John was ten years old when his dad brought a baby orangutan home from Indonesia. John loved Raja like a little brother, but soon his parents divorced. John and Raja were separated for years until his father went bankrupt, having his home reposessed which meant Raja could no longer live with him. John decided to fly out to see Raja before he was sent to a zoo, only to find a very large, strong, and depressed Raja that had been locked up in a trailer in his father’s back yard. Raja was then taken to a zoo where he was locked up in a small cage. John takes an opportunity to break Raja out of the zoo, and find a way to escort Raja back to Indonesia. Unfortunately, John finds out the protected land there has been put in danger by the crooked government, which leaves John with a very large decision. Should he leave Raja, free to live in his natural habitat, where corporations are burning multiple acres and the food sources necessary for Raja’s survival, or allow him to be caged and depressed for the rest of his life? The author, Eliot Schrefer, traveled to indonesia to research the problems that orangutans face in their homeland. Readers will have many questions answered from this fictional book that has truths woven throughout. They will also be left with many more questions regarding a serious world issue.

Callum Hunt has been imprisoned due to the wide spread fear most have developed once the people realized that the Evil Lord, Constantine Madden, continues to live inside of Call. Under the control of an evil follower, Call is being forced to use his powers to bring back the dead. Unfortunately, the only results anyone has gotten in attempting this task is creating a kaos ridden, until Call realizes the missing step in the process and raises his friend from the dead. Soon following, a large battle breaks out, and Call must find a way to to use his powers to stop the evil leaders and their kaos ridden in order to cease the battle while keeping himself alive… if that is even possible. This intriguing book is the fourth in the Magisterium series.

Tiddler is late for school everyday and everyday he has a story to tell about why he was late. Each story is outlandish and the others do not believe him except for Little Johnny Dory who tells it to his granny, who tells it to someone else. One day Tiddler is caught in a net and he ends up far, far away. He found his way back by tracing those who had heard his story.

With the title of “…. Cried Wolf”, I was expecting the moral where it is not good to tell lies/tall tales, but this was not the case in this story. Even with this, I thought it was a cute story.

Cy is a cyclops who loves to build and create things. The one thing he cannot make is a friend. He really wants a friend so he practices making eye contact, watches how his dog makes friends, practices making conversation, and tries to look like a friend. Cy builds a chariot to share with his friend. Cy sets out to find a friend to share his chariot with. The creatures in the story are from Greek mythology and there is a glossary of mythological creatures in the front of the book and labels the creatures in the back of the book. A great book for how to make a friend.

Dean Bob’s and Lou Tweet’s announces that they are going to have a class pet show. Dean and Lou are very excited to perform, but are worried their families will embarrass them.

The entire book is written in rhyme and I felt that it bogged down the book. This is book two and I had not read book one and I was several pages in before I had figured out that Bobs and Tweets were their families. I thought that this was a struggle to read and the readers that would be attracted to the cover of this book would struggle too.

Percy and Piper are on their family’s pirate ship when a storm starts up. Piper starts to tell Percy about the legend of the Sea Spirit. The storm picks up, so their parents send them below deck. They decide to hide in the closet, but Percy believes he sees a ghost and it is the Sea Spirit. The ghost turns out to be their dad’s pirate coat and hat. This book is written with short chapters with color illustrations on every page.

Tell the Wind and Fire’s title comes from a Charles Dickens’ quote from A Tale of Two Cities: “Tell the wind and fire where to stop…but don’t tell me.” This novel is a modern day retelling of A Tale of Two Cities, and begins with “It was the best of times until it was the worst of times,” a variation on the opening of Dickens’ novel.

This novel is a mixture of fantasy and romance set in a dystopian society in what was once New York City. NYC is now a city divided between extreme luxury (the Light side) and oppressive poverty (the Dark side). The main character is a courageous young woman, Lucie Manette, who was born in the Dark half of the city, but managed to create celebrity status in the Light side. Unfortunately, her name and face were easily identified, as were those of her boyfriend. When she is so distracted by happiness and loses track of time, and has to ride home on a public train, she and her boyfriend find that their fame is a detriment. Her boyfriend is captured by guards and accused of being someone / something that shocks and terrifies her.

Will Lucie be able to save him? When both halves of the city go up in smoke, and the revolution is in full force, will she be able to survive? And if she can’t save him, will she want to live even if she can survive?

This is an action packed story with pacing that is almost too hard to sustain. Recommended for those readers who like strong female characters, action, romance, fantasy, and dystopia. And for those who enjoy Dickens.

In this semiautobiographical novel, Jim Murphy feels his teachers are always out to get him. He is determined that this year will be different, but on the first day of sixth grade he is already in trouble. His teacher is always humiliating him, including having him assist the 2nd grade onstage where he has to dress up as a banana. He and his friends set out for revenge to embarrass his teacher.

A charming story about Lola Zuckerman who always seems to get herself into some trouble. Hilarity ensues as she offers to watch her friends’ dogs over Thanksgiving break when she can barely control her own dog from running away, and she must tell both her grandmothers that their pumpkin pie is “the best” when they come for the Thanksgiving meal.  Throughout all this, she hasn’t brushed her hair in days and she tries to cover up the knot that has formed using hats and other disguises. A light, fun-loving story that is sure to cause smiles and giggles for kids grades 2-5.

Grace wants her papa to tell a scary bedtime story. Her brother, Walter, is not so sure and wants a story that is “not too scary”. Papa weaves Grace and Walter in the story and starts out scary, but then discover that whatever is scary is something familiar and not too scary. Papa has to walk a delicate balance between making his story scary for Grace, but not too scary for Walter. Towards the end, the story ends up being too scary for both of them and they want to sleep with the light on.

A collection of poems by Jane Yolen about things that are under the ground. Some of the things described are found in nature, while others are human made such as the subway. The full page color illustrations add to the poems. There is the combination of art, poetry, and science. The notes on the end of the book give us scientific information about some of the topics as well as personal anecdotes on some of the poems from the author.

A girl needs to give a presentation about personification, but she is scared. She ventures to the park where she finds personification all around her. Each page is filled with examples of personification. This would be a great accompaniment to lessons on figurative language.

A nonfiction book about ragdoll cats with many text features including headings, keywords, glossary, and text boxes. The photographs span the full page. Only about five pages have information specifically about ragdoll cats, the rest of the book seems to be about cats in general. Each page has about two paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each. This book would be a good resource for those interested in getting a ragdoll cat or a cat in general as it provides tips for feeding, care, and what things they need.

Create 5 different robots with this book. Directions are numbered and include color pictures to assist in the creation of the robots. The book defines a makerspace, has many everyday objects for the robots, and includes safety tips. The robots do include some specialized equipment that would not be found in every house such as littlebits, cubelets, and solar cells, which makes the activities not attainable for everyone. The book suggests that if you don’t have something find a substitute, but does not include what you might use as a substitute.

The tale begins as expected. Jack and his mother, both depicted as white, are poor; Jack goes to town to sell a cow; he returns with no money but a handful of magic beans. His mother throws the beans out the window, and the next day a gigantic beanstalk has grown. But here the story takes a new path. No longer will Jack and his mother starve, as the stalk bears a huge number of beans, and she cooks up baked beans, pickled beans, mashed beans, bean soup, and bean chowder. Jack soon tires of beans and dreams of burgers and french fries. When he climbs the beanstalk, he finds a like-minded giant (also white) who’s so tired of beans he wants to eat Jack instead. But the bean-hating duo heads down the stalk and plants a garden with a more diversified crop of vegetables, to the delight of the whole, not-particularly-diverse community. Teague defuses a conflict through the promise of good food. His illustrations effectively emphasize the size of both giant and beanstalk, culminating in a humorous final page depicting the giant’s arm reaching down from off the page to give Jack’s plate of french fries a nice squirt of ketchup.

Delightfully entertaining fractured fairy tale!

The story begins when the U. S. flag had only 48 stars. America goes to war. Steve Rogers goes to enlist, but is turned down, except for a top secret experiment. From skinny and weak to big and strong a hero is made. “He fights for justice, equality, and freedom.”

Young fans of Captain America just learning to read should enjoy the introductory story of this hero laid out in action filled pictures with one or two sentences in large font per page.

Sunny’s story from SUNNY SIDE UP continues in this edition of SWING IT UP, SUNNY. As the scene opens on the Sunny TV Show (each episode is matched with a TV show from the 1970s) .

THIS book is so realistic in pointing out day-to-day bits of life.  Authors Matthew and Jennifer Holm excel is sharing how hard life can be when a member of a family is hurting and you are hurting for them, too.

Mom is busy cooking dinner and asking Sunny to change her little brother Teddy’s diaper. Gramps phones, from Florida, to ask Sunny how her first days of middle school are going.

Neighbor and best friend Deb watches ‘General Hospital ‘ with Sunny after school. Halloween comes up with the topic of this year’s costumes. Perhaps they should be nurses like on ‘General Hospital’. OK, but no kissing of doctors for Sunny. Then, when Sunny needs  allergy tests, she finds her doctor is not anything like the ones on ‘General Hospital’. Sunny’s doctor is not romantic at all! On Halloween night, as Deb and Sunny head home from trick-or-treating, they witness two bullies taking a smaller child’s candy. Sunny talks Deb into hiding in a big pile of raked leaves and wait for the bullies to pass by. As the bullies walk by, they jump from the pile of leaves, (looking like Swamp Thing nurses- all dirty now) scaring the bullies away.

Older brother Dale comes home from military school for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, but he is grumpy. Dale does not appreciate the ‘Pet Rock’ Sunny gives him for Christmas. Dale is supposed to be watching Deb, Sunny, and Teddy on New Year’s Eve. Shortly before midnight, Dale is seen walking off and meeting up with his old friends. The next morning, all the mailboxes in the neighborhood are found knocked down. Coincidence?! As Dale gets ready to go back to military school, Sunny notices Dale has left the pet rock behind, but Sunny sneaks it into his duffle bag when he is not looking. During lunch after Dale leaves, Gramps talks with Sunny about how hard it has been with Dale,     ” ‘I know it’s hard to watch somebody you love struggle. All you want to do is make it better.’ (says Gramps, then Sunny) ‘So what can I do?’  (Gramps) ‘ What we did. Just keep loving him and hope for the best. ‘ ” (145)…” ‘Life’s not like television.’ ” (146)

New neighbors move in next door to Sunny. She and mom take them fresh baked cookies. Though the girl at the door, Neela, is older than Sunny, they will soon be great friends. Neela will soon be teaching Sunny flag twirling, an activity that accompanies the high school marching band.

In May, Sunny sends Dale a hand-made blanket to keep his pet rock warm. Surprising, Dale phones Sunny to thank her and is very cordial. Dale goes on to explain that ‘Rocky’, his pet rock, ” ‘ was kind of having a hard time at first. But , uh, he’s trying to figure things out, so he’s doing a little better now.’ ” (209)

Pointe, Claw is the intense story of two wild girls, but not wild in the way one would think. Both are struggling to break free and find something missing in their lives.
Jessie Vale is a ballerina performing in an elite ballet program that requires absolute perfection to be accepted into a professional company. When she is cast in an animalistic avant garde production, her composure begins to crack. Danger abounds.

Told from another point of view is the story of Jessie’s Dawn McCormick. Dawn’s world is full of missing information and illness. She wakes in strange places, looking bruised, battered, and unable to speak. The doctors are baffled. Her parents are frustrated.

These childhood friends are running out of time, with Jessie having just this one shot at her ballet dream, and Dawn’s blackouts and illness rapidly getting worse. The girls feel that they are being judged and watched by everyone. They also are being kept apart from one another, for reasons they don’t understand, but they both remember their childhood when they were inseparable.

Will they overcome the stresses in their lives? Will they be allowed to recreate the happiness they once shared as children?
Point, Claw will keep the reader devouring the pages to find the answers.

Of Better Blood is an outstanding piece of historic fiction that tackles the horrific and mostly forgotten history of the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century here in the United States.
The main character is a sixteen year old polio survivor, Rowan Collier, who is engulfed in the firestorm against “the unfit.” The eugenics movement, dedicated to racial purity and good breeding, was winning support throughout the USA in the 1920s. Institutions were allowed by state law to sterilize the “feeble-minded,” the disabled, ethnic minorities, and even poor, white unwed mothers. Local eugenics councils set up exhibits at county fairs with “fitter family” contests and propaganda. After years of being confined to hospitals due to her polio damaged legs, Rowan is recruited to play a born cripple in a county fair eugenics exhibit. But an outspoken and tough carnival worker, Dorchy, makes friends with Rowan, and helps her discover her inner strength and bravery. The two teen girls escape the fair and end up at a summer camp on an island run by the New England Eugenics Council. When they discover what is happening to the children, Rowan takes on the mission to find a way to stop the horrors on the island, but she is at serious risk of befalling the same fate.

There is so much historical truth presented in this novel that the reader may actually think it is a biography. The author, Susan Moger, provides an “Author’s Note” at the end describing how one of her own relatives was a victim of the 1916 polio epidemic that swept across America, and tells of the reaction of the family. Moger also provides historic information on the American Eugenics Society, and shares how this movement influenced Adolph Hitler when he wrote of eugenics in Mien Kampf.

Zenn Diagram is the debut novel of journalist Wendy Brant, and will appeal to those who enjoy contemporary teen romance, paranormal / sci-fi themes. Eva Walker, the main character, is a math genius with an amazing talent: by touching a person’s calculator she can immediately see what area of math is tripping them up, and hence she is an amazing math tutor. But while the algos she senses from the calculator gain her prestige and respect, even from the football coaches and players, she still has virtually no friends. The reason is that she cannot get close to anyone because if she touches someone’s clothes, phone, and especially their skin, she can feel their emotions and know all their fears, insecurities, and secrets. (It reminds me a bit of some of the characters in the Twilight series, although Eva is a human and not a supernatural being).

For the most part, Eva finds it safer to just keep her hands to herself and her distance from everyone. And this works for her until she meets the tall, dark, and extremely good looking Zenn Bennett. Even his jacket gives off an aura that literally knocks her over. She falls for Zenn, realizing that she can touch his skin without having visions. But the trade off is that she discovers the history that links them, and that is where the plot conflict arises.

Zenn Diagram presents an unusual combination of math, romance, and paranormal, with a strong female math nerd protagonist.

Sinner, book four of The Wolves of Mercy series, a wildly popular series that follows the romance of Cole St. Clair and Isabel Culpeper. In Sinner, Cole has come to California with the intent to get Isabel back. He is desperate to get her: he doesn’t just want her, he needs her. After she fled from his miserable life, she has set about building herself a new life in Los Angeles. She’s not having much success. Will Cole be able to convince her to come home with him? Although they share a past, will they ever share a future? Will they survive their destructive relationship?

Read Sinner to find out!

Lifers, set in Manchester, England, an exciting mixed-genre mystery, thriller, science-fiction, dystopian novel written in third person perspective. Readers finds themselves in the head of teenager Preston, who is trying to locate a local girl who has disappeared. Preston finds himself drawn to investigate, and explores the city hunting for his missing friend. He finds himself deep in the bowels of a secret scientific institute, where he discovers a sinister machine. Preston is captured and locked in a caverns along with several other teens, all falsely imprisoned. As Preston and his new friends try to escape, the reader joins in their battle for freedom, revenge, and revolution.
Lifers is a thrilling, heart-pounding read.

Marked is a dystopian novel featuring graphic novel vignettes. Lyla, the sixteen-year-old protagonist, lives in a bleak, controlling society where only most favored and smartest students succeed. Trying to get ahead in school, she buys cheats in an underground shadow market, is caught, and then tattooed, “marked”, as a criminal. When she is offered a way to redeem herself, she jumps at the opportunity, but redemption comes at a cost. Will she have to betray the boy she loves? Will she lose even more than she thought possible? The graphic novel–style vignettes reveal the history of this dysfunctional society, and help provide Lyla with guidance and clues to a possible way out of the double bind she finds herself in.

The Wendy Project is a graphic novel by actor and playwright Melissa Jane Osborne, illustrated by Veronica Fish, whose clients include Nickelodeon and MARVEL. The story is a modern day twist on the Peter Pan story, and features 16-year-old Wendy Davies who crashes her car into a lake with her two younger brothers in the backseat. Upon awaking in the hospital, she learns that her youngest brother, Michael, is dead. Wendy, who prior to this tragedy, was a rational teenager, shocks her family by insisting that Michael is alive and in the custody of a mysterious flying boy. Wendy is moved to a new school, where she tries to navigate between fantasy and reality. In Wendy’s eyes, the students and adults around her begin to resemble characters from Neverland. She is given a sketchbook by her therapist, and she starts to draw. But is The Wendy Project just her safe space, or a portal between worlds?

Wolf, shark, snake, spider, and piranha are lured into the woods to stop a neighbor from being bulldozed.When they find out the bulldozers are made of cardboard and duct tape. Suddenly the ground opens up and a laser canon appears. Dr. Marmalade, billionaire mad scientist guinea pig is out to get his revenge on the Good Guys for  releasing all 10,000 chickens from his farms. Now snake, wolf , and shark are tied up, hanging from the ceiling, “THE ONLY REASON WE’RE IN THIS MESS IS BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID OBSESSION WITH BEING A HERO!” yells snake to wolf.  Secret agent Fox disguised as a ninja rescues the Good Guys. But Dr. Marmalade escapes after pushing the button to end the world.  Once again, they escape. Agent Fox gives chase to Dr. Marmalade leaving the Good Guys to fight the latest secret weapon….. zombie kittens.

Perhaps this series is named “THE BAD GUYS” because of the corny, obvious, and bathroom humor, but whatever the reason, young readers will love it!