Category Archives: Recommend

Ford GT

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by Kaitlyn Duling

Epic: Cool Cars series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Ford has a long history in car manufacturing starting in 2004. The Ford GT has been its fastest car to date. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds and its top speed is 216 mph. While Ford stopped making this model in 2022, die-hard fans hope for more in the future. Ford GT is a book that won’t be on your shelves for long! It packs some great information and pictures into 24 pages.

Keonigsegg Regera

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by Kaitlyn Duling

Epic: Cool Cars series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Koenigsegg Regera is about a rather short-lived model from the Swedish carmaker, Koenigsegg. This hybrid model was introduced in 2015 and is no longer made. It is a luxurious vehicle with race car attributes and each one was custom-made for its owner, with a starting price of $1.9 million. Readers can dream about what is next from the maker of this fabulous car.

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4

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by Kaitlyn Duling

Epic: Cool Cars series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is all about one of the newer models from Porsche that has the feel of a race car and the technology to keep it moving forward – fast! Caymans were first introduced by Porsche in 2016 and have improved over the years with an all-electric version set for production in 2030. Extra facts interspersed in white boxes throughout add to the reading experience. This German car is sleek and fun and readers will learn a lot.

Just Snow Already! by Howard McWilliam

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A young boy gets excited one morning when he’s told it might snow. He checks outside – nothing yet. He fixates on the idea of snow and all the fun he will have. Outside the house, the day goes on with increasingly exciting people and occurrences. The mail carrier spills her mail, the fire truck comes to get a cat from a tree, a Safari Park Truck crashes, and monkeys escape. The rest of the neighborhood is caught up in the excitement, but still the boy’s day is ruined because there is no snow. Finally, SNOW! The neighborhood has become a fun carnival, and at last, now that there’s snow, the boy is ready to dive in.

Impatience and fixation leads the young boy to miss all the excitement happening in his neighborhood. Colorful animated illustrations become increasingly entertaining. A fun winter read.

The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet

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By Jake Maia Arlow

Al is having a really rough school year. After a few close calls with needing to poop during the school day, her mortifying embarassment with this issue, and her own questions about who she’s crushing on, life has gotten really complicated. It doesn’t help that her mom is all in her business about her health and her diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. She’s also struggling with her best friend and neighbor who has taken a sudden interest in the drama club and balancing new friends in a IBS support group. This is a good book for anyone dealing with severe medical issues, particularly  the embarrassing poop-related ones, but also anyone trying to just feel comfortable in their own skin. Al learns to deal with her shyness with personal issues as she tries to be her most authentic self – not an easy task! I liked that it normalizes IBS and “poop” and shows someone struggling to come out of the silence to advocate for herself. Al also deals with coming to terms with her own sexuality and those of her friends and mother. I imagine all the poop talk will cause some readers to giggle or be uncomfortable, but in the end, I think it shows just how many hidden issues students are dealing with on any given day. Some may even see their own struggles in some of Al’s – especially her difficulties with communication with her mother and friends. 

Ever Since by Alena Bruzas

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This book was really difficult to read because of the content; it’s very powerful, but will need content warnings if added to a high school collection.

The main character, Virginia, is a victim of sexual assault and abuse – but she is keeping it hidden. Instead, she displays risky behaviors with drinking, drug use, and sex. As the reader, we are not made aware of the extent of the abuse, and the fact that there are multiple abusers, until much later in the book. Instead we follow Virginia’s journey of self-loathing desire to feel love.

As details about Virginia’s story unfold, other victims come forward – all of which are close friends of Virginia’s and all were groomed by the same abuser.

This book should be considered for high school libraries only.

It is set in Washington State and has some local references, which I always appreciate.

Aardvark or Anteater?

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by Mari Schuh

Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.

Aardvark or Anteater? is a highly engaging look at two animals that initially seem very similar. Yet, we learn that despite those similarities, they are very different animals. They are both mammals with long tongues that eat ants. But, their fur, snouts, ears and habitats are very different. New readers will enjoy discovering new information in a simply written book packed with facts and wonderful photos. This won’t be on your shelves for long!

Crow or Raven?

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by Mari Schuh

Blastoff! Reader Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty books set that delves in the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar word are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.

Crow or Raven? There’s a lot to learn about these two types of birds! This book gives some really solid differences between two birds that seem very alike. For instance, crows have fan shaped tails and ravens have wedge shaped tails. Additionally, their beaks, size and throat feathers differ. Accompanying these memorable facts are photos that show those characteristics very clearly. Young readers will enjoy learning about these differences and will be quick to share! Word choice is appropriate to the audience and the nonfiction text features are helpful. Recommended.

Dolphin or Porpoise?

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by Mari Schuh

Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details their physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include: table of contents, index, glossary and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are bold type and the animal pair’s differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.

Dolphin or Porpoise? starts out by sharing that both are mammals and swim in oceans or rivers. Then, the book describes several different features, including fin shape and size, tooth size and their general body types. Behavior differences are also touched upon. Young readers will be able to share some solid facts about each animal and make some great comparisons. This book would be great for beginning animal reports. It has just enough information to be interesting and not so much that it’s overwhelming. Perfect for the target audience!

Lizard or Salamander?

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by Mari Schuh

Blastoff! Readers Level 1: Spotting Differences series is a twenty book set that delves into the differences between animals. Each book focuses on a pair of animals and details physical and behavioral traits. Text is accessible to your newest readers and accompanying illustrations are high quality and engaging. Nonfiction text features include: table of contents, glossary, index and labeled diagrams. Unfamiliar words are in bold type and their differences are repeated at the end as a wrap up. Suggested websites and resources are noted for further investigation.

Lizard or Salamander? looks at the differences between those organisms. Different physical features are noted like dry skin vs. wet skin and claws vs. no claws. Then, behaviors are compared. The reader also learns that lizards come out at daytime and salamanders are active at night. and each live in different places. Photos are clear and crisp and text is not dense. Give this to your new readers as the books have high interest content. These won’t stay on the shelves!

The Polter-Ghost Problem

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by Betsy Uhrig

What do you do when you have a long, boring summer ahead of you and a journal-writing assignment to go along with it? Three friends (Pen, Aldo and Jasper) discover an abandoned orphanage with some ghostly children. These young ghosts are trapped in their old home by a poltergeist that throws some major tantrums, furniture and lots of other stuff. The boys want to help these trapped entities while still dodging Aldo’s older brother and the possibility of being grounded for the rest of the summer. They investigate the old orphanage through documents at the library and the cranky librarian turns out to be more help than they can believe. With her next to them and Aldo’s brother tailing them, they plan to figure out what the poltergeist wants and free their ghostly friends.

Told in a conversational tone, with lots of middle school humor, this story moves along at a nice pace. It is humorous and slightly scary at times, ending with a nice twist that wraps it up with some laughs and a a big brother that really is kinda nice to have around. Give this to your readers that enjoy slapstick adventure.

Harvey Hammer : S.O.S. Mess!

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Harvey Hammer, the hammerhead shark, is off on a family vacation where they will encounter humans up close! Harvey and his family, plus friends, are off to see Leggy-Air Breathers (LABs) at Seafari Park. When their tour guide cuts the tour short because of dangerous conditions and starts a film by Dr. Jacques Crusteau Harvey, his sister Hettie, and their friends Flash -the turtle and Poppy- the octopus sneak off to get a closer look at the LABs. Flash gets caught between two young LABs and needs rescuing. Harvey comes up with a rescue plan using his superhero alter-ego Hammer Boy. The rescue is successful and they get back to the tour group just as the film ends. The next day, back at school Hettie and Poppy present their science research project on LABs to the entire school. The previous day’s exploits mentioned in Hettie’s and Poppy’s project turn Harvey, Hettie, Poppy, and Flash into school heroes.

Large font, short chapters, fun word play, black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout the story, and a glossary make this an entertaining book for young readers venturing out to bigger, longer books.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Where is Poppy?

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Where is Poppy? follows a young child’s search for her beloved grandfather, who has passed away the previous year, as her extended family gathers for their Passover Seder. The young girl discovers her ‘Poppy’ is not hiding anywhere around the house, as she remembers him in years past. She soon discovers ‘Poppy’ is present in all of her family members as they carry on the family/religious traditions.

Illustrated is somber shades of bluish purples, yellow, black, white and gray.

Concludes with a page of sixteen Passover terms used within the story on Passover Traditions.

Submitted by Mary Pong

First Day, Worst Day

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written by Andy Nonamus and illustrated by Amy Jindra

An anonymous narrator (we know this because we can’t see a face, which is covered by a sticker in all the illustrations and there appears to be no name) recounts the adventurous horror of the first day in a new school. Readers will cringe and laugh at all the crazy stuff that happens in this weird place, from being “attacked” by a pack of dogs that want to lick the maple syrup off their shirt to locating a classroom through a locker! Along the way, friendships are made and what started out as the First Day, Worst Day ended as the First Day, Best Day.

Written in very accessible language with fun black and white illustrations, this book will appeal to those reluctant readers that enjoy books that are humorous in a goofy way. Characters are diverse and their behaviors and interactions are age appropriate. This is the beginning of a series that will be popular. Recommended.

Betting On You by: Lynn Painter

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Reviewed by OHS Student, Eliza T.

This book beautifully combines a soft romance with the challenges of having divorced parents.

Bailey and Charlie first meet on a plane when they are both flying to live with their other parent. They meet again when they are older, and their initial hate blossoms into a beautiful romance as they connect through their shared parental experiences.

This book is perfect for those looking to better understand the life of a child of divorce, or those who just want to cozy up for a sweet romance. I loved the banter throughout the book, as Charlie and Bailey learn that the other might not be so bad. Bailey’s mom’s boyfriend has a daughter, and I think there could have been more conflict there, where it felt very understated.

Ice Skating

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This book fulfills the idea of “Let’s Get Outdoors!” for the title ICE SKATING, but only provides a little information on the actual mechanics of ice skating. If a picture (photo) is worth a 1000 words it’s a good thing this title has a glossary. It shows what ice skating looks like but does not tell you how to ice skate. The color photos of young ice skaters build excitement for the sport.

The book contains a Table of Contents: ‘What is Ice Skating?’, ‘On the Ice’, ‘Ice Skating Gear’, and ‘Ice Skating Safety’ , before the glossary, index, and their safe internet search website for more information – Factsurfer.com. This title’s Factsurfer has two good site for more information of the three provided.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Snowshoeing

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This book fulfills the idea of “Let’s Get Outdoors!” for the title SNOWSHOEING, but provides minimal information on the actual mechanics of snowshoeing. If a picture (photo) is worth a 1000 words it’s a good thing this title has a glossary. It shows what snowshoeing looks like but does not tell you how to snowshoe. The color photos of young snowshoers build excitement for the sport.

The book contains a Table of Contents: ‘What is Snowshoeing?’, ‘Walking on Snow’, ‘Snowshoeing Gear’, and ‘Snowshoeing Safety’ , before the glossary, index, and their safe internet search website for more information – Factsurfer.com. This title’s Factsurfer has only one good site for more information of the three provided.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Cross-country Skiing

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This book fulfills the idea of “Let’s Get Outdoors!” for the title CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING, but only provides a little information on the actual mechanics of cross-country skiing. If a picture (photo) is worth a 1000 words it’s a good thing this title has a glossary. It shows what cross-country skiing looks like and tells you how to ski both classic and skate. The color photos of young skiers build excitement for the sport.

The book contains a Table of Contents: ‘What is Cross-country Skiing?’, ‘Classic or Skate?’, ‘Cross-country Skiing Gear’, and ‘Cross-country Skiing Safety’ , before the glossary, index, and their safe internet search website for more information – Factsurfer.com. This title’s Factsurfer has two good sites for more information of the three provided.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Downhill Skiing

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This book fulfills the idea of “Let’s Get Outdoors!” for the title DOWNHILL SKIING, but provides minimal information on the actual mechanics of downhill skiing. If a picture (photo) is worth a 1000 words it’s a good thing this title has a glossary. It shows what skiing looks like but does not tell you how to ski. The color photos of young skiers build excitement for the sport.

The book contains a Table of Contents: ‘What is Downhill Skiing?’, ‘On the Hill’, ‘Downhill Skiing Gear’, and ‘Downhill Skiing Safety’ , before the glossary, index, and their safe internet search website for more information – Factsurfer.com. This title’s Factsurfer has only one good site for more information of the three provided.

Submitted by Mary Pong

When the MOON Became the MOON

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The Moon is personified as it tells its life story in cute illustrations with smiley faces on the heavenly bodies. It is presented in eleven chapters using cartoon bubbles with the sun and moon giving factual information in a non-so-factual format.

I particularly liked the illustration of the orbiting moon around the earth while the earth is orbiting around the sun on pages 20-21, the waning and waxing moon on pages 36-37 and 40-41. The new moon on page 39 is subtle but very revealing. Having seen a solar eclipse in person, I especially enjoyed the illustrations of its approach on page 51 and at totality on page 53! While this book would be hard to use for a research project it has excellent illustrations for younger readers to understand the moon and its phases.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Big Bub, Small Car

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Beginning readers, who enjoy slap-stick humor, will want to read how Big Bub-the purple blob with arms and legs- makes it to the birthday party after he finds out his bicycle has two flat tires. Big Bub is too big to fit into the taxi, too heavy for the pick-up truck, and too slow to catch the bus. Then he sees the junk yard where he spots two old bumper cars which he uses as roller skates to get to the party.

Before the story, there is a list of “Word Families” (7), “Sight words” (25), and “Bonus words” (16) to warm the young reader up for success. After the story, there are three questions demonstrate the reader’s success in reading.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Sabrina Sue Loves the Moon

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Sabrina Sue, the chicken, is infatuated with going to the moon after seeing it one moonlit starry night. Her farm friends try to talk her out of it. Sabrina Sue struggles with if she should stay safe or go on her adventure to the moon! She does her moon research, gets in great physical shape, and goes to the rocket for her adventure. She loves the moon. Then returns to earth to tell all of her farm friends about it and show them her moon rock.

Submitted by Mary Pong

Patina

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By Jason Reynolds

2nd of the Track Series ~ Spanish edition

Patina (Spanish Edition) (2) (Track)

The second book in Jason Reynolds’ Track series, Patina follows Patty’s story on the track team. Ghost, the main character from book one, Sunny (book 3), and Lu (book 4) are minor characters this time. In this book, Patty struggles with family, the pressures of track and new relay team training, and the relationships with some of her teammates. It’s not easy that she and her sister now live with her uncle and his white mom, Momly (Mamacita) while also trying to help her biological mom with her medical needs. I both loved & hated the ending. (No spoilers other than it’s a big cliffhanger!) I know that’s a great way to keep readers reading, but I wanted to KNOW! For readers who are also runners, there are some great scenes about training for a relay race. I loved this fast-paced book that probably should be read after Ghost and before Sunny, but not completely necessary (other than the ending which will make readers want to find Sunny to find out what happened!) Don’t just get one book – get the whole series.

This review is for the Spanish copy, but was originally read by the reviewer in English.

Every Night at Midnight by Peter Cheong

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Every night at midnight, Felix turns into a wolf. He loves his velvety paws and his long bushy tail. There is no one like him. At school, there is no one like him because he can’t go to sleepovers since he turns into a wolf. He thinks it will be easier to keep to himself. Even though he is fine on his own and he loves exploring as a wolf, he wishes he didn’t turn into a wolf every night. One day a new girl arrives at school and soon after he meets a new wolf at night. They enjoy running and leaping until the new wolf stumbles and Felix is lonely again.

A story about friendship, being comfortable with who you are and finding your pack. The colors on the page are striking and as the reader, you want to look back and see things that you may have missed that tell you more of the story.

Winter: A Solstice Story by Kelsey E. Gross

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On the longest night of the year, Owl asks who can help “shine the light and share a gift of hope this night.” Deer, Squirrel, Mouse, Duck, Rabbit, Raccoon, and Chickadee help decorate the tree with gifts to share. There is a page that requires the pages to fold out and the book to be tilted to see the tree in its entirety. The lyrical text and beautiful illustrations bring a soft gentleness to the book that feels like soft falling snow.