Stone Arch Books is bringing back  YOU CHOOSE stories. Meaning, after the reader has read the opening fives pages of the story, the reader is given two or three choices to make at each plot turn, leading up to 12 different possible endings. The plot begins with the Mystery Incorporated gang going to visit their friend, David Bush, at his quaint picturesque Bushytail Farm for a weekend. When they arrive at the farm, it is run down and David is nowhere to be seen. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo decide to search for David at the nearby fair. Daphne and Velma decide to search for David in the farm house and Fred will search the barn.

The reader is given four possible ending for each of the three search parties as they are chased and scared by zombies, while  searching for David.

Sometimes the zombies are trying to scare the Mystery Incorporated gang away so their boss can use the farm land to build a factory. Sometimes the farm land is wanted to find oil or hidden treasure or valuable lost paintings. Whatever the reason, the would-be crooks are foiled by Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, or Daphne and Velma, or Fred.

The book includes ten full-color illustrations by Scott Neely “a professional illustrator…for many years…official Scooby-Doo…licensed properties” (p. 106) sprinkled throughout the book.

Kyla knew that running from the government would not be easy but she hopes that by returning to the place of her birth – and kidnapping – she might succeed in hiding and maybe even discover some secrets about her life.  This is the third and final book in the Slated Trilogy.

Need an ‘epic’ book to get your reluctant boys to read? ( EPIC is the series name.) This might just be the book you’re looking for a young boy who is interested in WWE wrestling.  Randy Orton is highly visual with action shot photos reminiscent of baseball cards and is light on the text.  Five short sections: ‘Debut’, ‘Who is Randy Orton?’, ‘Life Before WWE’, ‘A WWE Superstar’, and ‘Winning Moves’.

Randy Orton is the third generation of wrestler in his family. He follows his grandfather, father, and uncle as wrestlers. Randy wrestled in high school, became a Marine,  has been in a couple of movies, and now is a professional wrestle with the WWE          (your young boys will know what these letters stand for, even if it is not revealed with the book’s text).

Includes: glossary, www.factsurfer.com, and index.

Throughout history, women have first had to battle the prejudice of simply being a woman before being allowed to achieve other greatness. It was no different for Marie Curie, but she also had to battle the prejudice of being Polish under a Russian controlled government. The first chapter begins, ” In a time when men ruled the science world, Marie Curie stood alone as a female scientist. Today, she stands out in history as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She is also the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences: physics in 1903 and chemistry 1911.” (p. 5) First, she needed to study in secret with other Polish women, followed by helping her older sister go to university, before earning enough money as a governess to attend university in  France. Even today it is hard for a married woman to juggle college life with a child, but, in 1897, there were no day-care facilities. Marie’s recently widowed father-in-law helped out with child care. Marie was a good mother. Her working on her doctorate did not distract her from being a good mother. Marie worked with Wilhelm Conrad Rðntgen’s newly discovered X-rays and coined the phrase ‘radioactivity’. She discovered two new elements: polonium and radium. ” Curie believed radioactivity was an atomic property of the radioactive element…In years to come, scientists would reveal that Curie’s hypothesis was correct.” (p. 30) At this time the effects of radioactivity on humans was not known. She didn’t “believe that it was their research that was making them sick.” (p. 31) Her husband Pierre always made sure Marie was given the credit she deserved because it was her research, Pierre was the assistant. After Pierre’s death, scandal erupted in her and her daughters’ private lives. She kept away from the media. That and Marie’s ill health kept her away from research for awhile, but she eventually was able to return. Marie Curie’s work with X-rays helped in WWI by using X-ray equipment with injured soldiers.

She died in 1934 still not believing in the health risks of radiation. “Marie Curie will long be remembered … Because of her, the benefits and the dangers of radiation are understood much better. She also paved the way for the equality of women in the science field and beyond.” (p. 41)

In addition to the story of Marie Curie’s life, author Katherine Krieg has included primary sources and engaging questions for the readers to ponder off and on through the book and at the end in the section ‘Stop and Think’.

Gus is a small book (6.5 in. X 6.5 in.) for small hands* with a limited reading vocabulary. “Gus is a small yellow gosling who likes to be by himself.” Gus is an active observer in the world around him. Gus watches a spider spin a web, watches mice scamper, and a turtle dig a hole. Gus then finds the eggs laid by the turtle in the hole and sits on them until they hatch.

Young readers will be as joyful as Gus in their exploration of this book about Gus’ world!

Simple, though expressive illustrations.

*Beatrice Potter wrote small books a for small hands, too.

Do you need a good scare? How about visiting a cemetery? Not just any cemetery, but “the oldest existing cemetery in the city” of New Orleans. It opened in 1789. The graves are above ground due to flooding and very damp ground.  “In this cemetery, a body stays inside a coffin for a year. Then the coffin is removed from the tomb to make room for another body. The bones are put in a bag and stay in the tomb.” (p. 10)

The book is divided into three very short chapters: A Lost Ghost, City of the Dead, and Haunted Cemetery. Specific people are  mentioned as being possible ghosts which many visitors sense while walking through this cemetery. New Orleans is usually a very warm place and yet visitors often feel cold in parts of this cemetery. Photos taken in this cemetery often have orbs of light in them once they are printed, which the photographer couldn’t see when taking the photo. “Are ghosts really in the cemetery or do people just imagine them? Perhaps the best way to find out is to visit. But keep an eye out for black cats and disappearing guests.” (p. 21) And so ends this book.

There is more photo than text at each page turn. The photos are quite clear in the center of the page, but get blurred around the edges and there has been an eerie florescent green tint added to the blurred edges of pages.

Includes: Glossary, To Learn More with books and www.factsurfer.com , and Index.

Here is a seasonal book with every two pages depicting and Christmas scene in which the reader is to search for Santa and his elves.  A short description of the event depicted is included.  This would be a good choice for one or two students to use for quiet time.  Similar to I Spy.

There was quite an expense in publishing this full-color book about Bad Piggies.  Lots of pages given to drawing different expressions on faces.  This whole Angry Birds Bad Piggies thing seems, to me, to be a fad and something that won’t last long.  Also, the audience to which this book is geared is limited.  The drawing lessons themselves are simple and easy to follow.  The angry looks are tiresome.

This is book #162 of the series The Boxcar Children, originally created by G.C. Warner.  The last scores of books have been written by ghost authors as Warner has long passed.  These books have the same four original characters, just as charming and wholesome as ever.  They still live with Grandfather Alden and his housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor.  Each book is a mystery which occurs away from home and in which the children solve.  In this particular installment, they are at a friend of Mrs. McGregor, which is a first for me, it’s usually Grandfather’s friend.  The town is called Sleepy Hollow and is almost Halloween.  Running ghost tours, the family friend is trying to raise money to maintain upkeep on the family home.  However, someone is trying to sabotage the tours and make them lose their home.  It’s pretty easy to figure out who the baddie is and even the Alden children pretty much had it at the very beginning.  There are always a few misleading clues but this one was pretty clear.  These books are terrific for the beginning reader, but there are enough of them now.  If beginning readers read all 162 books, they’d move on to harder books.  Time for the Boxcar children to age and move on.

This fun-filled book by Lois Ehlert is packed with underground worlds to explore, right under your feet!  It has the colorful collages that Ehlert is known for and the rhyming text that carries the reader through the tunnels to the end that has fantastic facts about moles and the other critters found in this book.

Tacky and his fellow penguins have transformed their home into a haunted igloo in preparation for Halloween, but the festivities turn truly scary after the hunters from Tacky’s original 1988 picture book show up, and they’re hungry. Luckily, Tacky shows up just in time, dressed as none other than one of the hunters. The ensuing shenanigans offer lots of laughs! As ever, Tacky proves that even the unruliest of penguins can save the day. Fun reading for all ages!

Equipped with a guide to trees, a girl with a crown of ginger hair walks through an arboretum, identifying and collecting a variety of leaves, including honey locust, sweet gum, linden, and maple. Wellington alternates between scenes of the girl on her walk and those of her at home, where she makes crayon rubbings of the leaves in her Leaf Book. Rubbings and photocopies of leaves appear throughout Wellington’s mixed-media images, while tiny sidebars offer details about the trees and leaves presented. The girl’s clipped narration (“Oak leaves are strong. They are good for my art projects. I make leaf prints in many colors”) is perhaps better suited to children learning to read on their own than to story-time sessions. Regardless, many readers are likely to be inspired to turn their own autumnal observations into creative projects.

A beautifully illustrated story about elderly cats, young cats, and helping children overcome the death of a pet. Toby’s cat, Jack, is the best cat ever. But Jack is getting old, and Toby will miss his furry best friend terribly when he’s gone. Then Toby meets a crazy cat called Humphrey. In this charming and beautifully illustrated picture book Rebecca Elliott addresses the difficult subject of a child’s first experience of the death of a pet with warmth, sensitivity, and well-placed humor.

Baby Billy was born with a mustache. But Baby Javier, the new baby in town, was born with a beard. When Baby Javier comes over for a playdate, Baby Billy tries to show him a thing or two—but it quickly becomes a competition of manliness! Has Mustache Baby met his match? Or will the two remember the real point of a playdate?
The first book, Mustache Baby, was good, but this just takes it up to a whole new level! Again, there’s the hilarious character plays behind each style of mustache, but now throw in a beard and it gets that much better. Also, it still has the sentimental side where two kids are learning how to become friends. The illustrations? This book would not be what it is without them. There’s so many subtle little jokes in the illustrations! I love it. I love that it’s hilarious, clever, sentimental, and well-done. I highly recommend it, even if you haven’t read the first.

Kids are fascinated by sharks; the bigger the teeth, the better.  Plus, sharks this past summer have been in the news almost daily because of attacks on beach-goers.  By page 40 of Surrounded by Sharks, I had goosebumps and was scared for the main character, a 13-year-old boy named Davey.  Davey and his family were on the first day of vacation on a small island off the coast of Florida.  An early riser, Davey gets up and leaves the room while the others are sleeping.  Thinking he’d do some exploring and quiet reading, he finds a secluded beach which fits the bill.  There is a No Swimming sign posted, but Davey just wants to wade in to his knees and feel the warm water.  As waves splash him, he decides to go a little farther since he’s already wet.  He’s up to mid-chest but still touching the bottom, when he realizes the beach is farther away than he thought.  He turns to go back towards shore, but the riptide is carrying him out farther and farther.  No matter how hard he swims, he cannot get closer, until finally the current carries him out to sea.  Meanwhile he parents and brother have awakened and are searching for him, becoming more desperate with each passing minute.  Where could he be?  The obvious is on everyone’s mind–sharks–but no one had the courage to speak it out loud.  The suspense in this book is unbelievable–frantic swimmer, frantic parents, makes you want to scream Hurry!  Hurry!  Get a boat!  This is a real nail biter and should be a huge hit with the intermediate age readers.

I occasionally find myself watching a television show about haunted houses. If you do too, then this might be the book for you.

I’m not saying one way or the other whether or not I believe in ghosts and that is the stand Kat Sinclair is taking also. As this book series begins, 13 year old Kat Sinclair and her father are off to travel the world with a “ghost hunting” TV show Kat’s father will be hosting. Kat’s grandmother ( a former horror movie actress) has given her a very expensive camera to take along  on Kat’s travels. Also, grandmother is requesting Kat start a blog about her travel experiences.

Kat tries to be objective, but “Suddenly, I felt ridiculous. One day with a bunch of ghost hunters and I was already buying into the whole paranormal activity thing. Still…” (p. 59) “So that made three weird glitches: the printer, the camera, and the laptop… I wasn’t ready to believe the glitches were all thanks to a restless spirit haunting the show, but at least now I had something to write about for my second blog post.” (p. 64)

The pace keeps building and the suspense with it as urban legends of haunted places in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a prison in Brussels keep the reader racing across the pages. So fast paced, I suspended my skepticism in ghosts and took the actions for fact.

Warning! If you are squeamish over the mere mention  of a ‘tween being bullied for being gay, this is not the book for you. The bullying is mentioned early in the book, but the reason for the bullying isn’t revealed until p. 214 of  the 240 pages. And at this point in the series, it is only mentioned as a reason for the boy’s unfriendliness.

Warning! The book has a Ouija Board being used by two young people who believe in its powers.

Poet Brian P. Cleary has done it again! Twenty-eight limericks are hilariously shared with the reader together with the comical illustrations of Andy Rowland.

A great pasta maker named Freddy

cooked eight hundred pounds of spaghetti.

He carted it down

to the center of town,

rang a bell, and yelled, “Supper’s ready!”   ( p. 21)

Cleary begins the books with, “Limericks… are a short, rhyming, and nearly always funny form of poetry that tells a story, and they have a few simple rules.”  (p. 4)  Some of the rules talked about are number of lines and rhyme scheme, giving examples along the way.

Though the book’s title ( Something Sure Smells Around Here)  will grab readers’ attention, that limerick is my least favorite in this collection of limericks.

Primary grade students will enjoy seeing farm life, as well as, other life which co-habits a farm. Across the bottom margin of each right-hand page are miniatures of: a pig, wheat, a frog, barn owl,  pea pod, ant, bee, and a sheep. These are the animals and crops  given a  few sentences ( three or four), on a page or two in this book as the reader tours a farm.

The idea of wild and domestic plants and animals successfully co-habitating the same area is well represented, though not directly stated.

Beatrice Bunny and Bear become best friends one spring. After a busy summer and fall doing everything together, Bear goes away to hibernate without telling Beatrice. When Beatrice finally discovers about hibernation, she plans to turn it into a sleepover with Bear. When Beatrice can’t sleep, “Beatrice had a brilliant idea. ‘I’ll share winter with Bear!’ “ With squirrel’s help, Beatrice created a book of winter things and activities which Bear missed while hibernating. Finally when Bear reappears in the spring, Beatrice has the perfect gift –– The Great Scrapbook of Winter Delights and Adventures for Bear, by Beatrice. “It was the perfect gift to read together again and again.”

Mônica Carnesi’s happy energetic illustrations are the perfect addition to her text, proving once again, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Twins Noah and Emma and their volcanologist father have traveled from Hawaii to spend a year in Alaska.  Noah thinks Alaska is the most boing place on Earth and cannot wait to return to Hawaii.  Their dad wants to take measurements on a dormant volcano on an island and Emma wants to see an eagle’s nest.  Their neighbor, Alex, goes along as a guide.  Almost immediately, the mountain begins grumbling and before they know it, they are in real danger.  They race back to the boat, hoping their dad has made it back as well.  Throughout their rush, they encounter quaking, poisonous gases, choking ash, sticky mud flows, and molten lava.  The action is fast and the story is sprinkled with many volcanic facts.  Additional volcano information is found in the back.  Fans of the “I Survived” series by Lauren Tarshis will be attracted by this and other books in the “Disaster Strikes” series.

Posey is completely fed up with the first grade boys.  She hears the word “weirdo” from her older 4th grade neighbor and decides to make up a song about her classmate, Henry.  Her girlfriends think it is funny but her favorite teacher, Miss Lee, does not.  Her family encourages her to put herself in Henry’s shoes, but she is still angry that she is the one in trouble.  Now she has to use her princess power to think of a way to make amends.  This easy-to-read chapter book realistically captures the typical emotions and behaviors of many first graders.  Black and white illustrations are a great match to the moods in the story.

Friends Sydney, girl with a love of fashion, and Sidney, boy with a love of sports, team up to convince their parents they are responsible enough to have a dog for a pet  With two other friends, they start a dog-walking business.  Almost immediately, they hit snags.  A business requires a lot of their time and consists of smaller jobs that are not so much fun – creating advertising posters, picking up the poop, making fair schedules.  Keeping their friendship and convincing their parents they can care for a pet is almost more than they can handle.  Both Sydney and Sidney tell the story in alternating chapters, working through all the big dog decisions.