Do you remember the first time you were introduced, in person, to an orchestra one instrument at a time? What a thrill to hear the instrument and what it was capable of playing! In this book, an orchestra conductor does just that. Since the reader can not hear the instrument, Gabriel Alborozo has invented a colorful visual for each instrument’s sound.The timpani have bluish fingery clouds, while the cymbals have bright golden yellow sound shock waves, and the xylophone has multi-colored confetti floating in the air. After the percussion section comes the brass, then the strings, wood winds, and a piano and harp. Finally the conductor asks, ”  ‘So let’s see how they all fit together, shall we? One, two, three…’   MAGNIFICO! ”

The finally page, ” Clap  clap  clap  clap  clap  clap  clap  clap  clap  clap…”

The Civil Rights Movement Through the Eyes of Lyndon B. Johnson is a non-fiction title in the Presidential Perspectives series which also includes The Civil War Through the Eyes of Abraham Lincoln, The Louisiana Purchase Through the Eyes of Thomas Jefferson, The New Nation Through the Eyes of George Washington, September 11 Through the Eyes of George W. Bush, World War I Through the Eyes of Woodrow Wilson, World War II Through the Eyes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and The Cuban Missile Crisis Through the Eyes of John F. Kennedy. This series supports the Common Core State Standards for grades 3-6.

The Civil Rights Movement Through the Eyes of Lyndon B. Johnson is an historical look at the turbulent early half of the 1960s, and contains powerful black and white photos of  civil rights protests in Birmingham, the march on Selma,  the National Guard deployed in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral cortege in Atlanta. The text also contains a timeline, glossary, index, and a “Stop and Think” section that would be helpful in the classroom. Additionally, there is a reference section with both text and web sources for deeper study.

Investigating Seasons is a non-fiction title in the What Are Earth’s Cycles? series which includes Investigating Animal Life Cycles, Investigating Plant Life Cycles, Investigating the Carbon Cycle, Investigating the Rock Cycle, Investigating the Water Cycle.  This easy to read text is filled with large color photos, a glossary, an index, and a reference section that includes both print and web sources.

How the Executive Branch Works is part of the How the US Government Works series, which includes additional titles of How Political Campaigns and Elections Work, How Political Parties Work, How the Judicial Branch Works, How the Legislative Branch Works,  and How the US Security Agencies Work.  This non-fiction series supports the Common Core State Standards for grades 3-6.

Nicely laid out, easy to read with color and black and white photographs and other illustrations, the text contains sidebars, a timeline, a glossary and an index, and a “Stop and Think” section that would be very useful in the classroom. There is also a reference section that includes books and a link to websites that are routinely monitored and updated.

Armistice Day is a  graphic novel in the Graphic Warfare series that includes these additional titles: D-Day, Fallujah, Gettysburg, Iwo Jima,  and the Tet Offensive. The text is filled with action-packed illustrations and fact-filled narration. Easy to read, but riveting, this text explains how WW I started, the new battle methods used in that war, trench warfare, the final days of the war, and the signing of the armistice agreement with the cease fire on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It concludes with a history of Armistice Day, how it later became known as Veterans Day. The text also includes maps, timelines, biographies, statistics, a glossary and index, as well as a reference to websites that are frequently monitored and updated.

This book, and the entire series, would make an excellent addition to a school library.

Polar Bears Matter is a non-fiction book in the Bioindicator Species series that also includes the titles Bees Matter, Coral Reefs Matter, Dragonflies Matter, Frogs Matter, and Monarch Butterflies Matter. The series supports Common Core State Standards for grades 3-6

Polar Bears Matter has especially nice colored photographs of polar bears in the wild, and of scientists and researchers working to determine what is causing their habitat to shrink, and how to protect these animals from extinction.  There are also sidebars, graphs, charts, a glossary, index, additional resources for further research, and a nice “Stop and Think” section that will useful for classroom use.

Thomas Edison Invents the Light Bulb is a non-fiction book in the Great Moments in Science series. The series, which also includes non-fiction titles on Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and Rachel Carson, supports the Common Core State Standards for grades 3-6.

The book is filled with period black and white photos and etchings, has numerous sidebars of information, as well as a timeline, glossary, index, and resources for further study. It is interesting and easy to read, and will make a good addition to a school or classroom library, especially for students who are studying inventors and inventions.

Ebola is a non-fiction book for children and youth that explains how the Ebola epidemic occurred, what is thought to cause the virus, the symptoms shown by the infected, how the disease spreads, how the disease can be  or prevented or contained, and what health officials in the affected countries of Africa and around the world are doing to educate communities about this disease.

The book contains numerous color photographs and other graphics, as well as statistics, a glossary, index, and resources for further study.

George is a novel about a 10 year old named George, who loves to read and has a best friend named Kelly. Everyone thinks George is a boy, but she doesn’t feel like one. George is a transgender fourth-grader who prefers to be called Melissa and who identifies as a girl. The main plot conflict is that George really wants to try out for the role of Charlotte in the class production of the play Charlotte’s Web.  George  thought she would always be keeping the secret, but when her teacher states that she can’t try out for the part because she is boy, she and her friend Kelly come up with a plan.

George is praised for filling the gap between transgender picture books for young children and novels for teenagers, as it is the perfect book for mid-grade kids.

As author Alex Gino states, “It’s not just, ‘This is a trans narrative.’ This is a narrative about a young person who is very much trying to become who they are.”

Have you ever played those word games were you have to see how many words you can create from the original word? This book reminds me of one of those games, but for primary age readers. It is a cross between one of those games and a wordless picture book. There are no sentences in this book.  There is usually one word per page. All of the words begin with the letter “p”. Sometimes a letter is added to the word on the previous page and sometimes a letter is subtracted from the word on the previous page. Here is the progression of words: plan, plane, planet, plant, pant, pants, pans, pals, Pa’s, past, post, pot, pit, pin, pint, point, paint, pain, plain, plan. Have you guessed the plot of this book yet? It is about a young girl with a dream to fly a bi-plane as she plants a garden,  hangs pants up on a clothes-line, and goes about her daily life. She takes a key which fell out of the pant’s pocket to open a locked photo album belonging to her Pa. Inside the album are ticket stubs, old photos, a blue ribbon, and pilot’s wings from her parents’ barnstorming days. She shows the album to her pa. Together they paint posters, fit aviator clothing, paint the bi-plane, visit her mother in the cemetery, and pack a picnic lunch and luggage, before flying off over the plain. What a great plan!

The first graders I read the book to loved finding the change from one word into the other, as well as, following the story-line through use of the one word per page and the illustrations!

Poisonous vomit, punching shrimp, hidden claws… oh my!  This high appeal title profiles a wide selection of animals from all over the world which defend themselves in unexpected ways.  Many of the defenses hinge on bodily fluids in some way – and kids can’t get enough of it.  Each tale is accompanied by photographs, and the graphic design of the book has pizzazz.  This and Johnson’s similarly packaged works “Zombie Makers” and “Masters of Disguise” are essential for any public, elementary, or middle school library.

Life in the United States military is definitely different from civilian life, but it is also different for the spouses and for their children.  Combat Zone,  weaves a story about high school senior Justin who is the child of a military parent. Justin is the son of a Navy Seal, the elite of the elite. Every year before school begins, Justin takes part in the ritual mixed martial arts BBQ with the sons  and their Navy Seal fathers in one of their backyards. “This establishes who’s tough and who’s weak. Who rules but also who needs to be protected. At school, we stick together. The Seals are not just a branch of the military; we’re a family.” (4)

Justin and his father haven’t spent much time together as Justin was growing up. So now that Justin’s parents are divorced, Justin is enjoying their time together. Dad- Colonel Edwin Ladd, wants Justin to teach Col. Parker’s son Calvin , a freshman, how to fight. Justin doesn’t want to saying it’s Calvin’s dad’s job. Dad ends the discussion by inferring it’s Justin’s “Duty”.

After the football game Friday night, Justin and his Dad go for a motorcycle ride. On one of their stops, Dad suggests that Col. Parker and Calvin come on their next ride, too. On a later stop, Justin texts his friend Eric to see where the after game parties are happening. When Justin shows up at the party, his teammate Anton asks for a ride home because it’s against the “athlete code of honor” to be drinking. Justin eventually agrees to take Anton home. On the way home, Anton tells Justin, “I thought you’d be a good person to come out to first…” Justin can’t stand the implication of what Anton is trying to tell him. This is unmanly! Justin goes overboard and breaks Anton’s jaw.  At school, Justin makes up a story saying the fight with Anton was over Allison. The next weekend, Colonel Parker (Larry) and Calvin tag along on Justin’s and his father’s motorcycle ride. During a stop on the ride, Ed and Larry go off together to see something leaving Calvin and Justin to talk. Calvin mentions that he and his father will be stationed here for as long a Justin and his Dad are here. Why? ” ‘You know about our dads.’  ” (39) Justin is about to hit Calvin when the dads come back. All Justin can do is race out of there as fast as he can. Justin is so hurt and angry he smashes the windshield of his father’s car. He doesn’t come home that night. Colonel Ladd has Justin taken out of school in handcuffs by the MP, when Justin won’t talk to him, and put in the back seat of his car. At home, Justin pretends to teach Calvin how to fight, pins him, and tells Calvin he lied about his father. Justin is so confused. His father, his macho Navy Seal role model, is living a lie. Justin starts spreading rumors at school about boys he suspects of being gay. He even tells one of the boy’s girl friends, he’ll be taking her to the homecoming dance because her boyfriend is gay. Justin is out of control. Between the football game and the homecoming dance Justin and Jimmy get into a fight in their backyard. Justin won’t end the fight when Jimmy taps out, until Justin’s dad steps in. After the homecoming dance, Justin breaks Allison’s curfew and scares her by his actions. When Justin finally takes her home, both Allison’s and Justin’s parents are there. Justin goes over to Eric’s house to get away from his father. Eric’s mother doesn’t want Justin in their house, so they sit out on the curb and talk. Justin finally tells Eric what is going on with his father. Eric’s response , ”  ‘I’ve been so jealous of the two of you since my dad split. You know what to do. Man up.’  ” (73) Back at his home, Justin confronts his father. Dad say, ”  ‘ This changes nothing between us…’  … ‘I don’t want to be a disgusting freak.’.. SMACK.  Justin’s father hits him and he runs from the house. (77) Justin spends the night in the high school baseball dug out. Later at lunch, Justin and Mychal throw a bowl of fruit at Eric. Coach Young sees the whole thing and takes it upon himself to handle the situation. Coach Young takes them aside and then throws them off of the football team.  Coach “knows about Dad. He doesn’t care. Am I the only one who does?” (82) Coach Young arranges for  Colonels Ladd and Porter to have a talk with Justin in his school office. Dad tells Justin he’s always been this way.  He can ”  ‘accept it now. I hope you will. … How do you feel? ‘   ” … ”  ‘ Betrayed.’  ”     ”  ‘You’re my son. I’m still your father.’  “(85)  … ”  ‘First, you’ll apologize to Eric. Second, you’ll get a job so you can pay for replacing my windshield, and third, you’re going to get your act together going forward? ‘  ” (86) …  ”  ‘So we know where we stand. Are you going to keep acting like this or will you…’   ‘ Man up.’ I finished his sentence. For the first time in a long time, Dad and I both smile.” (87)

Short and quick paced.

Twelve-year-old Genuine Sweet lives in a tiny, broken down house with her drunkard of a father who cannot get a job, and her Grandmother who moved in to provide guidance to Genuine. Living in the small southern town of Sass, Georgia has proven to be challenging for the family who goes hungry and has their power turned off due to lack of funds. Then Genuine’s grandmother tells her a secret; Genuine is a 4th generation wish fetcher. She is able to grant others’ wishes by calling to the stars and having them pour down their liquid star light. The problem is she cannot fetch wishes that would benefit her self. When a city girl moves into town, she gives Genuine ideas to trade wishes for things she needs, bring bartering into town to better the community, and have her wish fetching go world wide on the internet. However, wish fetching for the clients on the web is a lot of work for one girl, and when she loses the one person who has held her world together, her grandmother, Genuine breaks the main wish fetcher rule and asks for a wish for herself. With that, she loses her gift, but shares the secret of wish fetching to others to continue the positive support for those in need.

Faith Harkey tells her story adding a sweet southern charm that adds a little magic to the already magical tale. The humanitarian message given is a valuable message to the youth of today.

For the last few years the term ‘infographics’ has been tossed around as the next best thing since sliced bread for those kids who have trouble focusing. In this book, each page is a different bright color with other brightly colored shapes layed on top of one another. The shapes are instantly recognizable as an auto, a building, an animal, and so on. The bright colors keep your eyes jumping from one thing to another. And in graphics, size matters. Objects are shown in diminishing size as the quantity gets smaller. It very much reminds me of a kids almanac but without all the information. This particular book contains ten building feats, ranging from fish aquariums to bridges to office buildings. No history about any of the buildings but a list of longest, tallest, most capacity, and so on of each building. Not much reading necessary, but then the information is semi interesting and not important.

Nerf toys are popular with both boys and girls, and especially moms, as the soft foam toys don’t break anything in the house. Nerf toys have been around since 1969 and have evolved with the times. Beginning with a soft ball, Nerf toys are sports balls, dog toys, and battle toys using soft darts. These are pretty good for all ages. The idea that a toy company owner made up a game using soft rocks to throw at each other and came up with Nerf balls and toys is a perfect example of American ingenuity. I’m not sure if there is a story here or even much interest in buying a book that reads like a catalog. Interesting but not a first purchase.

“Addition is a kind of math.” (4) As primary grade readers read this book they will feel a sense of accomplishment because they know this information. This 7″ X 6″ book begins with ” 2 + 2 = 4” in numerals, then the numerals are replaced by objects. This is repeated  with “ 3 + 2 = 5” first with numerals and then with objects.  Next, the book equates addition to counting two groups of objects. Next, the plus sign and the equals sign are introduced within addition sentences. Upon turning the page the numerals are ‘stacked’ vertically and the equals sign is replaced by a line. Next, ‘sum’ is introduced in text and illustration/diagram. This is followed by a word problem using text and pictures to count. Finally, the last concept is addition using a number line, followed on the next page by a number line/ story problem. The book ends with a make-at-home (or school) activity where two bean bags are tossed onto an appropriately sized number grid (1-12) and the child adds the two numbers the beans bags have landed upon.

The book is filled with smiling faced children giving the reader the impression “I CAN DO THIS!”

Noah and his mother are at a pumpkin patch. Of course, Noah wants a BIG pumpkin. How will they be able to get the pumpkin to the parking lot? “The pumpkin is heavy! What can help him carry it?” (5) Mom sees a shovel, which she uses as a lever with a fulcrum. She lifts the pumpkin, but it doesn’t get the pumpkin any closer to the parking lot. Noah sees a wagon with wheels and axles. Once this simple machine is analyzed, mom gets the pumpkin into the wagon. Noah is off to the parking lot. Noah’s smile could not possibly get any bigger!

This 7″ X 6″ book has large font text with one or two sentences on the bottom 2 inches of each page. There is a glossary and an index.

What child has never had a cut or a scrape? It is a part of childhood. Author- Joanne Mattern reinforces how to care for them and assures young children not to worry  in this Rookie Read-About Health series book.  Children will readily identify with the photos of cuts, scrapes, and band-aids that abound in this 7″ X 6″ book,  just the right size for little hands to hold.

Page 10 tells the reader, “A scrape is different from a cut. Scrapes happen when something rubs away part of your skin.” Then pages 12-15 show an enlarged cross-section diagram of skin tissue and what the body is doing to stop the bleeding.

The book ends with a quiz ( answers are in tiny print at the bottom of the page), Strange but True, 2 jokes, a glossary, and an index.

Who doesn’t love fast machines?! And who doesn’t love snow?! Put the two together and you get snowmobiles. Author- Matt Scheff begins this book in the Speed Machines series with a high action description of the Winter X Games snocross race naming Tucker Hibbert a 6 time winner.  From there, Scheff tells about the first snowmobile. It was a Model T Ford, in 1913, in which someone had replaced the front wheels with skis and put tracks around the rear wheels. In 1922, Canadian Joseph-Armand Bombardier built his own snowmobile. He later started Ski-Doo. The first modern snowmobile came out in 1956, up until then they were modified cars.

Safety equipment is important.  This equipment includes: helmets, body armor, and a kill switch for stopping the machine in the event a driver falls off the snowmobile.

Snowmobiles are used for fun, work, and rescues in snow country.

Fast Facts- bits of trivia, are sprinkled eight times throughout the book. The book is more photos than text, but the photos grab action seekers attention.

Authors write best about that which they are most familiar and Walter Dean Myers was no exception. He had a difficult childhood “in a tough neighborhood in New York City.” (4) “Walter Dean Myers was not afraid to write about subjects that make people uneasy. His more than 100 books for children and young adults address topics including gangs, drugs, and crime. They feature strong young people who thrive in poor urban neighborhoods.” (4)

He grew up in foster care in New York City. He loved to read. He was in fights at school, often angry because of his speech impediment. During high school, his foster mother, Florence, was “drinking too much alcohol” (10) and an uncle was murdered. As a result, his grades went down and he began skipping school. One of his teachers encouraged him to write every day.Walter joined the drug and gang scene after dropping out of high school, before joining the army. After three years in the army, Walter got out. He had various jobs including working for the post office. Eventually, he took a writing class, entered a book competition and won. He attended City University for awhile and a writer’s workshop at Columbia University. From there, he became an acquisitions editor, though he continued writing on his own. In 1972, he published a picture book-The Dragon Takes a Wife, and in 1973 he published a young adult book – Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff. He left his job as an acquisitions editor, in 1977, to become a full-time writer.”Myers had loved to read as a child. Yet he rarely found books about people who were like him or his friends and family. Now he had time to change that.” (18) Myers’ life had come full circle and now he was also teaching classes and workshops on writing. “In January 2012, the US Librarian of Congress named Myers the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. As ambassador, Myers served a two-year term to raise awareness about the importance of reading for youth. His chosen theme in that role was ‘Reading Is Not Optional.’ ” (20)

Walter Dean Myers has won various medals including: Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King, and the Michael L. Printz Award.

Myers past away on July 1, 2014.

Sohpie’s parents sell books at their books store and give away dream catchers that customers can exchange for new ones at any time. However, underneath the store is a secret dream shop where dreams are extracted from used dream catchers, bottled and sold. Sophie has never dreamed, but when she was six, she drank a dream serum and brought a monster from her dream back to reality. When kids from school disappeared at the same time that Sophie’s parents were kidnapped, Sophie believes that Mr. Nightmare, a dream shop customer is to blame. She and a friend sneak into his house to witness a monster “cockfight” in the pit where Mr. Nightmare sells winning monsters to his audience. It is there that Sophie learns that Mr. Nightmare’s daughter also is a non dreamer who drinks dream serum and brings big monsters back to reality for her father’s pit fights. Through twists and turns, creepy darkness and danger, Sophie and her friend saves the day. This book contains mystery, darkness, humor and crazy twists!

When I picked up this book, I was hoping for a book of cross-section schematic drawings with photos of the One World Trade Center section by section  as it was put together. But that is not the meaning of the word “HOW” as it applies to the title of this book. The “HOW” in this title refers to ‘what were the designers thoughts and desires’ for this building after the Twin Towers demise.  Once that is established, the “HOW”s include: not being identical to the Twin Towers, not being in the same location as the Twin Towers, using bullet resistant glass, using 80% recycled waste materials, collecting rainwater on the 57th floor, using more natural lighting with fewer electric lights, with wider staircases, with a bomb-proof base, with a National September 11 Museum on the ground floor, with an observatory on the top floor, and being 1776 feet tall for the year this country was founded.

“One World Trade Center is made from concrete, steel, and glass. It is rectangular in shape with a triangular front that reaches to the top of the building.The skyscraper starts off wide and slowly becomes thinner until it looks like there is a needle at the very top. The blue-green glass makes the building glitter for miles around…Also, called the “Freedom Tower”… (5)

The book does include photos of the Twin Towers – before and after the attack on September 11, a timeline of the construction of One World Trade Center, a view of One World Trade Center in the New York City skyline, and a view from the observatory floor.

There is a period (.) missing at the end of the last sentence on page 22.

If you are looking for a book to use for comparing and contrasting, this might be the one for you. In this book extreme  temperatures from around the world are pictured and talked about.The title says it all! The book, also, goes into vocabulary dealing with temperature, for example: heat index, windchill, relative humidity, heatstroke, and hypothermia.

The hottest air temperature was measured in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003. “That day, air temperature soared to 108 F (42 C) and relative humidity was greater than normal. These conditions made it feel like 176 F (80 C). ..that is only 36 F (2 C) cooler than the point at which water boils.” ( p. 14)             The coldest air temperature was “On August 10, 2010, the East Antarctic Plateau…wind chill made it feel like -136 F (-93 C).” (p.21) Being prepared to withstand such extreme temperatures is key to survival.

Water temperatures at hydrothermal vents deep  in the Atlantic Ocean can reach 867 F (464 C). The book then talks about going into glacier ice caves at Mount Hood, Oregon, but never mentions a temperature. It does predict that many of these caves will not last another ten years due to global climate change.

The last page contains a recap of the book’s ” True Statistics”.

Approximately one third of each page consists of a photo or diagram, while the other two-thirds of the page is text.

The front cover shows a photo of an erupting volcano with the caption ” Lava temperatures can reach up to about 2,200 F  (1,200 C).” though there are no volcanoes inside the book.

Marsico is delving into what the future will bring us as far as cars are concerned, namely, self-driving cars. Systems in cars already exist that is a step into self-driving, such as, anti-lock brakes, cruise control, parallel parking, and gps, to name a few. Self-driving cars are anticipated to save lives as well as fuel, but that remains to be seen. Google has already developed a car on the road that drives itself in residential areas. Many factors are left to be decided and developed before we will see these cars on the road, and the infrastructure they require will be a budget buster, but technology is developing at a rapid pace. The main questions in my mind are, one, will people be able to afford it, and two, what do we do with all the other human-driven cars?

Tally and her best friend and neighbor Yulia have been sharing their ups and downs since they were little. Now they are in  middle school with its own set of up and downs. Yulia loves being in the school band. Tally loves snowboarding and is quite an important member on the snowboarding team. No problems so far. Enter Tally’s immigrant Vietnamese grandparents with whom she lives. Grammy and Pop want Tally to broaden her interests and try new things. Tally doesn’t think she has the time for anything more in her life right now. Grammy phones the school and has Tally signed up to begin band next week. WHAT?! It is the end of first semester, she doesn’t even have an instrument. No problem Grammy says. The band teacher, Mr. Byrd, will let her play the school’s French horn. How can this be? Tally has been calling the band members Band O’ Geeks for years. Yulia knows it, but doesn’t mind because she loves band. But how will Tally’s snowboarding friends react to her being in the band? (I guess band is not ‘cool’ in some parts of the country. I personally have not experienced this.) Yulia and Tally hatch a plan.  Tally will wear a disguise to band, it’s right after lunch, there will be time to change into it. So then Tally’s snowboarding friends at school won’t know of this terrible thing her grandparents have done to her. It works at first. Tally is able to unhappily take band during school . Then go to snowboarding practice after school. When Mr. Byrd asks if she has been practicing, Tally admits she has not. This is a big disappointment to the other French horn player. He tells her if one French horn sounds bad, the whole section sounds bad. It isn’t fair for her not to practice. Then, Mr. Byrd announces the big snowboarding competition to the band members during class. He tells the class it would be wonderful if Tally’s fellow band members would go to cheer her on. Yikes! on Saturday as Tally is getting ready to compete the Band O’ Geeks are there cheering for her. Tally does her best to ignore them. Her first run is great, but not great enough for first place. Here comes her second run. Just at a critical point, Tally looses her concentration and crashes. Tally is out with a sprained ankle for the rest of the season. Both her band friends and her snowboarding friends visit her at home. Eventually her snowboarding friend insult her band friends while both are visiting Tally.  Though ashamed, Tally doesn’t stand up for them. Back at school, the band members, even Yulia, give Tally the cold shoulder. Tally comes to a conclusion, ” Having to choose between my snowboarding friends and my band friends, if I could call them that, I mean, the snowboarders were my friends. But I’d been friends with Yulia for a long time. And some of the other band geeks were pretty cool, too. Who said I had to choose, anyway?” ( 89) Mr. Byrd explains how he lived through a similar experience. On a home visit, Jasper, a band member, discovers Tally can play guitar. This will later resolve the problem of snowboarders verses band geeks for Tally. The school band is scheduled to play at the school dance in a few weeks. Jasper, Yulia, and Mr. Byrd work together to give Tally a guitar song with Jasper on drums, and Yulia singing their original song entitled “Finding My Wings”  at the dance. Thus bringing both sides together for a happy ending.

Each chapter includes one black and white illustration by Anna Cattish. The girls are always ‘wide-eyed’ in a modern Japanese fashion. The cover art seems a little too young to grab middle school readers interest.