Three trillion miles away from earth, it is difficult to make an emergency landing.  So it is a good thing that Superman is on the scene when Jimmy, an intrepid reporter for The Daily Planet, and the crew of the Long Range Explorer find that their hyperdrive engines are dead.  With colorful “BOOMS!” “BZZTS!” and “THWOOMS!” Superman is fighting off space scavengers, pushing giant space rocks out of the way, and finally coming face to face with the evil Kanjar Ro.  Luckily, Jimmy makes it back to earth in time for his deadline, and readers may admire the way he includes the five W’s in his article on the adventure.  Young Superman fans will enjoy this little chapter book that ends with discussion and writing prompts.

How soon we adults forget all the aches and pains and dilemmas of growing up and in this book, Harper does an excellent job of letting us see into the life of an elementary school girl and her classmates and friends.  I’m not sure how old Grace actually is or in what grade, but I would guess about fourth grade and ten years old.  I know teachers, parents and adults in general, find some kids difficult to be around.  But it’s actually nice to see that other kids find these same kids annoying, also.  Dealing with tattletales, snobby kids, and teachers are all strengths that Harper brings to her books.  How Grace deals with them and the lessons learned are ones we all need to hear.  This will make a great read for all kids.

In typical Boxcar Children fashion, in this baseball mystery, the four Alden children solve the mystery of who is giving signals to the best hitter of the opposing team.  What is great about these books are the familiarity of the characters and the mystery is interesting, with enough possible suspects, to make it suspenseful.  Kids who know and enjoy baseball, will enjoy this latest Boxcar Children addition.

What kid won’t get a giggle out of a little bathroom humor?  This title delivers 21 creative poems paired with lively illustrations that cover everything from sisters hogging the loo to potty training.   An entertaining touch of the taboo with out going down the drain.

It took Marco Polo four years of crossing deserts, climbing mountains and struggling against man and the elements to reach his destination: China and the palace of Kublai Khan. This biography of the amazing explorer does more than just relate the facts of his life and trek. Feinstein relates the account of Polo’s 17 years of service to the great Khan, how he ended up in a Genoese prison and how  his life story got written and published. Although only 112 pages, the book is beautiful.  The pages appear to be written on old maps.  The photographs and drawings are stunning.  The book is well-organized and easy to follow, ending with a chapter on the impact of Polo’s travels and a list of resources for further reading.  A solid reference on an incredible man.

10-year old Persimmony Smudge falls into an adventure when she seeks the answer to the question, “Is there a giant sleeping under the island of Mount Majestic?”  First-time author Jennifer Trafton writes in a delightful, lyrical way (…for if there was one talent in the world Prunella possessed, it was a gift for going into hysterics), full of puns (the Lyre-That- Never-Lies), and whimsically profound (“But how do you know the sea goes on and on forever on all sides, and how do you know the sky is blue behind your back when you aren’t looking, because after all it might turn green or purple or orange the way the sunrise changes colors, and did you see how beautiful the sunrise was this morning?) This wacky tale features wonderful artwork by Brett Helquist (from the Series of Unfortunate Events) which helps add dimension to the story.

Friends and detectives-in-training, Milo and Jazz, are at the local fair during the summer.  The fair seems to be jinxed because strange things are happening: farm animals getting loose, pies disappearing, fake snakes in the games.  No one can explain it, until Milo and Jazz overhear a group of older boys known for their troublemaking ways, saying pretty incriminating stuff.  This leads Milo to think that these boys are planning for something bad to happen during the next day’s Fourth of July celebration.  Milo decides to infiltrate the group by pretending he’s a ‘bad boy,’ too.  But rather than planning a heist, the boys are trying to get organized to be fruits and veggies for a parade.  Big mistake on Milo’s part.  The person who they least expected turned out to be the culprit. This book will be a great fit and popular for readers in third and fourth grades who need something to read that’s of interest to them but not difficult.

Kayla Dean is a 15-year-old student journalist who smells a story when she hears that the Lady Lions, a prestigious hip-hop dance team at her high school, chooses members more for their curvy bodies than their dancing skills.  Encouraged by Rosalie, her best friend and fellow journalist, Kayla, who lacks the most basic of feminine curves, embarks on a fitness/dance/makeover process to try out for the team.  Through her own efforts and a dynamite tryout performance, she makes it, and is shocked to find new and supportive friends on the team.

“Being chosen…exceeds the boundaries of earth and space,” Kayla opines.  But her happiness is challenged when Rosalie accuses her of losing both her feminist and journalistic ideals.

This story of  teen friendships and triumphs is told with humor and wisdom, and will appeal to teens facing the everyday trials in their lives.  I especially liked seeing an African-American teen whose problems have nothing to do with poverty of lack of education.  We need more books like this one.

“You never know when everything is going to change, when everything you’ve taken for granted…is going to get smashed to pieces and you’ll realize that there’s nothing you can do, there’s no way out”, Will, the protagonist of the novel, confides to the reader. In The Returners, this is exactly what happens to 15 year old William Hodges. This dystopian novel, set in the very near future of 2016 England, examines issues relevant to current societies around the world: issues of politics, race, immigration, prejudice, and ethnic cleansing.

The novel is suspenseful, engaging, and disturbing. Dream sequences of historical attrocities, including WWII concentration camps and the Rwanda genocide, are constant throughout the book and may be disturbing to the reader. Themes include loss, grief, despair, bullying, regret, betrayal and redemption.

In spite of the weighty subject matter, the novel is exciting and profound, with plot twists unexpected by the reader. Recommended for those fans of dystopias.

It has been a year since the meteorite struck the moon leaving the earth and its inhabitants struggling to survive.  In this 3rd book in the Last Survivors trilogy, teen Miranda (with her diary) surviving in Pennsylvania (from Book 1) and teen Alex who survived in New York City (from Book 2) meet in Pennsylvania under interesting circumstances.  And, yes…romance does bloom instantly between the two even though they hardly know each other.  Staying alive in this unforgiving climate is the ever-present constant in the book.   This novel, with its plots flaws and all, is still an interesting read.  It will leave the reader wanting to know more.  Is this really the end of this series?