Category Archives: Recommend

The Kingdom Over the Sea

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By Zohra Nabi

When Yara’s mother passes away, she is given a letter. In the letter are some instructions, which lead her to a magical land across the sea and into a new world. But in that place, Zehaira, strange things and conflicts are occurring. Yara has to find out the truth about her identity, her mother, as well as to find her place in this new whole world. This book is very good for Zohra Nabi’s first book. The detail is good, and I love how she created this whole magical world while using England as an inspiration. There were also these really cool illustrations throughout the book  which I really liked since chapter books don’t often tend to have illustrations. The main character’s confidence was inspiring, as was Yara’s mother’s confidence. For example Yara just would not take no for an answer. She was stubborn in the best way. Also many fantasy books have romance but this book doesn’t.  I am all in for that refreshing change of pace! It wasn’t about “getting the relationship” in the end. The plot,in general, kept me going until the very end. However, I don’t really like the cliff-hanger at the end.  Since this is a new book, now I have to wait for the next part of the story! (But that could just be me. I’m sure it’s good for the author!) Overall, I would recommend this book to other fantasy lovers, especially if they’re not looking for romance, but rather a really strong set of characters and plot.

Review by 6th grader, Victoria L.

Super Soakers

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Kids love water fights! Super Soakers covers the invention of the popular toy and its success; from the accidental invention to the many versions available today. The book focuses specifically on the Super Soaker brand and does not clearly address the magnitude of imitation super soakers. This book is a perfect read for the arrival of summer.

Pair Super Soakers with Chris Bartons, Whoosh! : Lonnie Johnson’s Super-soaking Stream of Inventions to highlight the African American creator.

Bellwether Epic Favorite Toys series is sure to appeal to young readers. The short sentences and simple text are enhanced with colorful images. Familiarity with the toy will make many of the names recognizable for young readers while new details and historical information will expand a reader’s knowledge. Pictures include young people, historical figures, and toys. Early in each title, a map highlights the geographic location of the toy’s origin. Each title also includes a timeline of the toy’s evolution. In addition, by showcasing an event celebrating the toy, each title demonstrates how toys and games nurture a community of shared interests.

Bold terms are defined in the glossary. Endpapers also include a To Learn More Section with both print and digital resources. Digital resources are found through accessing the title on factsurfer.com. Three curated age appropriate digital sources are available for each title. Index included.

Toy Cars

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Matchbox! Hot Wheels! Names sure to grab the interest of young readers. Starting with the die-cast toys cars made by the Dowst Brothers Company in the early 1900s the title hits on the major developments in toys cars through the years. Toy cars continue to intrigue youngsters. From the less well known slot cars, to Remote Control (RC) cars and the incorporation of toy cars in online game play, there’s lots to learn in this title.

Bellwether Epic Favorite Toys series are sure to appeal to young readers. The short sentences and simple text are enhanced with colorful images. Familiarity with the toy will make many of the names recognizable for young readers while new details and historical information will expand a reader’s knowledge. Pictures include young people (though often younger than the expected audience), historical figures, and toys. Early in each title, a map highlights the geographic location of the toy’s origin. Each title also includes a timeline of the toy’s evolution. In addition, by showcasing an event celebrating the toy, each title demonstrates how toys and games nurture a community of shared interests.

Bold terms are defined in the glossary. Endpapers also include a To Learn More Section with both print and digital resources. Digital resources are found through accessing the title on factsurfer.com. Three curated age appropriate digital sources are available for each title. Index included.

Recommended for most collections.

Transformers

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Many kids envision the movies and animated shows when thinking of Transformers. The actual Transformer toy was first made over 40 years ago. The book Transformers covers the evolution of the original Transformers to the current types such as Dinobot, BotBots, and Rescue Bots. The book is sure to be a hit with fans of Transformers.

Bellwether Epic Favorite Toys series is sure to appeal to young readers. The short sentences and simple text are enhanced with colorful images. Familiarity with the toy will make many of the names recognizable for young readers while new details and historical information will expand a reader’s knowledge. Pictures include young people, historical figures, and toys. Early in each title, a map highlights the geographic location of the toy’s origin. Each title also includes a timeline of the toy’s evolution. In addition, by showcasing an event celebrating the toy, each title demonstrates how toys and games nurture a community of shared interests.

Bold terms are defined in the glossary. Endpapers also include a To Learn More Section with both print and digital resources. Digital resources are found through accessing the title on factsurfer.com. Three curated age appropriate digital sources are available for each title. Index included.

Behind the Brand books

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a Blastoff Discovery series intended for grade 4 readers, interest through 8th grade

Nintendo – by Paige Polinsky, ISBN:979-8-88687-143-2

Pokemon – by Betsy Rathburn , ISBN: 979-8-88687-144-9

Star Wars – by Paige Polinsky , ISBN: 979-8-88687-145-6

Disney – by Sara Green , ISBN: 979-8-88687-140-1

Lego – by Sara Green , ISBN: 979-8-88687-141-8

Minecraft – by Sara Green , ISBN: 979-8-88687-142-5

Each book in the Behind the Brand books follows a similar format with a look at how the brand is used in the world today, followed by a bit of history of how and where the brand got started. Mini-biographies of key players in the development of the product help the reader get to know the real people behind the companies that created favorite products of many students. Each book shows how the companies give back to their communities or the world with charitable events or money to various charitable organizations. By the end, readers see other ways fans of each brand can become involved beyond each product with cosplay events, conventions, or the like. Each book includes a glossary of key challenging words that were bolded during the reading of the book, ways to learn more from the library or a FactSurfer website, and an index that students can use to quickly get to a page on a specific part of the book. I appreciated the logical organization of information, the bold photographs and additional infographics included throughout each book. They were all engaging books about brands that are very popular. Some of the books had cross-connections. For instance, the book about Star Wars included information about Disney and the Disney book mentioned Star Wars. Similarly, the Pokemon & Nintendo books had crossovers. These are in their Blastoff! Discovery level, indicating books are at a 4th grade reading level. In my middle school library, anything about Minecraft gets frequently checked out. I’m sure this series will find footing with readers who love these products!

Squad Goals: The Unstoppable Women of the US Women’s National Soccer Team

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By Laurie Calkhoven, illustrated by Monique Dong

A Ready to Read, level 3 book

This is an easy reader book about the history of women in soccer in the U.S., including some short biographies of some of the famous players of the sport like Mia Hamm, Megan Rapino, Trinity  Rodman, and more. The book is intended for elementary school readers, but is also appropriate for struggling middle school readers. The book includes a table of contents, tips for learning 3 basic soccer skills, history of not just women’s soccer, facts and figures about the game, and a quiz the reader can take at the end to see how much they learned. The book is illustrated with drawings, rather than with photographs. Since it is part of a leveled reading series, it should help teachers get the book in the right hands, but might turn off some readers at middle level.

Biblioburro: Una Historia de Columbia

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By Jeanette Winter; traducción de Alexis Romay

This image is the cover in English; Book reviewed is in Spanish.

This Spanish language book is a true story from Columbia about a man named Luis who wanted to take books to children in Columbia. He bought two burrows named Alpha and Beto. He built book holders that hung over the burros backs and loaded the books. Each week he traveled over  mountains, through prairies, and crossed creeks to get books to children. Beautiful and colorful artwork. Very enjoyable. This book in Spanish is perfect for students who are fluent in Spanish or who are bilingual and want to brush up on their Spanish reading skills. It’s intended for elementary school students (K-4), but I think middle school readers will also enjoy the sweet story and the basic Spanish vocabulary. The book is also available in English, in which case I would recommend it for K-4 & not middle school.

Review by Julie Stringfellow at KMS

Love Radio

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Review by Harmony M., 10th grade student

Love Radio is a classic black love story: heartbreak, vulnerability, and learning to trust again. Dani is a passionate young woman who wants to thrive at becoming a famous writer. She is trying to work on her future, but she’s stuck in the past. Prince is a DJ and Detroit’s youngest love couch; he takes care of his little brother, Mook, and his mom who has MS. Prince has had a crush on Dani since elementary school, but Dani isn’t looking for a relationship at the moment. I liked the plot and how Prince seeks out what Dani likes. He uses this information to plan their dates, putting in the effort. The first couple of chapters were a little less interesting, but the plot kept me entertained. Love Radio took me about 3 days to read; I wish there was more to the story. I liked that the book a lot I could relate to it. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. I only wish the author included an epilogue, so we could see Dani and Prince together. Maybe there’ll be a sequel. . . .

Awesome Amphibians

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Awesome Amphibians starts by highlighting the characteristics of amphibians; the fact that they are cold-blooded, have backbones, and start life in water. The mission then takes the reader around the world, continent by continent to discover interesting and unique amphibians.

Blastoff Missions Amazing Animal Classes is a series sure to inspire a child’s natural curiosity. Each title starts with Mission Goals to promote fluency (identify sight words), enhance comprehension (identify traits), and promote critical thinking (think of a question).

The informational text engages the reader as a participant in the narrative. The conversational style of the text provides age appropriate academic and subject specific vocabulary. Bolded vocabulary terms are defined in the glossary. Colorful illustrations include identifying and descriptive captions. Extra tidbits of information are provided by Jimmy, a space traveling, cartoon-like avatar who accompanies the reader on all the narrative missions.

Endpapers include a glossary, index, and To Learn More section. The To Learn More resources have three print sources in the At the Library section. The On the Web resources direct the reader to Factsurfer which provides easy access to three curated age appropriate digital resources. Endpapers also include three extension questions in the Beyond the Mission section to help readers connect their learning from the book to their own experiences.

Fantastic Fish

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Fantastic Fish explores the waterways of the the world as it introduces the reader to the fish class. While highlighting unique and interesting fish, the text repeatedly reinforces the identifying characteristics of fish as cold-blooded creatures with backbones that breathe through gills.

Blastoff Missions Amazing Animal Classes is a series sure to inspire a child’s natural curiosity. Each title starts with Mission Goals to promote fluency (identify sight words), enhance comprehension (identify traits), and promote critical thinking (think of a question).

The informational text engages the reader as a participant in the narrative. The conversational style of the text provides age appropriate academic and subject specific vocabulary. Bolded vocabulary terms are defined in the glossary. Colorful illustrations include identifying and descriptive captions. Extra tidbits of information are provided by Jimmy, a space traveling, cartoon-like avatar who accompanies the reader on all the narrative missions.

Endpapers include a glossary, index, and To Learn More section. The To Learn More resources have three print sources in the At the Library section. The On the Web resources direct the reader to Factsurfer which provides easy access to three curated age appropriate digital resources. Endpapers also include three extension questions in the Beyond the Mission section to help readers connect their learning from the book to their own experiences.