The cover of every book in this series is quite colorful and appealing.  However, upon opening the book, the reader is taken-a-back by the stark textbook-like style of the interior…with single spaced, old-style typerwriter font and black and white diagrams that harken back to nonfiction books of another era.  Given that students can actually use the book for the information,  it delivers accurate and effective science projects.  The introduction includes excellent information on Science Fairs, Safety First and the Scientific Method, as well as specific tips on writing a Science Fair Report.  Experiments with seeds, leaves, roots and stems, flowers and whole plants are covered in the six chapters. Back Matter includes Further reading and Index.

The cover design is colorful, and quite appealing…yet open the book and you get wordy, single-spaced, old-styled font with black and white “textbook” graphics that make you want to close the book before you go any farther.  If you can overlook the unappealing interior (and maybe older students can) you will find impressive magical looking experiments with underlying solid physics and chemistry.  The unattractive black and white diagrams and illustrations do a great job of clarifying and supporting the text.  Included in the contents is air magic, visual magic, chemistry magic, light and “sticky” water magic, and motion magic.  Also included in the Back Matter is Further Reading and an Index.

Appealing to the grade 5-9 crowd of perpetual procrastinators, this series offers science projects that can be done in one hour or less, 30 minutes or less, 15 minutes or less and even 5 miniutes or less.  An explanation of the scientific method is front and center, as well as a discussion of science fairs.  I especially liked the suggestion for keeping a scientific notebook containing ideas you may have as you experiment, as well as sketches, calculations, hypothesis…and much more.  Each experiment covers “What’s the Plan”, “What You Need” (which sometimes may not be found in an hour, such as oleic acid), “What You Do”, “What’s Going On?”, “Keep Exploring-If You Have More Time!”.  I will be giving this text to our science teacher to try out the experiments on elementary students to see how effective they are for the younger level…as “science fairs” seem to be more prevelant in elementary schools.  Words to Know, Further Reading and Internet Addresses are included in the Back Matter.

For starters, the “simple machine” topic is typically better suited for the primary grades.  This text is geared for grades 5-9, with an older girl visual on the cover.  The title certainly appeals to the procrastinators of that older developmental age.  If science projects can be done in an hour or less…great!!  However, on closer inspection, some materials needed to perform the experiments might not be able to be found within the hour…such as a toy wagon or a spring balance.  Also, many of the formulas included require the students to have prior knowledge, as many terms used are not definied.  Although the design layout of the book is attractive, it is not very user friendly.

Dyamonde Daniel is an outspoken third grader who covet’s the stylish, pink, hight-top shoes of a classmate.  In response to her daughter’s inablility to see the difference between wants and needs, Dyamond’s mother empties Dyamond’s closet, leaving only the  necessities.  When a devastating fire leaves a classmates’s family with virtually nothing, Dyamonde shifts her thinking into helping others in need.  This award-winning author provides us with engaging characters and powerful lessons that can drive discussions on important life lessons.  Bold, pencil-like illustrations pepper the text and engage the Take-Off Stage reader.

Based on the true story of Luis Soriana, who lives in a remote town in northern Colombia, this colorful, primary version, of his amazing saga of bringing books to villages leaves the reader inspired and uplifted.  Starting in 2000, Luis and his two burros began bringing a collection of 70 books to the villagers.  Three hundered people, more or less, look forward to weekly visits of the self-made burro librarian.  Luis understands about the power of story.  “People around here love stories, I’m trying to keep that spirit alive in my own way.” – Luis Soriana.  The illustrations are done in a bright folk art style that is delightfully charming and connects to the ethnicity of that part of the world.  My son-in-law just finished building a book lending box in his Northgate neighborhood, of Seattle.   Luis, I believe, would be very happy.

This book is one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time.  The subject matter, cooking, is a refreshing topic and I believe, totally overlooked but appealing to young adults.  The stars refer to the quality of food and experience given to a restaurant by a newspaper restaurant critic, with four being the best.  Gladys, age 11 and in sixth grade, loves to cook and got her love for food from her aunt who lives in Paris.  She watches the Food Network, reads cook books and is friends with Mr. Eng,  a Chinese grocer, who lets her sample different food.  The spices and herbs in his store play a big flavor difference in turning ordinary food into fine cuisine.  This book is also one of the funniest I’ve ever read because Gladys parents don’t cook.  Their dinners are mainly takeout food from fast food places, some of which are pretty questionable.  When they do attempt cooking, food is burned or nuked beyond recognition and flavor.  Plus foodies know that cooking with sub-par ingredients is a total waste of time and money.  Gladys has a journal in which she writes summaries of meals she’s either created or eaten, including those of her parents.  Her teacher assigns an essay for a contest being held by a New York City newspaper and convinces Gladys to write what she is passionate about.  Gladys’ essay ends up on the food editor’s desk of the newspaper and Gladys is contacted to fill in for the injured food critic.  How Gladys gets herself to NYC is quite an achievement.  With the popularity of television food shows and food stars, as well as Master Chef Junior, this book will resonate with aspiring chefs.  The story line and writing is snappy and funny and moves along quickly, making it a real winner.

Pacific Northwest zoologist turned author- Roland Smith has done it again. This is the third book in his cryptid series. Chupacabra is fast paced. It keeps you wanting more even if you have not read the first two books in the series.  The introductory pages includes: a definition of ‘cryptozoology’, a running list of characters and their ties in the story,  background on chupacabra creatures, an introduction to the series, and a prologue, prior to the first chapter bringing the reader up to date on the events of the previous book – Tentacles.

Teenage Grace is living with her grandfather, Noah Blackwood, in his mansion connected to the Seattle Ark, a wildlife zoo in Seattle, WA. Grace, who  has just met her grandfather, is anxious to find out about a family she has never known. Can Noah Blackwood be as awful as her cousin Marty thinks he is? She has decided to find out firsthand. Marty and his friends Dylan and Luther, are bound and determined to get Grace away from Noah and the pair of dinosaur hatchlings Noah’s men stole from Marty’s Uncle Wolfe in the previous book. When they enter Seattle Ark they are immediately watched  on security cameras. Soon Noah’s top right-hand man, Butch is drugging Luther and taking him into the Ark’s labyrinth of secure underground laboratories. Marty and Dylan hide out in the Ark until after it closes to the public before their search for Grace, Luther, and the dinosaurs begin. Little be little Grace has masterfully played her grandfather’s employees to uncover information revealing her grandfather’s true character. The world sees Noah Blackwood for his efforts to save the world’s rarest animals, when in reality, Noah is collecting these animals for profit and his own private collection. Luther escapes from Butch by going into the ventilation system. Noah has his genetically engineered chupacabra placed into the ventilation system to hunt Luther down and get rid of him permanently. The chase is on. Technologically savvy teenagers verses the technologically savvy secret world of a greedy self-centered billionaire. Who will survive?

Published in England, The Queen & Mr. Brown, refers to Queen Elizabeth and her Corgi, Mr. Brown.  On a bad weather day, the Queen decides to walk to the Museum of Natural History to spend the day.  Mr. Brown isn’t so happy to go out into the weather.  At the museum, there is a dinosaur display which they find interesting.  The illustrations in this book are reminiscent of the Madeline series.  Information about a few dinosaurs, such as bone length, are given, as well as the cause of their extinction.  The Queen falls asleep on a bench and has a funny dream, then awakens and walks home with Mr. Brown.  A gentle story that appeals to young listeners.

Willow discovers that there is more to a book than jut what is written on the page.  When she uses her imagination Willow is able to find ANOTHER story inside the one in her book.  Detailed and delicate color illustrations entice readers to use their imagination with this story as well as any others they may have read.

I highly recommend this picture book for all ages and levels.  It is both entertaining and enlightening.

Colorful pen and ink pictures are found in each 2 page spread adding depth and dimension to this version of the classic fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Detailed historical information is included in the Afterword information at the end of the text.  It includes speculation that the Pied Piper story may have been created to disguise an attack of the plague.

This book would be a great addition to a picture book or fairy tale collection.

When their grandmother dies, 17 year old twins Violet and Luke continue to live in her crumbling house on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean.  While the kids try to keep up with the overdue house repairs, utilities and food costs their artist parents leave them abandoned and without funds.  To get money for basic survival Violet ends up renting the guest house to the new stranger in town who also happens to be only 17 – River West.

With River’s arrival strange and unusual things start happening around town including sightings of the “devil” in the cemetery.   River seems to have the ability to make others see what he wants and not only does he confuse Violet but she thinks she may be falling in love with him.  Could he be the “devil” that towns people are seeing?

The story has violence mixed with witchcraft and some minor adult language.  Overall it was a very good read.  I would have preferred a different ending!

— review by student Taylor H.

For those familiar with DC Super Heroes, this may just be the Green Lantern book for you. “ Hal [Jordan, aka Green Lantern] had been assigned the task of overseeing the signing of a peace treaty between the planet Juray and the planet Talesca.” (page 5) The two delegates are squabbling and Hal is refereeing. Along comes a third party, the Yellow Lantern, who secretly traps both the Talescian’s and the Juran’s fleets  inside a “net made of yellow energy beams” inside an asteroid belt where they can’t be seen. (page 14). Both delegates are even more outraged with the other side than before. Enter the Orange Lantern. Now the Green Lantern and the Yellow Lantern work together because “There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring people together.” (p. 26) The Orange Lantern losses the fight, the Talescian and the Juran fleets are released and their delegates are now beginning to work together. Hal’s job is done, at least, for the time being.

Graphic novel and comic book readers will enjoy the quality of the 9 full page illustrations and the 15 – 1960s style Batman television show graphic onomatopoeia  words interspersed through out the book’s five chapters in this hybrid between graphic novel and traditional short chapter book.

Primary grade readers will see a variety of stem types in this introductory book on plants. What seems so obvious to us as adults is an eye opener to young children. This seems to become more true everyday as we become more urban, especially for children living in apartments without yards. In this 8′ X 7″ book, the top 5 inches of each page is a color photo of a plant  with the bottom 3 inches of the page containing one or two sentences typed  in a bold large font.

Page 10 states, “ Stems move water and food around a plant.”   Then on the last page of the book, below the Index, in the Notes for Parents and Teachers section in small font is the activity for demonstrating this by placing a freshly-cut white carnation into a vase of water with food coloring added to it. I hope children do not miss out on this activity, though I fear they will. This activity holds fond childhood memories for me.

At our school we call it The Giving Tree and needy families tie a slip of paper with their wants and needs they’d like for Christmas.  Our staff and other families pretty much fulfill every want and need on that tree.  It makes for a happy Christmas for both those who receive and who give.  The Angel Tree is the same concept, only it’s for the whole town.  Before Christmas a fully decorated tree would appear in the town square, no one knowing who it was that was responsible.  Townspeople wrote their Christmas wishes and tied them to the tree, and by Christmas each wish was granted, regardless of difficulty or cost.  Of course, there’s a mystery in and of itself as to who started all this benevolence.  And as with our giving tree, The Angel Tree is no different–you don’t see the struggles simply by looking at people.  The Christmas spirit isn’t just stuff, it’s family, and The Angel Tree shows us just how important family is to us.  Having wishes granted and having a good mystery to solve makes for good reading.

Well-known jewel thief, Alfie McQuin, has lots of secrets.  The biggest one is that he has twin 12-year-olds, a boy and a girl, who don’t know about each other.  Alfie falls to his death before he can reunite his family.  His son, March, who was his accomplice, must work together with newfound friends and sister, to sort through the cryptic messages and momentos left by Alfie, in order to move on.  There is a lot of action going on in this book.  Watson does a great job in giving bullets of information and moving the story in short chapters.  There isn’t a lot of text describing everyone and everything, just what the reader needs to know to follow the story.  The result is a ‘can’t wait to turn the page’ type of thriller.

A companion to Jokes for Boys, Jokes for Girls has jokes and humor that isn’t too dated or too British.  The humor is more geared for girls and, I believe, funnier because it isn’t so obvious.  The table of contents helps to guide the reader as to subject matter.  The book itself is stereotypical because it is purple (the boy’s book is blue) and the image of the girl on the cover as well as a small amount of illustrations is circa 1950’s.  It seems to be that this image on the cover would limit checkouts only to girls.  Maybe no image would be best as well as a generic cover color.

Jokes for Boys is a British product with humor more oriented towards sports but with all subjects included, including gross humor.  The book measures 5 1/2 inches by 8 inches and is well bound, a great size for kids to carry around.  Some jokes are for older readers (those with a long memory for events) and many jokes use British vocabulary which will leave young American readers not getting the punchline.

Kepri, the sun dragon, has shiney white and yellow scales and can shine a rainbow from her mouth. But, suddenly Kapri turns up sick from dark magic. Griffith, the wizard, brews a medicine in hopes to make her well, but it offers no results. Everyone was very worried when suddenly Worm, Drake’s Dragon who has the gift of telekinesis, teleports everyone, including Kepri to Kepri’s homeland. It is then that the Dragon Masters kids remembered sun dragons have a twin that is called a moon dragon. When Kepri sees her twin, she starts feeling better and soon makes a full recovery. After a while, they know they must return home and Worm teleports them safely back again. The illustrations are sweet and demonstrates specific details of the story. This is book two in the beginning chapter book series, “Dragon Masters.”

Eight year old Drake was an onion farmer until he was swept away to King Roland’s Castle to be a Dragon Master. Griffin, the king’s wizard introduces Drake to three other Dragon Masters who all have dragons. Each of their dragons have amazing talents: one can shoot fire from its nose, one can spray water from its mouth and another can shine bright light from its mouth. Drake is introduced to his dragon which resembles a worm, thus its name. Unfortunately Worm can’t perform any of the amazing tricks the other dragons can do. After the dragons’ cave collapses and everyone is trapped, Worm’s true skill comes out when he moves all the rocks out of the way using telekinesis. Very cute illustrations demonstrate the story well. This is a great beginner chapter book.

A brief introduction to Sioux Indians, discussing their traditions, daily life and more.  Outstanding layout, beautiful color photographs, and captions that are easy to read make this a wonderful book for students doing research.  This book is part of the series  “Native Americans” printed by ABDO Publishing including 8 separate tribes.

This sweet story begins, ” I’m  giant turtle, and I’m as BIG as an island.” Turtle is lonely in the big ocean until cat, bear, owl, and frog get shipwrecked on him, and he becomes their island home. They work together and are quite happy until cat, bear, owl, and frog decide to leave because they miss their families and friends. Turtle is at a loss. Turtle is lonely again. Then bear, cat, owl, and frog return with their families and friends. “This is how Turtle Island started… and how we continue to grow.”

Yes, the story is sweet, but it lacks pazazz .

The non-fiction books now available are a visual treat.  The digital photography can capture a bird in flight with a crystal-clear image.  This book is a good example of this current technology.  The information is written for primary age children with text corresponding to images.  A picture glossary and index are included at the back.  This book would be a good addition to a library collection.

A variety of idioms related to money and numbers, are explored and explained…such as “on cloud nine”…”at sixes and sevens”…”the whole nine yards”.  Each chapter covers a two page spread discussing the possible origin and/or explanations of the idiom.  Thirteen idioms are included, in all.  “The whole nine yards”  (meaning all of something) has an unclear origin.  It may have been related to an order for a large wedding veil…or maybe it relates to a concrete truck which can hold approximately 9 cubic yards.  The design of the page layouts are visually appealing with a peppering of illustrations mixed with photographs.  I have two concerns for this well, put together book.  First of all, the font size is too small, which is not friendly on young eyes.  I have seen kids open a book, and close it quickly, if the font is too small.  Secondly, the phrases chosen to be included, are somewhat outdated for the targeted audience.  Back Matter includes Glossary, Further Reading and Index.

This is the fourth, and maybe favored book in the Theodosia Thockmorten series.  The setting is Egypt, where Theodosia, a strong, witty girl, discovers more about her birth and history…and how she is connected to the fight between the Brotherhood and the Serpent of Battle.  Filled with mystery, adventure, twists, and turns, periodic comic relief is welcomed, in order to give your nerves a break from the races against time, encounters with evil people and dark, dark magic.  Young and old, alike, would enjoy this romp of a tale.