Dirty Bertie is a cross of Dennis the Menace and Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown gang in the Peanuts comic strip, created by author Alan MacDonald and illustrator David Roberts. This book contains three independent stories of four chapters each: Worms!, Manners! , and Garbage!

In the first story – WORMS!, Bertie is invited to Angela’s pink party for her 6th birthday. How can he go to the party, even though he loves parties, when he is expected to wear pink and most likely he will be the only boy?! Bertie fakes memory loss to get out of going to the pink party, but his mother won’t let him forget. Then,  Bertie zips himself up inside his sister’s pink mummy-style sleeping bag to go to the pink party dressed as an earthworm. He even rolled in the dirt for authenticity.

In the second story – MANNERS!     “In Bertie’s opinion, manners were a total waste of time. But that was before he heard about the prize.” (page 48) “Tomorrow … is National Manners Day” and Bertie plans to win the prize. “Even if it meant he had to be polite for a whole day, he didn’t care. After all, how hard could it be?” ( page 53)  Will Bertie be able to be polite for the entire day at school?  I won’t tell, you’ll have to read this charming book for yourself.

AND remember the dirt in this book is all illustration, especially the earthworms and dirt splots inside the from and back covers.

Recycling projects are presented to the reader by way of activities, demonstrations, models, and experiments they can do themselves or with the help of an adult. The five chapters cover: 1) Plastics and Recycling with 5 activities; 2) Solid Waste and Decomposition with 6 activities; 3) The Greening of Waste with 5 activities;  4) More Things to Recycle with 6 activities;  and 5) What Can You Do? with 9 activities ( an error has 5.8 & 5.9 both labeled 5.8 within the chapter itself). Each chapter’s activities, demonstrations, models, and experiments have: a clear list of the materials needed, a step by step set of directions with accompanying questions to help guide their observations, and Ideas for Science Fair Projects without telling the reader what the expected outcome will be. The book does not ever give the reader the answers to the questions. If the reader truly wants to know the outcome they will need to follow the easy concise directions.

Most chapters include some interesting historical information as to when or why different recycling practices came about.

This is the perfect book for teachers and students alike who want to celebrate the Earth we live on or just Earth Day.

Includes- Appendix: Science Supply Companies, Further Reading with books and web sites, and Index.

I have to admit, when I picked this book up, I was not expecting much from the chibiesque art style. But this is Super Friends, so I tried to look past that. I am so glad I did. While this might be the book with the youngest target audience, the dialogue never makes a habit of talking down to the reader. The writer lets the plot handle the moral of the story about the importance of teamwork, instead of making lengthy lectures about the “lesson we learned today.” The dialogue, instead, is spent learning about each character’s weaknesses and strengths along with some clever joke and hi jinks. While I am not a fan of the art style in general, the facial expressions and artistic portrayal of emotion, as well as the lighthearted but exciting action makes for a masterful interpretation of the medium. Overall, a very good book and it might just be one of the best to introduce your kid to the DC Universe.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts  for discussion.

submitted by T. K. Owens

This book is full of interesting information about dolphins.  It covers dolphins from oceans and rivers all over the world.  I was amazed with the board and detailed information in this book.

This is a great resource for children waiting to learn about these animals.

The book is interesting with facts boxed and nice color photo’s throughout.  The font is smaller, and the vocabulary more complex than early reader books.  This is a great resource book for older children.

This is a great book for kids wanting to learn to fly fish.  It introduces them to the equipment, skills, safety precautions, and vocabulary of fly fishing.  The book is full of pictures.  Some are of fish, people fishing, and equipment.  I would like to have seen pictures of all the kinds of flies/bait they mentioned.  The book only pictured dry flies.  I found the book very informative and interesting.  This is a nice addition to our outdoor sports books.

Wow! What an amazing and fascinating book!  It answers an assortment of questions from how night vision goggles work to how space soliets work.  The font in the book is large and easy to read, so readers can move through the different topics quickly.  This book holds the readers attention.

The pictures are colorful and great examples of each topic.

The book has a nice glossary of words that might be new to young readers.  This is a fun book for readers of all ages.

Penciled by Carlo Barberi, the art style used in this book [graphic novel] doesn’t seem to try and emulate the style from Justice League Unlimited, instead using the bold, black outlines, detailed and more realistic faces reminiscent of the animated series, Superman. The story seems to meander at points and doesn’t seem to have a lot of focus. Some of this is caused by periods of lengthy exposition. One thing the book does very well, though, is create a world for the reader. Some of the lengthy exposition is created as Adam Beechen shows the world and the new hero to the reader.This world and its hero are very well crafted.  Heroic Age and Walden Wong did a great job of bringing everything to life with bright colors and an utopian atmosphere. All in all, it’s a great book if you want to dive into something new and different series, but this departure from the norm does seem to take a toll on the focus of the story.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts  for discussion.

submitted by T. K. Owens

Admittedly, I am not familiar with the Young Justice series. That being said, the art style in this book [graphic novel] is amazing. Of the DC Comics books being published by Stone Arch Books, the Young Justice series seems to have the most “comic-like” style. The shading is very meticulous, using cross-hatching and other techniques, instead of just applying shades in post-processing.

The story is a bit disjointed, but this is largely due to the continuity of the story.  It is definitely a series that you will want to start from the beginning as there are some significant plot points that are references to other books. The content of the story is very solid as the characters explore their fears with an eloquent maturity. My only complaint is that the first two explorations of fear use an excessive amount of dialogue that would have been better explained visually. The closing exploration with Superboy, while much less complicated and intricate, does a much better job and closes the story beautifully.

A great addition to your library, but I recommend starting from the beginning.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts  for discussion.

submitted by T. K. Owens

Fans of the T.V. series will definitely get a kick out of this book. The illustration is faithful to the cartoon it takes its name from and the art is very clean and consistent. The pace of the story is well done. Action and conflict comes into the story seamlessly and the underlying moral of the story is delivered masterfully without feeling out of place. The dialogue never gets too heavy and remains balanced throughout. There are no length monologues and the pure actions scenes are kept to a minimum while being easy to follow the chaos.

Includes: Visual Questions & Prompts

submitted by T. K.  Owens

“All over the world, people tell stories of strange ape-like creatures or wild men… [p. 4 – opening line] The first part of his book looks at some Bigfoot and yeti stories. The second part of the book uses science to ask questions about the evidence, to look at the theories, and to prove or disprove the existence of such creatures.” (p. 5)

There are 11 stories of sightings in the first part of the book. The sure number of  these sightings covered in this book makes this book superior to other books I’ve read on the topic. The sightings ranged from the west coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California, to Pennsylvania, then off to China , the Himalayas, to the Indus Valley. There is  a chart on page 39 of the number of recent sightings in 10 states with Oregon topping the list at 808 and Washington right behind it with 151 sightings.

As the book segues to the second half Charles Darwin’s “missing link” theory appears, as does a very brief cryptozoology statement. Some of the reasons given for not being able to prove or disprove Bigfoot’s or yeti existence include: they are ‘found’ in huge remote areas, most sightings of made by single individuals – without a second or third witness, there has not been an infrared camera photo of a Bigfoot or yeti, and low levels of oxygen at high elevations where they are found play tricks of people.

Then the book describes two hoaxes.

The book is not blatantly biased either way, the reader most make his/her own mind in the end.

Cinderella is a new princess bride as the story opens, but helping others in a servant role is deeply engrained in her actions. The King’s mother is coming to visit. She missed the Prince and Cinderella’s wedding. Grandmama would like to see Cinderella wear the blue sapphire tiara she had sent her. The tiara is not in Cinderella’s room, so she goes to the Royal Jewel Vault to look for it. The tiara is not in its special box. Then the royal search of the castle begins. The tiara has not yet been found when Grandmama arrives at the castle. The plot twists and turns as Cinderella and Grandmama waltz about as they each keep their secret about the tiara from the other one. In the end, both Cinderella and Grandmama humbly and apologetically  tell the other their secret about the tiara and in so, begin their friendship.

Each of the nine chapters has two full-color Disney Cinderella illustrations.

The Book of Blood is absolutely fascinating!  I was mesmerized reading it.  It includes so much information about blood–who knew?  There is the elements of blood, the lost science of Egypt, disease, transfusions and bloodletting, terms ‘blue blood’ and ‘cold blooded’ explained as well as others, blood pressure and pulse, the early science of ‘seeing’ blood, and more.  The info is delivered short and sweet, with just enough to pique curiosity and not too much to get bored or tired of it.  Whether you read it cover to cover, or in bits and pieces,The Book of Blood should be in every school library.

Kids love to draw and drawing books are a popular item at our school library.  This book is different because the directions are easy to follow.  The illustrations aren’t cluttered up but simple.  Kids can add as much as they want.  I will get the other books in this series as it teaches kids how to draw.

This non-fiction book has a little bit of everything in it–although the title leads one to believe that it is mainly about pets and animals owned by the presidents of the United States, it is actually much more than that.  Each two-page spread has information on a president, in chronological order, which includes a poem about the president and his pet(s), or not.  His accomplishments during his term(s)  are listed as well as info on his family.  The accompanying illustration is more of a caricature or political cartoon of the president, rather than a portrait, showing something rather funny well known about the president.  A great book for browsing and animal lovers.

This is a detailed book on chimpanzees.  It covers a broad variety of topics relating to them and their connections with humans.

There are sections in the book that encourage thoughtful research on the subject, with suggestions of where to find more information.

I liked the project that tells the reader to find ten words in the book that are new to them and find the definition.  It basicly has the reader create a personal glossary.  The Pictures in the book are wonderful.  The font is clear and easily read.

This is a good book for older children.

Wow!  The photography in this book is amazing!  The text in this non-fiction book is appropriate reading for the primary grades, with bold, high-lighted words featuring the science vocabulary.  The text and photos are perfectly matched.  The fine details with which the hawk is captured is reason enough to buy this book–clear features are caught in action.  I plan on adding several of the books from this series to my library shelves.

This is a very funny book.  The pictures are very funny.  The characters are perfect for the Northwest, and no doubt many places with lots of water and wildlife.  The story deals with three friends, beaver, bear, and moose, who have trouble getting along.  It is fun to see the problems that causes, and how they pull together to work things out.

Easy to read font. Some new words for non-boaters.

I liked it!

This is a rather different and interesting story about a girl who is blind, but learns to use her ability to smell to get around and help others.

The vocabulary is filled with words that will probably be unfamiliar to younger readers, but a great way to increase their vocabulary.

The pictures are whimsical and soft.  I enjoyed the story.

This is a book that girls who enjoy creating things would enjoy.  Some of the projects could become rather messy, and some of the crafts seem rather tacky, but younger girls would probably have fun with it, and the book does instruct them in some basic skills, such as hand sewing, sewing on a button, and other very useful skills.  It’s a great book for beginning crafters and sewers.  The instructions are easy to understand and are accompanied with good pictures.  There are clear simple lists of supplies, and good recipes for creating home beauty products.  It is a nice addition to our elementary school library.  I think the girls will like the book.

This is a good positive book to help young children learn to deal with the feelings they have when they are worried.  There is a page at the front of the book for adults that has good advice for teaching children to deal with worry.

The pictures are cute, and the font is large and easily read.  The vocabulary is simple and easy for young children to understand.  They have many ideas in the book for dealing with worry and becoming happy again.

It’s a good book.

This book is very interesting and full of fun facts about sloths and where they live.  The pictures re clear and close up.  The font is very large and bold, making it easy to read.

The book compares two-toed and three-toed sloths.

This book is a great addition to our non-fiction library!  I think this is a book that will be checked out often by our children.

Jared Lee has heavily illustrated this installment of Mike Thaler’s Black Lagoon series in black and white drawings.

Hubie and his class have never celebrated the 100th day of school before. Their teacher, Mrs. Green, wants them to bring 100 of something to school on that day. Hubie begins with 6 complaints about school, but “Mrs. Green says that’s not in the spirit of the day.” (p. 11) What do I have 100 of to bring to school for my homework? What to bring in? Hubie doesn’t have enough baseball cards and grandma is only 81 years old, not 100. all the students are keeping their 100 collection a secret. The other teachers are getting in on the event by having a 100-yd. dash in PE, and counting to 100 by twos, and Mrs. Green “is bringing in a hundred-dollar bill. I’ve never seen one, and whoever can guess who’d on it will get to hold it for a  hundred minutes. Wow! The guesses range from George Washington to Spider-Man.” ( p. 41) When the day arrives one student brings one hundred pennies, another one tries to do one hundred push-ups, “Penny sings a song with one hundred notes– all the wrong ones”, someone else has the class stay quiet for one hundred secrets,  one hundred knock-knock jokes, and then it is Hubie’s turn. He has composed a poem with one hundred words in it.  [I can’t wait for 100 Day next school year, so I can copy and enlarge Hubie’s poem on my library bulletin board.]

Thaler has included at least three idioms in this story: 1) playing cards close to vest, 2) clammed up, and 3) back to square one hundred.

The arctic fox is one of nature’s most adaptable animal.  Everything about this animal enables it to survive nature’s harshest environments.  Their amount of fat, metabolism, even how their blood circulates all help the fox to survive in temperatures of – 60 Fahrenheit.  They know how to store food for those times when fresh food may be scarce–a refrigerated system to keep it well preserved.  The arctic fox differs from other foxes in that it is more squat and close to the ground in order to conserve heat.  In reading this book, what impresses you is how unique nature is to adapt to whatever it needs to in order to survive.  The arctic fox is a very clever animal, indeed.

Come and Play, Mr Croc is a board book for the very young, perhaps one year and up.  Five characters are introduced at the very beginning and page by page, the reader looks for one of the characters hiding.  Very colorful and eye-catching.  Youngsters will enjoy one-on-one storytime with this book.

This five senses book is for toddlers, ages two years and up.  It covers all the five senses and with each one gives a fair amount of examples plus added vocabulary to describe things.  A youngster will be delighted with a one-on-one storytime using this book.