Category Archives: Recommend

Charlie Hernandez & the Phantom of Time

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by Ryan Calejo

In this fourth installment of the adventures of Charlie Hernandez, he and his friends must save the land of the living from dark forces by traveling back in time to the 1950’s in Cuba.  Charlie is a morphling and able to transform in moments of crises into animals that help him save the day. While trying to save the past, present and future, the 3 friends encounter many of the monsters and figures from previous books as well as a few new ones – the Phantom of Time, Tragaldabas, La Carreta, La Llorona, La Mano Paluda, Queen Joanna, Madremonte, and Charlie’s dead grandmother are just a few of the many mythological and story characters Charlie encounters. The action is non-stop, as in previous books. The monsters from South American mythology are frequent and, for me, mostly unknown. That has been my only frustration as a reader. I don’t have the background myths and legends to fall back on, though Charlie certainly does. I’m occasionally at a loss for who is who, but by book 4, it is nice to see a few of the creatures from earlier books reappear. The books could use a glossary of legendary creatures for a quick reference. There are usually some context clues, but for me, I could use a few more. There are always a lot of characters – good & bad – to keep track of!  Anyone who has enjoyed the series previously will undoubtedly enjoy book four. Since it leans on the past three books for reference, I’m not sure I would recommend jumping right into book 4.

Two Birds…and a MOOSE

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By Jame Preller. Illustrated by Abigail Burch

This humorous book written by James Preller is a funny tale about a moose that wants to be in a tree with his friends the two birds. There are few words on each page that are simple for early readers. The illustrations are engaging and allow for readers to understand the story without necessarily understanding the printed words. It is a book that even as an adult, made me smile. I recommend it for early level readers. It was enjoyable.

Our Universe: The Solar System

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By Marion Dane Bauer. Illustrated by John Wallace

Marion Dane Bauer has created a well written book about our Solar System. There are interesting facts given about all of the planets in order of closest to furthest from the Sun as well as other objects that are in the system. It has a Glossary at the beginning with clear definitions of more challenging words as well as their pronunciations. The final page also has interesting facts to encourage more reading. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging and will make readers more interested to learn more. This beginning reader is a good addition for any library in need of non-fiction books at a lower level.

Sync by: Ellen Hopkins

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True to form, Ellen Hopkins latest book pulls readers right in! Sync follows twin siblings, Storm and Lake, as they try to navigate their circumstances of being pulled apart and sent to different foster homes, repeatedly throughout their adolescent years. Although the siblings are physically forced apart their connection cannot be broken, not through time spent in juvenile detention or on the streets. Fortunately for each, they have people to love and care for no matter the circumstances.

Lake is placed with a foster family who is very conservative and expects her to follow suit; however, she has a girlfriend and wants to challenge the ideals consistently pressed upon her within the foster home. Storm is placed with a loving, caring foster father, but ends up in juvenile detention after trying to seek revenge on someone who sexually assaulted his long-time girlfriend.

In the worst of circumstances, the siblings are unable to connect – trying to keep tabs on each other through their caseworkers. Although things seem pretty hopeless for both twins, they continue to persevere.

Students who like to read about difficult topics and trauma will be pulled in by these characters and their circumstances. Ellen Hopkins knows how to tug on a reader’s heartstrings. If you have other books by this author in your collection, you will want to add this as well.

Careers in STEM: Marine Biologist by Lisa Owings

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Marine biologists study the plants and animals in the ocean. They learn about how humans impact the oceans.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, glossary, photographs and captions. They also include brief information about a famous marine biologist.This book explains what a marine biologist is, does, and how to become a marine biologist. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.

Careers in STEM: Microbiologist by Lisa Owings

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Microbiologists study microbes and use what they learn in a variety of ways. Some microbiologists use what they learn to make new medicine or help Earth.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, photographs and captions. The glossary is needed as there are many words that will be new to students, such as microbes. This book explains what a microbiologist is, does, and how to become a microbiologist. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.

The Queens’ English by: Chloe O. Davis

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Reviewed by OHS Student, Cordelia W.

The Queens’ English is super colorful and will be a hit with those researching or wanting to know more about all things LGBTQIA+. The point of The Queens’ English is to inform readers of some of the slang terms used within and about LGBTQIA+ community, as well as definitions for different sexualities and genders.

The colorful pages of this book gives this nonfiction dictionary a fun look, making readers (such as me) interested because each page is different and doesn’t have consistent look to it. It’s a nice complement to the LGBTQIA+ theme of the book. It’s very colorful and uses inclusive and interesting patterns and the same is true for the wording, with it being blunt and referring to other parts of the book and using terms that were earlier in the book. Something I didn’t like is when a term had the same definition as another it would just refer you to a different page such as, 3 different words had the same definition and the book kept referring you to the one at the very end of the book; I would have preferred it to just be defined again.

Those who should read this book are be people doing projects on the topic of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as those wanting to learn more about the community as a whole and its origins.

Speaking of America : United States Presidents and the words that changed history

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by Jared Cohen, illustrations by Vivian Shih

From George Washington to Joe Biden and every president in between, this book presents a famous saying from each president, but more importantly, explains about the world during the time of their presidency. For each famous phrase, the authors also put the words in perspective with their intended purpose and the power they had on their times. Finally, each two page spread includes a “Did You Know?” box with a fun factoid about the president featured on those pages. The book also features a timeline of U.S. history and the time each president was in office, tips for aspiring speech writers and future presidents, and a really interesting section of speeches presidents never gave. What if three things had happened in history? How would the presidents have responded? Speeches were actually written but never given because history took a different turn. History buffs will find this fascinating reading as the reader gets a quick paragraph look at what was happening in the world over the last 200+ years. Illustrations are bright drawings that enhance the information. This book would be a nice addition to non-fiction history sections (though the dewey puts it in books about famous speeches.)

Worst Broommate Ever!

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written by Wanda Coven; illustrated by Anna Abramskaya

Heidi Heckelbeck is off to boarding school for witches as she enters middle school and things are a bit tougher than she thought they would be. She has to leave her best friends from elementary school and her family. But, her witch mom tells her that this school is going to be so good for her as she learns how to use her skills and connect with other kids like her. Unfortunately, her roommate is not so fun – it’s mean Melanie Maplethorpe from elementary school! Heidi can’t believe she’s a witch, too! And, they are supposed to hide their magical skills from the non-witch students and only use their talents at their secret classes with the other witches.

Fans of the early chapter books about the same character will enjoy growing with Heidi as she moves on to middle school. Reluctant readers will enjoy the book with its well-spaced text and accompanying black and white illustrations. Recommended.

16 & Pregnant

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Student Review: The Young Adult Literature 16 & Pregnant by Lala Thomas represents the hardships and the relationship issues that may arise with loved ones and partners when going through such a situation as teen pregnancy. Erykah just had their birthday but instead of being happy and celebrating with their friends as every other teen does on their sweet sixteen, Erykah spends her birthday vomiting in the toilet after discovering that she had become pregnant with her irresponsible and low-effort boyfriend Miguel. Considering this factor, Erykah still decides not to get an abortion and to have the child. This shows challenges for Erykah to accomplish her dream- to become a black braiding hairstylist shop. Along the way, on top of other relationships, the book exposes the strong but complicated relationship between her and her best friend Kelly as they work threw intense emotions, misunderstandings, and disagreements. This book highlights the struggles and aspects of having a child not only physically, but also emotionally and mentally for women of any age. This may be a good book for those in the same general age group who need guidance or those who want to understand the topic a little more than they did before. Overall this book is very helpful and informational, however, I feel that there was an abundance of unnecessary foul language used in the book, which made the story unpleasant at times.