Source: I received a review copy of each of these books in exchange for my honest review.
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction
On the way to school the next day the twins are confronted by Hector, a
former friend who has hooked up with a gang.
They harass the kids at the store and take whatever they have in their
pockets. They make comments to the girls
that make them feel very uncomfortable.
As they are all standing in front of the store they witness a speeding
white car almost hit a cat. They rescue
the cat and take it to school. At school
they have a guest speaker. The officer
is there to talk with all of them.
Manuel, one of the students has had other run-ins with the law. Many of his own family members have been
arrested. Everyone in the class judges
him and assumes he is just like his family, never giving him a chance.
When they get home that afternoon they find there mother there because her car has been stolen. They assume that it was Hector and his friends responsible for all of this. They decided to get the evidence or confession out of him. Overheard by a friends grandmother, they are persuaded to call the cops instead. They learn some valuable lessons throughout this story. They learn that you can’t judge people by their family, and that you shouldn’t take matters into your own hands.
These books are full of life lessons that are written mostly for the
inner city kid, but will appeal to middle school children everywhere. I have
students who live this lifestyle every day.
It is important to have books like this that they can relate to. I look
forward to reading future books by this author.
Pages: 34
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Sally O. Lee has written another simple book with a simple message and
wonderful illustrations. The story is about a circle and a square. They are
different from each other. The circle asks the square if it is still a square
when it bounces a ball. The circle understands after asking several similar
questions that one doesn’t change who they are by doing different activities.
It also has a message of being different but, being friends and sharing different
likes because of those differences.
Pages: 32
Genre: Children’s Picture book
Candace Courtney lived in a mansion with her father. Everyone called her
Candy. Her father was always traveling on business trips so she didn’t get to
spend a lot of time with him. She was constantly sent outside to play. Candy’s
neighbor Chucky always tried to outdo whatever toy Candy got.
Candy’s father decided to get her a pet to keep her company. Her pet
arrived by helicopter. Her father opened the crate and out came a Cankersaurus
Rex. At first, Candy was scared. Then she decided to train him. She named him
Cank and began training him. She had one rule, “No Biting”. She taught him to
fetch a stick. He liked the taste of the stick so he bit into a bigger one, a
tree. When they played hide and seek they couldn’t hide in the rose bush
because he would eat the roses.
Candy’s neighbor Chucky became jealous and stole Candy’s Cankersaurus
Rex and sold him to the circus. Chucky returned home and saw how sad Candy was.
Could he fix the he created? This was a great story and one I believe EVERY
PARENT should read with their child. It is a reminder that there is nothing
more important than spending time with their children and know that you can’t
buy their love.
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Author Linda Jones and her illustrator son Branson Jones has created a
wonderful pre-k/kindergarten book to teach kids the capital letters. The
wonderful rhyming descriptions explain how to draw the letters, gives a word to
help remember the letter. As a teacher
who started out teaching kindergarten I can definitely see the value in having
this book on your shelf. If I was
teaching kindergarten today I would project one letter at a time, read the
rhyme and have the students practice drawing the letter. I think this should be on every kindergarten
classroom shelf.
Children’s Picture Book
This was an interesting book.
The story is actually told from two perspectives. We first hear from Nico. He was the only dog
in his house for a long time. Then one
day his family brought home another dog. The new dog’s name was Tugger. He got
on Nico’s nerves because he cried and took his toys. Just like all new members to a family, Tugger
got most of the attention. He doesn’t
understand why they don’t love him anymore.
He also tells of playing with Tugger and laughing at all of his puppy
antics. As Tugger begins to grow up they
begin to get along and Nico decides he likes having Tugger around. The second half of the story is told from
Tugger’s perspective. Tugger wants to
play with Nico but Nico ignores him. The
solution? He begins to take and play
with Nico’s toys. He tries everything he
can think of to get Nico to play with him, but Nico gets grumpier until he
rolls a red ball to him. He lets Nico go
first. They both begin enjoying each other’s company. The underlying story is about accepting new
family members and fighting the jealousy.
I read this to my grand-daughter and then gave it to her to share with
her brother. She has just learned she
has a new step-sister. She’s not met her
yet. She was angry with her father
feeling like he didn’t love them anymore and so she wasn’t going to like the
new baby. After reading the book she
changed her mind. She’s decided it’s not
the new baby’s fault and that maybe when the baby gets older they can be
friends. I would say that this book was
a great success. Yes my grand-daughter
has always thought things through in a more mature way. But, I saw a tough lesson taught in such a
simple manner. I think this should be a
book given to families finding them self suddenly in change whether it is from
the birth of a new child or the blending of families.
The
Riotous Rocket Ship Robbery – Kim Donovan
Pages: 160Genre: Upper Elementary/Middle Grade Fantasy
Demon Kid is one of the lucky attendees along with his friends Stacey
Stretch, Wolfgang, a young werewolf, and others. However, this school is similar to our very
own schools. They have bullies just like
we do. The difference is that these
bullies are super villains who also bully other super villains, namely Demon
Kid and his friends. For a bad guy
Demon Kid is always trying to help his friends. Now he has to find a way to
stop the super villains who are constantly picking on them, all the while
learning to dominate the world. This is
a cute book and one I could see my reluctant readers picking up. It is full of action and humor.
Source: review copy from publisher
Pages: 222
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Brother and sister Harold and Megan have lost their father. Harold is awakened on night by a ghostly visitor who explains to Harold that he must save his father. His dad is being held by gnome named Gagledormius. He must solve a riddle to help find his father. The problem is that Harold is terrible at puzzles. His mom doesn’t believe him when he tells her about the visit. His sister does. When mom refuses to help they try their classmates. They realize they must convince their mom and go to Ireland to figure all of this out. Along the way they will meet fairies and leprechauns and find plenty adventure on their path to finding their father.
This is a cute fantasy for those who love reading about Irish
figures. However, as a middle school
teacher I recognized some of the problems my students have when writing. The paragraphs go on and on. There are a
couple of places where we go from one point of view to another and back
again. This was distracting for me. However, the story line makes up for these
few mistakes. I believe this would be a
great book for reluctant readers.
Impostors & One Far-Out Flying Machine - Sands Hetherington
Pages: 320
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Crosley is a bright red crocodile that lives under the bed of John Degraffenreidt. Why? John has so much energy he has difficulty going to sleep. He and Crosley go on night-time adventures called programs. His boss or handler is named Crenwinkle. In the first book they had to find out who was stealing all of the pineapple cheesecakes. This time the adventure is one that affects Crosley. There are several impostors running around town as red crocodiles, and they are doing bad things. Crosley's boss and brother Crenwinkle along with John must get help to solve this mystery. They rely on a friend from the first book to help. Along the way they must get help from Rodney Oglesby who runs a very unique hotdog stand. he sells sauerkraut and jelly bean hotdogs. Come along on this adventure and find out how they solve this new mystery. Thebook teaches kids about obeying rules and laws, teamwork, honesty and many more lessons.
Pages: 320
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Crosley is a bright red crocodile that lives under the bed of John Degraffenreidt. Why? John has so much energy he has difficulty going to sleep. He and Crosley go on night-time adventures called programs. His boss or handler is named Crenwinkle. In the first book they had to find out who was stealing all of the pineapple cheesecakes. This time the adventure is one that affects Crosley. There are several impostors running around town as red crocodiles, and they are doing bad things. Crosley's boss and brother Crenwinkle along with John must get help to solve this mystery. They rely on a friend from the first book to help. Along the way they must get help from Rodney Oglesby who runs a very unique hotdog stand. he sells sauerkraut and jelly bean hotdogs. Come along on this adventure and find out how they solve this new mystery. Thebook teaches kids about obeying rules and laws, teamwork, honesty and many more lessons.
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