The Wendy Project is a graphic novel by actor and playwright Melissa Jane Osborne, illustrated by Veronica Fish, whose clients include Nickelodeon and MARVEL. The story is a modern day twist on the Peter Pan story, and features 16-year-old Wendy Davies who crashes her car into a lake with her two younger brothers in the backseat. Upon awaking in the hospital, she learns that her youngest brother, Michael, is dead. Wendy, who prior to this tragedy, was a rational teenager, shocks her family by insisting that Michael is alive and in the custody of a mysterious flying boy. Wendy is moved to a new school, where she tries to navigate between fantasy and reality. In Wendy’s eyes, the students and adults around her begin to resemble characters from Neverland. She is given a sketchbook by her therapist, and she starts to draw. But is The Wendy Project just her safe space, or a portal between worlds?

Seventeen years later,  questions still abound about how 9/11 could have happened.   Were those horrible events a well organized plan of radical Muslims or a coordinated, clandestine conspiracy of a few powerful people or even possibly, a plot orchestrated by the US government to undermine the status quo?

A Truther is a person who intensely believes that the tragedies of 9/11 were an organized cover-up by the United States Government.  In fact, there are numerous conspiracy theories about different events of the 20th century, like the Kennedy assassination.  The book, Truthers, reveals the different theories in interesting ways and makes compelling arguments for the possibility of conspiracy by either rich corporations or the actual US Government.  In searching for a release for her father from a mental institution, Katie discovers that some of his drug/alcohol ramblings may be true. Her father may know what really happened on 9/11, who was responsible for it and that she may be the only survivor of the horrible event.  The story is intriguing as a moment in time that deeply changed America well as a human interest story of a young girl trying to defend her father.  This is a good read about 9/11 and all the conspiracy theories that still surround it.

The ritualistic “sharing” begins with the affirmation: “He is the floor beneath our feet and the roof above our heads.  He is the walls around us.  He is the window through which we see into ourselves and the door that leads to a better understanding.  He is always watching…”  Thus beginneth the opportunity for four captured children to confess to an error and one of the four to take a torturous consequence on behalf of the group as part of His plan.  The four children are part of His networked cult and are brainwashed into acting and looking like 4 siblings from a distant time known as The Special Ones.  The Special Ones talk to followers online each night to give advice on how to live a pious life.  The Special Ones live in a compound without electricity or running water, with basic supplies arriving miraculously at night from Him, but with the expectation that they can farm and forage from themselves to survive.  When a Special One receives their “renewal” notice from Him, they don’t know if they will be let go from the kidnapping, kept captive elsewhere or killed.  And when one person leaves on renewal, a new person is “collected” and brought in to take their place.  Told from two points of view, that of a kidnapped sibling “Esther” and the “Him”, Bailey has a knack for eerie, suspense-laden story-telling.  The story moves quickly once the premise is realized and though it is not very realistic, it will keep readers wanting to see it through to the end.  Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries for fans of mystery and suspense.

Wolf, shark, snake, spider, and piranha are lured into the woods to stop a neighbor from being bulldozed.When they find out the bulldozers are made of cardboard and duct tape. Suddenly the ground opens up and a laser canon appears. Dr. Marmalade, billionaire mad scientist guinea pig is out to get his revenge on the Good Guys for  releasing all 10,000 chickens from his farms. Now snake, wolf , and shark are tied up, hanging from the ceiling, “THE ONLY REASON WE’RE IN THIS MESS IS BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID OBSESSION WITH BEING A HERO!” yells snake to wolf.  Secret agent Fox disguised as a ninja rescues the Good Guys. But Dr. Marmalade escapes after pushing the button to end the world.  Once again, they escape. Agent Fox gives chase to Dr. Marmalade leaving the Good Guys to fight the latest secret weapon….. zombie kittens.

Perhaps this series is named “THE BAD GUYS” because of the corny, obvious, and bathroom humor, but whatever the reason, young readers will love it!

If you are looking to update your science experiment book section, this book is pleasing to the eye with its bright colorful photos. I especially liked the advice on page 6 Before You Begin: Slow and Steady, “Getting an experiment to work correctly can be tricky, …Your science projects will turn out better if you take your time.”

The teeny volcano eruption (page 10-11) and the tiny tornado /vortex (pages 12-13) are not anything new for books of this type.  Some of the experiments will state what will be happening, while in others the reader/experimenter must hypothesize first or simply wait and watch.

Other experiments include: small submarine, wee water cycle, teeny-weeny walking water drops, mini ecosystem, itsy-bitsy button race car, and miniature merry-go-round.

Page 22 of Mini-Ecosystem states, ” watch microscopic organisms thrive!” but does not indicate the person needs to use any enlarging lenses to see this. Is this an oversight or do the ‘microscopic’ organisms get big enough to see with the naked eye?

On pages 26 and 29, the photo clearly shows the AA battery in the reverse position stated in the directions. Were the directions incorrect or was this to make the photo easier to focus without moving objects? If the experimenter is going by the photos, this one probably will not work. Frustration time.

In addition to the experiments in this book, the Further Information section includes two other web sites:    http://www.funology.com/science-experiments    and    http://kids.usa.gov/science/science-fair-projects/index.shtml

Ten dump trucks in action; either being filled by an excavator or a front loader, or dumping their loads at a construction site or at a mine.

Two or three large font sentences per page opposite a color photo of a truck. The book states the obvious facts about dump trucks.

Contains a diagram of the three major parts of a dump truck: bed, cab, and tire. Plus a four picture with definition glossary: construction site, excavator, front loader, and mines.

One very happy pig is taking a bubble bath with just his rubber ducky. Then comes Pig Two with a beach ball, followed by Pig Three with a snorkel and mask, then a pig pirate, a pig with a tuba, a sailor pig with his toy ship, another pig with a sandcastle, and finally a pig with a surf board.

Then, just as quickly as the tub filled, the tub empties. Enter one wolf, with a BIG zipper down his chest. A pig in wolf’s clothing, now in the bath with the bubbles and his rubber ducky.

Hilarious fun in board book form!

I would like it better if it were about grandparents than I do with it being about Dad.  Grandparents are supposed to spoil kids.  Dads are supposed to parents, and this book feeds into the stereotype of Mom being the real parent, and Dad getting to be the loafer.  When Mom is gone for the evening,  and Dad is in charge, Clare keeps trying to tell her dad how Mom would do things, but he keeps saying he’s doing it Dad’s way, which includes more fun, desert for dinner, and extra stories and kisses before bed, so of course Clare ends the story by asking if Dad can be in charge again tomorrow.

A fox mom tells her kiddos all things they are to her, in a series of endearments that all end in, “boo.”  It’s got rhythm and rhyme and repetition.  The illustrations add a sense of story as they move through their day, making the point, that no matter what happens, “you will always be my boo.”

The entire text of the book amounts to a spin-off of “Marco Polo:” a toddler calls out, “Rutabaga?” and Mom replies with “Boo.” The illustrations are nice enough as they show the two going through their day, but there doesn’t ever seem to emerge any real meaning behind the call and response, nor enough of a story within the illustrations to count as a (nearly) wordless book.