening vice grip of Nazi control and determined hatred catch Yanek and his family off guard.  They all perish. He has only himself and his will to survive.  This true story of Jack Gruener, Yanek,  is written  as historical  fiction to emphasize the random, senseless cruelty that he endured for six long years.  The unimaginable horror of forced labor in ten concentration camps, two death marches, continual starvation, beatings and moments of almost certain death evoke empathy as well as disbelief that humans can do such things to each other.  This awareness of the past horrors is important to teach the terrible truths of genocide and the remarkable drive for survival in the human spirit.  This is not an easy book to read, but it is an important addition to the literary testaments of personal survival and endurance.

This is a fun story about two boys who get numbed about math, and can’t do math at all.  They learn that math is a big part of their life and they need to know math.  The boys have to go back to the museum, where they were numbed, they have to solve several strange math problems to help them regain their math skills.  They decide that they like math and the solving of the problems.

In this graphic novel, the first in a new series, Rufus goes to visit his grandma for a weekend.  She lives in a very private, wooded area.  While investigating the forest, Rufus finds a totem, a sasquatch necklace.  When he reads the word ‘sasquatch’ he turns into a sasquatch and can speak to the forest animals.  Wolves see him as an intruder and see that he has found the totem which protects the forest and blackmail him to give them the totem.  It’s an interesting story without much dialogue, but so much is told in the illustrations.  The characters were interesting, and the story left it as a cliffhanger for the sequel.  I will definitely get the next one.

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library gives a brief history of the beginning of the Library of Congress and it’s current collection.  I have read many articles and books about Thomas Jefferson and was aware of his love of books.  However, Barb Rosenstock took a small factoid about an important man in the history of our country and was able to expand upon it, creating this lovely non-fiction picture book.  Additional information is included on just about every page in the form of a miniature book, open to reveal the page of  information.  From this book, it appears that Jefferson was obsessive about books, which dovetails nicely with his high value of education.  I found it interesting how many different and unusual subjects Jefferson collected.  I was left with the impression that great readers are smart people or maybe it’s smart people are great readers.    I hope students pick that up as well.

This book was really made for the younger student in mind.  First of all, each page is a different, bright color. Second, the text is also different colors as well as being bold and large.  And, third, there is a great balance of the text and photos, which give it a comfortable feel.  My only concern is that in several places within the book, it is stated that the dinosaur ‘might have’ done this or ‘might have’ done that and ‘could have’ this or that.  There is a lot of speculation as compared to actual facts.  However, a young audience will appreciate all the design that went into this book.

Gentle, kind, funny, and artistic all describe this new book by Daniel Kirk.  The characters and story reminds me of Piggie and Elephant books by Mo Willems.  There is a camaraderie between Pig and Rabbit that lets the reader think about friendship and what exactly friends like about each other.  This would be a great book to use for teaching social skills to students of all ages in elementary school.

Tedd Arnold’s illustrations are so distinctive, it’s easy to spot his work.  Fly Guy is a popular series in my school.  First-grade readers are able to both read the text and enjoy the art.  In Fly Guy and the Frankenfly, Buzz dreams that Fly Guy made a giant Frankenfly monster which scared him.  Who hasn’t had those kinds of dreams?  This is perfect for elementary libraries, plus the price is right.