I am enjoying this new series of science books for young readers dealing with insects. INSECTS UP CLOSE give amazing photos of the insect in question along with the text in large font. There are usually two sentences per page turn. The sentences have between 4 to 9 words per sentence. The book is divided into three parts : What are Mosquitoes?, Mosquito Life, and From Water to Air, prior to the small glossary, website, and index.

It just might be a tie as to which is worse- a mosquito in real life or a giant enlarged one in a photo. The colorful compound eyes and spikes on legs and antennae will keep the readers attention glued on the photos. There are also photos of mosquito pupae and larva.

I am enjoying this new series of science books for young readers dealing with insects. INSECTS UP CLOSE give amazing photos of the insect in question along with the text in large font. There are usually two sentences per page turn. The sentences have between 4 to 9 words per sentence. The book is divided into three parts : What are Termites?, Life in the Nest, and Growing Up, prior to the small glossary, website, and index.

The reader will see a termite queen, workers, soldiers, and nymphs. There is also a nest with termites and a huge termite nest taller than a person.

I am enjoying this new series of science books for young readers dealing with insects. INSECTS UP CLOSE give amazing photos of the insect in question along with the text in large font. There are usually two sentences per page turn. The sentences have from 4 to 9 words per sentence. The book is divided into three parts : What are Moths?, Moth Life, and From Caterpillar to Moth, prior to the the small glossary, website, and index.

Moths have scales on their wings, but the photo of the scales clarify this concept. The moth’s feathery antennae, which help it to smell, are shown along with their (what looks like a) furry body. The reader is also treated to close-up of a cocoon beside a moth, as well as, an insert showing an outline of a io moth’s actual size.

Simply amazing! I will never look at moths the same way again.

Here is a book for young students needing to find information about a foreign country for a school report. The table of contents lists: Land’s end, location, landscape and climate, wildlife, people, communities, customs, school and work, play, food, celebrations, timeline, Ireland facts, glossary, to learn more, and index.

Having never been off of the North American continent myself, I asked a friend who visits Ireland regularly for her thoughts on this informational book. She was pleased with the choice of photos the book held to represent Ireland, especially the one on page 14 showing the Irish country side, for most of the population lives outside of large urban areas. The photos sent my friend into stories of her Ireland experiences which matched the information being conveyed in the text.

Neither of us liked timeline’s format. It is unfriendly for the user. The three orange lines being directed from the ‘informational index cards’ to the place on the timeline is confusing (especially when they cross from the left page to the right page) when a simple diagonal line would suffice.

Here is a book for young students needing to find information about a foreign country for a school report. The table of contents lists: Munich Marvels, location, landscape and climate, wildlife, people, communities, customs, school and work, play, food, celebrations, timeline, Germany facts, glossary to learn more, and index.

Having never been to Europe, let alone Germany, I asked a school parent from Germany what she thought of this book. Here is her edited reply,

“Oh Mrs. Mary, I’m loving this read. So, so true.

Little things have changed, like the weather, in the

mean time we do have pretty warm summers.

Also, we have lots of immigrants now, because of our

great health care system. Community and customs

are right on point. We do take our time building
friendships for sure …

And we do love order and structure. School, work

and play, absolutely right about all of it. And so

funny, I totally forgot about this childhood game,

eating chocolate : ))

Oh, and the food and celebrations, …

I think it’s a wonderful book to add to your library…” (A. C.)

Neither of us liked the timeline’s format on pages 26-27 . The three red lines running from the ‘index card’ to the place on the timeline are not user friendly.

The website (www.factsurfer.com) listed in the TO LEARN MORE section had two good sites for more information or information stated slightly differently. Neither of the two sites agreed with the book or each other on the area or the population of Germany.

Mary Downing Hahn has done it again! She knows how to tell a bone chilling story and keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

This old Virginia house, Oak Hill, was built in 1786, but has not been lived in since 1885. Shortly after that is when the ghost story began. Now Jules’ father, who specializes in restoring historic houses, begins his work on the house while they live in a much newer side-wing. Jules does not know it yet, but the family who owned Oak Hill, in the 1880s, was murdered here. What Jules does know, or thinks she knows, is that she has seen someone upstairs in the third floor window.

Back and forth between Jules on the ground and Lily on the third floor the story is woven with bits and pieces of Lily’s memories which are slowly coming back to her. Lily has been locked in that third floor room since her mother told her not to come out. That was the night in 1885, when the robbers on horseback rode up to the house and took her parents away.

Jules and Lily are somehow connected as Lily watches Jules from the safety of her locked room. Jules at times can see Lily’s past life as though it is currently happening. Eventually, Jules and Lily will meet and talk.

Jules meets a girl, Massie, at the public library while doing research on the house and its former occupants. They become friends and Jules invites Massie over to the house for a sleepover. Then Massie and Jules help Lily leave her room because the workers restoring the house will be on the third floor in the morning. A surreal alternate world collides between the past and the present as Lily leaves her room after so many years. An alternate world and Lily’s history changes.

Primary grade readers who like dogs will enjoy the photos and descriptions of Basset Hounds in this Blastoff! Readers 2 book. The large print conveys the information in one or two sentences per page. The Table of Contents covers: What are Basset Hounds, Colorful Coats, History of Basset Hounds, and Happy Hounds. Followed by a Glossary and Index.

Basset Hounds came from France where they were hunting dogs.Their droopy ears help waft an animal’s scent to the Basset’s nose. Bassets are scent driven.

Bassets are short stocky dogs with long bodies. They come in two or three colors mixed with white: black, brown, and Lemon ( a light tan).

Check out the www.factsurfer.com feature “basset hounds” after reading the book.

In this third book in the Craftily Ever After series, Maddie and her school friends will soon be learning all about the 1960s at school. Meanwhile, Maddie’s mother has been commissioned by the mayor to “create a custom-tailored suit for him to wear to the unveiling of the new town hall.” (8)

Maddie and her friend will be tie-dying in their craft work space at Emily’s house. They are all gathering white cotton fabric for the project. When some of the friends could not find any fabric for the project, Maddie goes into her mother’s sewing room, without asking first, to pick up some scraps. Maddie stuffs everything into a shopping bag from the sewing room and hurries off to begin the project with her friends. The next day after school, the fabric is unbound and hung up to dry revealing a dress shirt no one recognizes. The dress shirt has monogrammed cuffs. Using the computer, they discover the monogram initials match those of the mayor. Oh, no! First the group tries to remove the dye, which does not work. Now, how will Maddie get enough courage to tell her mother. The friends let Maddie know they will go with her to tell her mother, but Maddie says, “No.”

The next day, the mayor is at Maddie’s house, after school, for a fitting. Then and there Maddie admits to what has happened. The mayor is not angry. He likes the shirt. He was a child of the 1960s. The mayor will wear the tie-dyed shirt with the new suit. Maddie’s mother adds a tie-dyed pocket square to complete the look. The Mayor’s event is a success. Maddie and her mother are mentioned in the newspaper the next day in one of the articles about the event.

This book is full of realistic emotions and feelings.Illustrator Xindi Yan’s wide eyed characters, on almost every page, add to the enjoyment and understanding of the readers.

Directions for how to tie-dye follow the story, plus a sneak peek to book #4.

For first time airplane riders, this book written for very young flyers will take them step by step through their paces from the time they check in at the kiosk upon arrival, through the TSA check point, to walking up the stairs into the plane itself, to buckling their seat belts, to take off (gorgeous photo taken from on the runway looking up at the plane with the snow covered Rocky Mountains in the background), to looking down at the ground out the window, to choosing between reading a book or watching a movie or playing a video game, to being served a beverage and possibly a snack, to finally disembarking the airplane. The only thing the book does not mention is possibly using the rest room.

There are two or three sentences, in large font, per two-page spread accompanied by an appropriate photo. There are two inset critical thinking questions, one on page 6 – “Why do you think bags need to be checked at the airport?” at the TSA check point and on page 9 “Why do you think bags have to go in bins?” inside the cabin of the plane. I hope the young reader does not know about terrorists and extreme air turbulence. This book makes flying look happy and fun. I’m feeling a little jealous that I do not currently have a trip planned for the immediate future.

Page 22 entitled “Flight Supplies” includes five photos of labeled items you might want on a trip: travel bag, books, snacks, travel pillow, and blanket. While page 23 entitled “Picture Glossary” includes four photos from the book with the word and a short definition: board, checks, flight attendants, and runway.

Signing Day is the story of friends, football, and the future. The story line is straightforward and realistic. Characters are believable and authentic. The plot is compelling. Readers will sympathize with Iggy when he is forced to choose between his playing football with his best friend or accepting the offer from his father’s school. Readers will root for Iggy to follow his dream of playing football for his father’s alma mater.  Give this book to a reluctant sports reader.

The first year students at Royal Fairy Academy are excited to go on a field trip to see the “new royal crown jewel exhibit at the Chocolate Museum” (4) Between hearing about the trip and going on the trip, friends Princess Mini, Princess Taffy, and Prince Cupcake learn from their secret troll friend, Gobo, the jewels were a gift from Gobo’s great, great, great grandfather to Queen Sugarella. (There are currently fairies who are anti-troll, including Prince Cupcake’s twin sister Princess Frosting.) Princess Mini wants the true story behind the jewels to be told to help build a strong relationship between the fairies and the trolls again. Suddenly, the trip is delayed a day. Some speculate because the trolls have stolen the jewels. Princess Mini’s parents and grandparents simply had the jewels cleaned before the exhibition and the Royal Crown Ball. Princess Mini’s parents and grandparents are happy to meet Gobo and have him tell the jewel’s history at the Royal Crown Ball. Princess Mini’s mother stating,” ‘ You stood by a friend. There is nothing sweeter in this land than friendship.’ ” (68)

Each of the ten short chapters has one, if not two or three cute black and white illustrations and is set in a large font. The sweet theme is carried throughout with each page number being set between candy kisses.

This book includes a list of characters, a table of contents, glossary, and questions.

This picture book is in graphic novel format, translated from the French.

While Rory the tiger and Sheldon the turtle are out hunting for Easter eggs they discover the forest’s birds’ real eggs have disappeared. This is a case for Super Rory and Super Sheldon. Using their special equipment to get a lead, they go to Boz Badger’s Sweet Shop to look for the missing eggs. Boz only has candy eggs, but tells Super Rory and Super Sheldon a super-silly bird has been looking in his shop’s window.

Super Rory and Super Sheldon find Kooky bird. She has the real birds’ eggs. They offer Kooky bird a free nest cleaning. She’s delighted. While they clean her nest they exchange candy eggs for the real birds’ eggs.

When Super Rory and Super Sheldon return the eggs, each parent bird gives them a candy egg as a reward.

• A ‘Super Duper Animal Fact’ is told after the story. This time it is about the cuckoo bird, which lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, the opposite of what happened in this story.

This is a board book from PBS Kids with Jim Henson’s Splash and Bubbles. There are cute color ocean pictures with a clear acrylic see-through window on almost every page. The book’s theme is to not litter. See how beautiful a clean ocean looks? One page, mid-book is littered how a pop can, chip bag, empty green glass bottle,crushed plastic bottle, and an one time use plastic bag.

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She notes that this book has an interesting plot about a boy, Hank, who wants to pet-sit to raise money to repair his bike which his dad ran over. But the book spends most of the time on one pet pig that he struggles to care for until a friend helps him with it. She thought that there were several holes in the story, like not providing information on what actually happened to his bike. It is not mentioned in the book itself; only in the synopsis at the back of the book. The story just starts abruptly with his first client showing up in his kitchen and asking if pet-sitting included sitting for pigs, too. She later realized that this book is the 2nd in a series of 4. Each book focuses on one particular animal that Hank takes care of and the first book probably explains what happened to his bike and the final book likely will tell the reader if he achieves his goal of earning enough money to buy a new one. There were some accent marks missing throughout the book, which may affect the communication between the past and present tense. She imagines that most readers would look past this. With that and that readers may feel the story is incomplete, she has reservations about recommending this book, especially if the library did not have all copies in the series.

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She shared the book with her seven year old daughter. She notes that the book has beautiful pictures. The Spanish and English translations go well together. Learners of both languages could benefit from how meanings are expressed, especially prepositions, with many find to be challenging. It is about how a drop of water is a part of the world around us. She recommends this book.

What really caught my eye was when the girl was telling the story to the little boy saying robin hood snuck into the archer shoot-out in disguise and didn’t get caught when he was only wearing a hood. This book is about a girl on the run after committing a crime she didn’t commit. It was really good I really liked it when the girl told a story to the little boy when he was sick. I think for people that are really into adventures book then this is a book for you.

Review by Thomas

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teacher at River Ridge High School. She shared it with her seven year old daughter. This book is about a little boy who saves a doll and takes such good care of her as if she were a real baby that he was rescuing. The story is cute, the illustration is lovely and the Spanish is great-accurate and useful for learning the language. She recommends this book.

This book was reviewed by a Spanish language teachers here at River Ridge HS. She read it with her seven year old daughter, and she states that this was her favorite book of the four she reviewed. She notes that it has beautiful pictures. The book containing both languages is so helpful. Some expressions do not translate directly. So to see how they are done is a very good learning experience. The book is based on the pretty well-know song as the title states, and celebrates diversity.

Top Elf is a fun holiday story. Santa is ready to retire and he decides there should be a competition for his replacement. The competition is open to anyone and any creature. A variety of characters, a pixie, a brownie, an elf, Santa’s children, and many more join the race to earn the title, Santa. Competitors must pass each challenge in order to remain in the competition. In the end, the competitors have an unexpected chance to save Christmas from an unlikely villain. Students who enjoy humorous holiday stories will enjoy this read. T

Some of the first wheel rides appeared in the early 1600s. In this informational text about Ferris Wheels, readers learn a little about the history of the Ferris wheel and some of the largest Ferris wheels around today. Each two page spread has 3-4 sentences and a photograph. The end of the book has a few more facts, a glossary, an index, and a code to access more information and crafts on abdokids.

This nonfiction book about otters from the series Awesome Animal Powers provides a general overview about otters. Each two page spread has 1-2 paragraphs of text and then a full page picture. Even though the cover says tool users, this was only briefly covered. The other topics covered in the book are where they live, what they look like, what they eat and their future. There are many informational text features used including text boxes, diagrams, captions, color words, glossary and index. An online resource from abdobooklinks offers more information on the topic.

A picture book about all the things that make us want to say thank you. Thank you is for morning and for blooms. Thank you is for hats and mittens and hands to hold. A sweet look at everyday things for which we might want to say thank you. The soft illustrations match the lyrical text and make this a very sweet book about being thankful.

A level 3 Blastoff Reader from Scholastic about long-tailed weasels. The text includes 2-3 sentences per page with an illustration, map, diagram or chart. These informational text features assist the reader in understanding the text. The end of the book includes a glossary, index, and books and websites where readers can learn more information.

A unique look at how some insects may be a little more like us than we think.

The author starts out with bugs aren’t like us. They don’t give kisses or hugs, they don’t make scrambled eggs and toast. But then turn the page and it goes on to give facts about an insect and how it is like us. “A mother short-tailed cricket lays extra, tiny eggs. Once her babies hatch, the special eggs will be her little ones’ first breakfast.” And it continues through the book stating different everyday activities that bugs don’t do, but when the reader turns the page it describes an insect that does a similar activity. The end of the book comes to the conclusion that bugs are like us.

The author includes further information about the different insects referenced in the book as well as a few books for more information. She also mentions the difference between the playful language that she used in the book and scientific language.

A fun look at the similarities between ourselves and bugs. It also introduces the reader to insects they may not be familiar with.

Flamingo is sad and worried that he will always feel sad or his friends won’t like him if he is sad. His friends, a girl and a potato, say that everyone feels sad sometimes. They try to cheer up the flamingo, but he is just sad. Finally a close to mean joke from Potato gets everyone laughing and although Flamingo is a still a little bit sad, he is okay with that.

A great book about it being okay to be sad. The friendship between the three is a comfort as they explore sadness and try to cheer up their friend.