Charlie Hernandez & the Phantom of Time

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by Ryan Calejo

In this fourth installment of the adventures of Charlie Hernandez, he and his friends must save the land of the living from dark forces by traveling back in time to the 1950’s in Cuba.  Charlie is a morphling and able to transform in moments of crises into animals that help him save the day. While trying to save the past, present and future, the 3 friends encounter many of the monsters and figures from previous books as well as a few new ones – the Phantom of Time, Tragaldabas, La Carreta, La Llorona, La Mano Paluda, Queen Joanna, Madremonte, and Charlie’s dead grandmother are just a few of the many mythological and story characters Charlie encounters. The action is non-stop, as in previous books. The monsters from South American mythology are frequent and, for me, mostly unknown. That has been my only frustration as a reader. I don’t have the background myths and legends to fall back on, though Charlie certainly does. I’m occasionally at a loss for who is who, but by book 4, it is nice to see a few of the creatures from earlier books reappear. The books could use a glossary of legendary creatures for a quick reference. There are usually some context clues, but for me, I could use a few more. There are always a lot of characters – good & bad – to keep track of!  Anyone who has enjoyed the series previously will undoubtedly enjoy book four. Since it leans on the past three books for reference, I’m not sure I would recommend jumping right into book 4.

Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There

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By Judith Henderson and Sara Sarhangpour

From Judith Henderson, the author of “AAAlligator!” we now have “Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There”. A humorous picture book/graphic for young readers about friends Willa (an ostrich) and Wade (a penguin) who will do anything to fly! The two birds try a variety of things from pogo sticks to jumping off cliffs to meet their goal. This is a fun book about perseverance and determination. Early readers will enjoy the bright and engaging illustrations and read how sometimes, your goal cannot be met easily. I recommend this silly read for all elementary libraries. Especially if one is looking for more books that are similar to Elephant and Piggie.

Puffin and Penguin

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By Helaine Becker and Kevin Sylvester

This graphic novel for young readers is cute and will be relatable to students. A school story about Puffin, whose mom becomes an ambassador to the United Avian Nations. He has to move to New Stork City and start in a new school for international students. Like all new students, he is worried about fitting in and is missing his cold and watery home. Penguin is assigned to be his “buddy” but is overwhelmed with the many activities he’s committed to and thus is concerned about adding on being a buddy to the new kid. Puffin struggles to fit in and is laughed at and misunderstood as many of the birds at school are not water birds. In the end, Penguin realizes that Puffin is struggling and does what he can to make things easier for him. They end of in the drama club together and during a performance, Puffin saves the day. The illustrations are great for a graphic novel. I particularly like the very funny and relatable introduction of the various birds in Puffin’s class. Canada Goose, the fashionista. Downy Woodpecker, the drummer. Loon, the gossip and all the others you will giggle about. There are many school stories that will interest students and thus I recommend this one as an extra purchase. It would be a great purchase if you need more graphics, especially if you have the extra money for it.

Two Birds…and a MOOSE

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By Jame Preller. Illustrated by Abigail Burch

This humorous book written by James Preller is a funny tale about a moose that wants to be in a tree with his friends the two birds. There are few words on each page that are simple for early readers. The illustrations are engaging and allow for readers to understand the story without necessarily understanding the printed words. It is a book that even as an adult, made me smile. I recommend it for early level readers. It was enjoyable.

Our Universe: The Solar System

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By Marion Dane Bauer. Illustrated by John Wallace

Marion Dane Bauer has created a well written book about our Solar System. There are interesting facts given about all of the planets in order of closest to furthest from the Sun as well as other objects that are in the system. It has a Glossary at the beginning with clear definitions of more challenging words as well as their pronunciations. The final page also has interesting facts to encourage more reading. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging and will make readers more interested to learn more. This beginning reader is a good addition for any library in need of non-fiction books at a lower level.

A Planet is a Poem

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This book is the perfect fusion of poetry, planetary facts, and illustrations, with a bonus fold out feature on every page. It will speak to all types of readers, and be a source of inspiration for teachers looking for ways to introduce poetry.  Each poem is a different style; the book includes a sonnet, ode, villanelle, ballad, concrete poem, and an acrostic, to name a few. The first is a sonnet for the solar system, followed by an ode to the Sun. Then,  each planet poem is introduced in order of how it appears in the solar system, a clever way to structure the collection. I particularly enjoyed reading each poem and then opening the foldout to learn more about each planet, including facts I didn’t know.  Did you know that we named craters on Mercury in honor of Earth’s artists, musicians, writers and dancers, like Shakespeare, Picasso and Dr. Seuss? Or, that Venus spins in the opposite direction as Earth? Or that Uranus is a sideways planet, making scientists believe that a rock the size of Earth knocked it sideways billions of years ago, causing it to spin like a barrel? I don’t love that the foldout pages don’t tuck back in very easily; I’ve already bent one page. Readers will need to be reminded to be careful. Overall, a very accessible, inspirational book, whether you want to read all the poems/facts, or choose one poem for a library/classroom lesson. Highly recommended. 

 

Sync by: Ellen Hopkins

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True to form, Ellen Hopkins latest book pulls readers right in! Sync follows twin siblings, Storm and Lake, as they try to navigate their circumstances of being pulled apart and sent to different foster homes, repeatedly throughout their adolescent years. Although the siblings are physically forced apart their connection cannot be broken, not through time spent in juvenile detention or on the streets. Fortunately for each, they have people to love and care for no matter the circumstances.

Lake is placed with a foster family who is very conservative and expects her to follow suit; however, she has a girlfriend and wants to challenge the ideals consistently pressed upon her within the foster home. Storm is placed with a loving, caring foster father, but ends up in juvenile detention after trying to seek revenge on someone who sexually assaulted his long-time girlfriend.

In the worst of circumstances, the siblings are unable to connect – trying to keep tabs on each other through their caseworkers. Although things seem pretty hopeless for both twins, they continue to persevere.

Students who like to read about difficult topics and trauma will be pulled in by these characters and their circumstances. Ellen Hopkins knows how to tug on a reader’s heartstrings. If you have other books by this author in your collection, you will want to add this as well.

Careers in STEM: Marine Biologist by Lisa Owings

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Marine biologists study the plants and animals in the ocean. They learn about how humans impact the oceans.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, glossary, photographs and captions. They also include brief information about a famous marine biologist.This book explains what a marine biologist is, does, and how to become a marine biologist. The careers in this series introduce readers to careers they may not know about.

Careers in STEM: Microbiologist by Lisa Owings

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Microbiologists study microbes and use what they learn in a variety of ways. Some microbiologists use what they learn to make new medicine or help Earth.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, photographs and captions. The glossary is needed as there are many words that will be new to students, such as microbes. This book explains what a microbiologist is, does, and how to become a microbiologist. The careers in this series introduce readers to careers they may not know about.

The Queens’ English by: Chloe O. Davis

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Reviewed by OHS Student, Cordelia W.

The Queens’ English is super colorful and will be a hit with those researching or wanting to know more about all things LGBTQIA+. The point of The Queens’ English is to inform readers of some of the slang terms used within and about LGBTQIA+ community, as well as definitions for different sexualities and genders.

The colorful pages of this book gives this nonfiction dictionary a fun look, making readers (such as me) interested because each page is different and doesn’t have consistent look to it. It’s a nice complement to the LGBTQIA+ theme of the book. It’s very colorful and uses inclusive and interesting patterns and the same is true for the wording, with it being blunt and referring to other parts of the book and using terms that were earlier in the book. Something I didn’t like is when a term had the same definition as another it would just refer you to a different page such as, 3 different words had the same definition and the book kept referring you to the one at the very end of the book; I would have preferred it to just be defined again.

Those who should read this book are be people doing projects on the topic of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as those wanting to learn more about the community as a whole and its origins.

Telephone of the Tree

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This upper elementary/middle grade novel is perfect for anyone navigating loss and grief, especially early stages of this circuitous journey. 10 year old Ayla uses various coping strategies, including denial, to deal with the loss of her nonbinary best friend, Kiri. Ayla’s neighborhood plants trees for people when they’re born or when they die. The tree metaphor is woven throughout the story, how roots reach for each other across distances, how trees share resources. Readers, even younger ones, will easily see how we are also like trees.  Early on, a rotary phone is placed in a tree and neighbors take turns calling and talking to loved ones who’ve passed on. (This book is inspired by a phone booth in Japan nicknamed “phone of the wind”, detailed in the author’s note.) Who hasn’t wished they could talk to a loved one, just one more time?  One of the characters, a 5 year old, calls his gecko, which young readers will relate to if they’ve lost a pet.  Ayla’s family and neighbors give her space to move toward a place of acceptance. This is a sparse, heartfelt story about a community watching out for each other. Ayla takes the time that she needs to accept her friend’s passing, while bearing witness to how others around her deal with their grief. The author dedicates this book to “all readers missing the voices of their loved ones.” It’ll speak to readers of all ages. Highly recommended.

Speaking of America : United States Presidents and the words that changed history

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by Jared Cohen, illustrations by Vivian Shih

From George Washington to Joe Biden and every president in between, this book presents a famous saying from each president, but more importantly, explains about the world during the time of their presidency. For each famous phrase, the authors also put the words in perspective with their intended purpose and the power they had on their times. Finally, each two page spread includes a “Did You Know?” box with a fun factoid about the president featured on those pages. The book also features a timeline of U.S. history and the time each president was in office, tips for aspiring speech writers and future presidents, and a really interesting section of speeches presidents never gave. What if three things had happened in history? How would the presidents have responded? Speeches were actually written but never given because history took a different turn. History buffs will find this fascinating reading as the reader gets a quick paragraph look at what was happening in the world over the last 200+ years. Illustrations are bright drawings that enhance the information. This book would be a nice addition to non-fiction history sections (though the dewey puts it in books about famous speeches.)

The No-Girlfriend Rule

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Most human beings experience insecurity daily. Even if you are confident in yourself and your tribe, insecurity creeps in. So it is not surprising that some couples stay together just to have that security blanket to wrap in –even if the people are no longer attracted to one another. This is one facet of the gem that is The No-Girlfriend Rule. Hollis and her boyfriend Chris have been together since middle school. They are totally comfortable around each other, though physical attraction does not seem important. While Hollis has hung with Chris and his friends during their dice-rolling game, despite not being allowed to play because of the “No-Girlfriend Rule”, she is beginning to feel withdrawn from him. If she could learn the game by playing with another group, perhaps her insecurity would subside. Making the biggest and scariest move of her life, Hollis joins another group and she quickly finds a tribe of people who are eclectic and accepting of all that is Hollis Beckwith. This story shines with brilliance because of its tender coming-of-sexuality scenes, body-acceptance pride, and realistic portrayal of a long-time relationship morphing before the main character’s eyes. The best new friends emerge during the game because the role-playing “takes all the same problems we face in life — all the things about the world or ourselves that keep us up at night — and puts them in our hands… it’s safe to hold them for a while. Work them over, spend some time with them.” Those readers who have played D&D or other role-playing games will appreciate the creative re-enactment of scenes, weapons, and characters through pages and pages of text. Still, others will appreciate the authentic representation of high school life for one plus-size girl who is discovering herself amid the crushing tension of change and learning to live for the insecurity it brings. This debut novel by Christen Randall is worthy for all school library shelves.

A Guide to Grief

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by Cole Imperi; illustrated by Bianca Jagoe

A very readable non-fiction book defining grief – both the death-loss  (the loss of a loved one) or a shadow-loss (the loss of something not someone) type while providing useful strategies for moving forward through all types of grief. I don’t think I was ever aware of what shadowloss was, but I absolutely understood it and why it causes grief after reading the book. The book provides calm, gentle assurances throughout that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Grieving is a process & not an emotion. LOTS of emotions can be part of grief. Outside support organizations are also provided in every chapter, as are words of loving kindness. I found the book’s calming voice reassuring and soothing and the organization of each chapter helpful. Scattered throughout are examples of real people moving through their grief. I appreciated the section aimed at adults who might be trying to help younger folks dealing with grief and the lists of suicide-prevention organizations at the end of the book. I think this will be a very helpful book to put in students’ hands – even those who may not be grieving now. The strategies will be helpful someday, and they might be surprised to learn about shadow-loss as I was and recognize their own, less-obvious types of grief.

Life in the Wild: The Collected Adventures of the Bear, the Moose and the Beaver

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by Nicholas Oldland

This is a collection of six stories about three good friends – Bear, Moose and Beaver. The stories are full of kindness, humor and friendship. Bear hugs everyone and everything, Moose is pretty anxious and Bear is laid back to the point of carelessness (especially when he’s cutting down trees). The collected works are cleanly illustrated and the text is fairly simple, making them perfect for young readers, who will enjoy the silliness of these three endearing pals.

Is This a Tiger?

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by Elina Ellis

Atticus wants to meet a tiger. Luckily, his friend, Alex, has all the information in her journal and is eager to share. As Alex shares a characteristic of the animal (“they have stripes” and “they have big teeth”), Atticus locates other animals with the same attributes that are not tigers (skunks, lemurs and zebras have stripes, too!). Finally, Atticus is able to find an animal that has all the characteristics that Alex has described. And, the final page shows Atticus and Alex running from the tiger that they found.

This book is sneaky! The reader is lured into learning some great information about tigers while enjoying a happy romp through a story where two kids are looking for a tiger and find everything but one until the end. In addition, there is information about the other animals that Atticus mistook for tigers along the way. The book ends with some great resources, including organizations that work to preserve the existing populations of tigers. Illustrations are vibrant and fun and the energy abounds in this fun-to-read addition to the Alex’s Field Guides series.

Loaf the Cat Goes to the Powwow

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written by Nicholas DeShaw and illustrated by Tara Audibert

Loaf the Cat (she looks like a loaf of bread) loves her boy, Charlie. She plays with him, purrs a lot and looks for him when he is gone one day. She finds him at the powwow, where he is dancing the grass dance in the regalia he made while she played with the ribbons. She is so happy to see him that she jumps on his shoulder and stays there as he dances, happily part of the experience. After they went home, the boy asked Loaf if she wanted to go to another powwow and she happily purred.

This book is a burst of energy and colorful illustrations as we meet a lovable cat and her boy, Charlie. The story is told from the cat’s perspective as she spend time with her boy, playing and watching him create his regalia and joins him at his first powwow as a dancer. Their bond is evident throughout and the end is fitting – we know that this is the first of many powwows together for this pair! There are some words that might be unfamiliar to readers, including regalia, powwow, “miigwech” and “howah”. But, readers will enjoy delving more deeply into the meaning of those words, which will lead to more insight into the Native American cultures portrayed in the story.

The Perfect Place

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The Perfect Place (y El Lugar Perfecto lo mismo en español) is written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Paola Escobar. Another important, accessible, and amazing story from de la Peña! The reader will 100% relate to Lucas who just wants to be perfect and have his home life match that image. But, his life at home is far from the pristine halls of his private school – power often goes out, his parents are busy working both in the daytime and nighttime and he shares a room with his little sister. But, one night, after falling asleep he is awakened by a gentle light that lures him towards it. In this place everything is perfect. Everything works, everyone has time for him, everyone seems happy. Lucas is so very happy to be here where it seems just as perfect as his school. But, as soon as a boy (who looks just like Lucas) accidentally drops some orange juice, spilling it, everyone in this perfect place gets very worried and the boy is asked to leave, no longer welcome as he made a mistake. This is the moment Lucas realises he doesn’t want to be somewhere perfect. He finds his way home to his family waiting to celebrate him, love him, and care for him no matter how perfect of imperfect he is in that moment.

This beautiful book belongs in classrooms, libraries and counselor’s offices.

The Ship in the Window

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The Ship in the Window is written by Travis Jonker, author of 100 Scope Notes a School Library Journal blog, and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell. This book gorgeously tells the story of a three character, a man, a child and a mouse and how although they are three separate strands, they are connected, just like a roped, twisted together and much stronger that way. The man creating a beloved model ship, covets his model and puts such care in it. He clearly wants the child to also love the ship, but isn’t ready to have the child help with the special project. Any grown up can relate to this as you work so hard on something and want your child to love it as well, but don’t feel like they are ready to partake in creating it to your standard yet. The mouse watches it all from a distance. And then, one night, the mouse dares to take the ship out to sea. The mouse, now the captain of the ship, sails until dawn when he is discovered by and angry man and shocked child. Slowly joy takes over both the man and the child as they see the ship doing what it is meant to do. Until….tragedy! The story comes to a magnificent and compassionate ending and you discover this book is really about how we react in hard situations, its how we move forward that matters the most. And this man, child, and mouse, choose to move forward together. Finally seeing that there is love and power in connection and creating things, like the ship, together.

This book is important to both grown ups and children! The illustrations add to the simple, yet strong text and make it even more profound. Every time you flip through the story you will find something else to look at in the drawings. Every person should at least read it twice.

I highly recommend this beautiful book and think it belongs in every school.

Worst Broommate Ever!

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written by Wanda Coven; illustrated by Anna Abramskaya

Heidi Heckelbeck is off to boarding school for witches as she enters middle school and things are a bit tougher than she thought they would be. She has to leave her best friends from elementary school and her family. But, her witch mom tells her that this school is going to be so good for her as she learns how to use her skills and connect with other kids like her. Unfortunately, her roommate is not so fun – it’s mean Melanie Maplethorpe from elementary school! Heidi can’t believe she’s a witch, too! And, they are supposed to hide their magical skills from the non-witch students and only use their talents at their secret classes with the other witches.

Fans of the early chapter books about the same character will enjoy growing with Heidi as she moves on to middle school. Reluctant readers will enjoy the book with its well-spaced text and accompanying black and white illustrations. Recommended.

Millie, Daisy and the Scary Storm

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written by Crystal Velasquez and illustrated by laura Catrinella

Millie and Daisy are two dogs at Danny & Ron’s Rescue that came there as rescues after Hurricane Katrina. They are a bonded pair and love each other very much. Millie is very outgoing and would love to be adopted while Daisy is more reserved and likes life as it is. Daisy has worked very hard to overcome the trauma of the hurricane she survived. But, lots of stuff still makes her nervous and storms are especially hard for her. A big adoption event comes up and Daisy is so nervous that she comes up with a plan to make Millie think she isn’t her friend anymore, because Millie wants them to be adopted together an Daisy wants to stay where she is. Fortunately, things works out, because the big adoption event is actually a celebration – Millie and Daisy are adopted by Danny and Ron as part of their family! They realize that the best place for the two dogs is right there at the Rescue home. It’s the best day ever!

This sweet story is written in very accessible language and from the dogs’ perspective. Young readers will embrace these two lovable characters and all their friends and be thrilled that the ending is just as it should be – happy for everyone. Add this to your collection. Your young readers will love it!

Singing with Elephants

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by Margarita Engle

Oriol, an 11 year old Cuban immigrant lives in California with her veterinarian parents is a thoughtful, somewhat lonely girl. Things change for her when she meets Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Oriol shares her world of words and learns that in order for change to happen, one must open up and share those words like her new friend. She discovers the strength to do so when a baby elephant that her parents care for is in danger of being sold away from its mother into a life with someone who just wants to use it for entertainment and money. Oriol mobilizes the community with her words and discovers friendships and confidence along the way.

This lyrical story, told in verse form is a beautifully written and carries a message that even the youngest citizens can help the world be a better place. People just need to listen to the words.

16 & Pregnant

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Student Review: The Young Adult Literature 16 & Pregnant by Lala Thomas represents the hardships and the relationship issues that may arise with loved ones and partners when going through such a situation as teen pregnancy. Erykah just had their birthday but instead of being happy and celebrating with their friends as every other teen does on their sweet sixteen, Erykah spends her birthday vomiting in the toilet after discovering that she had become pregnant with her irresponsible and low-effort boyfriend Miguel. Considering this factor, Erykah still decides not to get an abortion and to have the child. This shows challenges for Erykah to accomplish her dream- to become a black braiding hairstylist shop. Along the way, on top of other relationships, the book exposes the strong but complicated relationship between her and her best friend Kelly as they work threw intense emotions, misunderstandings, and disagreements. This book highlights the struggles and aspects of having a child not only physically, but also emotionally and mentally for women of any age. This may be a good book for those in the same general age group who need guidance or those who want to understand the topic a little more than they did before. Overall this book is very helpful and informational, however, I feel that there was an abundance of unnecessary foul language used in the book, which made the story unpleasant at times.

TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

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Student Review: TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jasmeen Kaur Deo is a realistic fiction story that is unapologetically honest. The story follows high school senior TJ Powar and her relationship with her cousin Simran. The two cousins are partners on their school’s debate team. Outwardly, they seem to be similar enough, that is until there is a meme circulating their school with a picture of TJ and Simran with the caption, “Dating a Persian girl: expectation vs. reality.” It is suddenly brought to TJ’s attention that Simran is often the victim of rude jokes due to her facial hair that she doesn’t get rid of because of her religion. TJ, whose facial hair ridding process is practically a religion in and of itself, makes a resolution: “This house believes that TJ Powar can be her hairy self and still be beautiful.” Easy enough, right? Or at least that’s what TJ thought. After making the resolution, TJ finds herself struggling to believe that she can be beautiful even with facial hair. Jasmeen Kaur Deo has created a story that not only has elements of comedy, but is also very raw and truthful as it examines body image. Many brown girls will be able to see their own reflection in these pages.

He Who Breaks the Earth

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Student Review: Caitlin Sangster did a phenomenal job with He Who Breaks the Earth by weaving together elements of fantasy, internal conflict, and differing perspectives. The story follows several characters’ perspectives after a terrible disaster that had occurred in the first novel: the destruction of a tomb. There’s fantasy elements, and it gives a medieval 17th century vibe. This book is slightly slow-paced, and is difficult to understand without reading the first book, and a recap would be nice to new readers. However, it’s obvious that it is an enjoyable read for those who have read the rest of the series.