In 1863, Magdalys and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum in New York City are on their way south to find Magdaly’s brother, Montez, who has been injured in battle. It is thought that Montez is in New Orleans.

The civil war is raging as the Dactyl Hill Squad fly south on pterodactyls from New York City through Tennessee and on to New Orleans in Louisiana. Along the way they are shot at, meet Generals Sheridan and Grant, see the destruction of war up close, learn there are other dinotalkers on both sides of the war- some better than Magdalys, and feel the pressure of war. “Sometimes what you love and what you have to do don’t get along.” (122) Magdalys feels she should stay and help General Sheridan form an air corp with her dactyls, but she needs to find her injured brother, too. How can such pressure be placed on a twelve year old?

At Chickamauga the battle does not go well for the Union forces. General Sheridan asks Magdalys to fly to New Orleans to tell General Grant about their situation. Even though this is where Magdalys wants to go, the war will not make it an easy flight. They run into Confederate flyers. Magdalys may be the heroine of this story, but that does not mean she and her friends get out of this unscathed.

The children are hardened by war, needing to act as adults, and yet they are still children. Oh, how their lives have been changed forever in so short a time.

Real people, places, and events are expertly mixed with fictional people, events, and dinosaurs to make this one high flying tale.

Ellie May wants to the class flag leader but she hasn’t been picked yet. She sets her sights on being the class flag leader on President’s Day. This books follows along has Ellie May plots and plans ways to get her teacher’s attention. After many distractions and mishaps, perhaps now is the time for Ellie to be picked.

Lottie has a secret that no one knows. Lottie takes swim lessons but she never enters the pool. Along comes Walter and he helps Lottie realized that she does have courage.

Nugget convinces Fang to attend Mini Minnows Elementary school with him. Fang isn’t comfortable at school. He wants nothing more than to go home. Then the teacher ask Fang to share with the class. Fang couldn’t think of anything to share until he spotted Nugget.

SumoKitty is about a stray kitty that is looking for food and warm home. He follows Sumo wrestles home. When he proves his worth by catching a mouse, he earns his place. Over time he gets fat and the mice come back but he is out of shape. The sumo wrestlers teach SumoKitty patience and moves to catch the mice.

In this book, the author included the Japanese words for the wrestling moves.

Cake builds a fort that Monkey is not allowed in. When it is done, Monkey tells Cake about his fort.

Stink’s parents won a sleepover at the aquarium for the family. Stink has never had a successful sleepover. With his friends and an aquarium guide, Stink gets to visit many parts of the aquarium. At the end of the tour, his group had a “campfire” and Ms. D tells them a scary story. As everyone settles down to sleep, Stink is wide awake. After pranking his sister, Judy and doing some snooping around in the dark, Stink was finally able to fall asleep.

Knock Knock is a hilarious book about Bear settling down for his long winter nap. His friends have a different idea. Enjoy the jokes!

Dragons love tacos. Dragons love parties. Dragons love taco parties. But there is something that dragons don’t like. It may ruin the party.

A quaint book reminding children, especially girls to be who they are but a nice reminder to the adult that is reading it. Beautifully illustrated emphasis the message.

Frank Li, the main character, is a son of Korean immigrants. Frank’s parents left Korea with a group of other young couples who have continued to keep in touch, meeting monthly for dinners. Frank and the other children of these couples feel as though their parents are keeping all of them within a bubble. Franks parents wish for him to find a nice, Korean girl to date and marry; they are not accepting of any other type of girl. Frank falls for a white girl named Brit, with who he has much in common. Frank knows his parents will not be accepting of this relationship, so he makes an arrangement with one of the daughters of his family’s Korean friends to pretend to date, all the while hiding his true relationship with Brit. What Frank fails to mention this detail to Brit; embarrassed to have racist parents, he tries to juggle the fake relationship along side his real one, bringing a lot of confusion and secrets.

This is a coming of age story, where the characters are trying to define themselves and learn about love along the way. Written with humor and a witty cast of characters, I highly recommend this book.

It’s Valentine’s time and the monsters are having a party. All the monsters tease Frankenstein for being too nice and “normal.” Frankenstein is confused. Then he finds a Valentine in his pocket. The intrigue of which monsters put it there. The other monsters are baffled by the idea that someone likes Frankenstein.

Stewart found his best friend at camp. They did so much together. One day, Stewart lost his best friend. He searched high and low but, alas he couldn’t find him. Then he received a letter from Japan. Was it from his best friend? Would he ever see his best friend again?

Amy find a sloth in the park and brought him home. The only problem is her family did everything fast. Sloths are slows, Amy’s family is fast. How is that going to work? Read this book to find out.

The book is every student’s dream of what a school should be, Between the hover desks and wind tunnel skydiving in PE, there is something foe every child to enjoy. I appreciate the author’s honesty when Jack said, “Don’t ask me how this works, I really don’t know.” It truly encapsulates a child’s imagination and creativity, leaving ways to get it to work for later, A great read as we are getting ready to build our own new school and for use with our STEM projects.

A great read-aloud book about a young girl and how she deals with nightmares. It will be especially helpful for children who deal with monsters and nightmares.

The pictures are colorful but not scary.

This book is follow up to Charlotte the Scientist is Squished.

Charlotte is excited that Grandpa has moved in with her and her family. He visits her lab daily until the day he falls ill. Along with other forest creatures, Charlotte wants to find a cure. The book follows along as Charlotte does all the things that scientists do. Does she find the cause of the illness, discover the cure, and heal her Grandpa?

There is a glossary in the back of the book.

Natalie’s Hair Was Wild! is about a young girl who likes her wild hair. A variety of animals agree with Natalie as they move in to nest in her hair. Natalie is not phased by this. Eventually, the animal sounds get to her. Follow Natalie’s story in this whimsical picture book that both boys and girls alike will enjoy.

This is a very interesting non-fiction book about poo, s subject that is rarely explored. The book tells about different animals and their poo. At the end of the story, it explains what zoos do with all the animal poo.

Lola the armadillo spills her juice. Instead of cleaning it up, she runs off to the library. On her way, she encounters friends in the same predicament. She has them join in her journey to the library. At the library, things continue to go wrong until Lola meets a bird. The bird helps Lola and her friends clean up their disasters. This book is beautifully illustrated.

The Hidden Witch is a sequel to the fantasy graphic novel The Witch Boy. In this follow up the focus of the book moves beyond Aster and includes a larger teen group. Some of these are magical while other are not. However, they all have the same desire to figure out their life’s direction. Instead of a battle against a curse dragon, this story’s major conflict revolves around the daily wounds of everyday teenage life. This book is full of colorful images and creates a sweet story that continues the tale from the previous book.

Reviewed by OHS Substitute

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda reveals a fantasy adventure that captures your attention from the beginning. Dragons are present in the book, mostly as side characters who choose their beings and perform/act depending on their human counterparts. The dragons play a role in helping these humans determine their status in society. Told from the perspective of two orphans, Annie and Lee, they are growing up in an ever-changing world and are faced with many difficult choices along the way. Annie is an extremely talented, yet humble character who you quickly learn has a quiet strength that allows her to overcome her own personal doubts, as well as prove her worthiness to a society that often seems to doubt her or have low expectations of her. On the other hand, Lee is often favored by the people, but he still has a modesty about him and is constantly observing and evaluating the people and things around him. As these characters and their relationships develop through the book, you begin to connect with them, their feelings and the decisions that they make in the Revolution that arises.

Well written, fast paced. Highly recommended.