This book is a great introduction to the life cycle of a butterfly. What separates this book from the others is its amazing, nearly full page photographs that completely spell out the literature on each page. This level 3 reader is an early-fluent reader with 4 to 5 sentences on each page spread. It includes a table of contents, glossary and index, as well as other resource pages.

On a class field to the Busy Bee Farm, students learn  how bees work together to gather nectar, pollinate crops of our food, and make honey.  In a back and forth dialogue format, Farmer Ellen explains to the students the step by step process covering the interesting essentials as well as new vocabulary of bee farming..  She teaches the students to “Listen to their buzz.”  At this point the story makes a shift into a counting section with the bees counting the things they fly over.  Thinking that this interrupted the flow of the story, I wondered why the author made this choice.  Then Farmer Ellen asked the kids what they heard.  One student said, “Bees count!”  Adults may groan at the somewhat forced double meaning, but the text moves quickly to an explanation of how bees make honey and such a  hiccup will  probably not be an issue for the intended audience.  Being so highly informative, this publication is a great way to introduce the subject of bees and their critical importance in our food supply.  The Back Matter, “The Buzz on Bees”,  includes  much more fascinating bee information.

A preschool-age gem that will  delight the toddlers and parents alike.  Starting with one baby,  then adding one on each two- page spread…they run,  spin,  bounce, jump , hop , bang, shout, jiggle, wriggle,  their way up to ten babies on their way to bed.   The bold, vibrant colored, roly-poly babies  are so endearing you want to take them right off the page and snuggle.  Just the right amount of text, just the right amount of visuals, and just the right amount of silly.  I can see why Karen Katz has won so many awards from parenting publications.

This book presents philosophy in comic form, covering from the time of the Ancient Greek philosophers to the present.  The concept is excellent as the graphic novel format really does force the author to boil down the concepts to the essence which is an excellent introduction for students.  Due to mature content, this book is not appropriate for an elementary/middle school library but would be great for high school.

Glitch is book 7 in the Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel series.  Highly illustrated and comical, this story is set just before Christmas when Aldo is implementing his master plan to maximize his gift receiving.  “G” words are featured in the storyline and defined in a glossary at the back of the book.  Students enjoy this series and ask for the next letter in the series as they work their way through them.

The Rising of water has created a new world order for humans.  Most of the earth is now covered by oceans.  Whole townships live within floating structures.  Humans have even adapted to be able to live entirely subsea.  Yet economic commerce retreated to basic supply and demand.  These forces combine to give Ty and Gemma a mission they never want to go on again.

Ty’s Dark Gift of sonar will help them overcome human and animal attacks, but will is be enough to locate his kidnapped Ma and Pa?  Mind games make for another level of mystery in this fast-paced middle level novel.  There is a deepening fondness growing between Ty and Gemma but everything is totally appropriate for its intended audience.  Kat Falls very creative dystopian story is full of imaginative details that should impress all readers.  In Ty, she has made a compassionate, charismatic role model for boys and girls.

Women have long been overlooked or underrepresented in the history books.  This collection of biographies about female explorers is a positive step toward recognizing these courageous women and their contributions.  The ten women explorers who are featured, with four pages of text and illustrations each, include Louise Arner Boyd, Nellie Cashman, Ynes Mexia, Lucy Evelyn Cheesman, Annie Smith Peck, Alexandrine Tinne, Delia Julia Denning Akeley, Violet Cressy-Marcks, Freya Stark and Daisy Bates.  These mini biographies give a snapshot of each woman’s life and accomplishments, written in well-organized text which is easy to read and understand.  There are several colorful and expressive illustrations for each biography which compliment the text nicely.  I learned a lot reading this book and discovered heroes I was not familiar with before.

Bad Kids:  The naughtiest children in history explores laws and punishments from ancient to modern day societies.  The author’s writing style is very tongue-in-cheek and humorous, while sticking to historical facts on the subject.  Several famous characters from history around the world are featured including their notorious childhood behavior.  This book is easy to read and engaging with comical illustrations, historical portraits and photographs as well as artwork to support the subject matter.  I would recommend this book for 4th grade and up due to some violent content.

This beautiful book about Ancient China covers a variety of topics including the Silk Road and early trade, the early Yangshao and Longshan civilizations, Chinese philosophers, ruling dynasties and emperors.  The Great Wall of China is mentioned.  Chinese inventions and other achievements are outlined including the development of a writing system, bronze and iron for use as weapons and tools, Chinese medicine, fireworks, wheelbarrows, umbrellas and the discovery of silk. There is a timeline for major events in history as well as a glossary, index, table of contents and further resources page.  The illustrations and photographs are beautiful and the backgrounds for each page are tasteful and not distracting.  The text is clearly written and organized.  I highly recommend this book.