Written in the form of undated journal entries, Max Crumbly is sure to be a hit with fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries.

After being home-schooled by his grandmother since kindergarten, Max starts his first public school experience as an eighth graders at South Ridge Middle School.  Finding a niche and fitting in was particularly difficult because Doug “Thug” Thurston goes out his way to make Max’s life miserable after Max threw up on his shoe in gym class.  Only the second week and Max has been stuffed in his locker for the second time.  Max then journals in the cramped locker until his crush hears him and unlocks the door.

After school with a three day weekend approaching Max is crammed in the locker once again with no one is likely to notice him missing until the next week.  Max finally busts out the back of his locker into a dank unused boiler room.  Thinking to escape through the ventilation system he overhears 3 burglars planning to empty the new computer lab.

Max’s misadventures are not resolved in this first book.  Maybe he’ll escape the school and outsmart burglars in book 2

John Wallace’s illustrations make a perfect match for Marion Dane Bauer’s simple information on snow for young readers. Clouds in winter are made of ice crystals. The ice and dust in the clouds grow “so heavy that they drop from the cloud.” (13) The colder the air, the smaller the snow flakes and vice versa. “Each snowflake has six sides.” (20)

Page 31 contains six “Facts about snow” which are more complex than the previous information. This includes, ” People used to think it was impossible to find two alike, but a researcher named Nancy Knight once did find two snowflakes exactly alike.” (31)

John Wallace’s illustrations make a perfect match for Marion Dane Bauer’s simple information about wind for young readers. The earth spins, so air moves creating wind. Heated air rises, colder air falls trading places. “We call this movement ‘wind’.” (11) Birds, seeds, kites, sailboats, and windmills all use wind. Very quickly moving air can cause storms.  We can’t see wind, only its effects.

Page 32 contains four “Facts about wind” which are more complex than the previous information.

John Wallace’s illustrations make a perfect match for Marion Dane Bauer’s extremely simple information on clouds. One of the three types of clouds most youngsters will relate to are fog and their chilly breath on a cold morning. There are cirrus clouds, “That means ‘curl’.” (10)” Stratus. That means ‘layered’ or ‘spread out’. “(12-13) “Cumulus. That means ‘heap’ or ‘pile’. (18)
Clouds consist of liquid or frozen water. Clouds cool the earth during the day and keep the warmth in the atmosphere at night (like a blanket). The water in clouds is the same water as back in dinosaur days.

Page 32 contains 5 “Facts about clouds” which are more complex than the previous 30 pages.

John Wallace’s illustrations make a perfect match for Marion Dane Bauer’s extremely simple telling of the water cycle for very young readers. Sentence length ranges from three to eight words. There is usually one sentence, in a large font, to a page. The plot: it is hot, plants wilt, a cloud , water droplets unite, droplets get heavy, and fall to earth. Repeat.

Page 32 contains six “Facts about rain” which are more complex than the previous 30 pages.

Have you ever wondered who invented the cookie? This book discusses the history of the cookie. It starts with how the cookie was started, then how they came to America, and then how the cookie became popular. It gives a lot of interesting tidbits about how cookies became a part of celebrations and the most popular cookie. It ends with a bit of baking science, a recipe and a short quiz.

This book is a part of the History of Fun Stuff series. It is billed as a Level 3 Ready-to Read book, but the text is long and lacks text features. Several of the famous people or companies may not be recognizable to a younger audience. Students who are interested in the history of sweets will enjoy the fun facts and history of the cookie.

Bertie looks and acts like all of the other giraffes. They do the same thing everyday. One day Bertie oversleeps and realizes that he was all alone. As Bertie wanders around lost and unsure what to do, he sees Blue, a creature just like him, only blue. Blue says that he can lead Bertie back home. As Blue and Bertie walk to his home, Blue shows Bertie things he had never noticed before like birds and rare flowers and helps Bertie see things in a different way. When Bertie joins his heard, Blue sadly turns to leave because he does not belong. Bertie tells Blue that he does belong and Blue helps the heard see things a little bit differently.

A sweet story about acceptance, being a good friend and looking at things differently.

Maggi and Milo return in another adventure. This time Maggi and Milo are having a staring contest when Maggi’s mom suggests going to the park. Maggi wonders why they should go and mom replies, “Because it’s Tuesday and the sun is shining and you might make a new friend.” Maggi doesn’t think she needs new friends because she has “Milo, the Mammal of All Mammals.” They go to the park to discover that dogs are not allowed. Maggi’s mom says she will stay with Milo while Maggi goes to play. Maggi introduces herself to a group of children and soon they are playing. Maggi decides that she wants to walk Milo because he looks bored. The other children want to walk him too. Maggi says that it is expensive and sends them to look for roly-polies, sticks, acorns, dandelions and three leaf clovers. She decides that they look like they are having fun collecting things for her, so she decides to join them. Maggi leaves the park having made new friends, but with her best friend of all, Milo. This is a fun story about making new friends.

The illustrations are colorful and engaging. The characters in the book reflect a multicultural group of friends.

Edith Houghton was said to have been born with a baseball in her hand. If she wasn’t playing baseball, she was watching baseball. In the 1920s at the age of 10, she tried out for the new all-female team, the Philadelphia Bobbies. Even though she was only 10, she made the team and even became the starting shortstop. At thirteen, she had the opportunity to travel to Japan with the Bobbies to play against men’s teams.

This wonderfully told story depicts a lesser known piece of baseball history. The illustrations compliment the text. The end of the story includes a note from the author with pictures of Edith Houghton and more information about women in baseball.

David Milgrim uses multiple combinations of 19 words, plus 4 sound effects over 30 pages of illustrations to tell an adventurous story of Otto, the robot, who wants to visit his robot family on another planet. Otto builds a rocket pack to fly home, but on his test flight something goes wrong. It flies right, left, up, and down before crashing. Otto’s monkey and elephant friends are happy to see Otto safely back with them. The end, for now.

Young emergent readers will feel a great sense of accomplishment being able to read an entire story/book by themselves.