This non-fiction text describes  a dozen very different school experiences from a dozen different countries scattered around the world.  It begins with a world map labeling the twelve countries to be described within.  Each two-page spread within the body of the book is dedicated to a different country: it includes some basic geographical information about the country, photos, and a description of the personal schooling experience of a specific child from that country.  Within the description, within the context of describing the school, a lot of additional information about the culture of that country is also included.  I really appreciate the variety of settings included: right after reading about a school under a tree in Kenya, with few books, where a school field trip was the first time students had ever been beyond their village, the reader turns the page to learn about an international in Malaysia with over 16,000 books in their library, where a school field trip took students to the Netherlands.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to use the common experience of school to link students to children all around the world.  I just wish they could have managed to include more photos to visually support the textual descriptions of things that will be so foreign to most young readers.

The topic will be a popular one.  The illustrations are inviting.  The ABC format makes it easily accessible, and it’s packed with information.  The rhyming seems a bit contrived at times, and some of the key alphabet words seem a bit of a stretch in terms of relevance to Roman history, but I think its strengths outweigh its weaknesses.  A map in the front illustrates the extent of the Roman Empire at its peak.

This debut novel is a very, very funny story about an overweight 12-year-old middle schooler, a rich genius, who leads a very interesting life.  His genius and fortune have allowed him to control his surroundings to a point that he can dictate who is popular, who isn’t, who succeeds and who doesn’t.  Supposedly the fourth richest person in the world, he has created a somewhat ‘normal’ life, both at home and at school.  The reader gets sucked into all the drama and the technology that controls it, not stopping to think–hey, wait a minute! — would a rich genius really be in middle school taking regular classes in middle America?  A very funny read.  All middle schoolers should enjoy it!

A true story based on two Smith sisters living in Glastonbury, Connecticut in the 1870’s.  The town leaders, all men, decided to impose a tax on only ‘single female landowners’.  The yearly amount would have been $4,000 in today’s dollars.  Refusing to pay, their cows were auctioned off, only to be purchased by the Smith sisters through the benevolence of neighbors who believed they were being treated unfairly.  Their land was seized and each year brought a new fight against the system.  Women were not allowed to vote, not even allowed to say anything at a town meeting.  Their premise was that this was ‘taxation without representation,’ the same thing the colonists had fought one hundred years ago, a reason for the American Revolution.  The story is interesting, but the author’s note at the end of the story is also very interesting.  The Smith family was very, very educated, their father graduated from Yale.  Although this story took place when the Smith sisters were quite elderly, I am surprised that there weren’t some male relatives who weren’t on the town council to make taxation more fair.  Even without relatives, I find it hard to believe a town would actually do that.  But stranger things have happened.  It’s an amazing story.

This beautifully illustrated version of Little Red Riding Hood has been translated and edited by Maria Tarar.  The story is typical of the Little Red Riding story, not much has changed.  The illustrations are large and colorful and the wolf is huge, much larger than in previous versions.  At the end of the story is an additional short story in which the grandmother and Little Red are at grandmother’s house, aware of the wolf outside, waiting.  They trick him and he drowns and they are safe.  Beautiful black on sepia illustrations.  A new addition I had never had before, and very clever.  This will make a nice addition to any library.

Ellen Hopkins’ best selling book Crank will give every teenager, parent, administrator or mentor to teens the gut-wrenching experience of how easily methamphetamine can turn a life upside-down.  Kristina is a perfectly normal, good kid.  She’s done everything her mother has expected of her, yet she seeks to find out about her father who lives in Albuquerque.  A drug-abuser himself, Dad barely has his life together and Kristina is not impressed.  But away from home, she is taken away with a boy who introduces her to “The Monster”.  When she’s high, Kristina creates an alter-ego named Bree.  Bree is more sexual, more risky, more outspoken.  As the summer closes, Kristina hasn’t lost her virginity, but that will change in the months to come.  Returning home, “The Monster” will keep its grip on Kristina as her mother and step-father struggle to figure out what has changed her.  Poetic license with concrete and free verse form, Hopkins fast-moving story explores the psychological side of the drug’s effects more than the physical.  There is no happy ending here, but the awareness of the drug’s torture on the user and his/her family and friends is the lesson in itself.

Pet lovers will be happy to see this biography on Cesar Millan, the “Dog Whisperer.”  At a very young age, it was obvious that Cesar had a special way with dogs.  The book tells of his technique of calming dogs by looking through the eyes of the animal to understand them.  He believes that dogs are obedient to their owner only if they have an understanding of whom their leader is.  This he learned from his grandfather, who shared this  special skill with animals.

The biography tells Cesar’s story of crossing the border from Mexico into the US illegally, and of how he worked his way up to having his own TV show, which first aired on September 13, 2004.  Dog lovers will enjoy the  many photographs throughout.

This visually-appealing cookbook for beginners is sure to please.  Paula Deen, in her planning for the cookbook, first tried to think of events that would lead young people to cook/bake, and organized her chapters as such.  Some of the chapters include breakfast, bake sales, pool parties, sleepovers, Christmas parties, family picnics, and Mother’s and Father’s Day.  Cooking tips (“when cutting, use a cutting board to cut on, never the countertop), a Glossary (garnish, mince, saute, simmer, whisk, etc.) How to Measure (liquids vs solids, for example), and an index are added features.

The recipes contain thorough directions, including such things as positioning the oven racks, and how to prepare your cooking station.  Paula includes helpful information such as the fact that a muffin taken out of the freezer will take about 30 minutes to thaw, or one can microwave it for 45 seconds.

The Bake Sale chapter gives tips on how to have a successful bake sale.  Being from the South, Paula mentions manners throughout the cookbook, as well as presentation ideas to give the finished food a polished look.

A gentle, soft, touching tale about letting go of a loved one.  Old Pig and Granddaughter have lived together for a long time, comfortable in the routines in which they help each other, but one day the routine is thrown off when Old Pig finds herself too tired to get up as usual for breakfast.  When she does finally feel well enough to get up, she’s still tired, but feels the need to make some preparations, including taking a long walk with Granddaughter celebrating the simple delights of life.  Granddaughter cares for Old Pig right up until”for the very last time Old Pig and Granddaughter held each other tight until morning.”  The soft illustrations beautifully capture and help to set the gentle mood of the story.  A wonderfully comforting book to share with someone facing their own loss.

I think whether this book would qualify as recommended or additional purpose will depend on the purpose you are seeking to fill.  It’s got a lot of information presented in a very readable fashion, rather like a travel diary.  The information isn’t organized terribly well for research purposes, so if it’s strictly an information book you’re looking for, it would probably be an additional purchase.  But if you’d like to use the sports connection to spark some reader’s interest in geography and travel, then I could recommend this (and probably the rest of the series).  The one thing I wished for that could have made this an R* would be to have more photos to help support the text.  One feature I really did like (besides the voice that made it so inviting) was that it included excerpts from the glossary in little blurbs along the way, right on the pages where the words would be needed.  Let’s face it, kids tend to be pretty lazy about actually using the glossaries in the back, but putting the “Words 2 Know” blurbs right on the applicable page would be helpful.