Throughout human history, people have done crazy things to their hair. Here, Krull and Malone combine wild facts about hair from history with illustrations which ape famous works of art.  We follow history chronologically, learning about the white spiked do worn by the Celts a few millenia ago, the early years of shampoo, and the inspiration for the Dorothy Hamill cut.  None of the information goes in-depth – we generally only read a few – albeit entertaining – sentences about each fact.  The real feature is the illustrations, though most children will likely not recognize the referenced works of art.  The images have elements of surrealism – for example, the first blonde cave woman is pictured made up like Marilyn Monroe.  Malone’s illustrations are attractive and fun to look at, but children looking for  historical information may be frustrated by the lack of concrete detail or context.  Included is an appendix (titled “Hair Extensions”) of sorts, which includes additional facts for each period.  There is no explanation and nothing to distinguish between the facts included in the main body of the book versus this section, so the reader must wonder why they are included in this way, instead of on the relevant pages.  Although this is an attractive package and fun to read, the sparse information, overly tongue-in-cheek illustrations, and odd organization of the information makes this an additional purchase.

Could Sasquatch be real?  Halls explores the history and theories behind the belief in a species of giant primates which haunt a variety of terrains all over the world.  She describes many recent sightings and provides a window into the world of Sasquatch tracking.  This topic will seize the attention of many children (and adults) and the information is presented clearly, openly, and attractively.  Photos and illustrations pepper the pages, demonstrating the elements Halls discusses.  Halls gets much of her information by interviewing actual cryptozoologists and other primary experts in the field.  Although generally this is a plus, there is one unfortunate inclusion: On pages 13-14, Halls includes a partial transcription of a 9-1-1 call regarding a potential Sasquatch sighting.  In the introduction, she instructs readers to ask parents before listening to a YouTube video of the call because there is strong language featured on the tape.  In the abridged transcription, however, she includes three instances of potentially offensive language, even though the implication in the introduction was that those portions would be left out of the account because of the book’s young target demographic.  This inclusion will offend some audiences.  However, the rest of the book is illuminating and engaging and demands its place on library shelves, particularly in libraries which appreciate its Pacific Northwest focus.

Joe is working for the Peace Corps.  His country assignment?  Turkmenistan.  Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan is a tiny country with very little power.  While there, Joe meets a man named Azat.  Azat adopts Joe as a friend and invites Joe into his world.  Soon Joe finds himself in the middle of ill-begotten adventures, exploring some of the dark sides of this small kingdom.  What stands out here is Lonergan’s way of presenting what it is like to be from a small, relatively powerless country like Turkmenistan.  There’s a scene in the book where one of the characters asks Joe to take him to America. When Joe says that the man will need a visa, the man tells Joe he should call the president of America and tell him what a nice person this man is, so that he will get a visa.  In countries like Turkmenistan, the populace has much more access to the people in power than they do in the United States.  Using the framework of Joe’s experience in Turkmenistan, Lonergan contrasts what it’s like to live in a country like this and how it’s different than living in the United States.     

In Sorghaghtani of Mongolia, the reader learns about the large amounts of power wielded by one woman during the most famous period in the history of the Mongolian empire.  Sorghaghtani was the daughter-in-law of Genghis Khan, and the mother of Kublai Khan.  During key shifts in power, she used her considerable influence over the Khans to change history.  This title includes information about Mongolian culture alongside the narrative telling Sorghaghtani’s story.

Unfortunately, this title has two major drawbacks.  First and foremost, the book does not include any kind of finding aids or reference information.  There is no index or help for finding more information about Mongolia or Sorghaghtani.  Worse, there is not even any information about where the author got her information.  The second problem is that after one reading, the hardback binding was already splitting in a few places.  This does not bode well for library use.

This story needs to be told.  Unfortunately, the weaknesses of this title overwhelm that strength and make this an additional purchase for libraries.

Stickman Odyssey is not Homer’s epic in sequential doodle form.  Instead, it’s a whole new story, rife with monsters, characters, and settings that would be no surprise in an actual ancient tale.  The hero, Zozimos, is silly and flawed, in the company of many modern children’s book characters.  The story ricochets from setting to setting, never letting up on the action.  It is a story which will captivate readers with its effective mix of modern humor and ancient mood.

DC Comics author, Paul Weissburg, weaves a story without using the graphic novel format in five short chapters. Weissburg’s story does team up with DC Comics, Luciano Vecchio, to include ten full-color comic illustrations intermingled throughout the story. These illustrations will NOT disappoint comic officiandoes.

In disguise, Batman has been tailing villain Matches Malone on the subway of Gotham City. BUT before Batman can apprehend Matches, he and Robin save two children from a burning building. Then, Batman captures Matches and disguises himself as Matches so he can infiltrate the First Annual Super-Villain Crime Convention.

Batman’s disguise is working, but he forgets to make Match Malone’s annoying small talk as he circulates through the villains at the convention. Batman pushes the Penguin out of harms way from a falling display blowing his cover. Batman is catch and placed inside the Death Trap with water bubbling up to his head as the crowd of convention villains watch. Robin helps save the day by turning off the city’s power grid, thus releasing Batman from the Death Trap. In the dark Batman was able to out smart the super villains and leave “with the Cosmic Annihilator in Tow.” Mission accomplished.

This design of this book is an encyclopedia format, with pictures and captions about different categories of outer space.  This includes our sun, planets, earth, moon, space rocks, snowballs in space, our Milky Way Galaxy, and other galaxies.  There are small, condensed pieces of information while offering additional websites in the back, and other book recommendations.  This would make a nice additional book for a collection.

Tony Baloney is an animated penguin with human characteristics.  He is new to school and excited to be away from his bossy, older sister and mother and prove himself in the classroom.  Unfortunetly, Tony doesn’t understand the rules at school and makes many mistakes.  Luckily for him, he has his favorite stuffed animal friend with him.  It’s always good to have someone to talk to.

Recommended for primary readers and beginning chapter book readers.  Great illustrations, color, and formatting make this a charming book for students who have begun their school career!

Wonderful, larger sized picture book which will handle well when sharing with students!  Real photographs of the people, food, landforms and the great wall.  Three sentences per page/topic make this a great book to use with PrK-2 graders.  Facts. a glossary, intenet sites and an index are located in the back.  This review checked the websites and found a quality selection of the History Channel, National Geographic for Kids, and Fact Monster.  Although the history channel may be higher than the intended K-2 audience, it would give the teacher or parent background information about the book before sharing it.  Recommended for primary.

I was quite surprised to learn how far back actual stamped coins dated back.  I would not have thought that ancient civilizations would have had the ability to mine and melt precious metals, and then mint coins with words, dates, and images.  I am also amazed at how recently paper money has existed.  This book is full of interesting history about currency.  We all use money so it makes it relevant.

In this series, it seems that they have taken traditional fairy tales with human characters and substituted animals.  For me, personally, Little Red Riding Duck doesn’t seem to work.  One reason is that the large size of the wolf and the small size of the duck doesn’t make it as believable because, of course, when duck comes to gramma’s house the wolf is way too big to be mistaken for gramma.  Also, duck waddles out yelling, but wouldn’t you expect the wolf to be able to catch her easily.  The beaver, the woodcutter, is even smaller, but is still able to fend off the wolf.  For these reasons, it doesn’t work for me.  I would only read this version to preschoolers whom I don’t want to frighten.  Any older children would question the story.

Cats are smart, that’s for sure.  However, Suzy Baggots, the family cat, certainly knows how to get and do what she wants.  She jumps up and grabs food off of the table, piddles in golf bags, poos in chairs, tears up furniture and curtains, and gets hair all over everything.  And still she doesn’t get tossed out of the house.  Then one day, Suzy stops eating, stops drinking, and lies listlessly on the bed.  The family is beside themselves with grief and sadness, anticipating the worst.  If the family knew it was all a ploy, the worst would happen to Suzy.  But it’s all a lesson for the family to realize how much they love her.  Lets just hope that the kids who read this book aren’t as smart as cats and won’t try the same thing.

The Selfish Giant was originally published in 1888 and has been re-illustrated many times since then.  In this particular edition, the illustrator is Ritva Voutila, a Finnish artist.  The illustrations are mellow and muted and somewhat dark, pretty much reflecting the story.  Color stands out in parts where the children are featured.  However, the story can hold many meanings and can be used in various ways.  It could be a story of understanding and forgiveness, of life and joy, and also a story of Jesus and hope.  This book wouldn’t work for a classroom read aloud, but more of a one-on-one story time so that each page can be given the time it needs to understand.

Stephanie Kwolek grew up during the Great Depression and, as any typical little girl, loved to make dresses for her dolls.  When she was in high school, her passion turned to chemistry.  She felt there was a relationship between the two in comparing the meticulousness of both.  Stephanie later went to an all-women’s college and majored in chemistry.  She thought perhaps she could later go into medicine.  However, with a college degree in hand, she landed a job with DuPont, a chemical engineering pioneer at the time, and stayed with them for over 40 years.  During that time, she was challenged with making a thread that was stronger than steel.  Not such an easy task.  After almost 20 years, she discovered a thread made from polymers that when woven together was strong enough to stop a bullet–kevlar was born.  Needless to say, kevlar has made a huge impact on the world, saving many lives of the military and law enforcement.  It is also used in spacecraft, radial tires, roads, brake pads, plus a multitude of other items.  At the end of the book is a section titled, ‘You Be the Inventor.’  It gives examples of kids who have had an idea, patented it, and built a company from it, all at a very young age.  This book is encouraging for kids to follow their dreams.

This story is written as a rhyme, but does not flow smoothly in places.  In the first half of the book the things the chicks learn at school each day are not correct.  The mother hen ends up reteaching her chicks each night.  It reflects negatively on the school.  Then she talks about negative and posative  attributes in an abstract way.  They seem to solve their problems by changing schools.

I don’t think I like how this story reflects on teachers and schools.  The googly eyed pictures are lots of fun.  I like them far more than the story.

This is a cute story about responsibility and consequences.  The book is a great one for readers who want to start reading chapter books.

The characters are loveable and kind.  They learn to deal with problems in an appropriate way.

The font, words, and spacing are great for early readers.  The pictures are fun too.

At the end of the book is a craft project to help readers create one of the stories characters for themselves.

This book is a nice addition to our library.

This book has fun pictures, but the story line seems to have no real conclusions.  Maybe for kids who like to imagine their own solutions this would be an interesting book.  To me, it just seemed to ramble around.

This book is very eco-friendly, with fun projects young girls would enjoy!  It has clear pictures, with numbered step by step instructions.  Very easy to follow.  The grammar could be improved in some of the instructions.  Page 9, step 4 is particularly poor.  The font used on some of the added tips and cautions is a cursive looking type, and is harder to read.  Young readers may just ignore those reading blocks,  and miss some of the safety precautions in the process.

The recipes for the personal pampering are wonderful!  The end of the book has great basic how-to instructions for skills everyone could use.

In spite of the things I saw as weaknesses in this book I think it is a nice addition to our library.

This book is full of almost tongue twisting rhymes.  It  would be a fun read with a group of young children.  Then you could let them try to repeat the phrase.  The pictures are cute and colorful.  Some of the words are too advanced for early readers.  The rhymes at the bottom of the page are in large bold print; great for a group to see and read together.

A fun quick read.

This is a fun story.  The lesson of how to truly help others is the main theme of the story.  The Magician learns that doing everything for others is not the best way to help. The pictures are full of fun details.  This is a good story for children.

This is book #6 of 6 in the Supergirl graphic novel series. I have read book #2, but not books 3, 4, or 5. My background knowledge from book #2 was helpful, but I needed to have read the previous books in this series to completely understand the twists and turns in the plot.

GRADUATION DAY, Part 2 tops the pictorial list of characters before the story line begins, but I do not understand this title’s significance.

Superman and Supergirl are in the clutches of Lex Luther’s Lexsoar 7 when Comet ( a horse in a cape) smashes the machine freeing them. Back on Earth, Supergirl finds a frozen Belinda. Then Lena arrives ready to take revenge on Supergirl,only to have them both bound up by MXYZPTLK from the 5th Dimension. MXYZPTLK takes credit for all that has happened to Supergirl, so he could collect all her emotions… “to be amplified and processed through a machine built to replicate your Kryptonian biology and my 5th-Dimensional awesomeness…” ( p. 12) A few pages later, MXYZPTLK escapes from Supergirl and returns to the 5th dimension. The 5th dimension inhabitants “banished [him] to the 2nd dimension. Forever.” (p.21) for breaking the rules.  Back in the 3rd dimension, Lex has helped his sister, Lena, recover from the effects of MXYZPTLK’s capture but Lena has lost the memory of Lex as her loving brother.

The artwork ‘s facial expressions, use of size and color, and the scenes from space are outstanding!

There are 5 Visual Questions and Prompts included at the end of the book.

Bugs and insects need police and in this book it is Captain Bob, Bug Patrol. Follow Captain Bob as he cruises around from 9 AM to 10:08 when ants on a donut need some help with their manners, at 11:30 it is beetles in a fender-bender, at 12:33 it is speeding spiders on motorcycles, at 1:35 it is time for lunch and walking the beat, at 3:15 there is a picket line at the roach hotel, at 4:53 there is a missing baby flea emergency, followed by a loud cricket party at 7:48. Then at 8:00,  “Bug patrolling work is done.”

This BIG 9.75 X 10.25 inch book is filled with big plump, bug-eyed critters at each location. Short concise rhyme awaits the reader at each traffic stop.

“Therapy dogs help people, mainly through visits and temporary companionship… The simple presence of  a dog in the room often lifts the spirits of people and makes them more active in the surroundings.” (page 5)

This 32 page book is broken up into 4 short chapters: A Comforting Presence, Becoming a Team, On the Job, and Off Duty.

Therapy dogs are often distinguished by wearing a special vest or bandana, but they are not service dogs, which are more highly trained. Small and medium sized dogs of no particular breed, who are able to follow basic commands, work well with their handler, and display calmness are the usual candidates for this job, though bigger dogs sometimes qualify, as well. Therapy dogs provide both animal-assisted activities with large groups and animal-assisted therapy with smaller groups.

Therapy dogs are almost a No-Brainer for making people feel good, if the person enjoys dogs in the first place. The joy dogs can elicit is beneficial to a person’s health.

The photos of over twenty therapy dogs throughout this book drive home this point.

Tippy Tinkletrousers has traveled back in time again to undo the trouble he created by changing the past. Now, he has traveled forward in time and is chasing George and Harold to get his revenge on them. George and Harold decide to use their own time machine, the Purple Potty, to return their pet dinosaur to the past so Tippy Tinkletrousers won’t hurt it. By mistake Mr. Krupp, AKA, Captain Underpants is also transported back in time.  Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth through time they go. Harold and George see dinosaurs, meet cave people, and draw the first ‘comic book’ on the  cave wall to help them communicate with the cave people.  The cave people help George and Harold defeat the evil Tippy Tinkletrousers. While in the past Tippy is responsible for the Ice Age and the Big Bang Theory. Too bad Harold and George’s teacher doesn’t believe a word of this when they use their first hand information on their Science Test once they get back to the present.

Captain Underpants fans will enjoy this 10th epic novel with its two flip-o-ramas and George and Harold’s two comic books.

Librarians will enjoy the sturdy binding and heavier(than paperback’s) paper.