In this beautifully illustrated non-fiction book, Young, a master storyteller as well as author, weaves together a mystery as to who stole the Queen’s shadow.  As each animal accuses another, the story is how the accused could not have commit the theft because of their ability, or lack thereof, to see.  Round and round it goes, as each animal’s vision ability is discussed and proves them innocent.  The language and vocabulary isn’t for the younger children as the story is told in more mature language.  At the end of the book is information about how humans see, a glossary of vocabulary used, and an illustration and summary of how each of the animals in the story see and use their vision.  This book is the first of it’s kind that I have read and is so interesting and captivating that it was impossible to put down.  Learning was never so interesting.  Highly recommended.

My husband pores over sports news, trades, statistics, you name it.  His theory is that sports is a safe, gender neutral topic that just about anywhere and anytime you can find someone to talk to about.  This book would be right up his alley!  Football Rivalries goes back decades in the history of football with details of the games, players, weather, and anything else that was involved in the outcome of the game.  Sports enthusiasts and possibly reluctant readers, especially boys, will find something to talk about from this book.

Snow! is basically a wordless picture book with rich, creamy, thick paper and beautiful illustrations.  Young students will enjoy looking at the detail of bear and hare if they are inclined to be artistic.  Hare loves the snow and bear not so much.  Finally bear learns to love it when he gets to go sledding.

A proverb is an often-used saying that expresses a truth.  Kids used to be familiar with proverbs, as well as idioms, but nowadays it seems that kids don’t talk or listen to adults and they are not familiar with sayings.  It’s all new to them.  This book teaches students some basic facts about life, such as treating one another with kindness, doing a job well, using time well, taking care of yourself, just common sense stuff that they need to hear.

Patricia Polacco has been cranking out wonderful picture books based on personal stories for years.  An A From Miss Keller is an account of her own experience in school with a writing teacher nicknamed ‘Killer Keller’ because of her high, strict standards. Patricia works hard to achieve a coveted A grade from Miss Keller, but doesn’t seem to move past her regular C.  Patricia has an elderly neighbor whom she calls Pop who listens and gives her sage advice.  For her most important homework writing assignment, Patricia must write a personal narrative, but it isn’t until Pop suddenly dies that she is able to express her true feelings.  Miss Keller gave great exercises in using descriptive language and let her students know that she believed in them and that they had the ability within them to write great things.  This is such a touching story and shows how a really good teacher can inspire and draw work from her students.  If only there were more Miss Kellers around today.  This is a must purchase for both elementary and middle school libraries as well as any writing teacher.

There are so many things which bother me about this book that I don’t even know where to begin.  But since I am a visual person, I’ll start with the ‘photographs.’  These, of course, aren’t really photos but just someone manipulating internet images onto an outdoor image.  Much of the information is also straight from the internet, much of it from Wikipedia, so I’m not sure how accurate that is.    Then there is the whole time issue which concerns me.  Apparently bison originated in Eurasia and came to North America over the Bering land bridge about 10,000 years ago, right when these cats were disappearing.  Plus did horses then look like horses today?  Young kids love to look at pictures of saber-tooth tigers, however, these pictures are obviously doctored and the text isn’t of the highest quality.  Your money is better spent elsewhere.

With a good imagination, you’ll never be bored.  This is a story about Niko, a boy who excels at imagining adventures.  He has even gone so far as to build his own spaceship by recycling boxes and other things which could pass for controls.  Niko is on his way to the moon along with his dog, Tag, and trustworthy friend, Radar (a robot).    Unfortunately, his sister and a neighbor’s cat have tagged along.  They make it to the moon and don their spacesuits and helmets and go on a hunt.  Miffed at his sister, Niko leaves her there and starts for home.  Tag is upset, the cat is upset, Radar is upset, so Niko goes back and fetches his sister.  The story is how I would expect an imaginative boy to act.  The illustrations are outstanding as many of them feature black pages representing space, and white text.  Hopefully Niko’s creativity will spur some in students reading this book.

Strange and wonderful is right!  This amazing, intelligent invertebrate is a mollusk.  The book features extremely accurate, detailed illustrations rather than photographs.  Pringle includes a wide variety of factual information which captures the attention of any reader.  It is written mostly in engaging text rather than isolated snippets accompanying a photo.  The fascinating introduction to the octopus tells of different species, its intelligence, shapes, colors, textures of skin, methods of hunting, survival, and predators.  Henderson’s accurate, appealing, and colorful illustrations are well paired with the text.  A glossary, index, additional resources, and related quality websites are included.

Glamourpuss lives with the “gazillionaire” Mr. and Mrs. Highhorsen.  She has the best money can buy and is spoiled beyond belief.  She doesn’t go downstairs, she descends.  She doesn’t lie down, she reclines.  She even changed the ordinary “me-ow” to just ME!  One day, Mrs. Highhorsen’s sister, Eugenia, comes for an extended visit – with Bluebelle, a tacky Chihuahua.  Glamourpuss is horrified.  Bluebelle is taking all the attention.  When the Highhorsen’s and Eugenia left for a while, Glamourpuss discovers Bluebelle has destroyed all her costumes.  It was then Glamourpuss realizes Bluebelle just wanted to be more sophisticated like Glamourpuss.  With a few helpful instructions, Bluebelle becomes not only more stylish, but a good friend.  The ink and watercolor illustrations are humorous and depict the classy owners from the neck down – the perspective of a small pet.  This would be a fun book to use when discussing adjectives.

This book on crystals gives the reader more information than many introductory books.  Starting with how crystals are formed from minerals, this potentially complex subject is presented in a very readable format.  A variety of crystals are mentioned.  One learns how crystal shapes are formed by their facets, how crystals grow, where they can be found in nature, and how people use them.  The reader is encouraged to view websites, critique short articles, do experiments, reflect on what they know about crystals and defend their opinions.  Glossary, index, bibliography, and websites are included.  This book goes a step further than most resources by providing opportunities for the reader to contemplate, analyze, and/or appraise given information.

Reginald is not your run-of the-mill zombie.  Instead of brains to eat, he wants peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  As hard as he tries to get one, humans run or refuse to deal with him.  As fellow zombies lurch through town in search of brains, Reginald tries to persuade them to try the enticing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  One day he notices Abigail Zink, in a crowd of townspeople, holding a lunch sack containing the long sought-for sandwich.  As he shuffles toward her, the other zombies enclose looking for brains.  Reginald grabs the sack and tosses Abigail’s lunch into the gathering of zombies.  As they devour the sandwich, they discover how delicious they are!  The townspeople realize the zombies are just hungry.  In no time, zombies are working for humans, being paid with PB&Js.  Reginald, however, continues to be unlike the other zombies.  He has discovered a new food – pizza!  A fun zombie story with a twist for young readers.

Julie Murray has written another nonfiction book for young children.  Beginning readers learn about having fish for pets.  The photos are full-paged and colorful.  The vocabulary is appropriate and the text is large.  A variety of fish are shown although none are named.  A simple glossary and index are included.  The ABDO website offers further information and activities.

In this beginning reader’s nonfiction book, young children see photos of a variety of horses.  Very basic information is provided.  Photographs are full-paged and colorful.  Although names of the different breeds are not included, the common features are described and shown.  Glossary, index, and an ABDO website with additional information, videos, and activities are included.

Although this book is mainly about grizzly bears, other mammals are compared to them.  The grizzly’s features are compared to the wolverine and the three-banded armadillo.  Wild boars are also omnivorous and will dig to find roots and insects.  Like bears, the skunk will hibernate during cold months.  The American bison is large like the grizzly, inhabit similar places, yet remain active during the winter months.  Both the grizzly and jaguars are solitary animals and share similar life cycles.  The title is rather misleading.  When selecting this book, one expects to learn about the grizzly bear.  However, the focus is comparing the traits with a variety of other animals.  While one learns a great deal, it is difficult to put it all together.  A trait chart on page 30 finally clarifies the reasons each of the animals can be compared to the grizzly.  Also included are a glossary, bibliography, websites, and an index.

A beautifully photographed non-fiction book intended for a very young audience, Chipmunks introduces children to their first easy-to-read science text and gently tells about the North American rodent.  Habitat, age span, food, and raising of young are all included with accompanying photos.  Young children will delight in the photos of these cute little animals, and a caution has been given to never try to pet or feed one.

This is a very unique, clever, and funny story satirizing what could happen if you don’t eat your green beans.  Martha hates beans and even though her mother serves them for dinner every Tuesday night, she won’t eat them.  Until one day….a wild bunch of mean green beans ride into town and cause problems…especially for those who have said “eat your green beans.”  While Martha is sitting at the table staring at her plate she hears a ruckus and finds that her parents have been bean-napped by the mean gang.  At first she is delighted because now she’s her own boss.  But she’s also lonely and misses her parents.  She follows their trail and finds her parents tied up with bean vines.  She demands that they free her parents but the bean gang just laughs at her, ’cause really, what could she do?  She threatens to eat them but again they laugh because they know she won’t eat green beans.  But Martha pinches her nose and starts to munch away and soon her parents are freed.  Martha becomes a hero and her mother doesn’t serve green beans again.  The illustrations are a hoot and the mustaches, boots and hats really give the beans some character.  Makes a great read aloud and should be a purchase for elementary libraries.

Jose and his family have moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. (it sounds a lot like New York City).  It’s right before Christmas and it just isn’t the same as it was back home.  Now they live in a too tiny of an apartment with grouchy neighbors in a neighborhood teeming with immigrants.  Jose’s father must go to the pizza place in order to use their oven to cook a roast.  After it is done, the mouth-watering aroma attracts all those grouchy neighbors’ attention as they carry it back home.  They all tell Jose’s father that they are alone for Christmas and they get invited to share with Jose’s family.  Everyone brings something.  Because they aren’t alone for the holidays, spirits rise, and everyone has a good time–a miracle!  The illustrations are bright and vivid and full of the energy found in NYC.

Mission Titanic, Book One, is the first installment of the fourth series within 39 Clues.  You will have had to read the others before this one will make any sense.  The original 39 Clues was quite imaginative in which a prominent citizen of a leading family (leading in financials, political, scientific, athletic, you name it) dies and in her will she issues a challenge.  Each beneficiary, and there are many, may choose between one million dollars cash or a clue which may lead to her entire fortune.  After 11 books, all written by different authors, each book has various family members scouring the world to find clues to the fortune.  I only read book one and thought it was great.  However, Mission Titanic introduces a new family character who has rounded up others to overthrow the new family leaders.  He has given them a clue to prevent an impending disaster.  If they can’t, they lose everything.  First of all, this book goes back to all the younger generation members of the Cahill family and revisits their part of the plot and how they will unite together to solve this mystery.  It pretty much jumps all over the place and doesn’t give the reader a sense of plot or strong characters.  You’ll need to read the other books in the previous three series before this one, and I think it would have been better just left alone.

Lots of Bots, book 2 in the series Robots Rule!, reminds me of the Jetsons meet Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.  George Gearing, an 11-year-old boy, has an opportunity to be an apprentice at TinkerTech, a research and development technology company where his parents once worked.  George quickly finds out that all is not what it seems or should be at TinkerTech.  The evil Micron is on the verge of introducing a product which controls people and will allow him to take over the world.  It’s up to George to stop it.  As the title says, Lots of Bots, and this is true–there are robots that do everything.  Plus the names of the characters are a little contrived, for example, Dr. Droid, Mr. Volt, and Micron. All in all, it’s an interesting, fast-moving story and stands alone even though it is book 2.  Kids in grades 3-5 should enjoy the action and humor.

We have often heard that truth is stranger than fiction,  Lauren Tarshis- author, is putting that saying to the test in this book. Tarshis has written fictional accounts of famous events in her acclaimed I Survived series, but this one is all non fiction! The five disasters she’s chosen for this book  include: ‘The Children’s Blizzard- 1888’, ‘The Titanic Disaster- 1912’, ‘The Great Boston Molasses Flood-1919’, ‘The Japanese Tsunami- 2011’, and ‘The Henryville Tornado- 2012’.

After the retelling of each event, black and white photos of people involved in the event, photos of the aftermath of the event, and  photos of memorabilia from the time draw the reader ever closer into the story, especially since the last two stories occurred during the reader’s own lifetime. The final story- The Henryville Tornado was written upon invitation from students who lived through the ordeal.