A Hi-Lo comic book style story told with text and pictures.  Significant words are enlarged and colored with an interesting font.  A possible next step up for graphic novel fans. Obstructed is the second in series of 4.  The story imagines that superheroes and villains have united, and follows adventures of Mateo (a villain) at Superhero High School.  Nice balance with boys and girls and different races as both hero and villain.  Nothing new, but sure to please.

This nonfiction book covers a wide range of systems – circulatory and respiratory systems in your body, transportation and communication systems in your town, plumbing and heating systems, our solar system, and ecosystems.  The focus of each system description is different.  Origin of the system, significance of the system to humans, human role in the system, and the impact if part of the system is removed are addressed with discussions of a specific system.  Text is supported by color photographs.  Animated Space Cat narrates “Did You Know?” and “Try It!” inserts on each 2 page spread.  Interesting approach.

With large font and short simple sentences, this book describes the basics of construction workers – what they are, what they do, and characteristics of a good construction worker.  Colorful photographs support the text.  Good mix of people in pictures.

This provides the basics on purpose and features of an ambulance.  The book also includes different types of ambulances such as boat and helicopter.  Details of the inside, and outside of the ambulance including equipment is explained in both text and labeled photographs.  Future medics will be able to imagine themselves at work.

Lack of attention to detail is evident in the flipped photo on the cover making the word AMBULANCE on the vehicle appear backwards. Additionally, there is little diversity in the people portrayed in the photographs.

This describes the 4 subfamilies of falcons, their habitat, prey, physical characteristics, and highlights a few notable birds.  Also included is information on their nests, how they eat, and even how they have influenced modern aircraft design.  A focus is put on both the common characteristics of all falcons and the unique characteristics of specific species.  Contains a lot of interesting information in a reader friendly format. Includes amazing photographs including various birds in flight.

Brief introduction on what the Colosseum was used for, followed by very thorough history of its construction.  Describes materials used, including information on the ‘new’ Roman concrete and how it was made and why it was better.  Details on how it was built, including why they used arches and how careful they were with the foundation.  Which is why it is still standing!  Ends with description of how it fell into disrepair, and restoration plans.  Great details. Text is supported by colorful photographs, diagrams, illustrations and primary sources.  A great combination of history and STEM concepts.

Includes Table of Contents, Stop and Think, Glossary, Learn More, and Index.

Pandora, a lonely fox lived in a land of broken things.  She made a good home for herself from the lost and broken things she repaired.  One day a bird fell from the sky.  Pandora didn’t know how to fix it.  As she watched over the bird, it slowly regained its strength. Eventually he could fly again, but he always returned to Pandora with gifts from far away lands. One day he didn’t return and Pandora felt her heart would break to be alone again.  From the gifts left by the bird, a small plant sprouted.  Everyday the world became a little less grey until one day Pandora arose to hear the sound of birdsong in a land of living things.

Beautiful illustrations add a sweetness to this moving story of power of small gifts.

This narrative non-fiction about the red fox is packed full of factual information.  A vixen awakes hungry and sets off to hunt.  Because it is winter, no berries or plants are available so she looks for prey.  When she’s full, she buries her catch for later.  As the days pass, she finds an old burrow to turn into a den.  She gives birth to 4 kids who grown and learn with her til midsummer.  In early autumn, young foxes say goodbye to their parents and set off on their own.

The end papers includes a “More Facts” section, glossary, and suggested titles.

Freckles the Pig is part of a 4 book series, Farmyard Friends. It’s time for fall cleanup at the stables.  While wallowing in the pigpen, Freckles decides to do his part by cheering up the dreary stable with paintings.  His first portraits of his friends were done with mud.   Though well done, the mud paintings do nothing to cheer up the stable.  Freckles agrees and his next efforts are done with left over paint from the fall cleanup sign.  These portraits are much more colorful and the stable owner, Aunt Jane is impressed. But she wonders, who could have painted them?  All the girls were helping her yesterday.

For an audience of emergent readers, the large text and colorful animated illustrations are an engaging combination.  The choice of chapter titles; Artist, Medium, First Draft, and Final Act are going to be more confusing than helpful for young readers.  Also, for those not familiar with the series, it is hard to determine which name corresponds with which character in the story.  Excessive repeated words (flit-flit-flit; messy, messy, messy; tap-tap-tap) do not add to the readability.

“Before you forget…..look up.”  The sky is a large enveloping constant that can be a guiding and inspirational anchor as you are faced with the choices and challenges of life.  In The Knowing Book, a solitary young rabbit explores the trails of life with the inspirational guidance to be open to magic, take time, trust yourself, imagine, and listen.  No matter what paths you take, the stars “have always been above you and are above you now, and will always be above you.”  Under the comforting constant of the sky, we are encouraged to be open to both the world around us and our own potential.

The book Light is part of the Abdo Zoom into Science Concepts series.  The definition of the basic characteristics of light is followed by the role of light in sight, natural and human generated light, light used in art, and some numbers relating to light.  Text is supported with simple colorful photographs.  The book is a good introduction to the concept of light for young readers.

Contains a Table of Contents, Glossary, Booklinks, and Index.  The external links found at Abdobooklinks all access age appropriate educational resources.

Dams in the Abdo’s Engineering Superstructures series is a solid choice to support engineering standards for the youngest learners.  The book covers the definition of a dam, it’s purposes and it’s construction.  The simple text is supported by colorful photographs.  The small size of the book will fit well in little hands.

Includes Table of Contents, Glossary and Think About it section.

Learn about the King Cobra – it’s habitat, appearance, defense, hunting, and lifespan.  Short, simple sentences make it accessible to young readers.  Dramatic photographs are sure to attract snake fans.

The facts seem to lack organization and photographs do not always directly support content.  Contains a simple Table of Contents, Glossary, and Index.  Only two of the three recommended booklinks worked.

Sophie Mouse is excited for the upcoming Maple Festival.  She and her friends, Hattie Frog and Owen Snake, are especially looking forward to the ferris wheel.  During the week leading up to the festival, Sophie’s Mom’s bakery assistant is away visiting friends and the the bakery is extra busy getting ready for their booth.  Sophie volunteers to help her mom and comes up with some fun new recipe ideas.

The day of the festival, Sophie heads out to explore all the new attractions.  At the top of the ferris wheel with her friends, she notices no one is at her Mom’s bakery stand.  As soon as she can, she heads over to check in with her Mom.  To help attract customers, Sophie creates a sign using a large maple leaf.  Soon there is a long line waiting for the booth’s yummy baked goods.  By the end of the day, the bakery stand is empty.

Large font, simple words, and some supporting illustrations make this a solid transitional chapter book for second and third graders.  This series does use diverse and complex sentence structure not found in many transitional chapter books, making it stand out.

This Zoom into Sharks title includes information on the body, habitat, food, and life cycle of the sand shark.  Content is thin due to the simplistic text.  The short sentences and simplified concepts at times created their own confusion.  For example the information on their head shape, “They have flat heads.  Their heads are cone shaped.” seems to contract each other due to lack of explanation.  Photographs of sand sharks in various poses are sure to grab the interest of young shark fans.  The photographs, however, do not always directly support the text.

Abdozooom links are accessible with a QR code on the back of the book.  Abdozoom, an online research database for young learners is only available with a paid subscription.

Using simplistic language and short sentences, the book explains the purpose, history, construction and repair of dams.  The purposes given for building dams focuses mostly on how dams help or provide for people. The book does not give any examples of how dams can harmful to people or the environment.  The book supports new NGSS standards for engineering concepts.

Contains a simple Table of Contents and a Glossary.  No index

This title details the many unique adaptions that make the beaver such a successful builder of both dams and lodges.  The book specifically addresses the physical, social and behavioral characteristics of the beaver and how those characteristics allow the beaver to construct impressive structures.  Short sentences and graphically appealing set-up makes it a good choice for young readers. Text is supported by color photos, a map and a diagram of a lodge.  Includes a table of contents, true/false quiz, and glossary but no index.

For most children, the wildebeest is one of the less recognized African safari animals. In this title from Abdo’s Animal Migration series, the wildebeest’s migration is detailed through lens’ of the animal’s life cycle, season and location.  Cause and effect ties the movement to the change in grass which is directly tied to rainfall.  With simple words and short sentences, Wildebeest Migration details the interconnection of the wildebeest and its environment.

Contains table of contents, map, glossary, and index.  Abdokids online link includes a video (2:41 long), text, activities, and additional links.  Two of the three additional links are way above the reading level of the book.

Dav Pilkey’s third installment in the Dog Man series is a, “tale of oppression…a tale of redemption…a tale of rebirth…a take of hope…a tale of two kitties.”  The three story lines of Dog Man, Petey the Cat, and Mecha Flippy converge when good comes out on top.  Petey’s clone, a kitten joins the story, but refuses to take up his creator’s evil.  The story ends with Mecha Flippy in jail but turned to the side of good by the friendship of the kitten. Petey has escaped the Police Chief and is off to create more havoc.

Step by step direction on drawing the characters is at the end of the book.  Also included is a comic explaining the benefits of reading to a pet.

Sure to be a hit, especially with reluctant readers.

Fall is here and Carlos and Carmen play in the colorful leaves Mamá and Papá are raking into a pile.  Papá makes a deal; Carlos and Carmen help rake the leaves and he will help them learn to ride a bike – with only 2 wheels. Carmen goes first.  She pedals and wobbles and falls into a big pile of leaves only to bounce back up with a wobble and a laugh.  Carlos’ wobbly effort end up with a crash in the leaf pile and the need for a band-aid.  With lots of practice, by the end of the day Carlos and Carmen can pedal fast and steer.  Then it is Papá’s turn to learn!!

Spanish words are interspersed and repeated in the text.  At the end of the book there is a Spanish-English glossary of all Spanish words.

The Carlos and Carmen series is an engaging latinx beginning reader series that incorporates cultural experiences in the everyday life of young children.

Carlos and Carmen go shopping with their grandmother for the perfect piñatas for their birthday party.  Finally in the 3rd store Carlos chooses a dinosaur piñata and Carmen chooses a elephant piñata.  When they get home, Dino and Ellie take part in many imagination filled adventures.  In bed at night, Carlos and Carmen lament the fact that their piñata friends will be smashed at their birthday party.  The next day their grandmother shows them how to cut out a square and use ribbons, scissors and tape to make door to let out the piñata prizes.  Now their piñatas will survive their party.  Hugs all around.

Spanish words are quite naturally interspersed in the text.  Spanish-English glossary in the back of the text.

This is a fun engaging story with young latinx characters celebrating their cultural heritage.  In the story the characters solve a problem of today by relying on family and the cultural expertise of their elders.

It was summer and Hank was bored and lonely. No one was using his pet-sitting business.  When the new kid in town stops by to use his services, Hank is thrilled.  Hank will be pet sitting for an escape artist sheep named Elmer.  That night the sheep does escape the garage, but not to get away, but to come find Hank.  After the sheep wakes Hank yet again, Hank finally settles down on the hay in the garage with the sheep.  Tommy arrives the next morning for his sheep and is impressed with Hank’s success.  Hank’s business has found him a new friend.

This beginning reader title adds a goofy twist to the kid friendly topic of pets.  Young readers can identify with Hank’s desire to earn money and his loneliness when his friends are away for the summer.

Black holes, by there very nature cannot be seen.  The only information about black holes is from observing how other objects in space behave around them.  This book details many of the devices that are used to collect information about black holes.  It also discusses the evolution of black hole theories over time.  The complexity of the concepts mentioned make this a book for a student with some prior knowledge of black holes and a basic understanding of cosmology.

The book contains a number of amazing illustrations and diagrams that imply they are showing a black hole.  These illustrations and diagrams, however, portray astronomers theories which don’t always agree with each other.  It is only in the last 2 chapters of the book that it clearly communicates that what is considered “knowledge” of black holes is in truth only theories and that aspects of these theories are continually being supported or disproved as more data is accumulated.

I feel the scope of this book is too great for its size. Ideas and concepts are mentioned in passing and not adequately explained.  Either focusing on current black hole theory, how black holes were discovered, or the tools and technologies used in the study of black holes would be more appropriate for this age level and allow for more clarity.  I also found the glossary entirely inadequate.  It includes the word “merge” yet not things like binary, gamma ray, or jet bursts.

A national park is more than just a name or a boundary contained place that we can witness now.  And Glacier National Park is more than “a wilderness landscape of forest, mountains, and lakes.” It stands witness to the impact of the forces of nature on the land as well as the footprint left by humans.  Glacier National Park, established in 1910 is one of the top ten most visited National parks in the nation with more than 2 million visitors in 2015.

In Glacier National Park from the Core Library National Park series, the reader experiences much more than a description of the park itself. This book incorporates multiple areas of study as it examines this beautiful wilderness landscape.  The science topics include: glaciers, continental divide, weather, geology, climate change, flora, fauna, and conservation. Personal perspectives include input and quotes from an award winning park ranger, a naturalist, a climate change expert, a historian, and multiple local Native Americans. The history of the region reflects multiple perspectives. Primary source documents are seamlessly integrated to support the content.  Suggestions for online exploration are embedded at the end of chapter 1 and 3 and include relevant leading questions.

With potential for NGSS STEM and C3 socials studies alignment this high quality title leads me to consider adding whole series to my library.

At the 2016 Olympics, Simone Manuel was the first African American woman to win a gold in an Olympic swimming event.  In fact, she won 4 medals in the 2016 Olympics.  The book covers her childhood, education, swimming career, and her future plans.  She started swimming at age 4 after watching her older brothers racing. She began swimming competitively at age 11.  Her family motto is, “D.Y.B” (do your best) reflects her positive and competitive attitude.

This is an inspirational story of a successful African American woman worthy of being a role model for kids. Colorful photographs, captions and fast facts support the text. Contains Table of Contents, Timeline, Glossary, and Index.