Interesting, and sometimes amazing, defenses by a variety of animals are presented in simple sentences.  They are accompanied by on-page definition of terms.  Terms are also found in the glossary along with the pronunciation.  A “fierce fact” provides additional information.  Close-up photographs are large, colorful, and well chosen to illustrate each animal’s mode of protection from predators.  Recommended books to read more about survival techniques are written for a similar age group.  Facthound internet links are appropriate for elementary aged children.  The title alone is sure to attract readers.  This is a great introduction to the sometimes amazing defenses in the animal kingdom.  Glossary. index, books for further reading, and internet sites are in the back.

A brief and simple introduction to ten monsters and creatures from legends is presented in this 32 page book.  Each has a page with a quick definition and illustration.  Fact boxes connect several creatures with literature as well as providing additional information.  Highlighted terms are defined on the page as well as in the glossary.  Information is skimpy but may encourage one to seek further information.   The layout contains large illustrations that are colorful and eye-catching.  This short book on mythical beings is sure to attract reluctant readers.  Includes glossary, books  for further reading, a facthound internet site, and index.  Publisher kid’s site provides related games and activities.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for your main event.”  So begins Patrick Jones’s 60 page chronological tour of the “sports entertainment” genre known as professional wrestling.  The first 16 pages offer up an interesting historical timeline of the key match ups over the 100+ years of “entertainment” wrestling.  The second chapter basically gives more detail about most of these bouts.  Overall the focus is on the evolution of the sport, though in 2011 Wrestling boss Vince McMahon even changed the name of his World Wresting Entertainment group to WWE because he “no longer wanted the word wrestling associated with his company, claiming there was no future for wrestling, only for “sports entertainment”. Readers will see that characters, personalities and back story play a lot into the full picture of professional wrestling.  As well as the action, of course.  No question, these men and women are athletes, but Jones freely admits that the bouts are scripted and staged.

What this is lacking is any critical commentary of the sport.  Nothing on in the way of early deaths of the wrestlers from drug use and physical abuse to the body.  Nothing about the violence and trash talk that goes on in the sport.  The future of wrestling is called into question, with more interest going to mixed martial arts fights that have back story and characters mixed with real competition.  One small error even the publisher let slide is the mention of the Kingdome, which would have been replaced with Century Link Field by the 2003 bout discussed.

Overall, the writing is fast paced and the voice is excited.  Every two-page spread has a picture to bring the entertainment value.  Definitely an additional purchase if for middle and high school audiences.

This short book covers alot of information–everything you wanted to know about energy, and then some.  Using aliens as the ‘spokespeople,’ this book covers the different forms of energy, where they come from and what they are used for.  Also covered is using and saving energy and taking care of our earth.  Broken into four chapters, each chapter cleverly portrays science concepts in ways that young students will understand.  This book should be included in every science kit which teaches about energy.

“Author and illustrator Doug Cushman hams it up in this hog-wild homage to classic monster movies.”

The poems build and build on the horror of the renown ‘creature’ only to be dashed to pieces by the last 2 lines which are groaners.

Among the 17 creatures are: Frankenswine, The Mummy Pig, The Werehog, Porker From the Black Lagoon, Abominable Snow Pig , Pigzilla, and Pig Kong.

The piggy portraits are deliciously hammy.

Reminiscent of and dedicated to poet Jack Prelutsky.

The Furies stem from Greek mythology and are represented by three sisters who guard and judge those who arrive the gates of Hades, and torture for eternity those who had commited crimes.  Famous Greek myths are told to explain this vengeance.  Greek gods were both benevolent and naughty, but it mattered not who you were, judgment day would come and it would do no good to plead for forgiveness.  The stories are rivoting and as it is pointed out, Greek mythology is still as strong today as it was thousands of years ago.  It is the basis for much of our language and appears in much of media.  This book is an excellent addition to any library collection as it does such a good job of explaining all the confusing relationships.

Just as the title explains, this is basically a travel journal featuring the highlights of various places across Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the desert, the rainforest, and so on.  Random anecdotal phrases strewn across each page.  Difficult to grasp all concepts as I am unfamiliar with the Australian animals, but would be a good companion for someone who has been there or is writing a report about Australian.  The BEST parts were the extravagantly beautiful watercolor illustrations–the details and colors were absolutely brilliant.  Loved the art!

This is a fairly small book in size, the cover measuring 7.5 inches across and 8.5 top to bottom.  Photos take up less than half of each page, with the rest devoted to explanations of various landforms, parks, rivers and lakes, mountains, vocanoes, just to name a few.  The amount of variety is welcome as are the explanations, however, the jewel of the book are the dazzling photographs.  I wish that this book were much larger, with larger photos, to see all the detail each photo captures.  The clarity of the pictures is amazing, I just want a bigger impact.  (Photo credits are listed on last page.) This book is great for schools and science.

In this first graphics version of a non-fiction book, illustrations and diagrams effectively show the various types of volcanoes, the causes of eruption, the effects of an eruption, and safety tips in case of an eruption.  This is a great beginning earth science book.  It looks as though all titles in this series are about natural disasters.

Lou and her mom take their annual summer vacation to visit Memaw in the country.  Mom misses Richard and Lou misses Tristan, but both meet new guys.  Memaw invites an old classmate, Clem Fiffer, of mom’s to dinner in order to strike up a romance.  Clem, an obnoxious teenager is now an obnoxious, well-to-do doctor, and it doesn’t go so well.  Lou’s friend, Paul, is artistic and musical, as well as understanding.  Both are happy when summer is over and they can get back home.  This is an interesting style of story in which each set of pages is like a new chapter, but no transitions.  The story line is engaging and girls will enjoy the camaraderie Lou has with her mom.