A good, solid, age-appropriate science text for early learners: it uses simple text, and uses color photos well to support that text.  It manages to make some big vocabulary clearly understandable (opaque, translucent, transparent).  It uses examples that will be readily familiar to small children to make its  points. And it’s got a good sturdy binding, too.

It’s got a good sturdy binding, but it’s pretty useless for teaching kids the vocabulary it’s trying to teach.  The only page that tells what words mean is the two-age dictionary spread in the back, which kids aren’t going to look at.  The main body of the book has some lovely color photos of smiling people, labeled with French family terminology, but there are not clues in either the text or the photos to indicate who these people are, other than age and gender. Parents, aunt, uncle, and stepparents are pretty indistinguishable, as are cousins, siblings, and friends.  Demi-soeur is listed in the dictionary as stepsister, but given what I know about complicated families and word origins, it makes me wonder whether the French use the same word for both stepsister and half-sister??

We have often heard that truth is stranger than fiction,  Lauren Tarshis- author, is putting that saying to the test in this book. Tarshis has written fictional accounts of famous events in her acclaimed I Survived series, but this one is all non fiction! The five disasters she’s chosen for this book  include: ‘The Children’s Blizzard- 1888’, ‘The Titanic Disaster- 1912’, ‘The Great Boston Molasses Flood-1919’, ‘The Japanese Tsunami- 2011’, and ‘The Henryville Tornado- 2012’.

After the retelling of each event, black and white photos of people involved in the event, photos of the aftermath of the event, and  photos of memorabilia from the time draw the reader ever closer into the story, especially since the last two stories occurred during the reader’s own lifetime. The final story- The Henryville Tornado was written upon invitation from students who lived through the ordeal.

Stone Arch Books is bringing back  YOU CHOOSE stories. Meaning, after the reader has read the opening fives pages of the story, the reader is given two or three choices to make at each plot turn, leading up to 12 different possible endings. The plot begins with the Mystery Incorporated gang going to visit their friend, David Bush, at his quaint picturesque Bushytail Farm for a weekend. When they arrive at the farm, it is run down and David is nowhere to be seen. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo decide to search for David at the nearby fair. Daphne and Velma decide to search for David in the farm house and Fred will search the barn.

The reader is given four possible ending for each of the three search parties as they are chased and scared by zombies, while  searching for David.

Sometimes the zombies are trying to scare the Mystery Incorporated gang away so their boss can use the farm land to build a factory. Sometimes the farm land is wanted to find oil or hidden treasure or valuable lost paintings. Whatever the reason, the would-be crooks are foiled by Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, or Daphne and Velma, or Fred.

The book includes ten full-color illustrations by Scott Neely “a professional illustrator…for many years…official Scooby-Doo…licensed properties” (p. 106) sprinkled throughout the book.

Kyla knew that running from the government would not be easy but she hopes that by returning to the place of her birth – and kidnapping – she might succeed in hiding and maybe even discover some secrets about her life.  This is the third and final book in the Slated Trilogy.

Need an ‘epic’ book to get your reluctant boys to read? ( EPIC is the series name.) This might just be the book you’re looking for a young boy who is interested in WWE wrestling.  Randy Orton is highly visual with action shot photos reminiscent of baseball cards and is light on the text.  Five short sections: ‘Debut’, ‘Who is Randy Orton?’, ‘Life Before WWE’, ‘A WWE Superstar’, and ‘Winning Moves’.

Randy Orton is the third generation of wrestler in his family. He follows his grandfather, father, and uncle as wrestlers. Randy wrestled in high school, became a Marine,  has been in a couple of movies, and now is a professional wrestle with the WWE          (your young boys will know what these letters stand for, even if it is not revealed with the book’s text).

Includes: glossary, www.factsurfer.com, and index.

Throughout history, women have first had to battle the prejudice of simply being a woman before being allowed to achieve other greatness. It was no different for Marie Curie, but she also had to battle the prejudice of being Polish under a Russian controlled government. The first chapter begins, ” In a time when men ruled the science world, Marie Curie stood alone as a female scientist. Today, she stands out in history as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She is also the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences: physics in 1903 and chemistry 1911.” (p. 5) First, she needed to study in secret with other Polish women, followed by helping her older sister go to university, before earning enough money as a governess to attend university in  France. Even today it is hard for a married woman to juggle college life with a child, but, in 1897, there were no day-care facilities. Marie’s recently widowed father-in-law helped out with child care. Marie was a good mother. Her working on her doctorate did not distract her from being a good mother. Marie worked with Wilhelm Conrad Rðntgen’s newly discovered X-rays and coined the phrase ‘radioactivity’. She discovered two new elements: polonium and radium. ” Curie believed radioactivity was an atomic property of the radioactive element…In years to come, scientists would reveal that Curie’s hypothesis was correct.” (p. 30) At this time the effects of radioactivity on humans was not known. She didn’t “believe that it was their research that was making them sick.” (p. 31) Her husband Pierre always made sure Marie was given the credit she deserved because it was her research, Pierre was the assistant. After Pierre’s death, scandal erupted in her and her daughters’ private lives. She kept away from the media. That and Marie’s ill health kept her away from research for awhile, but she eventually was able to return. Marie Curie’s work with X-rays helped in WWI by using X-ray equipment with injured soldiers.

She died in 1934 still not believing in the health risks of radiation. “Marie Curie will long be remembered … Because of her, the benefits and the dangers of radiation are understood much better. She also paved the way for the equality of women in the science field and beyond.” (p. 41)

In addition to the story of Marie Curie’s life, author Katherine Krieg has included primary sources and engaging questions for the readers to ponder off and on through the book and at the end in the section ‘Stop and Think’.

Gus is a small book (6.5 in. X 6.5 in.) for small hands* with a limited reading vocabulary. “Gus is a small yellow gosling who likes to be by himself.” Gus is an active observer in the world around him. Gus watches a spider spin a web, watches mice scamper, and a turtle dig a hole. Gus then finds the eggs laid by the turtle in the hole and sits on them until they hatch.

Young readers will be as joyful as Gus in their exploration of this book about Gus’ world!

Simple, though expressive illustrations.

*Beatrice Potter wrote small books a for small hands, too.

Cam is smart teen.  Living in New York City, he as learned how to take care of himself and those he loves.  Unfortunately, this puts him in bad situations.  Taking out a loan from the Chinese mafia to try to save his mother’s house was a calculated risk.  When his bike gets smashed beneath a bus, his bike messengering income is gone, but the love of his life emerges.  As Nikki, the cause of the accident, bounds away doing Parkour, Cam is enthralled.  What this story spins into is one of intense action and teeming love energy.  Nikki has a path for Cam to follow to be able to make good on his loan, but it will involve legal activities.  This story has life and death twists and turns of a high action movie, which it was compressed into starring Taylor Lautner while being released in print.  It was truly a fun read and both high school boys and girls will race through it. Not recommended for middle school though.