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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
by Robin Stevenson
This illustrated nonfiction alphabet book is meant for middle to upper grades. Perfectly appropriate for 6th graders and up. The author follows alphabet-book style by having 1-2 pages per letter covering famous LGBTQ+ people, events and famous locations. Each letter includes lovely stylized images and text giving a blurb about each topic. It’s highly readable, fast paced, and could be read by bouncing around or cover to cover. It also includes additional information in a more condensed form at the back of the book, a 100 year timeline, a glossary, and an index. So much of this book is positive and joyful with lots of smiling people of all diversities, while still dealing with some of the challenging times (R – raids and riots). I like that it defines topics in clear language. The F – Flag page was helpful in showing all of the iterations of flags in the LGBTQ+ community. While it shows kissing & hugging, there is nothing more salacious in the images, again, making it perfectly appropriate for middle school audiences interested in this topic.
Reviewed by OHS Substitute, Sandy H.
This coming of age story will connect readers with the difficulties of being a teenager as well as showing how family struggles impact life. Brynn Kwan balances friends, family, and boys on top of struggles to let an unattainable persona go. Meanwhile pain rears its head. In this book, the protagonist (and her father) has chronic pain resulting from a health disorder which is a young adult topic not frequently encountered, for this primary reason I appreciated reading the book.
Reviewed by OHS Substitute, Sandy H.
This novel will be a hit with young adult readers who enjoy coming-of-age struggles.
Kat Evans tries to get a date, deal with friends, and manifest self-acceptance, while trying to think of everything through the lens of feminism. Meanwhile she’s also rabidly documenting everything in her diary. This young adult fiction dives deep into the anxieties, dreams, and ideals of a teenager trying to make her way through high school – so believable, the anxiety just oozed off of the pages!
Reading it as an adult, I liked being reminded of how tough it really is to be a teenager.
Book Reviewed by Kingston 10th grade – I gave this book a rating of 5/5 because it’s a compelling and engaging book, it provides a new look on Miles and who he is. The book follows Miles Morales a teenage superhero who navigates the challenges of keeping his secret identity as Spider-Man while facing formidable villains in New York City. The plot of this fictional superhero story makes you want to keep turning the page to see what gonna happen next. I like how they make Miles relatable and explore the identity and finding yourself. The pacing of the book could have been better and some characters aren’t as developed as others.
Reviewed by Cailyn 12th grade – This novel has a unique style for Spiderman! Miles Morales has become obsessed with poetry and babbles endlessly about his crush. With his spidey powers, he saves the world from an evil mastermind The Warden, and Miles gets put in suspension. What begins as a long boring day of in-school suspension is interrupted by his spidey-senses telling him that something is wrong. Since the novel is about a Marvel superhero, it is considered a fictitious novel. Also, it is poetry because it includes a mixed format of verses. In this novel, I liked how it blended superhero things and introduced the concept of racism. The book I rated a 3 because it kind of felt rushed and underdeveloped. To add to this, I think that this style of novel is just not my type either.
Reviewed by Raymond 9th grade – I love the story that the book is telling about love between two boys. Clark goes on these errands with Beau and Clark ends up falling in love with Beau. Such a beautiful story challenging existential aspects of human life; isolation meaninglessness, and freedom; as well as alienation and depression. All that is done in a heartwarming sweet romance. I like how it tells a love story between two boys. Also like that it’s a romance book because I love romance anything. It’s hard for me to like a book but I really enjoyed this book.
Reviewed by Cierra 12th grade – This was one of the cutest graphic novels I’ve ever read. From the art style to the plot, to the characters, I’m obsessed. Momo is a selfless, naive, and caring friend. She has little to no experience in the dating world. PG on the other hand is the opposite. Labeled as someone who likes to “get around,” and is a player, she’s quite the lone wolf. Despite her reputation, under that hard exterior, she falls in love just as easily as anyone else. Their two worlds collide unexpectedly and a romance begins to brew. With PG’s reputation, things get a little tricky.The romance in this novel is sweet like a peach. Two people who know little about love, but crave it so much make this graphic novel such a nice read. The LGBTQIA+ aspect of it makes it feel relatable as well. The character design is just beautiful. I love Momo’s character, she’s so cute and gorgeous.It didn’t feel rushed. Typically, when you read a graphic novel you get through them fast because there are little words on each page. Sometimes that can cause the book to feel rushed. However, the pacing was perfect. It felt like I was watching a movie in my mind. I also found myself relating to Momo, as a black girl with little dating experience myself. I found myself getting jealous and wanting a romance like this. I also enjoyed the intended funny bits as well. I rarely LOL at a book, but I caught myself gasping and giggling a couple of times. There’s little that I dislike about it. I don’t like PG’s character design for one. It just looks off on some pages, I can’t exactly put my finger on why. The flashbacks were kind of hard to decipher at times. There were moments where it took me a couple of seconds to realize “Oh wait, this isn’t present.” There was one flashback where I got confused if it was PG or PG’s brother, but that may just be me being slow. This romance is a cliche, and it’s really hard to make a cliche entertaining. Despite all that, I think they did a relatively good job and I’d read it again or recommend it to a friend.
Reviewed by Sarah 12th grade – This humorous and sad story will keep you engaged and relating to the main characters. Eva is the main character in this book and she is 14 years old. Her life is lonely and sad, and she then deals with foster homes and poverty. She relies on her Nohkum to take care of her and of her little brother Marcus. Eva’s mom struggles with alcoholism and shares the story of the reality of her addiction. The plot of this story makes this novel a heartbreaking and humorous story. I liked that this book was a very fast read and that it shares how someone who is in poverty and struggling with housing, how their life really is. There are a few instances in this book where it may be hard for younger students to read this book due to the talk about depression and anxiety. Personally, I think that this book does a good job of sharing the realities of it in a non-glorifying way.
Reviewed by Aliah 12th grade – All readers will find this captivating and moving journey which masterfully examines human emotions and the capacity for forgiveness to be a winning one. In the book Forgive Me Not, Violetta Chen-Samuel, a fifteen-year-old, is imprisoned for driving under the influence, which resulted in the death of her younger sister. A young adult book with hints of dystopia, Forgive Me Not highlights the issues with racism, classism, misogyny, and other issues that plague both our adult and juvenile justice systems. The two points of view are Violetta and Vince. The plot is AMAZING!
Trigger warnings: death of a child, incarceration, substance use, suicide attempt, grief, sexual assault.
Reviewed by David 12th grade – It isn’t your stereotypical LGBTQIA+ Book. This book is about two gay Best friends on the run from a famous killer but also accused of being a killer. It is a realistic fiction book that is mainly featuring queer representation, but the book itself doesn’t focus on the main struggles of it, It mentions some of the struggles of being queer but also being discriminated by color. I love how they represented the idea of friendships in the queer community and how they can be very different. It also shines some light on being a gay person of color and the difference between the reactions people get. I love it honestly. Trigger Warnings: At the start, it discusses that there will be some graphic scenes. Not too bad but still more so than a typical book.
Baby skunks are called kits and they live in a den. This nonfiction series is adorable. While the information is very simple, it is great for beginning readers. The print is large and there are 1-2 simple sentences on the page. Key words are in bold and photographs with a label is included on the page to illustrate what the word means.The back includes the stages of life of a skunk, a picture glossary, an index and a website for more information.
Baby turtles hatch from eggs. When they leave the nest, they do not go back. This nonfiction series is adorable. While the information is very simple, it is great for beginning readers. The print is large and there are 1-2 simple sentences on the page. Key words are in bold and photographs with a label is included on the page to illustrate what the word means.The back includes the stages of life of a turtle, a picture glossary, an index and a website for more information.
Baby seals live in colonies. As they get older, they spend more time alone. This nonfiction series is adorable. While the information is very simple, it is great for beginning readers. The print is large and there are 1-2 simple sentences on the page. Key words are in bold and photographs with a label is included on the page to illustrate what the word means.The back includes the stages of life of a seal, a picture glossary, an index and a website for more information.
Baby lions join the mom’s pride and play with other cubs. This nonfiction series is adorable. While the information is very simple, it is great for beginning readers. The print is large and there are 1-2 simple sentences on the page. Key words are in bold and photographs with a label is included on the page to illustrate what the word means.The back includes facts about the animal, a picture glossary, an index and a website for more information.
The illustration on the cover makes you want to pick up the book and the story inside did not disappoint. Meli is enjoying playing in the beautiful waters of Playita del Condado when she spots some tidal pools and encounters a talking hermit crab named Jaiba. Jaiba takes Meli on adventures to explore the ocean. She learns about different animals in the ocean and the effects of ocean pollution. Jaiba eventually takes her to the future to see herself as the Mother of Sharks.
The pictures are bright and evoke the feeling of being underwater. The text is in English with Spanish words incorporated throughout. The print is small for a picture book. The end of the book includes a letter from the author, glossary, translations, and resources. The end pages include illustrations of different sharks.
The author is a Hispanic marine biologist and was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30: Science list.
Croc is late for work one morning and doesn’t have time to eat breakfast. That’s okay, he will grab donuts from Hippo. But Hippo is sold out. At least he has an emergency banana, but the banana is bad. Croc starts dreaming about food while he is trying to work, hopefully he won’t eat the animals who are his passengers!
The illustrations are whimsical and the colors of the book are bright and vibrant. Most of the animals are drawn in the actual colors, while the alligator is blue and the hippo is pink. It is a funny, fast paced story with text and speech bubbles which lends itself to various voices as a read-aloud.
