In Ali Hazelwood’s spicy romance Check & Mate, Mallory Greenleaf appears to be a confident, charismatic, and clever high school graduate stuck in her hometown working as a mechanic to support her mother and two sisters. But this characterization will be challenged by the very game that put her into her current situation: chess. Mallory was a child chess prodigy and her father a Grand Master. But at 14, events unfolded that made Mallory choose to quit playing. At her best friend’s request, Mallory joined a charity team tournament. Upon winning the tournament, which sent a minor earthquake through the chess world, Mallory’s own world opens to amazing opportunities through chess. Is she willing to endure the pain of the past and the conflicting story of the person she thought she had become? Readers need to know that Mallory is mature in her sexuality. Comments made by her younger middle-school-aged siblings might even shock some people. But Hazelwood’s exploration of the chess world and the game itself is fascinating. Even a person who has never played the game will love the tension Hazelwood produces. Add in a tantalizing romance that builds and builds over the whole book and this is a winner, much like Mallory.
Aardvark or Anteater?
by Mari Schuh
Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.
Aardvark or Anteater? is a highly engaging look at two animals that initially seem very similar. Yet, we learn that despite those similarities, they are very different animals. They are both mammals with long tongues that eat ants. But, their fur, snouts, ears and habitats are very different. New readers will enjoy discovering new information in a simply written book packed with facts and wonderful photos. This won’t be on your shelves for long!
Crow or Raven?
by Mari Schuh
Blastoff! Reader Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty books set that delves in the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar word are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.
Crow or Raven? There’s a lot to learn about these two types of birds! This book gives some really solid differences between two birds that seem very alike. For instance, crows have fan shaped tails and ravens have wedge shaped tails. Additionally, their beaks, size and throat feathers differ. Accompanying these memorable facts are photos that show those characteristics very clearly. Young readers will enjoy learning about these differences and will be quick to share! Word choice is appropriate to the audience and the nonfiction text features are helpful. Recommended.
Dolphin or Porpoise?
by Mari Schuh
Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include: table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.
Dolphin or Porpoise? starts out by sharing that both are mammals and swim in oceans or rivers. Then, the book describes several different features, including fin shape and size, tooth size and their general body types. Behavior differences are also touched upon. Young readers will be able to share some solid facts about each animal and make some great comparisons. This book would be great for beginning animal reports. It has just enough information to be interesting and not so much that it’s overwhelming. Perfect for the target audience!
Lizard or Salamander?
by Mari Schuh
Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences series is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include: table of contents, glossary, index and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are in bold type and their differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.
Lizard or Salamander? looks at the differences between those organisms. Different physical features are noted like dry skin vs. wet skin and claws vs. no claws. Then, behaviors are compared. The reader also learns that lizards come out at daytime and salamanders are active at night. and each live in different places. Photos are clear and crisp and text is not dense. Give this to your new readers as the books have high interest content. These won’t stay on the shelves!
The Polter-Ghost Problem
by Betsy Uhrig
What do you do when you have a long, boring summer ahead of you and a journal-writing assignment to go along with it? Three friends (Pen, Aldo and Jasper) discover an abandoned orphanage with some ghostly children. These young ghosts are trapped in their old home by a poltergeist that throws some major tantrums, furniture and lots of other stuff. The boys want to help these trapped entities while still dodging Aldo’s older brother and the possibility of being grounded for the rest of the summer. They investigate the old orphanage through documents at the library and the cranky librarian turns out to be more help than they can believe. With her next to them and Aldo’s brother tailing them, they plan to figure out what the poltergeist wants and free their ghostly friends.
Told in a conversational tone, with lots of middle school humor, this story moves along at a nice pace. It is humorous and slightly scary at times, ending with a nice twist that wraps it up with some laughs and a a big brother that really is kinda nice to have around. Give this to your readers that enjoy slapstick adventure.
Frog Can Hop
written by Laura Gehl and illustrated by Fred Blunt
Frog can do many things – hop, shop, bop and chop. Pig can….flop. But, Frog suddenly flops and Pig takes over and hops, shops, mops, bops and pops. He pops a little too much popcorn and Frog jumps in to hop mop, and flop with him. They can do it all together!
Simple, repetitive sentences and engaging illustrations make this short reader a perfect book for a young student. There is an added word box in the front and questions in the back to increase depth of understanding. Put this in your library for kids that love “Elephant and Piggie”. They’ll thank you!
Night Market Rescue
written by Charlotte Cheng and illustrated by Amber Red
GoGo, a stray dog, is resting near the bustling night market when his nose leads him to some delicious snacks. As he wanders through the crowds, he notices a little girl that looks sad and alone. He leads her through the market, sharing its vibrant scents and sights. Eventually, she breaks away from him to run into her parents’ arms, who tearfully hug her. GoGo thinks his friend is now gone. But, no! They call him over and he now has a family and a home!
This vibrantly illustrated book is a wonderful glimpse at the lively hustle and bustle of a night market. Text is spare and the illustrations serve to fill out the story beautifully. And, who doesn’t love a story where the girl and the dog become best friends forever?
Out of Range
by Heidi Lang
Three sisters are sent to a rigorous camp together as a punishment for their constant fighting and terrible choices. Ollie ( age 9), Emma (age 12) and Abby (age 14) had moved to a new home and making friendships was difficult. Prior to this move, they had had typical sibling relationships, sometimes doing things together or sometimes two breaking off to have their own adventure. Abby starts to pull away as she tries to forge new friendships and in the process embarrasses Emma at school pretty horribly. Emma and Ollie then team up to get revenge and target Abby. As a result, their parents send them to a camp known to help kids figure things out.There are lots of unpleasant hikes and the girls don’t seem to regain their previous close bond. There is an incident and the head of the camp decides to take the girls on a punishment hike. During this hike, the girls stray from the trail and leave the camp director. What ensues is a harrowing few days as the girls work together, surviving every possible outdoor disaster (ear drownings, falling down a cliff, bear encounter and so much more) and realize they really do love each other.
The story is told in alternating views and jumps back and forth from the present (at camp) and the past (all the awful stuff leading up to it). These girls are absolutely horrible to each other and I was feeling secondary embarrassment on their behalf with each social/emotional attack they wielded. The camp part was a little over the top, with every conceivable disaster befalling the girls. I could see a couple things going wrong. But, this was EVERYTHING. You might want to take my view with a grain of salt, though, because my family has grown up in the outdoors and guides in Alaska during the summers. So, that part might be more believable to a reader that doesn’t have such a background. I did like how the girls spent quite some time reflecting (individually and together) on their actions and came to the conclusion themselves that they needed to change. Buy this book if you are looking for a survival story that has all the bells and whistles.
Love, Decoded
A rom-com with Asian flair, Jennifer Yen’s Love, Decoded mixes the pressures of high school classes, friendships, and angst into a predictable yet modern melodrama. Gigi Wong is a super smart girl with nothing holding her back — she comes from a family with money, she has respect from her peers and teachers, and she has a school that offers the high-level classes to take her anywhere. But like most teens, Gigi doesn’t know where to go after high school. An app creation assignment in class that includes the option of being entered into a contest brings out Gigi’s natural drive to be the best, but this will create conflict in multiple friendships as the story plays out. Gigi is a nice girl that readers will want to succeed and they may get frustrated as they know the tripwire is coming…she will fall down. How she handles both the elements she is in control of as well as those she lost control of will be the make-or-break point for readers. They’ll either see her as authentic or not. This is recommended for all high school and public libraries.