This book is full of interesting information about dolphins.  It covers dolphins from oceans and rivers all over the world.  I was amazed with the board and detailed information in this book.

This is a great resource for children waiting to learn about these animals.

The book is interesting with facts boxed and nice color photo’s throughout.  The font is smaller, and the vocabulary more complex than early reader books.  This is a great resource book for older children.

This is a great book for kids wanting to learn to fly fish.  It introduces them to the equipment, skills, safety precautions, and vocabulary of fly fishing.  The book is full of pictures.  Some are of fish, people fishing, and equipment.  I would like to have seen pictures of all the kinds of flies/bait they mentioned.  The book only pictured dry flies.  I found the book very informative and interesting.  This is a nice addition to our outdoor sports books.

Wow! What an amazing and fascinating book!  It answers an assortment of questions from how night vision goggles work to how space soliets work.  The font in the book is large and easy to read, so readers can move through the different topics quickly.  This book holds the readers attention.

The pictures are colorful and great examples of each topic.

The book has a nice glossary of words that might be new to young readers.  This is a fun book for readers of all ages.

Penciled by Carlo Barberi, the art style used in this book [graphic novel] doesn’t seem to try and emulate the style from Justice League Unlimited, instead using the bold, black outlines, detailed and more realistic faces reminiscent of the animated series, Superman. The story seems to meander at points and doesn’t seem to have a lot of focus. Some of this is caused by periods of lengthy exposition. One thing the book does very well, though, is create a world for the reader. Some of the lengthy exposition is created as Adam Beechen shows the world and the new hero to the reader.This world and its hero are very well crafted.  Heroic Age and Walden Wong did a great job of bringing everything to life with bright colors and an utopian atmosphere. All in all, it’s a great book if you want to dive into something new and different series, but this departure from the norm does seem to take a toll on the focus of the story.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts  for discussion.

submitted by T. K. Owens

Admittedly, I am not familiar with the Young Justice series. That being said, the art style in this book [graphic novel] is amazing. Of the DC Comics books being published by Stone Arch Books, the Young Justice series seems to have the most “comic-like” style. The shading is very meticulous, using cross-hatching and other techniques, instead of just applying shades in post-processing.

The story is a bit disjointed, but this is largely due to the continuity of the story.  It is definitely a series that you will want to start from the beginning as there are some significant plot points that are references to other books. The content of the story is very solid as the characters explore their fears with an eloquent maturity. My only complaint is that the first two explorations of fear use an excessive amount of dialogue that would have been better explained visually. The closing exploration with Superboy, while much less complicated and intricate, does a much better job and closes the story beautifully.

A great addition to your library, but I recommend starting from the beginning.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts  for discussion.

submitted by T. K. Owens

Fans of the T.V. series will definitely get a kick out of this book. The illustration is faithful to the cartoon it takes its name from and the art is very clean and consistent. The pace of the story is well done. Action and conflict comes into the story seamlessly and the underlying moral of the story is delivered masterfully without feeling out of place. The dialogue never gets too heavy and remains balanced throughout. There are no length monologues and the pure actions scenes are kept to a minimum while being easy to follow the chaos.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts

submitted by T. K.  Owens

“All over the world, people tell stories of strange ape-like creatures or wild men… [p. 4 – opening line] The first part of his book looks at some Bigfoot and yeti stories. The second part of the book uses science to ask questions about the evidence, to look at the theories, and to prove or disprove the existence of such creatures.” (p. 5)

There are 11 stories of sightings in the first part of the book. The sure number of  these sightings covered in this book makes this book superior to other books I’ve read on the topic. The sightings ranged from the west coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California, to Pennsylvania, then off to China , the Himalayas, to the Indus Valley. There is  a chart on page 39 of the number of recent sightings in 10 states with Oregon topping the list at 808 and Washington right behind it with 151 sightings.

As the book segues to the second half Charles Darwin’s “missing link” theory appears, as does a very brief cryptozoology statement. Some of the reasons given for not being able to prove or disprove Bigfoot’s or yeti existence include: they are ‘found’ in huge remote areas, most sightings of made by single individuals – without a second or third witness, there has not been an infrared camera photo of a Bigfoot or yeti, and low levels of oxygen at high elevations where they are found play tricks of people.

Then the book describes two hoaxes.

The book is not blatantly biased either way, the reader most make his/her own mind in the end.

Cinderella is a new princess bride as the story opens, but helping others in a servant role is deeply engrained in her actions. The King’s mother is coming to visit. She missed the Prince and Cinderella’s wedding. Grandmama would like to see Cinderella wear the blue sapphire tiara she had sent her. The tiara is not in Cinderella’s room, so she goes to the Royal Jewel Vault to look for it. The tiara is not in its special box. Then the royal search of the castle begins. The tiara has not yet been found when Grandmama arrives at the castle. The plot twists and turns as Cinderella and Grandmama waltz about as they each keep their secret about the tiara from the other one. In the end, both Cinderella and Grandmama humbly and apologetically  tell the other their secret about the tiara and in so, begin their friendship.

Each of the nine chapters has two full-color Disney Cinderella illustrations.

The Book of Blood is absolutely fascinating!  I was mesmerized reading it.  It includes so much information about blood–who knew?  There is the elements of blood, the lost science of Egypt, disease, transfusions and bloodletting, terms ‘blue blood’ and ‘cold blooded’ explained as well as others, blood pressure and pulse, the early science of ‘seeing’ blood, and more.  The info is delivered short and sweet, with just enough to pique curiosity and not too much to get bored or tired of it.  Whether you read it cover to cover, or in bits and pieces,The Book of Blood should be in every school library.

Kids love to draw and drawing books are a popular item at our school library.  This book is different because the directions are easy to follow.  The illustrations aren’t cluttered up but simple.  Kids can add as much as they want.  I will get the other books in this series as it teaches kids how to draw.