This dark YA fantasy weaves together tattoo magic, faith, and theater. The main characters Celia and Anya are inkings for the religion of Profeta, and they use magic to tattoo followers with lovely images that are meant to represent the will of the Divine and lead the followers in the path that the Divine has for them. But as the years go by, the girls learn the truth about Profeta; that it is a false religion and that the lovely tattoos they have made take the freedom away from the followers. The young women set out on a journey to escape the oppressive religious sect and join a traveling performing company called Rabble Mob.
The two girls have a strong bond of friendship and they look out for one another as the story progresses. There are elements of LGBTQ, found family, and perseverance.

The book reminds me of another new YA fantasy, Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell, and also Carnaval by

In this sequel to Kelly Yang’s novel, Front Desk, we continue the story of Mia, Lupe, and Jason. Mia and her family (and the other investors) now own the motel and are doing really well. They have had a great summer with Lupe and Mia running the front desk. In Kelly Yang’s first novel she tackled topics of colorism and racism, in this novel she takes on the topic of immigration as well as racism. Despite these topics being difficult to convey to elementary kids, Yang does it in a way that middle grade students can understand, empathize with, and learn from. I was very impressed with the amount of information presented and the ease at which Yang fit it into her story.

This novel surrounds a gubernatorial race in California and immigration legislation that would kick all illegal immigrants out of schools – including Mia’s best friend Lupe. Mia watches many of her classmates and Lupe shrink in fear and worry as their new 6th grade teacher talks about the legislation and tells them that racism doesn’t exist. Mia, who learned how powerful her voice is in the first novel, continues to use her writing to make change at the motel and in her community. They are faced with many challenges, including the motel possibly losing investors because Mia wrote ‘Immigrants Welcome’ on their Calavista Motel sign.

This is a fabulous story of friendship, integrity, empathy, and the power of voice.

The afterward of this novel also tells about the author’s own experience with similar legislation growing up in California. She talks about the quantitative and qualitative research she put into this book and that every hate crime which we read in the story is one that happened in real life.

I highly recommend adding this to your library, along with Front Desk.

This is a great story about how storyteller Zora Neale Hurston became the collector and teller of stories. The book follows Zora’s life from her childhood, where she got her love of oral storytelling, her mother passing away, her father remarrying, her leaving home at 14, getting educated and returning home to collect the stories she remembered from her past.

This book is illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara and the illustrations in this book are fantastic. You can feel the energy that Zora Neale Hurston carried with her on her journeys and her story friends follow you through the illustrations. There are frogs in glasses, rabbits in hats, and foxes that you can find hiding in the pages of Zora’s story. The end papers at the end of the book offer an Author’s Note and additional reading sources to continue learning about the prolific storyteller.

This is a great addition to the biographies and stories in your classroom or library.

In Jules vs. The Ocean Jules, her mom and sister are having a beach day. Jules is so excited to build a sandcastle that will for sure impress her big sister, but the ocean has other plans. Every time Jules builds a castle, the ocean comes and destroys it. Jules gets frustrated, pulls herself together and keeps trying. Each time a wave comes and smashes her castle. She perseveres with her goal of building the “biggest, fanciest, most excellent castle” on the beach. And each time “SLAP” the ocean knocks the castle down. Eventually Jules’ big sister comes to help her build the castle and together they build a big, fancy, most excellent sand castle! But, once again CRASH the ocean slaps it down. Despite that Jules and her sister realize the most excellent part of the day was building it together, not the castle itself. The beach day ends with happy sisters after a great day, until Mom tells them really the moon is controlling the waves – now they’ll have to watch out for the moon!

Great illustrations add the fun nature of this story that everyone can relate to. This book could be used in the classroom for topics of perseverance, kindness, and just a fun read aloud.

Bear is so excited for the surprise party and he just can’t wait. The friends decorate and bake a cake. Bear is impatient and in his impatience he squishes the cake which makes bear sad. Bear’s friends comfort him and help him build a new cake to surprise Hare. The text is rhyming and the illustrations are colorful and bright.

A little beetle and a caterpillar are friends having a picnic and watching the moon on a cliff. One day the caterpillar is gone and the beetle is sad. Looking for its friend, it sees some red in the distance and sets off to look for its friend. In the illustrations, the reader can see that the caterpillar has built a chrysalis on the underside of the cliff out of view of the beetle. He encounters a crow and a frog, but it is not afraid. Once the beetle reaches the red, it sees that it was wrong. Soon a butterfly comes along and looks very familiar and it realizes that it is the friend.

The illustrations are black and white, but the caterpillar and butterfly are in red. The illustrations are striking in this story about friendship.

A little pig faces frustration again and again of not being able to do it yet. The pictures on the pages show the piglet’s frustration as riding without training wheels, flipping pancakes, playing violin, and completing a puzzle are tried without success. The book goes on to say that it takes patience to get to yet and to get there, you will make mistakes, but that is okay. The pictures are watercolor and add to the sweetness of the book. A great story for encouraging young ones to keep trying and not give up.

Victor and Linesi are twins in Malawi. Victor goes to school and plays with his friends, but Linesi has to collect water and do chores during the day. At school, Victor’s teacher asks them to think about equality and if boys and girls are treated equally in their own lives. Victor does not think it is fair that his sister does not get to go to school and is too tired from all of the chores to learn anything at the end of the day. He decides to take turns with his sister, so that she can go to school as well. This inspires others in the village to do the same.

This picture book is based on true events. The end of the book includes an author’s note about access to fresh water and a list of organizations for finding out more information about water scarcity and gender inequality. The author’s note also includes words to know and the pronunciation, since several Chichewa words (one of the languages in Malawi) are included in the story.

A humorous look at differently topics from parts of the body, animals, plants, and the earth. Cartoon panels introduce us to diary entries for different items. It is divided up into three different sections: Human Body, Animal Kingdom, and Earth and Science. The content is not in-depth, especially since each item is only discussed on one to two pages, but there are some interesting and funny facts. The topics and the focus will definitely appeal to children. Did you know wombat poop is cube shaped? Vampire bats throw up in other bats mouths? Some of the pages has me laughing out look, but I was disappointed to see that some of the humor came from making fun of others (the slug calling the snail stupid and a loser). A table of contents and glossary are included.

Pickup trucks‘ basic information on nonmechanical parts and basic pickup truck uses provide young readers just that – basic information. The information is given in one or two sentences per page along with an appropriate photo of what is being read about dealing with pickup trucks. The book is well labeled where needed.

There is a table of contents, glossary, index, and web site ( www.factsurfer.com / keywords – pickup trucks) for those readers learning how to locate information or wanting more information. The web site includes much more advanced information of the workings of trucks by Chevrolet, a coloring page, and multiple video truck games.

Egypt’s location, a very brief bit of Egypt’s ancient history, and geography is presented for young beginning readers learning to search for information. ABDO follows its standard procedure of providing two or three sentences of facts in large font on the left hand side of the book with the right side entirely devoted to amazing full page photos.

There is a table of contents, index, glossary, and web site (abdokids.com / code CEK55o2).

The web site contains five of the photos and most of the text from this book. Further information is provide by National Geographic Kids World. Plus, there is a printable word search and maze.

Students see TEDTalks much like they view a teacher – sharing information to teach. But TEDTalks are the public speaking events of today that can reach massively more ears and eyes. Anderson and Oberweger smartly build this guide to public speaking by analyzing what goes into a great TEDTalk — starting with the premise that there is no one way to give a great talk. The best talks are “fresh” and innovative rather than stale. Instead one must “breathe, play, and practice, practice, practice”.

First there’s the foundation – what is the throughline, the connecting theme that ties the ideas together? This touchstone needs to be what holds the speech together, even if a diverse number of ideas are presented. One also needs to consider the audience – who is that one person that needs to acknowledged, accepted, invited via the speech — and consider the topic — is it a topic that you can handle well and your audience can digest.

Second there are tools – think of structures here – what is the journey, the story, or the truth to be told. Compare this to the foundation. More than likely they are naturally interconnected. If not, why not. And will that still work? It might.

Third, it’s time to prepare — whether scripted or unscripted, one needs to practice. Period. Lots of reasons why are discussed – from technology glitches to physical itches. Practice, practice, practice.

This is a nice, relevant addition to any school or public library.

I have experienced more than ten United States National Parks, but I never thought of putting Yosemite on my bucket list until now.

There are waterfalls and then there are giant waterfalls. There are big trees and then there are ancient, giant trees. There are rainbows and then there are ‘moonbows”. Rock climbing, hiking, camping, and a chance to see glaciers and animals in the wild are all waiting for visitors at Yosemite National Park.

John Wallace’s illustrations of Yosemite communicate more to very early readers than actual photograph could in this 9.5″ X 6.25″ book meant for smaller hands.

With the Seattle Kraken NHL team getting ready to hit the ice, Hockey in the Wild by Nicholas Oldland, is perfect for the young readers of the Pacific Northwest.

Waiting is always hard. Anticipation and eagerness to get started with ice hockey is all represented in this hilarious tale of waiting for the ice on the lake to freeze thick enough to hold bear’s, moose’s, and beaver’s weight.

Sparky & Spike: CHARLES SCHULZ and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever is just the right amount of biography for young beginning readers, not too much, just enough.

From his early school days, Charles, AKA Sparky, wanted to be a cartoonist. His teachers and fellow students all enjoyed his drawings. Every Saturday at 9 PM it never failed, Spike would remind Sparky’s father to go down to the store and pick up the Sunday comics. Then they would read them together.

Sparky would eventually send a drawing of Spike to the comic- Ripley’s Believe It or Not, with the caption, “A HUNTING DOG THAT EATS PINS, TACKS, SCREWS, AND RAZOR BLADES IS OWNED BY C. F. SCHULZ, ST. Paul, Minn.” After waiting for two long grueling months, Sparky saw his drawing printed in the Sunday paper.

And the rest is history, Charles Schulz would eventually become the multiple award winning cartoonist of the comic – Peanuts.

What is, also, rewarding to see is a photo of the letter Charles M. Schulz sent to Daniel Andreasen on July 7, 1975, giving advice to a young want to be illustrator. That young boy, in fact, grew up to be an illustrator, the illustrator of this very book.

Highland ponies are the short (13-14.5 hands tall), strong, sturdy, smart, docile horses native to Scotland. They are well adapted to the Highlands of Scotland’s harsh climate and rugged terrain. Highland ponies are shown in various activities such as pleasure riding, jumping, and show horses in the ten full page photos throughout the book, on the right page.

The large font text, in two or three sentences per page, is opposite the photo page, on the left side. The glossary words are highlighted in gray throughout the book, as they are used. The little horseshoes in the top left corner of each page of text is a nice touch.

The Abdo Kids Code comes in both a QR code and on a website (abdokids.com code HHK5649). All of the links worked on the website revealing the book’s text, a craft, a video, a word search, and many, many photos of show horses.

Fast, diving, predators of the sky dominate this factual account of Falcons for upper primary readers. There are thirty-five kinds of falcons. This means falcons can be found almost worldwide. They “prefer open spaces and high perches near water.” (8) Falcons are a midsize bird, aerodynamic with long pointed wings and tail. They are one of the fastest animals alive, some reaching speeds of 200 mph.

This book in the EPIC series is filled with eighteen action photos of varies falcons, along with two or three sentences per page. The glossary words are highlighted in yellow throughout the book as they are used.

When I went to the www.factsurfer.com section on the web, only one of the three choices was available for immediate access due to a security password being wanted.

From the Science Adventurers series comes Animal Conservationists, a look at six different facets in protecting different animal species of life. Chapter 1 begins with a hook — the work around saving something that creeps many people out– bats! After a end chapter covering the history of animal conservation, the author begins to drill down into the realities of the task. First, is the reclaiming/protection of habit, because if the habitat is not hospitable, the animals will die. Second is the issues around breeding and how humans help in this realm. A special chapter is reserved for breeding in water as well. Then time is given for the process of bringing a creature back to or introducing it to its native habitat, called “reintroduction”. The technology employed by conservationists as well as the human actions to help fight off predators help round out the text until a final chapter of “the future” is warranted. Abdo does such a nice job with its series topic choices, layout of text and sidebars, as well physical print/binding quality. The sidebars of this text in particular were very intriguing, leading this reader to wander there often before focusing on the main content as pages were turned. This will be a worthwhile addition to the 500’s in any school library.

This is a text that could easily be incorporated into middle school or high school classroom curriculum. This is a text that could be adapted for a school theater program. This is a text that will stick with you for awhile. Kent State, by Deborah Wiles, is the telling of the four days of protesting from May 1st – 4th on the campus of the university. Various voices share their chronological recollection building up to the deadly shootings by Ohio National Guard troops. But it is the positioning of the text on the page that makes this worthy of its multiple starred reviews. The voices come to the reader in snippets of text, much like a discussion, and are arranged based on likely political affiliation. Student protester voices more left justified, to National Guard troops right justified on the page. There are other voices of citizens caught in the middle that are situated on the page somewhere between the two based on their content. The anger, the frustration, the anxiety, the outrage, the disbelief –it can all be captured by the use of these various voices. The book jacket says, this text show the “human truth” in this tragedy. This text should be in every middle and high school library for its lessons in history, in the craft of writing, and in the depiction of humans reacting crisis.