Echo, a bat, is the storyteller in this series. Echo is friend to the Silver family and their three children: Michael, Tyler, and Becca.

This episode begins when Echo sees a mummy  on their way home from a family fishing trip at Lake Placid. Soon afterward an Ancient Egyptian Exhibit opens at the local Fogville Museum. King Tut’s grandmother, Queen Tiye, is part of the exhibit. Legend has it  she tutored Tutankhamen on the ways of being a great pharaoh. She, also, enjoyed playing the ancient Egyptian strategy game of senet with Tut nightly. “Legend has it that the day her grandson won a game, it would be the sign that he was finally ready to become pharaoh.” Now, Queen Tiye is unable to rest peacefully since her tomb has been unearthed until her grandson wins a game of senet played with her. Tyler Silver learns how to play senet and begins to play it competitively. Michael, Tyler, and Becca Silver plan to have Tyler (dressed as Tut ) challenge Queen Tiye to a game in the museum after the museum has closed for the evening. Echo is instrumental in getting them inside the museum and in winning the game.

The color illustrations (12 full page, & 24- 1/3 page) add to the enjoyment of this exotic story line. The grandmother mummy wears granny glasses as part of the light-hearted fun.

Includes: 3 discussion questions, 3 writing prompts,  a glossary, and www.facthound.com.

This 12″ X 9.75 ”  book is a simple introduction into the world of a balanced diet.  Page 4 states, ” A balanced diet includes fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein.” From there it shows a  modified pie chart of a balanced diet using a dinner plate with fork, an additional circle (glass) for dairy, and ‘Choose MyPlate.gov’ written across the bottom of the place-mat. Facts about each food group are then given two pages with numerous photos of food large enough to be easily recognizable by young readers. Serving sizes are not mentioned.

Fruits include: apples, tomatoes, raspberries, and watermelon which help fight disease. Vegetables include: carrots, peas, and broccoli which keep a body healthy. Grains include: oats, wheat, and rice which give energy. Dairy include: milk, cheese, and yogurt which help build strong bones and teeth. Protein include: meat, fish, eggs, beans, and nuts which help you to grow.

‘Healthy Fats’, ‘Sugar’, and ‘Exercise and Sleep’ are also, given two pages apiece.

Concludes with “Can You Remember” (quiz) , “Words to Know”, and index.

What an excellent graphic novel!  Amelia Louise McBride is an only child whose parents are recently divorced.  She and her mom now live with her mom’s sister until they can save enough money to move into a house.  Amelia has a plan to make both her parents feel guilty about the change in lifestyle due to the divorce, and she’d benefit at Christmastime with a windfall.  However, among her new friends is a latchkey kid–something she’s never heard of before.  She had been feeling sorry for herself, but when she went to this kid’s house, she realized she had it a lot better than he did.  She knew Santa wouldn’t be visiting his house.  Anyway, she finds out that they have both asked for the same toy for Christmas, and Amelia knows it’s an expensive and hard-to-find toy.  When she gets it, she is so happy, but her  mind takes her back to her friend’s dreary house.  She rewraps the gift and sneaks out of the house over to her friend’s house.  She gets in a puts the toy under his tree and then hides to watch him open it.  Knowing she has done the right thing is gift enough for her.  She sneaks out of the house, but makes a small creak which her friend hears.  He runs to the window and sees her running home in her red outfit and red hat with white fur trim.  He’s positive it’s Santa!  Back at the clubhouse, he regals his friends with his story of seeing Santa and Amelia feels hope restored to her faithless friends.  Wonderful story!  This is a book I will definitely recommend to other librarians for their schools.

This is the story of a young girl’s dream for greatness among the people (animals) around her who doubt this will ever happen.

Diva Duck declares, “I am destined for greatness,” but for the cow, hen, and pig this is ironic, living on a farm. Life changed after the farmer had a barn dance, where Diva Duck took over for the DJ. She was an instant hit with the farmer’s guests,  farm animals, on the Internet, with reporters, paparazzi, and clothes designers. She traveled the world opening dance clubs. “Diva never went back to doing the duck stuff. Because when you have a dream, anything is possible.”

Includes: 2 discussion questions.

I may be old fashioned , but I find it crude and pointless to use the word ‘butt‘ as author Janice Levy does in this book when other words are possible.

“She waddled by, wiggling her butt.”(page 9)  “Her beak twitched. Her hips swiveled. Her butt went boom-ducka-boom.” (page 15)

Eleven  pages of  visual examples of spheres accompanied with two lines in rhyme. The young reader will “Search for spheres inside this book.” Seven of the spheres are mentioned by name: ( assorted) balls, bubbles, orange(s), grape(s), beads, seeds, and marbles.  More  spheres are shown but not mentioned by name: globe, bowling bowl,  ice of  a snow cone, ice cream of an ice cream cone, jaw breakers and other spherical-shaped candy,  meat balls, topiary shrubs, and swimming pool lane floats.

Includes: two sphere games.

This 24 page, 3 chapter book is a great way to help scared children work through their fear of going to the dentist through realistic fiction.

In Chapter 1 ” Problem Teeth” – Max is not looking forward to having the dentist pull his baby teeth to make room “so my grown-up teeth will come in straight.” In Chapter 2 ” Beyond Brave” – Max asks the dentist’s helper , “Can I get my prize first?” Then, walks to the dentist chair, is given a shot to numb his mouth, has two teeth pulled, and says,”That was so fast! And it hardly hurt!” In Chapter 3 ” The Best Part”- Max’s mother lets him pick out soft foods at the grocery store, puts his pulled teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy, and plays with Zoe and the new toys/prizes from the dentist office.

Includes: 3 discussion questions, 3 writing prompts, a tooth box craft project, and www.facthound.com code.

This is the perfect blend of sports and math!  I knew that math was relevant is every facet of life, however, I had no idea the plays called in football used so much algebra.  This book shows exactly how math is used and how important it is, even if your only goal in life is to play a game.  This book shows measurement, area, time, percentages, ratios, geometry, square roots, plot graphs, data charts, prediction, kinetic energy, and velocity–and this doesn’t even cover all of it.  This is amust for any library which has students who think they don’t need math.

I am a football fan, so I was curious as to who was on the all-time top 10 list.  Many of those I thought should be on the list, were there.  However, there were a number who weren’t there and some who were I thought were questionable.  Wilner gives a good description of each running back’s credentials and claim to fame.  However, the intro gives no criteria as to how he determined who would make the list.  I had to google to get various top 10 lists and, sure enough, each list was different.  What concerns me most is that LaDainian Tomlinson is the youngest on the list, and he was born in 1979.  This leads me to believe that Wilner’s research is a little outdated.  Maybe he chose only ‘retired’ running backs.