Woodstock is part of the Peanuts gang, and in this book, Woodstock and his friends are out camping with Snoopy as their scout leader.  Snoopy is going to teach his scouts survival skills, but no skills are here, only humor.  Kind of dorky, but the illustrations are priceless.  In my mind, I made up a better story to go along with the colorful illustrations than what was printed.  Kids will enjoy looking at the pictures.

This book seems to have been written by two different people.  I say that because the first part of the book is about how Tara and her talking kitten are taken by fairy friends to meet a mermaid, who then takes them to meet creatures from under the sea.  She finds out that they are angry about how people/humans are polluting their waters and killing them and want Tara to do something about it.  Then there are some silly shenanigans that don’t have anything to do with or add to the story.  Tara gives a report at school about the ocean and how important it is to keep it clean and gets her classmates excited about it.  The other chapters are small separate stories about how Tara and her fairy friends help to keep her friend from drowning and how she helps an elderly neighbor connect with her family.  The whole book was rather disjointed and all over the place.  The messages were purposeful and clear: keep our water clean, be honest, help our neighbors and the elderly.  Little girls more into fairies and such rather than good writing will read this.

Not too many people, other than Brits, use the word horrid anymore, but we could say ‘Horrible Henry,’ and kids would understand.  Henry is a real stinker but in the first chapter, he wonders what would happen if he were perfect, like his brother, Peter.  The results are hilarious!  In the following chapters, we find out how Henry gets his way by being really horrible.  Kids will think it’s hilarious, but I hope it doesn’t give them ideas.  A great beginning reading book.

BOM! went the bear, playing a big bass drum!  And along comes monkey, turtles, giraffes, frogs, elephants, and so on.  Everyone wants to join in the music parade, which doesn’t make bear so happy.  Parts of the book have a melody or rhythm from the words, but there are breaks and it makes it hard to pick back up.  It would take practice to have kids join in with the sounds, but they would enjoy making the loud and soft sounds and other different sounds as shown in this book.

Dressing up is fun!  All little kids love to pretend to be a grown-up ‘something’.  In this story, Little Hippo pretends to be Doctor Hippo and he goes around to all the jungle animals pretending to check them over.  Crocodile snapped at him, hyena was ticklish, elephant sneezed on him, and lion scared him.  Maybe it isn’t so fun being grown up, he thought.  This is definitely a ‘feel good’ story as Little Hippo goes home and mom makes everything better.  This is a terrific book to read at bedtime.

Fairy Marie is tiny, somewhat like Thumbellina, and lives on a red poppy flower.  Her friends are also tiny and, together, they are preparing for fall.  The illustrations in this book are absolutely spectacular and I find myself studying the lacy insect wings and butterfly wings as well as all the humanistic qualities of these tiny creatures.  The story, originally written in Dutch, has been translated into English and occasionally seems a little awkward.  But that easy to overlook because of the beautiful illustrations.  Marie needs to find a new house for winter, but finds a home and friends and family, as well.  Heartwarming.  Kids into fairies will love it!

Animals in Fall: Preparing for Winter is a nonfiction picture book teaching young readers about some of the changes that happen in autumn.  This book is divided into five chapters, each with a specific theme, and has a table of contents, glossary, and index.  What I like particularly about this book is that it groups animals into three categories: those that migrate, those that hibernate, and those that change, and gives beautiful examples of each category.  This book is a terrific way to study seasonal changes as well as introduce nonfiction books.

Earth Day Every Day is a non-fiction picture book intended to gently teach young children to take care of our Earth.  There is a table of contents indicating three separate chapters with distinct themes, as well as an index and glossary at the back.  The language is simple and understandable for young students and the illustrations do a good job of visualizing the message.  The illustrations can be used as a teaching tool to help students find examples of the messages being taught.  The message is clear and simple and this book is a good example of introducing nonfiction to the youngest of readers.

Michael Pine is an orphaned 12-year-old living with his uncle in a town called Moss-on-Stone.  He often skips school in order to hang out with older boys, who are trying to recruit and groom him as one of their gangmembers.  During an gang initiation event (stealing a video game from a store), he gets caught, runs out into the street and get hits by a car, gets up and runs again out of town, through the woods, until he comes to what looks like an abandoned cottage with a ten-foot high stone wall.  He sits, hides, and rests, during which he hears music he has never heard before.  Later, he is caught by the police and brought before the judge.  The plans are to put him and his kind in juvenile detention, but the judge believes/hopes there is a future for Michael.  He gives Michael a choice:  either juvenile detention or he goes to school, has a job after school, and reports to the court clerk every day; oh, and must stay away from gang members.  He agrees to the offer and actually finds that he really enjoys the work and structure.  Finally things seem to go his way.  As part of his job as delivering groceries, he finds himself back at the abandoned-looking cottage, and is introduced to Lemuel Gulliver, a giant of a man, whose back yard is a garden city for Lilliputians–a race of people only inches tall.  Gulliver sees Michael as a kindred spirit and recruits him to be a guardian of the Lilliputians and teaches him how to help and protect them.  Michael also becomes friends with Jane, a girl his age who lives a pampered life.  However, the gang members are still on his case, and work hard to recruit him, or at least make people believe that he is a gang member.  Michael is falsely accused of crimes and is sent to juvenile detention.  Meanwhile Gulliver has left and the Lilliputians are in trouble.  Heavy rain is threatening to destroy their village and weasels are finding their way in, intent to eat them.  You find yourself cheering for Michael in all that he has accomplished–he is originally portrayed as a follower, without much incentive or morality.  But his character grows as his life is given structure and he learns that people care about him.  He finds a way to right the wrongs.  This book has great characterization, a fast-moving plot, and well-described settings.  You don’t have to worry about reading the original Gullivers Travels–just jump right in and enjoy yourself.

Wow!  This book is pretty amazing!  Lots of non-stop action and twists and turns; I could see it all play out in my mind like a movie.  (is there a movie deal for this series?)  This is the fourth installment of the series H.I.V.E., and as I hadn’t previously read one, two or three, I wasn’t too excited to start this one.  My previous experience of jumping into a series without having read the beginning, has been rather unsuccessful.  However, I was willing to give it a try.  I am so glad I did–once I started, I couldn’t put it down.  H.I.V.E. is The Higher Institute of Villainous Education, and the students (kids) each have a specialized skill (i.e., picking locks).  At the school, they are basically learning how to become worldwide spies and have the benefit of professors and teachers with skills James Bond would envy, as well as resources of every kind imaginable.  In this book, a new student, Lucy, is introduced, and it isn’t until the end until we find out her special talent.  I imagine future installments will have her as the main character.  In the meantime, a group of students are on their way to a field trip (sub-zero temps in the Arctic) and while on their journey in a ship called the ‘Dreadnought,’ they are overtaken by a rogue rebel, a former employee who helped to create the Dreadnought and has dreams of becoming the world’s leader.  The name Dreadnought sounded so familiar and I wondered why the ship would be so named.  According to Dictionary.com, the Dreadnought was a well known battleship from the year 1906 which was heavily armored and had battle turrets.  It’s important, I think, to understand the historical meanings of language used to better understand the story, so get that dictionary out.  But for this story, think of the Dreadnought as a newer version of the U.S.S. Enterprise of Star Trek fame, but with cooler stealth capabilities.  The rogue rebel is Jason Drake (again, think history, the infamous pirate Drake?).  Drake has a bevy of double agents working for him and he has well planned this takeover.  The theme of the story is that Drake has taken over the ship, is holding several key people hostage, and has plans to takeover and ruin the United States, throwing the whole world into turmoil, and he will be the only one smart enough to save everyone.  Good idea, however, the group of seven students and a couple of instructors, have other plans.  The action is fabulous, and just when you think you’ve got it all worked out in your head, something else pops up.  Many of the fight scenes are violent, but considering the age of the target audience, 10-14, it isn’t something they haven’t already seen.  The characters are well established, the plot is understandable with just enough kinks in it to keep it interesting, and the dialogue and multi-syllabic words will keep even the best readers on their toes.  This book should be on every library shelf in elementary and middle school.